ScoJo15
There will be days when I don't know if I can run
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2005
- Messages
- 2,535
Starting with the obligatory who the heck are we and why should you care
we are two adults traveling without the kids for a 5 day eating, drinking, riding, and oh yeah RUNNING extravaganza. If this interests you in the least, please read on:
OK so we could write for days and create a super detailed report of our drinking, er I mean, Disney experience at the first weekend of Food & Wine festival. But instead here are our (somewhat) edited thoughts. Cheers!
The Dolphin resort - needs its own GREAT category as this resort exceeded every expectation. The beds are super comfy. The restaurants and bars are some of the best on Disney property. The Cove Pool area is beautiful and provides loads of pool-side seating and the ABSOLUTE best pool bar in WDW one of the best in fact that weve experienced anywhere! The staff is friendly and efficient. Sure they dont have Mickey comforters at the Dolphin, but we found our own special pixie dust magic at the late night Lobby bar watching the entertainment that is .Convention(ears). Talk about great people watching!
The Cabana Bar at Dolphin Yep, mentioning it again. Strong drinks, real mixologists, delicious food bites, fantastic scene. Their bar menu is hand crafted with interesting takes on classic drinks (try that dark rum Mai Tai!), their draft selection doesnt include words like Bud, Miller, Coors and they actually school you on what each one tastes like heck they even infuse their own liquor!
Le Bistro de Paris Best restaurant in WDW. STILL at the top of their game. Great service (special thanks to our server Youssef), delicious French cuisine, GREAT wine options and fabulous romantic atmosphere.
Artist Point WOW what a meal! Beautifully prepared and well thought out dinners. Excellent wine options. Everything was perfection from the amuse bouche of mushroom soup to the delicious sauce of the mussels, from the flavorful Buffalo steak to the cedar planked yumminess of the Salmon, from the tasty brown sugar ice cream to the port flight oh the port flight (see below)
Port Flight at Artist Point Drinking a 40 year old port is PRICEY. Tasting a 40 year old port among the flight offered at Artist Point for $22 is perfection. Might be the only time a 40 year old port passes by our 40 something lips, but it was worth every sip.
Kimonos Seared Grouper in Shiso Coconut sauce for the win! Fresh and amazing sushi in a cool environment with an excellent wait staff. Loved the yellowtail and scallop sashimi, seared ahi tuna, and jalapeno roll and those White Grape martinis and glasses of sake arent too bad either.
La Cava del Tequila aka La Cava where we spent a lot of del Tiempo. Were not big margarita fans but those flavored margaritas here are To. Die. For. The Jalapeno and Cucumber ones were our favorites. Thank you Disney Mexico for this la hidden gem del EPCOT.
Mixology Seminar Did the Xante seminar with mixologist Eric Hay and was totally blown away with the presentation and what we learned. This wasnt a Xante sales pitch (although the drink is really good) but an excellent informative seminar that covered what equipment you should use and why (weighted mixing shakers, metal muddler), the order you should use to add the ingredients, a brief history of mixology and so many other things we filled a whole page with notes! Oh and the three drinks he made were delish!
In the interest of time, lets do a little rapid fire of other things that were good:
Drinking Harambe Coolers while watching the African drummers at the Dawa bar (just how long has Bob worked there anyway?)
Downing, er I mean tasting sake at that cool little sake tasting stand in the back of Mitsukoshi
Seeing Darth Vader and Stormtroopers while in line at Star Tours, which is vastly improved with the new refurb, loved the underwater scene!
Slurping down oysters while consuming excellent post-park touring drinks at Bluezoo (which by the way was highly recommended by Eric Hay and included a drink menu by the same dude who crafted the Cove Bar menu)
Sitting at the Tambu Lounge drinking Lapu Lapus and Backscratchers while waiting for the mass exodus from the post-Wishes MK crowd to clear up and then assaulting Extra Magic Hours at the park with quick rides on HM and Jungle Cruise (even more hilarious after said drinks). Oh and the new hitchhiking ghost ending on HM was great!
Getting a backscratcher with the Backscratcher (who knew?)
That friendly dude who gave us his unused Fastpasses as we were walking up to RnRC saved us 30 minutes (thats 2 drinks!)
