Larded and Loaded Tour: Food and Winopalooza 10/11-10/20 Complete! 3/9

[yearbook50]

Pshh...there's nothing wrong with using spreadsheets or word. I use both.

Excel to calculate all my costs and a grid of the hours/shows, how much I have left to pay off for the room.
Word to actually document what time I should be where, any fun facts I want to notice, rehab information, etc.

For October, my word file is about 9 pages.

I also have the file with the foods I want to try listed. But I'm going to ditch those for Mlill's Food & Wine Cards

 

[Phedre]

Hi there, Just found your pretrip and I'm really enjoying it. I wish I had been reading with you in real time because I was going through all the same stresses of planning and booking F&WF events too! It sounds like you are going to have a really great trip though.

I loved your Mickey in the Bears jersey and I know you talked about O'hare but somehow it didn't really click that you live in Chicago til I saw this photo....

Our presentation started with a Streetmosphere type of character. Her name is pronounced "DVC", but I'm thinking it's supposed to be "Dee Veecee":

The man and woman with their backs to the camera are my parents! My dh and I were sitting just the next seats over, right out of view, lol. Totally cracked me up

Anyways, I'm looking forward to more updates. Thanks for sharing all of this

 

[Bunchkin]

The man and woman with their backs to the camera are my parents! My dh and I were sitting just the next seats over, right out of view, lol. Totally cracked me up

What a coincidence!!! Neat!!





TheDISneyFamily I liked your spreadsheet!!! I have never used one before for WDW but may consider it for the next trip. It's too late in the game to have the time to do one as we leave in 7 days and I'm already swamped!!

 

[TDC Nala]

I have all my confirmations written on a piece of paper.

I might as well chisel them onto a rock like the Flintstones.

 

[BriarRosie]

How's the spreadsheet coming? Wanna see how OCD I am about WDW spreadsheets? Here's my sample Excel spreadsheet...

Sample WDW Spreadsheet

I need help.

Can you taste all the yummy food now? I can't wait to go!

Take care,
Michelle

Wow. I would never had made a spreadsheet like THAT! I'm telling you, I'm really not that organized! My stuff is just going to be confirmations and such. I like your time schedule, but I don't plan my days that way.

Pshh...there's nothing wrong with using spreadsheets or word. I use both.

Excel to calculate all my costs and a grid of the hours/shows, how much I have left to pay off for the room.
Word to actually document what time I should be where, any fun facts I want to notice, rehab information, etc.

For October, my word file is about 9 pages.

I also have the file with the foods I want to try listed. But I'm going to ditch those for Mlill's Food & Wine Cards

Again, another person way more organized than me! I do like those Food and Wine kiosk review cards. Those rock my socks.

Hi there, Just found your pretrip and I'm really enjoying it. I wish I had been reading with you in real time because I was going through all the same stresses of planning and booking F&WF events too! It sounds like you are going to have a really great trip though.

I loved your Mickey in the Bears jersey and I know you talked about O'hare but somehow it didn't really click that you live in Chicago til I saw this photo....

The man and woman with their backs to the camera are my parents! My dh and I were sitting just the next seats over, right out of view, lol. Totally cracked me up

Anyways, I'm looking forward to more updates. Thanks for sharing all of this

Now that is freaky! I had put the optical zoom as far up as it could go for that photo. I think it's hilarious that you saw your parents! In terms of where I was sitting, the first door prize / trivia question about how many DVC members there are....was given to the woman sitting RIGHT NEXT TO ME. (Did I already mention that when I gave my review of the event? I am too lazy to re-read it.)

I have all my confirmations written on a piece of paper.

I might as well chisel them onto a rock like the Flintstones.

I'm with you on the low-tech stuff normally. But I wanted to put some stuff down for the benefit of The Trio. They would want all their flight info, the confirmations and stuff at their fingertips. I think it's just to comfort them a little since they don't travel much.

 

[BriarRosie]

Whew. I posted an index of the highlights of the planning process. I did that because there's a lot of stuff to wade through, and it probably will help once I actually go on the trip and write the real report.

 

[BriarRosie]

I've had my share of late hours for month end closing at work, but this month was especially insane. I stayed late to finish up, and by the time my trip rolls around, I'd really deserve it!

