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

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We are staying Boardwalk end of this month, I will have to see if I noticed the music in the halls.

Haha, it's pretty nice, it's that old-timey music so goes well with the theme of the Boardwalk.

I hope this doesn't ruin the International Gateway!

Seriously! Later in the trip after the Skyliner opened to the public we spent a bit of time back there just watching the traffic flow, and I would say about 80% of the people there were coming from the Skyliner. So it did make IG more crowded, but it wasn't awful. There were times when big groups would be exiting the Skyliner, and the line at security would jump up, but it really ebbs and flows, as most of the time it was only a trickle of smaller groups coming off. We actually found the crowds back there worse when the CMs were doing the previews, there seemed to be fewer people riding them after they opened to the public!

That was a really long time! Disney IT is the worst. Glad it got figured out! I hope you guys got drinks fast!

Yeah, I really don't understand why their IT is such a mess. It doesn't seem like linking tickets to magic bands should be that hard to do!
 
Ugh! We got the dreaded blue light for one of our party this year too. They should have a guest services person right at the entrance for as there seem to be issues!

Ugh, that's the worst. I got the blue light again later in the trip and totally panicked since we were running to an ADR and didn't have time to go to guest services again, but this time fortunately it was just the finger scanner wasn't working! Phew!

That is ridiculous! I know they do their best but it shouldn’t be so hard to link tickets to magic bands.

Exactly! Especially after I show the CM the tickets on MDE, it's not like we were lying about having tickets, they were somewhere floating around in the Disney IT universe. Disney IT is just frustrating.
 
Ugh, that's the worst. I got the blue light again later in the trip and totally panicked since we were running to an ADR and didn't have time to go to guest services again, but this time fortunately it was just the finger scanner wasn't working! Phew!

One of my daughters got the blue light 5 out of 7 days of our trip... no idea why it was working at some parks and not others!

Exactly! Especially after I show the CM the tickets on MDE, it's not like we were lying about having tickets, they were somewhere floating around in the Disney IT universe. Disney IT is just frustrating.

Same... at the gate the insisted there was no ticket for DD4, but at GR they saw the ticket immediately - shouldn't those tablets show the ticket the same as the GR computer? Well I'm glad it was just the finger scanner your second time!
 
Day 1, Part 3: We Try the Food Booths for Real!

It’s finally here folks, food booth pictures and reviews! Happy dance time!!! :cool1:

Once we finally made it into Epcot, even though we were super hungry, we opted to stop at the store right at the entrance to pick up the hide and squeak map so we could start searching for Remy right away! We found two of them on the way to our first food booth, Australia! My mom was excited to try the lamb there! As you will soon learn, my mom love lamb, so she gets it whenever she can!



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I also grabbed a glass of the chardonnay.

Instead of eating, we brought our goodies over to the wine and dine area to find a table. Once we found a table, I ran to pick up the scallops and the ravioli!





My mom loved the lamb, and I thought the scallops were amazing. They ended up being one of my top two favorites at this year’s fest! The celery root puree with the wild mushrooms was delicious, and the scallops were perfectly cooked.

Although my mom loved the lamb, I just thought it was ok. It was a bit too tough for me.

The ravioli was good, but I thought they were better last year. The description is the same for both last year and this year, so I don’t know what changed, but they seemed very dry this year and weren’t as flavorful. Perhaps we just got a bad batch?

As we were eating, we noticed one very odd thing about the tables in the Wine and Dine studio area this year….they were really really short! They are so low that you have to either squat or bend way over to eat, it was really odd! My mom found it so uncomfortable she ended up eating her food on the ground instead! Why on earth did they change this? They were the perfect height in years past!

Once we finished our first round of food, I ran to get more while my mom saved our spot which was in the semi-shade which is a rare find during F&W so we didn’t want to give it up just yet. This year I tried to do as much of the running as I could so she could avoid walking since her foot was still really hurting.

This food trip I ended up at the Cheese Studio where I grabbed the bourbon maple cheesecake and the blueberry wine. After dropping that off at the table, I headed out once more to the Wine and Dine studio and picked up the Artist Pallet of Wine and Cheese. We get this every year and always enjoy it.





The cheesecake was AMAZING as always, and was so good with the blueberry wine!

We also loved the pallet of wine and cheese, it’s great how well they pair them!

Once we finished that round of food, we were getting full, so decided to head over to one of the stores to pick up F&W merch.

We ended up getting a lot! I picked up the tote bag with the “cork” bottom, I love it, it is so cute! We also got the shirts, the ornaments, the wine glass, the pot holder, and I’m sure other things. We may have gone a bit overboard…oops!

While there, we also asked about one of the Remy’s we saw…we couldn’t figure what vegetable it was supposed to be…it was just a white circle! They confirmed what it was, so we got apply that sticker!

After shopping we did our next favorite thing to do in the parks….Photopass pictures!



Once we wrapped up the pictures, we started to make our way towards the IG, but stopped for a break at Appleseed Orchard!



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It was so cool in here, love how they transformed the theater! Plus the AC was kind of nice!

We ended up each getting the cider flight and mom got the popcorn bucket. I love the apple the popcorn came in, it’s so cute, and my mom is going to bring it into work and put candy in it for her students!



