Food and Wine Festival (Final, and last pictures added 11/4) About This Page:

[tkd lisa]

I know, I know. It's me again! You know, I have a personal goal of getting the price of my annual passes down to $5 per day! And that nasty $10 parking fee just begs me to stay on-site!

Anyway, our next adventure's plans (and I have two more trips booked, but I'll wait to post those pre-trips until we come back!)

Cast: The usual.

Me, Lisa, single mom, 42, over 10 trips to the world, most in the last year.

DM, Helen. This is my mom. She's a retiree who joins us for many of our trips.

DD, Kaylie, 14. Trill ride junkie, Stitch Lover

DS, Casey, 13. In one of those teen-aged changeing stages. Used to HATE thrill rides, but was replaced by an alien on our last trip, so we'll see what this trip brings!

When: Oct 12-14th
Where: Saratoga Springs (one bedroom 10/12, studio 10/13)
Why: Food and Wine Festival!!!

Background:

The idea for this trip started when DD and I did our one day Mother Daughter trip to EPCOT just before Mother's Day (during the Flower and Garden festival). DD really enjoyed the special booths and activities for the F&G festival and said "Mom, what other things do they do here?" I told her they had F&W festival, and she said "We HAVE to come for that!" She's my adventurous eater, and World Showcase is something she really enjoys.

Fast forward to late summer. I didn't report this one, but DD and I took a visit over to WDW the day I THOUGHT my seasonal black out lifted. Note the word THOUGHT! Turned out I was off by a week. Hmmm. What to do. DS had stayed home that day, and DD wasn't interested in a water park (no blackout dates on those APs). I know! Let's go to DTD, and maybe take a tour of DVC! My divorce was final the week before this, and the judge left the finances the way they were. And I no longer had lawyers bills to pay, so I knew there was extra money in the budget.

Two hours later, I took the package home, but I knew I'd be buying! 150 points at SSR. I took the matching builders point instead of the $10 per point discount, and I'm now a DVC owner!

I had already paid off our free dining package, so I knew we wouldn't change that. But food and wine festival was sounding pretty good by this time.

I went home and looked at the school calendar to see what kind of holidays were coming up. Hmmm. The month of October is really weird in this school system. They don't get off for Columbus Day, but I do. But they get off 1/2 day October 6th for some teacher in-service, they get off October 9th for something not explained, and they get off October 13th for the end of the marking period.

Oct 6-9th would make a nice weekend trip, but my Mom is still going to be in Indiana for her 50th high school reunion. Plus it's over the weekend which means LOTS of points. Hey, I'm going to be out of town the week of Oct 16th, which means my mom will be up here to stay with the kids. If I pick the 12-14th, then she can just come up early and stay here when I leave. Quick call to mom to confirm this, and we had our dates!

Next, I called MS. I'd like either a studio or 1 bedroom for Oct 12-14th please. First choice, OKW, then SSR. I knew BWV at standard view wouldn't be available. "I have a SSR studio for 2 nights 13-15 October (all weekend points), or a 1 bdr 12 Oct and a studio 13 Oct. Nothing available anywhere else."

Okay! We're only there for two days, so book it! We can change rooms since we shouldn't have much stuff. Since the 1 bdr was a weekday night and the studio a weekend, they're the same amount of points (42 all together).

Now on to our plans!

I'm going to follow a similar plan from our free dining trip except I'll go into work Thursday the 12th. I'll leave by 2 and head home. DD gets off her bus at 3:30, and we'll pick DS up at school and head east. We should be checking in by 5:30-6:00 at SSR, and I expect we'll get into our room right away!

I plan to take the bus over to EPCOT and have dinner from the F&W festival tents. We'll just stay here until closing (probably watch Illuminations again). All the other parks close early this night.


