Just Slap a Band-Aid on it and Everything Will be Fine! 2025 Food and Wine Trip Report! (Updated 11/2!)

[2xcited2sleep]

Oh, I so very, very sorry to hear this. I know how difficult it is and I'm sending you both lots of love. Take all the time you need.

 

[HappyGal]

What a handsome gentleman. (((Hugs)))) to you.

 

[Woth2982]

I am so sorry to hear about Dug. Losing a pet is a terrible pain. My dog died suddenly in 2014 and I am still not over it completely. For example, I have had two babies, yet my lock screen/wallpaper on my phone is still my beloved Nixon (named after Trot Nixon, former Red Sox player). Sending you all the love and hugs this week.

 

[GGOOFY1]

So sorry for your loss. My profile picture is of Abbey the Airedale who passed away in 2011 at 17. Being a large dog, we were blessed to have her in our live for so long. Cherish your memories and hold them close to your heart.

 

[Paulaparm]

So sorry to hear about Doug! Hugs to you!!

 

[Noreen411]

I am so sorry to hear about Dug. Sending Virtual Hugs your way.

 

[Counting Stars]

I am so sorry... I have this pain as well. It never really leaves, but you gradually realize there are other wonderful ones who need a loving home. And you eventually find a new companion.

 

[VAtink]

Hey everyone, I just wanted to say thank you for all the kind words about my dog Dug. It's been a rough week and I miss him so much, but I'm finally getting out of the house and trying to get back into just everyday life things. Today I took a walk on one of our old routes down by the water, which I thought I'd be a total mess going on, but instead I found myself smiling passing places where memories happened, like where he accidentally fell into the river, or the big hill he dragged my mom down when he realized I was at the bottom. He was a total goofball who always made us laugh! So while I miss him tremendously, things are getting better. So thank you again to everyone for the kind words!

 

[VAtink]

Day 2, Part 4: More Food and Wine Goodies!​

We last left off shopping at Germany. On the way out we stopped to check out the trains, I love all the little festival flags they have in there!



At this point, mom was really starting to feel the heat, even though it wasn’t even that hot this day. Seriously, it was like 80 degrees and low humidity at this point, it was gorgeous for FL in the fall! But, the end of summer/start of fall for her was weird where it got cold suddenly and just stayed cold. So while usually we’re both coming from places where it’s been in the 80s, this time she was accustomed to the 60s so even the low 80s felt super hot!

Anyways, since mom was starting to feel overheated, we decided to start making our way back to the IG, stopping for pictures and food if we felt like it.







At Japan I decided to stop to get some food, so I brought mom up to my former “secret” shaded table area, only to find it packed with people! Ok, who spilled the beans?!?!?!

We did find a table for two though up there so I had her settle in so she could rest while I ran down to the food booth to grab food. I ended up picking up the beef wagyu don.



This was delicious! One of my favorite items from this year.

Since we were in Japan, we decided to stop in the store since mom wanted to pick up some more tea there (she loved the tea she got there in January), and I wanted to pick up more of the orange kit kats.

We got our goodies, then continued our way towards the exit.

Before exiting, we decided to pop over to the store in the UK where I wanted to pick up the chocolate orange (I used to LOVE these things as a kid), and also picked up some Guiness coffee since that sounded like it could be good.

Finally, it was time to head back to the YC!

Unfortunately, when we arrived our room still wasn’t ready. It was only about 1:20 at that point, so not check-in time yet, so we decided to just sit in the lobby to cool off for a bit before figuring out what we wanted to do while we waited.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to figure anything out, about 10 minutes after sitting down I checked MDE and saw our room number! YAY!!!!!

Oddly, I didn’t get the text with our room number for almost 30 more minutes! Glad I checked MDE!

We were thrilled we could get into our room and have a nice break!

We made our way up and were surprised with how awesome our room was!





The room was only 5 down from the elevators, but down a short hall, so not much foot traffic went by keeping it nice and quiet. Plus, the view was exactly what we wanted!