Enjoying a lovely round of mini golf at the incredibly difficult Fairways course at Fantasia Gardens (although one of us did shoot 1 under par guess who?)
Renewing our friendly basketball rivalry at the Boardwalk basketball shot game (she won) and starting a new basketball tradition at the Animal Kingdom basketball shot game (revenge was mine!)
The Food and Wine festival, most notably the mahi mahi from Brazil, the beef skewer from Argentina, the jerk spiced chicken from Caribbean, the lamb slider from New Zealand, and the various pours of wine which could have been tracked with the free Passport they give you but how are you supposed to check things off when one hand has food, the other has wine and no pen is in sight? Sigh with that were on to .
Breakfast service at Kouzzina We ate dinner there last year, had a fantastic meal and looked forward to a return. Not sure what happened but our ADRs were for 10:45, we checked in around 10:40 were given a buzzer that went off around 11:02 and promptly seated where we sat without acknowledgement from any server (not even the introductory get you some water deal) until 11:20 at which point we walked out, notifying the hostess on the way out of our experience making sure the people in line could hear of our disappointment. Cant say worst service ever, because we actually didnt get any service at all.
Walking up at 12:29 to see the 12:30 American Idol Experience show and being told the line has been cut off (I saw a couple enter the line as we were walking up to it we missed it by 30 seconds, really??) Is there something we dont know here?
Finding out the Backlot Bar was closed closed?...at noon, when everything else in the park was open. We love sitting there, drinking those octane drinks or some jack and cokes, and taking in some awesome people watching not on this trip.
The evolution of trees. Not all trees, just the ones that have grown so high that they now limit the viewing of Wishes from the Wilderness Lodge boat dock. You can still see the higher fireworks but man if those trees hadnt grown the view would be amazing. Haha!
The Wine and Dine Half Marathon What the heck were we thinking? Sticking a half marathon right smack in the middle of our drinking, er, Disney Vacation?? Thank goodness we did lots of hydrating before (and after) the race. With that said, we still managed to finish in the top 18% of the 12,000 or so folks running the race perhaps there IS some benefit to pre-race alcohol loading?
Um no smoking, no hot dogs and no cassette mix tapes allowed on WDW busses? What the?
LOVE the dolphin, but what the heck IS this thing?
In summary, these ramblings along with the unwritten, censored craziness (some of what happens in Disney, stays in Disney) all added up to one awesome trip!!
As a special bonus to those of you who stuck around, weve included a list of our favorite drinks from this adventure. Indulge at your own risk!
Jalapeno Margarita, Cucumber margarita La Cava del Tequila, Mexico Pavilion
Captains Original Mai Tai, Sangria (real muddling, real wine, real good), Jack and Coke (only because its a STRONG pour), Bloody Mary Cabana Bar at the Dolphin Cove Pool
Harambe Cooler Dawa Bar, Animal Kingdom
Wakatake sake, Shirakawa sake, Tenryo Koshu sake, Kurosawa sake Mitsukoshi Sake Bar, Japan Pavilion
Single Malt Scotch Flight, Snake Bite Rose and Crown Bar, UK Pavilion
Port Flight (10, 20, 30 and 40 year tawny) Artist Point, Wilderness Lodge
Lapu Lapu, Backscratcher Tambu Lounge, Polynesian
Vouvray Sauvion Les Vins des Chefs de France kiosk, France Pavilion
Sweet Georgia cocktail, Strawberry Balsamic cocktail Bluezoo, Dolphin Resort
Terrazas Reserva Torrontes wine Argentina booth, EPCOT Food & Wine Festival
White Grape cocktail, Sake Sangria cocktail Kimonos, Swan Resort
Argyle Pinot Noir wine Territory Lounge, Wilderness Lodge
Solena Pinot Noir wine Artist Point, Wilderness Lodge
Xante, Pear X Mango Mojito cocktail, Walk the Plank cocktail Mixology Seminar, EPCOT Food & Wine Festival
Kir Royale cocktail Bistro de Paris, France Pavilion
And finally the WDW Hangover Remedy (only one hangover the whole trip!) chicken soup and saltines from The Fountain Café (Dolphin) followed by the perfectly STRONG Bloody Mary at the Cabana Bar.
