Just Slap a Band-Aid on it and Everything Will be Fine! 2025 Food and Wine Trip Report! (Updated 10/9!)

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I wish more resorts would have the kiosks where you can order the art like the Riviera does. I think maybe the new Poly tower does? So hopefully they'll roll that out more broadly. How do you typically register your room requests? Do you do it when booking or use another method(s)? The other woman checking in sounds like a piece of work. If I were the CM I'd have said, "oopsie, the water view upgrade isn't available." I was at guest services at MK recently prior to the start of a MNSSHP and the guy next to me was just berating the CM and was incredulous that the party could have been sold out. He was shouting, you mean to tell me everyone booked their tickets in advance??? I'm laughing (on the inside) and thinking... YUP. Zero excuse for being rude to cast members but I do feel bad for people who visit with no research or planning and somehow genuinely didn't know it was required.

Me too! Although my wallet is probably happy they haven't put the kiosks in all the hotels.

We usually call with our requests these days. We used to just do it via the app, but they got rid of options at the YC a while back, so now we just call.

I know, that other woman checking in was such a grump! I can't imagine acting that way after hearing I got a free upgrade! I feel so bad for the CMs that have to deal with people like that. And wow, I can't believe that guy at the MK! I get being frustrated, but that is no excuse to take it out on the CM.

 

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The new BC carpeting looks really nice.

It is pretty nice, and I love the duck footprints!

 

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It's nice to hear you'd give the restaurant a 2nd chance. With so many places for me still to try, I'm not so forgiving at a restaurant if it's not practically perfect. Super loud is unacceptable to me.......which begins to rule out so many places. I wish, when Disney invests in renovations, they put some money into sound dampening materials. A recent meal in the Contemporary at Steakhouse 71 had the waiter kneeling on the floor next to us to to take our orders. He couldn't hear above the din.

Yeah, we'd try it again, but this time ask to be seated in the main dining room. I wouldn't want to be back in that small room again, it really does take away from the meal experience when you have to yell to hear each other!

Keep feeling better!

Thank you!!

 

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That is SMALL!!! And now funnier that you hadn't noticed. but I totally get being frazzled after that day!

Right?!?! How did I miss that? No wonder my mom thought I was losing my mind when she mentioned it at dinner!

 

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Day 2, Part 2: The Most Important Rope Drop!​

We last left off heading over to Epcot! Now originally we were supposed to be going to Typhoon Lagoon this day, but with me missing basically the entire previous day due to my wonderful 8 hour flight delay, we decided to change plans and go to Epcot today instead so we would have more time at Food and Wine.

We arrived at Epcot around 9:40 and quickly made our way through security and the tapstiles. Our first stop, per usual, we the store at the IG. We like to pick up our Remy maps first thing, so got those and the prizes. We also picked up one of the festival shirts, the blue one, all the others were sold out of sizes in that store, and the spaceship earth bottle stoppers. We also picked up the Pluto’s pumpkin pursuit map and prize for this year.

On top of all that, we also added money to our gift card to use at the food booths. I don’t know why, but a few years ago we started using the gift cards at the food booths instead of our magic bands and we just prefer that now.

Goodies in hand we made our way out and strolled towards FW (never going to stop calling it that) getting some pictures.





I wanted to swing by the stores at the intersection of WS and FW since the store at the IG had limited F&W merch, but neither of those stores had any.

Oh well!

As we were leaving the second store I saw a photopass photographer, so of course we had to stop!



It was already around 10:20 at that point, and we had a very important rope drop to get to, so we started to make our way back towards the IG.

We got to the UK around 10:25, and there was already a crowd milling around also rope dropping Rose and Crown. It was a fun crowd and we got to chatting with some of the other groups and shared each other’s tips and tricks. One I didn’t know was that if you get to Norway early enough, you can name the troll for the day and they’ll do a little naming ceremony and everything! One of these trips we want to do that.

We also took pictures of each other while we waited.



Finally, at 10:40, they opened the doors for us!

Mom went to grab a table while I headed to the bar to grab our drinks. We both opted to get snakebites this morning. Ah, love a beer in the morning.





We enjoyed our drinks there for a little bit, but kept an eye on the time since we wanted to be at our first food booth of the day right around opening. So after about 10 minutes we headed out with our drinks and started to make our way around WS.

Next up: Our First Taste of Food and Wine!​

 

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I didn't realize R&C had a rope drop process! And how cute to name the troll over in Norway!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

On top of all that, we also added money to our gift card to use at the food booths. I don’t know why, but a few years ago we started using the gift cards at the food booths instead of our magic bands and we just prefer that now.

I like to use gift cards for the food booths, too. I've been reloading my Snow White gift card for years. It doesn't have a magnetic stripe. The CM has to aim their "gun" at it to make the sale. I hate magnetic stripes, and this card is perfect.

We always check out the shop at the International Gateway.

 

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I didn't realize R&C had a rope drop process! And how cute to name the troll over in Norway!!

I didn't either! I was actually surprised how big of a crowd was waiting to get in at 10 in the morning!

We really want to go name the troll one of these days, we had planned to do it this trip, but ended up sleeping in instead. Oops!

 

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I like to use gift cards for the food booths, too. I've been reloading my Snow White gift card for years. It doesn't have a magnetic stripe. The CM has to aim their "gun" at it to make the sale. I hate magnetic stripes, and this card is perfect.

Yeah, we really prefer them now. I usually use the one I got from FArts a few years ago or an old F&G one that goes on my wrist. Super convenient to use!

We always check out the shop at the International Gateway.

That store usually has a pretty good selection of the festival stuff, I was surprised how limited it was this year. Although being a Sunday maybe they just hadn't restocked after a busy Saturday? We do really like that store though!

 

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Random RL update. So since we became APs I've been diligently tracking the savings we've gotten with it, and now that our first year of APs has come to an end (don't worry, we renewed), I decided to add up how much we saved this year, and guys, I'm shocked! So I broke the savings down to the following categories: 1. Merchandise, 2. Dining, 3. Hotel, 4. Events (MNSSHP etc), 5. Tickets. And here is the final breakdown for year one. Note this doesn't even include the savings on renewing the APs.
1. Merch savings: $356.90
2. Dining savings: $104.90
3. Hotel savings: $579.61
4. Event savings: $267.25
5. Ticket savings: $3387.64
Total savings: $4,696.30!!!

If we add in the renewal savings the total comes up to $5,244.77! I can't believe how much we saved with this, definitely made the APs worth it! Next year we're doing fewer trips (in theory), so I'm curious to see how much we save since the ticket savings is where we get the most bang for our buck.

Anyways, the nerd in me just wanted to share the fun numbers. Hope everyone is having a great Friday!