But this weekend was all about getting some vicarious thrills from friends who are currently at WDW for the opening weekend of the food and wine festival. So I talked to my friend Amy on Friday evening, where she gave me a little recap of the events she had done.

Today, I text messaged Catherine, hoping it would be far enough past her flight that she'd be there. I wished her happiness getting larded and loaded, and she told me she was stuck on the monorail. So that prompted me to call her, where I got her review of the Haunted Mansion refurb (excellent!), and a rundown of things she's going to do. She was in the process of switching to the Epcot monorail, so I got ambient monorail noises in the background while dishing the dirt with her.

So after that, I decided to call Disney Dining again to see the status of the Japan food and wine pairing for October 15. Still not available to book. It appeared available around November 1st, but I'm not giving up. I will call back after October hits to see if they will stick by their opening date of October 15th or not. It's looking likely that the Unofficial Kimonos Sushi meet will be happening.

 

[TheDISneyFamily]

Hey Lori! It's almost here... can you smell the wonderful aromas, taste the yummy drinks, watch the celebrity chef's work their magic... I can't wait!

I love the new index! Having one makes it easier for us, and our readers. I'm sorry about the Sushi & Saki pairing - I wanted to do it, too. I think we're just going to gorge on sushi at California Grill and get our saki at the WS saki bar. I'll be waiting to hear about your Kimono's adventure.

Talk to you soon...
-Michelle

 

[BriarRosie]

Hey Lori! It's almost here... can you smell the wonderful aromas, taste the yummy drinks, watch the celebrity chef's work their magic... I can't wait!

I love the new index! Having one makes it easier for us, and our readers. I'm sorry about the Sushi & Saki pairing - I wanted to do it, too. I think we're just going to gorge on sushi at California Grill and get our saki at the WS saki bar. I'll be waiting to hear about your Kimono's adventure.

Talk to you soon...
-Michelle

Egad, your trip is almost here! And mine is just around the riverb..uh...corner, too. You are partly the inspiration for the index. Lynda (the DisneyFreak) was partly to blame for that, too.

As for the sushi and sake, I made yet ANOTHER call to see if the Oct 15 event is open for booking. It's not. Snap.

 

[oybolshoi]

I'm so miffed with Disney over this whole snafu that I refuse to book the sushi / sake pairing on principle. We can spend less money at Kimonos while sampling a far wider variety of sushi there anyway.

Anyhoo ... wanted to wish you a good trip and I hope Jay and I get to catch up with you at Kimons or perhaps we'll have to Kungaloosh at the AC ...

 

[BriarRosie]

I'm so miffed with Disney over this whole snafu that I refuse to book the sushi / sake pairing on principle. We can spend less money at Kimonos while sampling a far wider variety of sushi there anyway.

Anyhoo ... wanted to wish you a good trip and I hope Jay and I get to catch up with you at Kimons or perhaps we'll have to Kungaloosh at the AC ...

I'm going to give it one last shot before I give up and go to Kimono's. Actually, I just will go to Kimono's just to be able to say hello. Unless I run into you checking in or something at the BCV. And you can be sure I will be parking my butt at the Adventurers Club later.

 

[Bunchkin]

Oh my gosh!!!!
Lori, you're under a week to go!!!!
Where did the time go??


All packed??






DH and I took a first ever solo trip to WDW this past January and finally got to go to the Adventure's Club!!!! What HOOT!!!!
We just loved it there!!!!

 

[BriarRosie]

Oh my gosh!!!!
Lori, you're under a week to go!!!!
Where did the time go??


All packed??




DH and I took a first ever solo trip to WDW this past January and finally got to go to the Adventure's Club!!!! What HOOT!!!!
We just loved it there!!!!

Am I packed yet? Uh, no. I am so not packed yet!
If you want someone already packed, go visit Meli (yearbook50).

I'm still running around doing errands. On the plus side, I found two cute
tops to wear from my favorite French store, Target.

 

[yearbook50]

Am I packed yet? Uh, no. I am so not packed yet!
If you want someone already packed, go visit Meli (yearbook50).

I'm still running around doing errands. On the plus side, I found two cute
tops to wear from my favorite French store, Target.