Friday, 13 Oct, we'll have breakfast in the room, then decide which park to visit in the morning. We'll have to pack up for the room move. I plan on having a cooler to keep with the baggage, since I don't expect the studio to be available early. We'll just have counter service for lunch somewhere, and come back to move into our studio and take a break. Mom is interested in the tea tasting that is being held in the UK area of EPCOT, so we'll probably fit this in today. We may try to take in Fantasmic (but since we've missed it the last 3 trips, it may not happen!). EPCOT has evening EMH, and we'll probably go to part of that. Dinner will again probably come from the F&W festival tents!

Saturday, 14 Oct. Again, breakfast in the room. MGM has early EMH this morning. If we haven't stayed out too late, we'll probably hit this so the kids can ride the big rides. We might manage to hit the Indiana Jones show this time. Then I'd like to move over to AK and finish the day over there. We'll probably eat at Rainforest Cafe before we leave. I have a couple of gift certificates that need to be used up, and the kids like this place. AK closes at 5, so we'll eat dinner and be on our way home by 6 or 6:30.

I decided against any ADRs for this trip, since we're mainly focused on the F&W festival, and we ate SOOOO much on our free dining trip. I'd like to hit the Land Food court for CS this time, since it smells so good every time we visit Soarin.

I'll update this about a week before we leave.

[Colexis Mom]

Great plans Lisa [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Have a great time [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[tndisneyfam]

Sounds great! Can't wait to hear more! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[DrDolphin]

Great start!!!

[marisag]

Sounds great!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Minnie Lor]

How fun! Very cool to live so close. I'm sure you all will have a great trip.

[PrincessSharon]

Sounds great! Can't wait for more.

[luvnwdwgal]

Looks like another great get-away! Sure wish I lived just 2 hours away! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[mattnkatsmum]

Lucky you, living so close.

Have a great time.

[tkd lisa]

We're leaving tomorrow, so I thought I'd post the current plans. I haven't changed anything major, but I did make up a sheet of the F&W festival items we want to try.

Also, the kids were asking about the "Behind the Seeds" tour. I know my mom would enjoy it, so we may fit that in on Saturday, or it may wait for our December trip.

Something I'm considering is a surprise "LaNouba" for Saturday evening. I was planning on this for my mom's birthday in December, but there aren't any discounts for that month. There is a 20% Disney Visa discount for this month. So I'm thinking that if there's still seats left, I'll surprise everyone with it. So we'd have dinner at Rainforest more like 4:00, then instead of heading for home, I'd take them to DTD for the 6:00 show.

So, do you think it's worth it?

[Colexis Mom]

La Nouba is definitely worth it [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] Have a great time [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/bye.gif[/img]

[tkd lisa]

Well, I called 407-W-Disney on the way home last night, and they still had tier 2 tickets with the 20% visa discount so we're doing it! I just told the family I have a couple of surprises for them, and didn't say what. Final plans are:

Tonight, 12 Oct
Leave at 4:15 when we pick DS up after school, arrive at SSR by 5:30.

Head to EPCOT by 6:30 to snack around the Food and Wine Festival. Watch Illuminations (probably), then back to the room and in bed by 10:30.

Friday, 13 Oct (OOOOH Friday the 13th, in OCTOBER!)
Breakfast in the room (SSR 1 bedroom, so I'm taking pancake mix for today). We have to check out of the 1 bedroom and into a studio, so I plan to put our stuff in the van (except the cooler, which I'll leave with Bell Services). I expect to get the new "keys" and a call number for our new location.


I plan to be at MK at opening (9:00). DS has two VMK challenges to turn in and we'll just see what people want to do while we're there.

Head over to EPCOT about 11. DS will probably split off to spend time in Innoventions or Mission Space. My mom wants to do the Twinings Tea tasting today. I'm going to see what free seminars they have going on. We'll just eat our way around the festival. We may take an afternoon break depending on how everyone feels (and whether our new room is ready).