Thanks for reading!! Well be happy to answer any questions and accept all drink recommendations you might have for our return to WDW this January for Marathon Weekend!
Until then....Cheers!!
OK so we could write for days and create a super detailed report of our drinking, er I mean, Disney experience at the first weekend of Food & Wine festival. But instead here are our (somewhat) edited thoughts. Cheers!
THE GOOD
The Dolphin resort - needs its own GREAT category as this resort exceeded every expectation. The beds are super comfy. The restaurants and bars are some of the best on Disney property. The Cove Pool area is beautiful and provides loads of pool-side seating and the ABSOLUTE best pool bar in WDW one of the best in fact that weve experienced anywhere! The staff is friendly and efficient. Sure they dont have Mickey comforters at the Dolphin, but we found our own special pixie dust magic at the late night Lobby bar watching the entertainment that is .Convention(ears). Talk about great people watching!
The Cabana Bar at Dolphin Yep, mentioning it again. Strong drinks, real mixologists, delicious food bites, fantastic scene. Their bar menu is hand crafted with interesting takes on classic drinks (try that dark rum Mai Tai!), their draft selection doesnt include words like Bud, Miller, Coors and they actually school you on what each one tastes like heck they even infuse their own liquor!
Le Bistro de Paris Best restaurant in WDW. STILL at the top of their game. Great service (special thanks to our server Youssef), delicious French cuisine, GREAT wine options and fabulous romantic atmosphere.
Artist Point WOW what a meal! Beautifully prepared and well thought out dinners. Excellent wine options. Everything was perfection from the amuse bouche of mushroom soup to the delicious sauce of the mussels, from the flavorful Buffalo steak to the cedar planked yumminess of the Salmon, from the tasty brown sugar ice cream to the port flight oh the port flight (see below)
Port Flight at Artist Point Drinking a 40 year old port is PRICEY. Tasting a 40 year old port among the flight offered at Artist Point for $22 is perfection. Might be the only time a 40 year old port passes by our 40 something lips, but it was worth every sip.
Kimonos Seared Grouper in Shiso Coconut sauce for the win! Fresh and amazing sushi in a cool environment with an excellent wait staff. Loved the yellowtail and scallop sashimi, seared ahi tuna, and jalapeno roll and those White Grape martinis and glasses of sake arent too bad either.
La Cava del Tequila aka La Cava where we spent a lot of del Tiempo. Were not big margarita fans but those flavored margaritas here are To. Die. For. The Jalapeno and Cucumber ones were our favorites. Thank you Disney Mexico for this la hidden gem del EPCOT.
Mixology Seminar Did the Xante seminar with mixologist Eric Hay and was totally blown away with the presentation and what we learned. This wasnt a Xante sales pitch (although the drink is really good) but an excellent informative seminar that covered what equipment you should use and why (weighted mixing shakers, metal muddler), the order you should use to add the ingredients, a brief history of mixology and so many other things we filled a whole page with notes! Oh and the three drinks he made were delish!
In the interest of time, lets do a little rapid fire of other things that were good:
Drinking Harambe Coolers while watching the African drummers at the Dawa bar (just how long has Bob worked there anyway?)
Downing, er I mean tasting sake at that cool little sake tasting stand in the back of Mitsukoshi
Seeing Darth Vader and Stormtroopers while in line at Star Tours, which is vastly improved with the new refurb, loved the underwater scene!
Slurping down oysters while consuming excellent post-park touring drinks at Bluezoo (which by the way was highly recommended by Eric Hay and included a drink menu by the same dude who crafted the Cove Bar menu)
Sitting at the Tambu Lounge drinking Lapu Lapus and Backscratchers while waiting for the mass exodus from the post-Wishes MK crowd to clear up and then assaulting Extra Magic Hours at the park with quick rides on HM and Jungle Cruise (even more hilarious after said drinks). Oh and the new hitchhiking ghost ending on HM was great!
Getting a backscratcher with the Backscratcher (who knew?)
That friendly dude who gave us his unused Fastpasses as we were walking up to RnRC saved us 30 minutes (thats 2 drinks!)
Enjoying a lovely round of mini golf at the incredibly difficult Fairways course at Fantasia Gardens (although one of us did shoot 1 under par guess who?)
