We attended the Spirited Ball last night and were really disappointed in the evening overall. For one, it was a $145 per person Food and Winefest event, and so we expected there to be good food and wine. Instead they offered us watered down Barcardi drinks in plastic martini glasses. They did have a very cool way to serve the watered down Barcardi drinks though...through chutes in a bar that was totally carved out of ice. Unfortunately, that bar sat empty most of the evening because well, they were watered down drinks and the type that you have maybe one of (if that).
There was one very small additional bar which was manned most of the evening by one or two bartenders at most (mostly it was one) and it was an open bar. However, they were offering one cabernet, and it was Kendall Jackson. I can buy Kendall Jackson at my 7-11. We had a couple of glasses of wine, and had to wait 5-10 minutes in line each time we got one.
As for the food, it was served at five stations throughout the room. While the food was pretty good, it certainly wasn't the quality that we were expecting. They had a roasted butternut squash station, which was the best dish of the evening. Again, we waited about ten minutes in line to get our soup. They had a stuffed pork loin with cheddar macaroni and cheese. The pork was dry...this was more like buffet food. There was a venison stew served with mashed potatoes. Stew? We paid $145 per person for stew? The same stew that they're serving out at the New Zealand booth for $3.50? There was a risotto cake with duck confit that was nice.
They had warm apple crepes for dessert. I had one that was pretty good, but the rest of the little cakes and offerings were clearly frozen...sort of like a Costco Dessert.
The entertainment......they sort of brought a character to life out each of the paintings in the room. They had an iron worker guy, a rosie the riveter, a pilgrim, a sea captain....on and on. They sort of walked around posing all evening. The servers were all in 1700 period costume. And they had two couples come out and dance a couple of choreographed waltzes. Later they pulled people out on the dance floor. There were only a few couples who wandered out on the dance floor all night, and they clearly had taken ballroom dancing lessons. So, they were the only ones who could dance to the music that they played.
The seating...small cocktail table with six chairs at a table. When we first entered the room we figured that they'd keep us in this room for awhile and then we'd move to another room where we'd be seated at an actual table for dinner. That never happened....
Overall, we really felt that it could have been (should have been) a whole lot better. We're not sure where they spent the money on this evening. The fog machine and the talent couldn't have been *that* much. The ice bar was probably supplied by Bacardi. I don't know, we left thinking that we could have gone to Victoria and Alberts for what we paid.....well, we were just disappointed.
There was one very small additional bar which was manned most of the evening by one or two bartenders at most (mostly it was one) and it was an open bar. However, they were offering one cabernet, and it was Kendall Jackson. I can buy Kendall Jackson at my 7-11. We had a couple of glasses of wine, and had to wait 5-10 minutes in line each time we got one.
As for the food, it was served at five stations throughout the room. While the food was pretty good, it certainly wasn't the quality that we were expecting. They had a roasted butternut squash station, which was the best dish of the evening. Again, we waited about ten minutes in line to get our soup. They had a stuffed pork loin with cheddar macaroni and cheese. The pork was dry...this was more like buffet food. There was a venison stew served with mashed potatoes. Stew? We paid $145 per person for stew? The same stew that they're serving out at the New Zealand booth for $3.50? There was a risotto cake with duck confit that was nice.
They had warm apple crepes for dessert. I had one that was pretty good, but the rest of the little cakes and offerings were clearly frozen...sort of like a Costco Dessert.
The entertainment......they sort of brought a character to life out each of the paintings in the room. They had an iron worker guy, a rosie the riveter, a pilgrim, a sea captain....on and on. They sort of walked around posing all evening. The servers were all in 1700 period costume. And they had two couples come out and dance a couple of choreographed waltzes. Later they pulled people out on the dance floor. There were only a few couples who wandered out on the dance floor all night, and they clearly had taken ballroom dancing lessons. So, they were the only ones who could dance to the music that they played.
The seating...small cocktail table with six chairs at a table. When we first entered the room we figured that they'd keep us in this room for awhile and then we'd move to another room where we'd be seated at an actual table for dinner. That never happened....
Overall, we really felt that it could have been (should have been) a whole lot better. We're not sure where they spent the money on this evening. The fog machine and the talent couldn't have been *that* much. The ice bar was probably supplied by Bacardi. I don't know, we left thinking that we could have gone to Victoria and Alberts for what we paid.....well, we were just disappointed.
If it's offered again we'll certainly do it, sadly I don't think we'll make it back for an Oct trip till 2007. My 3 Disney 2005 trips were already planned before we flew down for this last one. 
