Aw, my Frose went back to being Rose - 2019 Food and Wine Adventure! RL Update 4/22!

The manager did tell us that because it took so long that we would receive 3 anytime FP+, but we realized later that we never did receive them.

That's disappointing that you didn't end up getting the FPs, especially since they offered!

Our next food booth was Islands of the Caribbean where I picked up the frozen mojito. This was great, it was the perfect drink for strolling around WS on such a hot day!

The frozen mojito here was one of my favorite of the trip and I usually don't like mojitos! It was so refreshing.

We were heading over to Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Jiko! We ate there years ago, actually the year the lodge opened, and we loved it. We’ve been saying for years we need to go back, so it was finally time!

I haven't been since 2012 and you are making me want to go back - that bread looks amazing! I really love AKL and we usually end up finding an excuse to go on most trips.

Since we were early, I went in and once again changed our reservation time, this time to 5:00!

It's great there were reservations to choose from so you could be flexible!

Can't wait to hear about DAH at MK!
 
That's disappointing that you didn't end up getting the FPs, especially since they offered!

Yeah, it was a bummer, but we didn't even notice until the end of the trip. We were so busy with other things we didn't even need them for the most part!

The frozen mojito here was one of my favorite of the trip and I usually don't like mojitos! It was so refreshing.

It was so good! Refreshing and not overly sweet. Great drink for strolling around WS on a hot day!

I haven't been since 2012 and you are making me want to go back - that bread looks amazing! I really love AKL and we usually end up finding an excuse to go on most trips.

I'm happy we finally made it back. It's been like a decade! I'm so excited to be staying there again next year, it's been too long!

It's great there were reservations to choose from so you could be flexible!

I was so surprised by this! Every time I signed on there was a lot of available times left.

Can't wait to hear about DAH at MK!

It was a great night, need to finish writing it, but we had a blast! This is by far my favorite add-on event at Disney. The low crowds plus the free snacks are awesome!
 
I have never been to AKL, it always just feels so out of the way especially with the kids.

However all the meals I read about there always sound so good! It’s 100% on my lists to stay at soon!

That lamb does look great! I find buses to be so annoying sometimes, it’s one of the reason I love YC/BC we walk to two parks and pretty much only take the buses if we have to. We take to many Minnie vans lately!! Spoiled
 


The food looks delicious! We're planning on staying at AKL on our next trip and I hope to eat at Jiko. Looks worth it to me! That's unfortunate about the buses.
 


Sounds like a fun visit at AKL and a delicious dinner at Jiko!

It was so awesome to go back! We hadn't been there since we stayed there the year it opened which I believe was in 2001, which wow, that it a long time ago! Not too much had changed that we noticed....but then again it has been 18 years so there's probably plenty we forgot!

Dinner at Jiko was fantastic. It definitely surpassed our meal at Tiffins this year, but that is a whole other story I'll get to later.
 
I have never been to AKL, it always just feels so out of the way especially with the kids.

However all the meals I read about there always sound so good! It’s 100% on my lists to stay at soon!

That lamb does look great! I find buses to be so annoying sometimes, it’s one of the reason I love YC/BC we walk to two parks and pretty much only take the buses if we have to. We take to many Minnie vans lately!! Spoiled

Yeah, we're not a fan of only having the buses as the "free" option to get to the parks from AKL. But we also don't mind paying for Minnie Vans to get where we need to go. The prices are lower than what I pay for Ubers in DC....so they seem like a deal to me to avoid waiting and being stuck on a crowded bus! We're staying at AKL again next year for part of our stay, and I've already promised my mom that during that part of the stay I will pay for Minnie Vans to get us everywhere! Ha!

We have only ate at Jiko there, well I guess also the pool bar but that doesn't really count, but I highly recommend Jiko. The food was amazing!

The presentation of the lamb was amazing! It was surprisingly massive, I couldn't believe how much food it was.
 
The food looks delicious! We're planning on staying at AKL on our next trip and I hope to eat at Jiko. Looks worth it to me! That's unfortunate about the buses.

It was so good! So exciting you're staying at AKL! We loved it the one time we stayed there, hope you have a fantastic trip!

Definitely recommend Jiko, the food is so good.

Yeah, it's unfortunate about the buses. When we last stayed there I don't remember the buses being that bad. Although that was before they built the DVC section, and from what I've been reading the buses do stop there first, so if they fill up skip the main resort, which kind of sucks for non-DVC people! Although the same thing happens at YC/BC...so many times we've gotten on a bus at YC and filled up and just skipped the BC completely. I guess the main point is Disney needs more buses. Haha!
 