Hey now

I had to make sure I had enough nice clothes mixed with park clothes.

 

[BriarRosie]

Hey now

I had to make sure I had enough nice clothes mixed with park clothes.

Yeah, yeah. Go tell it to the masses.

And now....just when you thought you were safe....

Another Update!

Yes. Go figure. I didn't think I'd have another update, other than the usual last minute running around. I did get my hair freshly colored and cut, and the salon actually gave me a trial size of some hairspray. I asked if they sold any of their products in travel sizes, and they just gave it to me.

But in park planning news...Mom hit me with a surprise. Apparently she didn't realize my plan in having no ADR on our Epcot day was geared towards noshing around World Showcase. She now vetoed this idea. And she and Sharon double teamed me last night to go over MORE menus.

Let me back up a minute. Sharon (not my sister, the family friend going with us) heard on the radio someone talking about fine dining at WDW. California Grill and Victoria and Albert's. I knew right away that I had to put the kibosh (is that how it's spelled?) on Vicki and Al's Diner due to:

1. The dress code.
2. The menu.
3. The price.

Now, before anyone has a cow, I have eaten at Vicki and Al's twice, both at the Chef's Table, in 1996 and 2002. I love the place. In fact, if someone wanted to go, I'd jump on that action normally. But I know my family, and my Mom is probably the one most likely to go with me. Sharon and Cari (my sister) are slightly picky. And I don't want to subject them to the dress code just yet. They are happy with their knit tops and capris, and so am I.

Anyway, sorry about that tangent! Sharon's other choice, California Grill, was doable. I enjoy it there, and Mom and Sharon peered over my shoulder at the menu. We concurred that it has something for everyone on the menu. But then my Mom reminded me that I threw Flying Fish Cafe and Spoodles into the suggestion mix, so we looked at those menus. I offhandedly talked about Cape May, as it's at our resort. We could waddle back to our villa and crash due to Food Coma.

Then it happened. I had to open my Big.Fat.Mouth. I shouldn't have done it. I think you can guess the dining venue when the first words out of my mouth were, "I know this place won't have any availability..."

You guessed it. Mom and Sharon wanted to see the menu of:

Le Cellier.

I made sure I had another backup up my sleeve, so I showed them the menu of Bistro de Paris. They thought that restaurant sounded good, so I had my backup plan ready in case Le Cellier was fully booked. I thought it was a good last-minute backup because it doesn't accept the Disney Dining Plan. But it does accept the Disney Dining Experience card!

Can you tell I'm excited that I get to use my DDE?

So I called and got the obligatory answer that a snowball has a better chance of getting into Hades than I have getting Le Cellier, either lunch or dinner. So I threw in my Backup Ressie idea of Bistro, and I had a choice of 5:45pm or 8:15pm. Since I knew I wanted The Trio to see Illuminations, I picked the wiser choice of 5:45pm.

And that is my last-minute planning saga.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Ooh la la! Le Bistro!

I just reread my trip report from 2001, and there's a part that basically says "We were starting to get hungry, so we stopped in Canada to eat at Le Cellier. There was no wait, so we were seated immediately."

Those were the days!!!

 

[BriarRosie]

Ooh la la! Le Bistro!

I just reread my trip report from 2001, and there's a part that basically says "We were starting to get hungry, so we stopped in Canada to eat at Le Cellier. There was no wait, so we were seated immediately."

Those were the days!!!

Yes, I ate there for lunch on Mother's Day a few years ago, and there wasn't
any wait then, either.

I am happy to do Bistro, as it's been many years since I've eaten there.

 

[Bunchkin]

Ok.............ya gotta be packed by now!.....Right???


2 days to go for you!!!

 

[BriarRosie]

Ok.............ya gotta be packed by now!.....Right???


2 days to go for you!!!

No, I'm not packed yet! I'm going to pack tomorrow.
Since I have to pack for myself and not some family, it doesn't
usually take me a long time to pack. I'm sure I'll pack tomorrow.

 

[oybolshoi]

Have a great trip - hope to see you somewhere at the Mousetrap next week.

And I'm looking forward to hearing all about your F&W experiences ... and seeing lots of pictures.

Safe travels.