I think we'll head over to MGM for Fantasmic. After this, I think DS and mom will probably go back to the room, and DD and I will hit EPCOT for evening EMH. I'm going to try to wear DD out so she doesn't whine about DS watching the TV while she's trying to sleep (in a studio she won't be able to get away from the light/noise).

Sat 14 Oct.

Breakfast in the room (oatmeal/yogurt/bagels today!) and checkout. MGM has morning EMH if we're moving early enough. I want to fit in Indiana Jones this trip. And now that DS rides the thrill rides, I think we may spend a couple of hours there.

Move over to AK by about 11 and have a light lunch at Tusker house or Flame Tree BBQ (Love the DDE discount there!). I want to fit in Lion King and the Pocohantas show this time. We have an ADR at Rainforest at 4:00. I have a gift certificate from my birthday to use up there. Then the family is going to think we're leaving, but instead ....

Over to DTD for La Nouba! Even at this late date, I got center seats (but in the 2nd teir). The CM was so apologetic about it, and I told her not to worry because it was my fault I bought them so late, and I had also been told that those seats were fine. If I had taken the 9:00 show I could have had 1st teir seats slightly off center, but since we're driving home after this, I decided on the 6:00 show.

That's the plans! I'll let you know how it went when I get back.

[PrincessSharon]

Great plans, Lisa! Have a wonderful time! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img]

[tkd lisa]

Well, we've been back for a while, but I had to be out of town last week, so I'm just getting back to this. This was a very different trip, but a really enjoyable one. We didn't hit all 4 parks this time. In fact, we spent all but about 4 hours in EPCOT. But since the purpose of the trip was the Food and Wine Festival, that was okay.

Plans were:
Leave at 4:15 when we pick DS up after school, arrive at SSR by 5:30.

Head to EPCOT by 6:30 to snack around the Food and Wine Festival. Watch Illuminations (probably), then back to the room and in bed by 10:30.

Reality was:

Left Valrico at 4:15 and arrived at SSR at 5:20. There was no line to check in and we were assigned room 2225 in Congress Park. It was on the 2nd floor, just outside the elevator. We had a nice view of Fulton's and the quiet pool. We parked out front and hauled our stuff in. Mom was really wowed by the room. We had 3 different towel animals! Here's some photos I took.







DS had called for the first bath in the big tub, so I started running it while I was unloading our cold groceries, plus one days worth of clothes (we were moving to a studio in the morning). DS decided he wanted to stay in the room and he'd just eat some of the food we'd brought. So Mom, DD and I headed out to the bus stop, and were on by 6:10 and at EPCOT by 6:30. We had a single plan in mind.... Trying out different food!

I had looked at all the information on the web and had some idea of what we would probably like to try. I had moved over my Visa Rewards bucks and planned to use that for the majority of the weekend.

We decided to start to the left (toward Mexico), and head around World Showcase. Our first stop was the Chili Booth, where we tried the Bean and Corn Stew for $2.25 We all had some of it. It was a little spicy, and the beans were a little bit hard. I gave it a 2 1/2 out of 4. Mom gave everything we had a 3 or 4, so I'm leaving out her ratings. Next we stopped by the Scandanavia booth. DD had wanted to try the salmon tartare. She likes sushi and salmon, so I thought this would be something for her. But as I waited in line, the salmon tartare looked more like salmon mousse to me. It was a pink ball of mush. And the meatball looked really good, so I convinced DD that we should get that instead. It was $2.75 and I gave it a 3 1/2 out of 4. DD said it tasted like good salisbury steak, and I'd have to agree with her.

Next we were off to the Thailand booth. My mom has a friend in Thailand so she was interested in their food. I got in line for the noodle salad with chicken, and had to make my way through a CLOUD of gnats! They were so bad Mom and DD moved to the other side of the walkway! The noodle salad ($2.75) was served cold and had chunks of chicken. I gave it a 2 out of 4. It was a little bit spicy, and the dressing didn't seem to be blended very well. DD liked the rice noodles and ate most of them.