Joining in...great report so far...what wonderful memories to make with your mom...you are blessed

:welcome: thanks for joining in! I really am so lucky that my mom and I travel so well together. Definitely appreciate every moment!
 
Hey there! Getting caught up on your report now that I am back hanging out on the trip report boards again.

I love your F&W trips with your mom.

Sounds like you really do have a jam-packed agenda! Can't wait to read all about it, especially the Mediterranean pairing.

Thanks for your review of EPCOT Forever. I liked it. Not as much as Illuminations, but I loved hearing some of the songs from discontinued but beloved attractions. As you noted, the fireworks were spectacular!

I enjoyed reading your thoughts about Boardwalk. You probably don't know but I have a bit of an affinity for the Yacht & Beach, so I have never stayed on the other side of the lake.

GRRRRR! on your ticket issue and how long it took to resolve and get into EPCOT.

Bring on the food!!!

:goodvibes
 
Nice job on your first round at the F&W booths. I had the scallop with celery root puree last time and it was one of my favorites, but I didn't manage to get it this year. I also didn't try the maple bourbon cheesecake, but OMG, that looks and sounds amazing!!!

The apple popcorn bucket is adorable. Smaller than I expected, but super cute.

::yes::
 
Great afternoon at AK. I love your meets and your walk around the Tree of Life trail.

The Circle of Flavors event sounds like amazing and the progressive aspect is really interesting.

Cracking up about your mom's love of lamb. Definitely a fun memory.

That lion pop is INCREDIBLE!!!!! I love passion fruit, so I would have been all over that dessert.

So cool to get your picture taken in front of the ToL reflections.

:thumbsup2
 
Hey there! Getting caught up on your report now that I am back hanging out on the trip report boards again.

I love your F&W trips with your mom.

Sounds like you really do have a jam-packed agenda! Can't wait to read all about it, especially the Mediterranean pairing.

Thanks for your review of EPCOT Forever. I liked it. Not as much as Illuminations, but I loved hearing some of the songs from discontinued but beloved attractions. As you noted, the fireworks were spectacular!

I enjoyed reading your thoughts about Boardwalk. You probably don't know but I have a bit of an affinity for the Yacht & Beach, so I have never stayed on the other side of the lake.

GRRRRR! on your ticket issue and how long it took to resolve and get into EPCOT.

Bring on the food!!!

:goodvibes
:welcome:Thanks for following along!

Wait....you have an affinity for the YC/BC? I would have never guessed! :rotfl2:

It was weird being across the lake for that first night, we definitely do prefer the YC, but it was cool to check out the Boardwalk for a night.


Nice job on your first round at the F&W booths. I had the scallop with celery root puree last time and it was one of my favorites, but I didn't manage to get it this year. I also didn't try the maple bourbon cheesecake, but OMG, that looks and sounds amazing!!!

The apple popcorn bucket is adorable. Smaller than I expected, but super cute.

::yes::

Thanks! We were on a mission that first day, we had been drooling over the food at the Wine and Dine area for the weeks leading up to the trip so couldn't wait to try it! The food there definitely did not disappoint!

The apple was super cute, I kind of wish I got one for myself as well!

Great afternoon at AK. I love your meets and your walk around the Tree of Life trail.

The Circle of Flavors event sounds like amazing and the progressive aspect is really interesting.

Cracking up about your mom's love of lamb. Definitely a fun memory.

That lion pop is INCREDIBLE!!!!! I love passion fruit, so I would have been all over that dessert.

So cool to get your picture taken in front of the ToL reflections.

:thumbsup2

It was such a fun afternoon, and being able to have time to explore the trails around ToL was awesome. I can't believe I'd never been back there!

Circle of Flavors was amazing! I would definitely recommend. The food was so good, and yes, that lion pop was amazing. I can't believe the detail!
 
Day 2, Part 4: DAH at MK!

We last left off with us heading to MK for DAH!

We arrived at the park around 7:20 and made our way over to the DAH entrance. There was a pretty decent line to get in, which was surprising. We arrived around the same time last year and there was no line at all.

Fortunately the line moved quickly, and soon we were on our way into the park! Of course we stopped for pictures on the way in.





Kind of crazy how fast it got dark...those two pictures were right after each other!

We then made our way over to use our FP+ at Buzz!

We were surprised when we arrived at Buzz to find a huge line for the FP+! It ended up taking about 15 minutes to get on the ride. The wait did give me some time though to find another FP+, I snagged one for Pirates that started at 7:50, so perfect timing since it was around 7:40 at that point! I had a lot more luck getting additional FP+ this trip than in the past. Maybe I was just more patient with the refreshing this time?

