Pie That Brownie, Fruitcake! Updated Post #1832 - The End

[TDC Nala]

I hear Jellyrolls has gone nonsmoking but I still don't go there.

I miss the Adventurers Club.

 

[kabuki]

I hear Jellyrolls has gone nonsmoking but I still don't go there.

I miss the Adventurers Club.

WOW! Cause in October is was still smokey yucky! Well, that would be nice! We like the sad Boardwalk dance hall!

 

[hmgray95]

I know that they took the pleasure out of Pleasure Island, but I can't imagine why they would have an eating establishment there closing at 11 pm!

Don't you love getting room service? Always makes me feel pampered and much wealthier than I am.

 

[TDC Nala]

Aha, smoke in October? Either what I heard was wrong or they've gone back to smoking or they just couldn't get the smoke out of there.

It's not run by Disney so they don't have to go along with Disney's no smoking rule for its own places.

 

[KristinAnne]

It sounds like a perfect birthday breakfast...pancake waffle and all! We are off to the World tonight at 9! Can't wait!!

 

[ChelleinNC]

You know I love champagne, almost as much as special coffee

Great start to your birthday! Can't wait for the rest

 

[mickeys#1fan]

The pork belly didn't do much for me ... I'm not really a fan of pork fat regardless of who's prepared it, but it was served on a bed of yummy vegetable puree that I really enjoyed. Jay said he actually thought the pork belly was the best appetizer offering because it had a really good flavor but he also liked the hamachi quite a bit.

I can't believe a fellow foodie disrespects the pig? My life would be incomplete without bacon.

 

[mickeys#1fan]

Nitro raisin almost sounds like a super hero - but I don't want to eat it! I think all this wierd "molecular cooking", along with the foam on everything has gone a little far. I just want stuff that really tastes great and comes in big portions - esp. for that amount of money.

Very funny review Bendy - your humour has found it's way back, big time!

Couldn't agree more about foam! It just looks like someone spit on my food and didn't have the courtesy to hide it.

 

[oybolshoi]

Now you just knew this update would bring me out of lurkdom B. Loved your breakfast selection....nice and simple, just like me. (Well, maybe I'm not so nice at times but I sure am simple).

The Goose makes an appearance!!!

I saved tons of Disney Visa points for after the cruise just so I could buy my Mickey Waffle Maker once and for all. All the whining and crying and flailing I did at home for this would finally come to an end, right? WRONG!!!! Seems like the Marketplace doesn't sell them anymore!!!! You should've seen the look on my face when the CM told me that the only place to get them now is on ebay. So, I spent the next hour spending $200.00 of credits on junk that I didn't even want.

BTW...I couldn't win an item on ebay if I were the only one bidding on it.

Sorry to hear about the waffle maker being gone - is it something that can still be purchased through the Disney store on-line? They have a ton of stuff - maybe you can find it there.

Oh and Bendy... don't expect much from the Mickey Waffles on the 2nd week of the TA... I hear last time they ran out of mix and had to use cake mix...

But by then you'll be living off of rations of rum and making sure that you steal enough citrus so you don't get scurvy...

(watch Muppet Treasure Island before you cruise... it'll put you in the mood...)

Duly noted - thanks for the advice.

Hi I'm way back there on page 5 or so... It's nice to have so much to read... I could cheat and just read the main posts but what fun is that without all the banter from all your followers?

Hi Susan! Thanks for stopping by! No rush to catch up ... I'll be working on these for a while. And I love reading the back-and-forth ... that's half the fun of these threads!

just coming in to say HOLY MOLEY, Paradiso 37 closes at 11? When does Raglan Road close? There's more nightlife on the freakin Disney cruise now for pete's sake. Not that I go to DTD anymore.

Yep ... just like the amps from Spinal Tap, Paradiso 37 only goes to 11. I think Raglan Road might have been open until midnight but I can't remember.

Great job Bendy.

Thanks friendie!

I don't know why Disney hates us. I imagine my Jellyrolls is packed now since that is the only place to go after 11.

I don't know why they hate us either.

Yes, and it's all full of smoke! It's like an old Vegas casino!!!!!!

BLECH!!!

I hear Jellyrolls has gone nonsmoking but I still don't go there.

I miss the Adventurers Club.

We miss the AC, too; KUNGALOOSH!!!

WOW! Cause in October is was still smokey yucky! Well, that would be nice! We like the sad Boardwalk dance hall!