Next stop was Oktoberfest, outside of Germany. Mom had put this on her list for the sausage on a pretzel roll. I don't like sauerkraut, so this one was all hers. This was the first station that was set up with a separate "cash" area, but there was no problem. I ordered the sausage ($3) and an order of apple streudel ($2), and got two little cards to give to the actual food people. DD was over watching the glass etcher and Mom was sitting by the water. The glass etcher was engraving "But why is the rum gone?" which DD thought was hysterical! Mom gave her sausage a 3 1/2 (she said the roll was a little hard) and I thought the strudel was a 3. I needed a knife to cut it up, but the sauce was very tasty!

By this time, it was getting dark, and I'd been trying to call DS back in the room for about 25 minutes with no answer. I was trying the cell phone, and Mom said that maybe it was on vibrate. So I went to the DVC booth over by America and had them connect me to the room. DS answered and I said "why didn't you answer the cell?" He said "Mom. I was TALKING to HANNAH!" in that exasperated teenaged voice. Hannah is his new girlfriend (they had started "dating" the night before, but he's known her about a year). I reminded him that we DON'T have free minutes during the week and he said that he was done already. Turned out the phone was on vibrate too, which was why he didn't answer the other 10 times I called!

DD took a GREAT Picture of the sunset while I was on the phone. Here it is!



DD went on over to the Japan store to look at things, while Mom listened to a little bit of David Sanborne. We fought the crowd letting out of the concert and headed toward Morocco. Mom wanted some Baklava, but the line at that booth was really lon, so we kept moving. We did hear a little bit of Mo Rockin who wasn't quite as loud as normal.

We picked up DD in Japan. She hadn't found any shirts in her size, and was really interested in a headband. I told her we'd be back the next day if she still wanted it, then we headed on around, still looking for Baklava. There was NO one at the booth for Turkey, and the guy working there (Eduardo) was so nice! DD started talking to him, and I ended up buying something just because no one else was. He taught DD how to say Thank you and goodbye in Turkish. I thought they might have baklava, but their dessert was a cookie. We got the maze ($2), which is a tapas like plate. It had a mound of lentil salad, a chicken dish, and a chunk of pita bread with yogurt sauce. DD ate most of the chicken, but took one bite of the lentil and said YUCK! I gave the chicken a 2 1/2 and the lentil a 1 1/2. That booth never did have many people at it.

We kept going past Canada to find an Illuminations viewing spot. I got Mom some Baklava ($1.50) at the Greek stand (she said it was really good, I didn't have any) and left her to stake out our area of fence. It was about 8 by this time. DD and I headed to test track to ride single rider. The sign said 30 minutes, but we waited about 7. It was a good ride, and we headed back to Mom. I went over to the New Zealand booth and got DD a kiwi roll ($1.50). This one was a 3 out of 4. A little too much cake and too little kiwi but otherwise very good. Then I went to get a glass of water at the McDonalds by Canada. I ended up spending 20 minutes in a 5 person line, since one of the 5 people was a brazilian tour group! They placed about 10 different orders while we waited! When I finally got up and said "Just a glass of tap water please" the lady in front of me said "You waited this long for water???" It worked out okay though, since I was back with Mom and DD about 5 minutes before Illuminations started.

We took a few pictures of Illuminations. I couldn't find the setting for fireworks, so none of them are good enough to post. I did finally figure it out once we were back home. We marched out with the herd to our bus stop. This was where I really was greatful for my DVC purchase. SSR is in the first set of buses, and there was never much of a line. We were able to get on the first bus that came, and Mom even got a seat. We were back in the room by 10 and in bed by 10:30.

Plans for tomorrow:

MK for opening, then EPCOT for F&W followed by a break in the room (move into studio). After the break, maybe Fantasmic followed by EPCOT EMH for DD and me.

[luvnwdwgal]

Sounds like you had a good time snacking around the world! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]