I loved the updates, the wallpaper in the sink area is super cute, and I’m a fan of the new rugs under the bed. Not only is it nice having a softer floor surface to get out of bed on, but it also helps dampen noise.

I tried calling down to bell services once in the room, but they weren’t answering, so we decided to just head downstairs to go grab our reusable mugs for the trip, food for breakfast the next day, and then swing by bell services on the way back up to the room.

This was a quick adventure, and soon we were back in the room unpacking a bit.

Once unpacked, we decided to head down to the pool to cool off some more and just rest a bit.

The pool was pretty crowded, but we found seats pretty quickly so dropped our stuff, then headed to the pool!

We spent a good amount of time checking out the various pools, did a loop in the lazy river, then headed back to the chairs to lay out for a bit. It was the perfect afternoon break!

Next up: An Evening in Epcot, Part 1​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I love the trains in Germany and that they update it for each festival. I hope it never goes away. I keep meaning to pick up some of the special kit kats in Japan that you've talked about but it just hasn't worked out. Because it's been so hot I don't want to get until I'm on my way out and then when I'm ready to go I'm too lazy to walk back to Japan. Maybe now that it's getting cooler. LOVE the new Yacht Club decor. What a great view!!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Oddly, I didn’t get the text with our room number for almost 30 more minutes! Glad I checked MDE!

We always check MDE, too, while waiting for our room. The text messages aren't always dependable.

The pool was pretty crowded, but we found seats pretty quickly so dropped our stuff, then headed to the pool!

I love your room location! That was ideal.

SAB was really crowded when we were there in Sept. I think that party days make the pool extra busy.

 

[footballmouse]

Sorry to hear about Dug. Whenever you would mention his name in you TR, it always made me smile. I had a big black Lab named Diesel and my boys would call him Dug. I'm glad he got all the lovin' he deserved.

 

[VAtink]

I love the trains in Germany and that they update it for each festival. I hope it never goes away. I keep meaning to pick up some of the special kit kats in Japan that you've talked about but it just hasn't worked out. Because it's been so hot I don't want to get until I'm on my way out and then when I'm ready to go I'm too lazy to walk back to Japan. Maybe now that it's getting cooler. LOVE the new Yacht Club decor. What a great view!!!

Yes! I love those trains, they better not ever get rid of them! Those orange kit kats are so good, it's become a must stop for us now just to get more!

That room at the YC was by far our favorite. I'm going to request it from now on, hopefully we can get it again!

 

[VAtink]

We always check MDE, too, while waiting for our room. The text messages aren't always dependable.

Usually I just wait for the text, lesson learned! Glad I checked MDE this time around!

I love your room location! That was ideal.

It was the perfect location, we loved that room!

SAB was really crowded when we were there in Sept. I think that party days make the pool extra busy.

Yeah, it was pretty packed when we went down, but fortunately we were able to find seats!

 

[VAtink]

Sorry to hear about Dug. Whenever you would mention his name in you TR, it always made me smile. I had a big black Lab named Diesel and my boys would call him Dug. I'm glad he got all the lovin' he deserved.

Thank you!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I am so sorry to hear about Dug. Our furbabies are our lives. I'm sending you all kinds of love and hugs.

 

[VAtink]

I am so sorry to hear about Dug. Our furbabies are our lives. I'm sending you all kinds of love and hugs.

Thank you!!

 

[VAtink]

Day 2, Part 5: An Evening in Epcot, Part 1​

We last left off having a nice afternoon break down at Stormalong Bay.

After swimming we headed back to the room to shower and rest a bit more before getting ready to head out again in the evening.

We left the room at 5:15 and headed to the front desk because I had discovered my magicbands weren’t working to open our door.

It took the front desk a while to fix the problem, I suspected the issue was I had too many active bands, and sure enough, 15 minutes later after calling IT they determined that was exactly the problem. Looks like I should work for Disney IT….maybe I could fix all their issues!