Thanks to Chelsi and Jason, my Jason and I actually went to the Atlantic Dance Hall for the very first time. It wasn't smoky but it was definitely foggy.

I know that they took the pleasure out of Pleasure Island, but I can't imagine why they would have an eating establishment there closing at 11 pm!

Don't you love getting room service? Always makes me feel pampered and much wealthier than I am.

I don't know why Disney even still calls it Pleasure Island. There's nothing Pleasurable about it at all. It's a dead zone.

And yes, indeedy ... I loves me some room service! I always make sure we have it at least once when we stay at BCV since you can't get it at SSR.

It sounds like a perfect birthday breakfast...pancake waffle and all! We are off to the World tonight at 9! Can't wait!!

Hey there! Thanks for stopping in to read especially when you're getting ready to leave for WDW. Have a great trip!!

And it was a great birthday breakfast!

You know I love champagne, almost as much as special coffee

Great start to your birthday! Can't wait for the rest

It was a great start and you will love the rest, I'm sure of it; especially the champagne!

The pork belly didn't do much for me ... I'm not really a fan of pork fat regardless of who's prepared it, but it was served on a bed of yummy vegetable puree that I really enjoyed. Jay said he actually thought the pork belly was the best appetizer offering because it had a really good flavor but he also liked the hamachi quite a bit.

I can't believe a fellow foodie disrespects the pig? My life would be incomplete without bacon.

Oh I love my pork, but I don't like the belly. I felt like I was eating a glob of fat and it just wasn't appealing. I'll take good bacon ... sausage links ... ham ... pork tenderloin ... heck, even pork butt! But Todd English can keep the belly!!

Couldn't agree more about foam! It just looks like someone spit on my food and didn't have the courtesy to hide it.

Right there with ya on the foam!

 

[ehagerty]

Ellen! Thanks for taking the time to stop in and visit us here!!

The pleasure is all your readers' - as evidenced by loyal following.

I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to meet you at Bluezoo; I hope future visits to WDW find us at another and much better signature dinner or other F&W event.

I continue to regret missing you birthday party at BVC. Never occurred to me that you might give our your mobile # to a stranger so that I could check in to see if the party was still underway!! Live and learn. (You ARE having a 50th, right?? How about a 41st? Make that 42nd - I'm not currently planning F&W in 2010.)

It may take me a while to get to and then finish the V&A review but it's going to be very enjoyable. And silly.
Thanks for reading!

You get there when you get there. I'll be there.

 

[kabuki]

WOW! I got thanked for the Atlantic Dance Hall? Or as We call it "how sad am I that I love this place?!" It is a piece of heaven - even if it looks like something else!

Bon Jovi anyone?!

 

[sunny04]

Birthdays at WDW are the best! I've had the pleasure of celebrating my birthday there twice, and there is nothing else like it. I look forward to hearing how you spent your day!

 

[oybolshoi]

The pleasure is all your readers' - as evidenced by loyal following.

I continue to regret missing you birthday party at BVC. Never occurred to me that you might give our your mobile # to a stranger so that I could check in to see if the party was still underway!! Live and learn. (You ARE having a 50th, right?? How about a 41st? Make that 42nd - I'm not currently planning F&W in 2010.)

You get there when you get there. I'll be there.

I think I gave our cell phone number out to close to twenty people - I wish I'd thought to give it to you as well. You had such a great dinner at V&A - I wouldn't have wanted to be the reason you might have cut it short. We did miss you, though.

I'm not sure Jay is going to let me celebrate another birthday at WDW like that again. But if we win the lottery Jay and I will host a mega-friendie meet at WDW for sure.

WOW! I got thanked for the Atlantic Dance Hall? Or as We call it "how sad am I that I love this place?!" It is a piece of heaven - even if it looks like something else!

Bon Jovi anyone?!

Honestly, we would never have gone there if you guys hadn't already been there - so it was cool and you do deserve a thanks! Jay and I don't dance ... and when we do (after waaay too much alcohol) it's not a pretty sight.

Birthdays at WDW are the best! I've had the pleasure of celebrating my birthday there twice, and there is nothing else like it. I look forward to hearing how you spent your day!

Hey stranger! How've you been? Isn't it wonderful to have a birthday at WDW? I really did have a lovely day, in many different ways.

 

[sunny04]

Hey stranger! How've you been? Isn't it wonderful to have a birthday at WDW? I really did have a lovely day, in many different ways.