Buzz was quite the experience this time around, my mom decided on a new technique – aiming at the exact same targets I was. This turned out to work well for her since she maxed out the score and became a galactic hero! I was so mad, she literally was shooting at the same targets as me, yet my score was one of the lowest I ever got (like under 100,000!) yet she maxed out the score? How does that work!?!



We also learned that if you shoot at that black wall before entering the room with the projections you get points. We ended up stuck in that room for a few minutes and were surprised to see our scores going up just shooting at nothing!

My mom was so excited about her score, I mentioned they used to give out buttons to people who did that, so of course she wanted to stop and see if she could get one! Unfortunately they don’t give out buttons anymore, but they do give out stickers, so she got herself a galactic hero sticker!

After Buzz we were into our FP+ time for Pirates, so made our way over there.



I think it’s so funny they added a picture to this ride….yet still don’t have one of Thunder! Also I feel like we got a rare “everyone in the boat is aware of the camera” shot here.

After Pirates, we decided it was time to head over to our favorite ride…Splash!




Since there was hardly any line, we decided to ride it again.



After our second ride on splash, we made our way over to Thunder. We got there to find the line is all the way out on the path between Thunder and Splash, but the posted wait only was 10 minutes so we got in line.

This is where we experienced something I found to be completely ridiculous and rude. We got the line at the same time as these three adults, but let them ahead of us. Well, as we are waiting, 25 additional people come to join them! Yes, 25. Now normally I don’t mind if one or two people cut ahead to join their group, but if you have a party of almost 30 people, make sure everyone is together when entering a line! Having someone run ahead to save a spot in line for a group that size is just rude….having 25 people cut ahead just makes people mad!

Anyways, moving on! The wait to get on Thunder ended up taking about 20 minutes, so not horrible considering it was just about 9:00 at that point and the event just started so we still had day guests in line.

After the ride we decided to stop at the snack booth there for our first treats of the night! We both ended up getting Mickey ice cream bars and some soda.

Once we finished out food and drinks, we headed back to Splash! It really is our favorite.



At the end of the ride we noticed there was no one waiting, so we asked the CM if we could just stay on and he let us! Yay!



After our second ride on Splash we were sufficiently soaked so decided to move on.

Our next stop was at HM! And aw, I just realized we didn’t get our picture from this ride. Oops!

After visiting with the happy haunts, we made our way back over to the hub to see if we could get some photopass pictures.



There are a lot more people in the background of these pictures this year. We did feel the event was more crowded than last September. Not enough to increase wait times, but enough that we never experienced the empty pathways we had last year.

After stopping at a few photographers, we made our way over to Space. They let us pick which side we wanted to ride, I cannot remember which side we chose though! I feel like I should be able to tell from the picture since the way you face depends on the side, but I’m not sure which side is which.

After Space we made our way back to Buzz!

This time I did much better….and my mom did much worse! Back to normal!



When we got the end of the ride we asked if we could just stay on for one more ride, and they let us!

Finally, I was getting back into my grove and beat my mom both times!

After Buzz we decided to stop at the snack cart there and get some popcorn and water. We ended up finding seats nearby and sat and people watched while enjoying our popcorn. We were really starting to feel the early wake-up and were fading fast, so decided after we finished the popcorn to head out. We did grab two more popcorns and waters to enjoy on the way out and while waiting for the bus.

On the way out we of course stopped for pictures!



There was a bit of a wait for the bus, but only about 10 minutes so not horrible. It was nice having the popcorn to snack on while we waited!

Overall it was a great event. We didn’t get as much done this year as last, but we were pretty tired from the early morning, plus we were moving really slow due to my mom’s foot. Even with getting less done, we found it still completely worth it and hope they offer it during our trip next year!


Next up: EEMH at MK – Will We Make It?
 
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Nice job getting the fastpass for Pirates.

DAH looks like fun! I'm surprised at the amount of times you rode Splash. I got stuck on that the last time I rode it so once is enough for me! But Thunder Mountain and Space multiple times are fun to do! It's awesome you got to choose which side.

The photos make it look so empty!
 
Glad you enjoyed your night at After Hours! Lots of rides on Splash! But that is sooo annoying about the large group cutting the line!!
 
We got the line at the same time as these three adults, but let them ahead of us. Well, as we are waiting, 25 additional people come to join them! Yes, 25.

That is very rude! And a really large group of people to be traveling together.

There are a lot more people in the background of these pictures this year. We did feel the event was more crowded than last September. Not enough to increase wait times, but enough that we never experienced the empty pathways we had last year.

It still looks so much better than MNSSHP! I really need to try an after hours' event next time we go if they still have them. You got a lot done!
 

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