While at the front desk we also requested wine glasses be brought up to our room, I absolutely love that they have this option!

Finally, after finishing all of that, we headed out and made our way back over to Epcot!

Our plan this evening was to grab dinner at the food booths, ride Guardians, then catch the shows on SE.

So once in, we headed towards our first food booth of the night, Canada!

Being roughly 5:45 and a weekend, I fully expected a massive line at the Canada food booth, so I was shocked to see that there was absolutely no line, like not a single person! WHAT?!?!?! What would become the norm for this trip, the lines for the food booths were non-existent, it was wild!

We both decided to get the filet mignon here.

While I ordered, mom headed over to grab us a table in the shade.

Soon I joined her with our food!



This is always a solid choice at the festival, and once again did not disappoint.

Once we wrapped up in Cananda, we headed towards FW and over to our next booth, Australia! On the way we stopped for a quick photopass picture!



At Australia, mom got the lamb, while I got the shrimp and the wine flight. Once we had food in hand, we found a table over in the shade and dug in.



The lamb was really good this year, better than the past few years I would say. Yes, it was the same toppings, but it was cooked really well this year where is wasn’t as dry and chewy as in the past two or so years.

The shrimp was delicious, but had a good kick, especially for Disney! I love how in recent years Disney has gotten a bit more adventurous with adding spice to dishes, I love spicy dishes, and the shrimp did not disappoint!

The wine flight was also really good, all the wines were nice and dry, just the way I like them!

Once we finished up eating, it was getting close to our return time for Guardians, so we started to slowly make our way over that way, stopping at the photopass in front of the ride for some quick pictures first!



Finally, it was time for our first ride on Guardians for the trip!

We scanned in and quickly made our way to through the LL to the merge point. I was happy to see that this evening they were only filling the preshow rooms about half way, which made for a much nicer experience with a lot less pushing and shoving.

Being September 21st, there was only one song this day, but I didn’t mind since it’s my favorite to get on Guardians!



I love this ride so much, if I had unlimited funds I would rent out Epcot every night of my trip just to ride this over and over for hours!

After finishing up on Guardians we decided to pop over to Connections to do some shopping. I ended up picking up the passholder and muppet F&W shirt and a new journal. I had wanted to pick up the oven mitt from this years festival but was shocked to learn that it had sold out already! Since when are oven mitts such a hot commodity?!?! This is the first year in the last decade I haven’t been able to get the festival oven mitt! I really wanted this one since it was similar to the oven mitt we got our very first year of the festival and I thought it was a perfect full circle moment type thing to get it for our 10th year!

Oh well, I’m sure I can find it on ebay if I want to spend way more than it’s worth.

After shopping we were both still a bit hungry, so decided to head over to Hawaii to get some more to eat. Here mom got the cheesecake and I got the pork slider and the Oahu Sunrise!!!!







I was really impressed with Hawaii this year. The slider was delicious, definitely one of my favorite dishes from the fest. The cheesecake was great this year, unlike previous years this year it wasn’t too sweet, so much more my style. The drink was also really good!

Next up: An Evening in Epcot, Part 2!​

 

[disneyAndi14]

I learned, when you go into your resort account on MDE where you look at bus times and charges, there is a scan your magic band. This allows you to scan your MB with your phone and it opens your room once you do this. It is really easy and works well when you have many different MBs. I have quite a few and like to wear different ones each day or so and now I never have to go to the front desk because of MB issues.
I’m surprised the CM didn’t know that.

 

[VAtink]

I learned, when you go into your resort account on MDE where you look at bus times and charges, there is a scan your magic band. This allows you to scan your MB with your phone and it opens your room once you do this. It is really easy and works well when you have many different MBs. I have quite a few and like to wear different ones each day or so and now I never have to go to the front desk because of MB issues.
I’m surprised the CM didn’t know that.

Woah what?!?! I've never heard of this. So this is different than just opening the door with your phone, this actually makes the magic band work? I can't wait to try this, it would be great to bypass the front desk!