Hello! I've been busy and sick, but I'm doing good now! Getting ready for our next trip (Jan. 31-Feb. 5) and catching up on all the DIS stuff. I'm ready to hear about the rest of your birthday!

 

[oybolshoi]

Saturday, October 17th - Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams, Without the Caviar: Moet & Chandon Seminar

We had a very busy day scheduled starting with our noon Moet & Chandon seminar, so Jay and I finally decided to head over to Epcot around 10:30 that morning. I also needed to redeem my Super-Happy Disney Birthday Fun Card offer - since Jay and I purchased annual passes through the vacation club I opted for the gift card that Disney was so generously giving to birthday guests who already had park tickets. As we were walking towards England on our way over to Guest Services and then the Festival Welcome Center, we noticed that the crowds were quite large for this early in the day. And then we saw something that just cracked us up.

Remember the picture from the previous day when Jay and I posed at the rope that's strung across the bridge leading into France? You remember ... we were poking gentle fun at all those people who have to be at every park for rope drop lest they not see and / or experience something before everyone else. Well, take a gander at Epcot's embedded rope drop at the entrance to the World Showcase:

They're massing at the border!!

Ummm, I hate to tell you people this, but the squishee stand doesn't open until noon.

In all our years of visiting Epcot's F&W Festival Jay and I have never seen anything like this.

Never.

We always expect a larger crowd on weekends because many local residents visit the Festival at that time, but I suspect the amazing weather was just as big a draw on this day. As the day wore on, more and more people packed themselves into Epcot until it felt like you'd need a shoehorn to extract yourself. So given what we'd already seen, we probably shouldn't have been surprised to find a line out the door when we arrived at Guest Services.

Out. The. Door.

Thankfully the CM's were moving people through pretty quickly, but there were an awful lot of guests who wanted birthday fun cards who hadn't done their homework and they gummed up the process. I know it's difficult for others to reach the zenith of Bendy-type anality, but is it really too much to ask for people to exercise a little common sense? If you can't prove that October 17th is your birthday you ain't getting no giftie ... it's as simple as that. I felt bad for those poor CMs who had to tell people the program rules while being sulked and glared at.

Being an anal overachiever, I had everything at the ready - email registration and confirmation; annual pass; official ID verifying my date of birth. Within five minutes of reaching the front of the line, I was on my way to an $80 spending spree at the Festival Welcome Center. Thanks, Mickey!!

Super-Happy-Fun-Card and the Birthday Girl (see the line behind me?).

We actually had a difficult time finding stuff to buy. The weird chef-riding-a-bicycle visual theme the Festival was using this year did nothing for us. So we picked up some wine charms, a cookbook, and an extra-extra-large colorforms type Festival shirt that I thought was really cute. Sadly for me, I didn't try the shirt on until we were back in Stinktown and that XXL must be for a bulky dwarf or a very large child because it barely fits me. And while this year's cookbook with 50 recipes is a definite improvement over last year's 20 recipes, I still take issue with some of the items that were included. For instance - do we really need more than one sushi recipe? do we really need a recipe for pizza? why isn't the fisherman's pie from Ireland included? and where are the damn drink recipes?

You wanna hear something funny? I read an article or interview with someone from the F&W ivory tower and that person said that the cookbook decision makers had no idea the fisherman's pie was going to be such a popular item so it wasn't included in the 2009 cookbook. Sooooo, the bright bulbs who organize the Festival cookbook thought that the vast majority of guests were going to love something like India's Gulab Jamun and be clamoring for the recipe so they could make it at home but wouldn't feel the same way about a fabulous cheesy-tater pie stuffed with lobster and scallops???

Oh yes; these people are really in touch with their guests.

Let's get back to the booze, shall we? I'm getting a little too cynical and sarcastic even for me.

Since the deminars were ticketed this year, Jay and I saw no reason to stand in line for entrance 15-20 minutes before an event was scheduled to begin when there was a perfectly good bench to relax on. Who doesn't enjoy a good sit? As Mr. Burns always says, "It's the great equalizer."

After we saw people being admitted we joined the line, and as we handed our tickets over to Bud, who was there that day lending a helping hand, he looked at my button and said, "Happy birthday Barbara."

I smiled as I handed him my ticket and said, "Thanks, Spud!"

Bubbly Birthday self-portrait.