Renewing our friendly basketball rivalry at the Boardwalk basketball shot game (she won) and starting a new basketball tradition at the Animal Kingdom basketball shot game (revenge was mine!)
The Food and Wine festival, most notably the mahi mahi from Brazil, the beef skewer from Argentina, the jerk spiced chicken from Caribbean, the lamb slider from New Zealand, and the various pours of wine which could have been tracked with the free Passport they give you but how are you supposed to check things off when one hand has food, the other has wine and no pen is in sight? Sigh with that were on to .
THE BAD
Breakfast service at Kouzzina We ate dinner there last year, had a fantastic meal and looked forward to a return. Not sure what happened but our ADRs were for 10:45, we checked in around 10:40 were given a buzzer that went off around 11:02 and promptly seated where we sat without acknowledgement from any server (not even the introductory get you some water deal) until 11:20 at which point we walked out, notifying the hostess on the way out of our experience making sure the people in line could hear of our disappointment. Cant say worst service ever, because we actually didnt get any service at all.
Walking up at 12:29 to see the 12:30 American Idol Experience show and being told the line has been cut off (I saw a couple enter the line as we were walking up to it we missed it by 30 seconds, really??) Is there something we dont know here?
Finding out the Backlot Bar was closed closed?...at noon, when everything else in the park was open. We love sitting there, drinking those octane drinks or some jack and cokes, and taking in some awesome people watching not on this trip.
The evolution of trees. Not all trees, just the ones that have grown so high that they now limit the viewing of Wishes from the Wilderness Lodge boat dock. You can still see the higher fireworks but man if those trees hadnt grown the view would be amazing. Haha!
WHAT THE ?
The Wine and Dine Half Marathon What the heck were we thinking? Sticking a half marathon right smack in the middle of our drinking, er, Disney Vacation?? Thank goodness we did lots of hydrating before (and after) the race. With that said, we still managed to finish in the top 18% of the 12,000 or so folks running the race perhaps there IS some benefit to pre-race alcohol loading?
Um no smoking, no hot dogs and no cassette mix tapes allowed on WDW busses? What the?
LOVE the dolphin, but what the heck IS this thing?
In summary, these ramblings along with the unwritten, censored craziness (some of what happens in Disney, stays in Disney) all added up to one awesome trip!!
As a special bonus to those of you who stuck around, weve included a list of our favorite drinks from this adventure. Indulge at your own risk!
Jalapeno Margarita, Cucumber margarita La Cava del Tequila, Mexico Pavilion
Captains Original Mai Tai, Sangria (real muddling, real wine, real good), Jack and Coke (only because its a STRONG pour), Bloody Mary Cabana Bar at the Dolphin Cove Pool
Harambe Cooler Dawa Bar, Animal Kingdom
Wakatake sake, Shirakawa sake, Tenryo Koshu sake, Kurosawa sake Mitsukoshi Sake Bar, Japan Pavilion
Single Malt Scotch Flight, Snake Bite Rose and Crown Bar, UK Pavilion
Port Flight (10, 20, 30 and 40 year tawny) Artist Point, Wilderness Lodge
Lapu Lapu, Backscratcher Tambu Lounge, Polynesian
Vouvray Sauvion Les Vins des Chefs de France kiosk, France Pavilion
Sweet Georgia cocktail, Strawberry Balsamic cocktail Bluezoo, Dolphin Resort
Terrazas Reserva Torrontes wine Argentina booth, EPCOT Food & Wine Festival
White Grape cocktail, Sake Sangria cocktail Kimonos, Swan Resort
Argyle Pinot Noir wine Territory Lounge, Wilderness Lodge
Solena Pinot Noir wine Artist Point, Wilderness Lodge
Xante, Pear X Mango Mojito cocktail, Walk the Plank cocktail Mixology Seminar, EPCOT Food & Wine Festival
Kir Royale cocktail Bistro de Paris, France Pavilion
And finally the WDW Hangover Remedy (only one hangover the whole trip!) chicken soup and saltines from The Fountain Café (Dolphin) followed by the perfectly STRONG Bloody Mary at the Cabana Bar.
Thanks for reading!! Well be happy to answer any questions and accept all drink recommendations you might have for our return to WDW this January for Marathon Weekend!
Until then....Cheers!!
