How many Food Booths are there? A F&W Trip Report! 11/29 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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How many Food Booths are there? A F&W Trip Report! 11/29
Alright everyone, I finally finished my crazy work week and managed to get my photos uploaded, so I thought I'd get started with the actual report today.
I got off work early on Sunday night and came right home and went to sleep. Brandon worked late and came home to pack. Fortunately, we were not on the 6am flight, but rather the 9am flight, so we both managed to get some sleep, and it was actually light out when we left for the airport, which is a bit of an anomaly for us. It's about the same price to park at the USPark.net as it is for two to take a cab both ways and much faster to have your own car, so we threw everything in the trunk of the Civic and headed out to the airport.
We started out a few minutes late but didn't hit any traffic on the way out to Kenner and quickly parked the car and hopped on the shuttle. It's actually faster to park offsite and take the shuttle, which literally only has to cross the street to the terminal, than it is to walk from long term parking to the terminal. (It's also $5 cheaper a day to park offsite.) We printed our boarding passes and went through security. We had time to grab a subway sandwich before boarding.
Our first food adventure was not super exciting, we shared a footlong Italian BMT and each got a diet coke. The airport subway is not participating in Anytober, in fact they never have $5 foot longs! IMHO it's not worth it to order any of the Subway breakfast sammies--the eggs don't taste like anything--so I always just have a regular sub for breakfast.
We boarded on time and the flight was completely uneventful, and not full--we had plenty of space due to an empty seat between us.
We headed for the first floor once we got to MCO and were on a bus directly. We waited a few minutes for it to fill and then we were off! It took more than an hour to get from the airport loading area to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is always the last stop, if you need to know. Fortunately we were met as we disembarked from the bus and whisked away to the 6th floor where the Concierge checked us in to our club level room, which was already ready at about 11:45am.
This is what our room looked like after our first turn down service. I didn't stop to take pictures when we checked in:
We dropped our stuff, had them bring up the Owner's Locker and grabbed some soft drinks from the Lounge as we made our way down to the bus stops.
We waited awhile for a bus and then headed for Epcot. We both needed to go to the ticket booths and buy new Annual Passes. Once that was done, we headed to the World Showcase, where we found a Princess waiting for us.
Somehow, no picture of Princess Sharon, I was a little sparing with the camera on this trip. I think I only took 338 total.
We headed out to lunch Around the World, which you'll get to see later or tomorrow!
I love a story of an easy flight and arrival! How nice that your room was ready that early, and VERY nice to have concierge awaiting your arrival. Looking forward to your first attack on the food booths with Sharon!
Nice and brief start Heather. Just take your time as we all look forward to a great TR!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
By popular demand, I'm back with our first food foray into the Food and Wine Fest! We started to the left with Australia. We ordered the Shrimp on the Barbie with Pepper Berry Citrus Glaze, which was a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy. I was kind of surprised at the size of the shrimp--teeny tiny. Brandon has reminded me that these were also super salty--so salty that he only ate one, I think Sharon might have had one and I finished them off. I'm not sure why I bothered.
We also ordered the Grilled Lamb Chop with Potato Goat Cheese Salad and Shiraz Reduction. The chop itself was tasty--although cooked all the way through and I'd never order a lamb chop that way, but I understand that Disney is producing for the masses--especially at the F&WF. The Potato Goat Cheese Salad, however, was another story all together. The potatoes were a little al dente, but the flavors were amazing. I could have eaten a bucket of the stuff.
Sharon ordered the Lamington dessert, which is a Chocolate and Coconut covered yellow cake. I had a bite and it was pretty tasty, but enormous and there's no way I could have eaten an entire one by myself. My yum on the first bite was slightly revised on the second bite when I realized it was a little one note.
We moved on to Mexico, skipping 3 booths we'll return to later. I do have to warn you in advance that I didn't take photos of every booth, just a few, but I do have a review of all but 3 booths. I'll tell you up front that we skipped Japan, Morocco and Greece if you happen to be waiting to hear about one of those specifically.
Brandon ordered a Dos Equis and I had a strawberry lime margarita with salt. Warning: if you order the margarita give it a good stir before you drink. I didn't grab a straw and was drinking out of the glass from the top. I found it a little bit sweet and slightly lacking on the tequila. That was until I got to the bottom and discovered that all of the booze was at the bottom. I didn't watch the drink being poured, but if I had to guess I'd say they added the tequila first and then topped it with the strawberry lime mix. My last big sip was basically a shot of tequila.
We ordered the Grilled Rib Eye Tacos with Chipotle Pepper Sauce and Scallions on a flour tortilla. These were a little bit spicy. I noticed that throughout the F&WF this year Disney didn't hold back on the spice. Last few years I felt like things were "dumbed down" a little bit, both in spice and seasonings, to perhaps better please a less sophisticated palate. This year Disney went for it--and I'm proud of them, dishes were much more authentic. GO Disney! Back to the Tacos--the meat filling was spicy and tender, but this dish was really made by the addition of the scallions, which just added a wonderful depth and a great crunch. Definitely squeeze the provided lime over your taco for even more flavor! (Acid is good my friends.) Brandon was surprised I liked them as much as I did, because there was quite a kick and I've been off of most spicy foods for awhile--thanks to my somewhat delicate palate and VERY delicate stomach.