You can tell from this picture that Jay was still feeling a little rough - he doesn't have quite the smile and camera-glow that he usually does. The only good thing about his lingering queasiness was that I got to drink most of his champagne as well as mine!

Bubbly times three!

Each place setting included a sample of Moet & Chandon Rose' NV; Moet & Chandon Imperial; and Moet & Chandon Nectar Imperial. The seminar was led by a company representative named Seth Box - from what BriarRosie tells me he was the winery guy at the Flying Fish signature dinner on the 15th - he was not only very informative and funny, but one of the more comfortable speakers that we saw during our Festival stint. Rather than standing up on the stage and hiding behind the platform like many of the other speakers, he delivered his talk right there on the floor with us potentially stinky theme park guests and enjoyed drinking the bubbly as he did so!

Seminar stage

Moet & Chandon Rep - Seth Box

So what did we learn?

We learned that on average there are 250 million bubbles in a bottle of champagne. We also learned a bit about the labeling process ... standard champagne, the kind that most of us buy, is non-vintage. A vintage champagne is typically a special bottling and will include a date on the label ... and as you've no doubt guessed, it will also be significantly more expensive. And then there is the Prestige Cuvee which is considered the finest, most expensive champagne available - think Dom Perignon or Cristal.

As for the Moet & Chandon varieties that we tried, the Rose' was the dryest of the three and my least favorite. It's a blend of three wine varieties with an emphasis on pinot noir. I suppose it should have been fruity but to me it seemed like I was drinking carbonated, red wine vinegar.

The Imperial was an extra-dry champagne that's a blend of three wine varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Muenier. Although it was more dry than the previous champagne, the Imperial was softer and more typical of the kind of bubbly that Jay and I tend to purchase.

My favorite, surprisingly enough, was the Nectar Imperial which had the highest sugar content of the three. I don't usually like sweeter wines and champagne but this didn't strike me as overly sweet perhaps because it was also semi-dry. I would like to get my hands on a bottle of this for the holidays - that's how much I enjoyed it.

Six glasses later and someone needs a nap!

We really liked this beverage seminar and felt like it was definitely worth the price of admission. I especially enjoyed it since, as I said earlier, I was able to drink all of my bubbly and most of Jay's. I am not the kind of person to pass on extra champagne unless it's really really bad. And the best news was that Jay was really feeling better by the time this was finished - we had about 90 minutes to kill before our F&W pairing at Tutto Italia and decided to brave the Festival crowds for some snackables and drinkables.

So stay tuned for eating and more drinking!

Keeping score? My drink total for the day by 1PM was 1 mimosa and 6 small glasses of Moet & Chandon champagne. Bendy's 40 and she's feeling fine!!

PS. Hello to Susan who stopped and said hello to Jay and me and wished me a happy birthday!

 

[oybolshoi]

Hello! I've been busy and sick, but I'm doing good now! Getting ready for our next trip (Jan. 31-Feb. 5) and catching up on all the DIS stuff. I'm ready to hear about the rest of your birthday!

Glad you're feeling better; enjoy that upcoming trip!!

 

[TheDISneyFamily]

Mmmmmm.... Champagne! That's MY kind of seminar! How lucky for you that you got to take Jay's samples off of his hands! Sorry he wasn't feeling well... which is odd... 'cause it's usually YOU!

The F&W rope drop crowd is pretty amusing! Glad you got your B-day Mickey card to spend! Guess who forgot to buy the cookbook this year? Oh well... I was too busy having fun...

If I don't get a chance to come back here and wish you Happy Holidays before we leave, I'll send my Best Wishes now! Here's to a fabulous 2010!

Cheers!
Michelle

 

[jeminni]

Great birthday review so far.

I cant wait to see what the final drink score ends up being.

 

[TigerKat]

Great birthday updates! I agree, I can't wait to see the final tally.

 

[podsnel]

Hi! It's me- your Tokyo Dining Sake friendie! This sounds like it was a fabulous birthday!! I can't wait to hear about the Tutto pairing- I would have LOVED to do that one, but I think we went home the day it was offered. I am really looking forward to spending my birthday in WDW one day. Mine is November 29th, so it would be PERFECT for Christmas festivities- I really gotta get on that!

And if you liked my Tokyo TR, come read my (almost done) TR from F&W- it has a TON of food porn! It's the VB OKW TR in my sig. I'm going to update it with links to all the posts later tonight- after I bake some cookies.