As amazing as I just made those rib eye tacos sound, I liked the Crispy Shrimp Taco even better. It came with a Chipotle Lime Mayo and Cabbage on a flour tortilla. I don't usually love seafood tacos, but shrimp is the exception. (Brandon had blackened redfish tacos for lunch today and I won't even taste them any more--I just prefer my fish raw--although you'll see that I loved one of the fish offerings at a booth later in this trip.) The lightly fried shrimp were perfect and super crunchy. The cabbage added a second layer of crunch and believe it or not I love cabbage. (I like REALLY simple food just as much as super crazy stuff.) The Chipotle Lime Mayo made the cabbage much more like a slaw as the flavors mixed together when I picked up the taco. Definitely try this one! Again, make sure you squeeze the lime!
By the way--once we got our offerings from Mexico there were no tables or even garbage cans to lean on to be found so, on Sharon's suggestion we took our food into La Hacienda--which is used as overflow seating for La Cantina de San Angel during the day. It was nice to get away from the crowds (and yes it was crowded) and into the AC. You can use this secret get away at any time, as La Hacienda only serves dinner.
Just a heads up--Brandon and I ordered everything to share. So for example I ate half the rib eye taco while he worked on the shrimp and then we switched. This allowed us to visit almost every booth--and some got a second visit.
Our favorite booth was the last visit for the first day. Anyone want to guess? No? Okay it was South Korea!
First up was the Boolgogi BBQ Beef with Steamed Rice and Kimchi. This was good, but not very visually appealing. The beef was super tender, well seasoned and not super spicy. The kimchi had a much bigger kick to it, but retained the crunch of the cabbage. Hmm more cabbage? Yes, more cabbage--the tastiest cabbage you can find anywhere. I've recently been introduced to more Korean food because all of our kitchen interns for the last 2 years have been from S Korea. I love it--for some reason the Korean spices don't bother my stomach! Maybe it's the addition of vinegar in almost all dishes. This was another dish that was good, but not something to come back for a second serving. Maybe just because it looked so awful. Brandon says it looks exactly like it is supposed to, maybe that's true, but it doesn't make it pretty.
Next--our favorite dish of the whole festival, we did come back for seconds on this one on a later day. Lettuce Wrap with Roast Pork and Kimchi Slaw is absolutely amazing. The booth description doesn't include it but this also has a mayo based sauce, but I can't tell you what's in it. The pork is roasted perfectly and has lots of flavor, the kimchi has a spice, but it isn't as spicy as the one served with the BBQ beef--yes there are two different kimchis being served at this booth. The crunch the kimchi and the lettuce wraps provide is great and the sauce is wonderful. I love wrappers that aren't flour tortillas! This booth definitely merits a visit. Sharon had her own at this stop and I'll leave it to her to let you know how she felt about it.
We continued walking and stopped at the American Adventure area. No one was hungry for more food, but Brandon decided to stop at the stand for a beer so I had him get me the Pumpkin Mousse with Ocean Spray Cranberries and Orange Sauce. This was a super tasty bite and one I don't have a photo of. It was about the size of one of those Applebees Shooter Desserts. It also had a layer of Spice Cake in it--which I love. This is a perfect dessert for someone like me--sweet and savory at the same time. Brandon had the Cherry Wheat beer which had a very vanilla taste too it, which reminded us both of cake . . . add cherries! I liked it enough, Brandon didn't love it, except that it gave him a dessert experience without having to eat dessert--he has blood sugar issues and doesn't consume much sugar at all.
After our food explorations we decided to head to France--not for more food--we were now stuffed, but a nice quiet sit down in the AC. I love Impressions of France. I saw it for the first time on my quick trip in July and fell absolutely in love--it helps that I've been to some of the places in the movie. I really wish that Disney would upgrade the theatre a little--this would be a great movie for the technology used in Soarin. I had a laugh as we were sitting down--we headed down a row and then Sharon looked at me and we immediately backtracked because there was a smallish child who was already a little unruly. Impressions is not a short movie and I didn't want to be sitting next to a squirmy, unhappy child for the duration. We moved a few rows forward and further to the left. Once again I loved it and Brandon, who hadn't seen it before enjoyed it. I commented that I was going to have to buy the 4 parks 1 World CD just so that I could have the music from the show and Sharon promised she'd send me a copy. (Thanks in advance Sha! You don't have to mail it--you can give it to me in December!)
After France we headed back to the front of the park and out for the afternoon. Sha and I stopped to look in the entrance shoppes and I love the Christmas Gingerbread ears that were just put out. We said our good byes until later--it was time for our nap and Sha was headed to the MK, where we'd meet up with her later!
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
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Oooh, thanks for the descriptions! I know I'd love the potato salad with goat cheese. Wonder if they'll give it to me without the lamb? I'll also try the pumpkin dessert. I'm really glad to hear that the dishes are more flavorful and authentic this year.
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