The cider flight was really great, the only one I wasn’t a big fan of was the cherry one, it tasted kind of like cough syrup to me. My favorite was the Lemon Cello hard cider, that one was delicious! The spiced apple cider was good, but very heavy, it would be perfect for a cold crisp fall day….which it wasn’t in FL that day!

After wrapping up at Appleseed Orchard, we continued to head towards the exit, on the way stopping at Ireland though to grab the Roasted Irish Sausage and the Guinness Baileys Shake. The sausage was really good, I had been considering it since last year, but was on the fence about getting it, but I’m glad I did, the flavors were great! The Guinness Baileys shake was fantastic again, it goes down way too fast! Love that they still serve it in that really cute cup!



After we finished our food and drink, we continued out of the park, of course stopping for the photopass picture on the bridge over to France!





It was finally time to head out of the park at this point, so we made our way back to the Boardwalk to rest!


Next up: Time to Visit my Dogs namesake!
 
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My mom loved the lamb, and I thought the scallops were amazing. They ended up being one of my top two favorites at this year’s fest! The celery root puree with the wild mushrooms was delicious, and the scallops were perfectly cooked.
I just added the scallops to our list to try. My husband loves scallops.

I love the apple the popcorn came in, it’s so cute, and my mom is going to bring it into work and put candy in it for her students!
That is a great idea!
 
Day 1, Part 4: Time to Visit my Dog’s Namesake!

A little bit before 4:00 we were ready to head out again, so I called for a Minnie Van. I love love love the Minnie Vans. I so wish they would add more. We were talking to one of our drivers this week and she mentioned they still only have about 70, and it shows, there are times when it takes 20-30 minutes to get a car. Fortunately this day I was able to get a car right away!

The Minnie Van arrived quickly, and we were whisked off to Animal Kingdom!

We arrived around 4:30, and made our way over to the entrance of the park. We saw there was a Lion King photopass picture set up by the entrance, so of course we stopped there for some pictures!



I love these new picture opportunities!

After our photoshoot, we made our way into the park, and oh boy, the crowds! It was wall to wall people walking through the oasis area, we’ve never seen it so bad in September! Epcot had been crowded that day as well, but we figured that was due to the CM Skyliner testing plus people wanting to check out Illuminations before it ended, but we couldn’t figure out why AK was so packed!

As we made our way into the park, we of course stopped for the photopass pictures!



Our first stop was supposed to be Dinosaur for our FP+, but as we were walking by we saw Dug and Russel meeting, and well, I can never pass up the opportunity to meet with my favorite Disney dog, so we hopped in line to meet them instead!



Ugh, I love those two! I even named my dog Dug after him!

I liked how after the meet, they dump you onto one of the paths that circle around the ToL. I don’t believe we’ve ever been on this path, so spent a lot of time slowly exploring and taking pictures.











It was so beautiful back there, I’m glad we had time to explore.

Once we exited that trail, we started making our way over to Africa, but saw there was another trail on the way, so started to make our way down there. We found Pocahontas down there meeting! We didn’t meet with her, and didn’t make it far on the trial. My mom’s foot was really starting to hurt, so she just wanted to stop walking and lean against the fence for a while to rest her foot. So we stopped on the trail and just relaxed there for a few minutes. It was a nice place to stop and rest, the views were really pretty!



Around 5:20, we decided to make our way back to the main path and head over to Africa to see if we could check in for our event, Circles of Flavor!


Next up: Circle of Flavors!
 
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Sounds like a great time at Epcot!

And a great time at AK too! Love the pics from the TOL trail!

It was such a great time at both parks! I'm so happy we had time to really check out the ToL trail, I'm shocked in all these years of going there we've never been down there. Makes me wonder what else we've been missing!
 
The ravioli was good, but I thought they were better last year.

I had the ravioli this year too! I really liked it, but I didn't have it last year for comparison.

My favorite was the Lemon Cello hard cider, that one was delicious!

I was already disappointed we never made it to the Apple Orchard, now I'm even more sad! The lemoncello cider sounds amazing.

So cute that you named your dog Dug! I bet he loved that.
 
I had the ravioli this year too! I really liked it, but I didn't have it last year for comparison.

Yeah, I really wonder if we just got some that had been sitting out for a long time. Last year they were so good, and this year they were good, they weren't quite as good as last year. Based on how dry they were, it did seem like maybe they were just sitting under a heat lamp for too long. Definitely will try again though if they bring them back next year since last year it was one of our favorite dishes!

I was already disappointed we never made it to the Apple Orchard, now I'm even more sad! The lemoncello cider sounds amazing.

Aw, sorry you missed it! The lemon cello one was really good, maybe you can see if you can get some where you live!

So cute that you named your dog Dug! I bet he loved that.

Haha, yeah, every time I meet Dug and Russel I tell them that my dog's name is Dug too and they get so excited! It's such a fun interaction! I just wish I could bring my Dug to meet to the Disney Dug!
 
Somehow I missed that you started this TR ! Caught up and looking forward to reading more.
 
Following along! I'm taking note of all of your favorite F&W picks to try during my trip next month! :drinking1
 
Day 1, Part 5: Circle of Flavors!

We last left off with us making our way to Africa to check in to Circle of Flavors!

When we arrived there was already a line, so we got in it. There were only 14 people ahead of us (yes, I know this...and there is a reason coming up!)

There was a couple in front of us who unfortunately thought that the line was to catch the train to Rafiki’s planet watch, I felt bad for them, they were waiting there for a while, and didn’t realize the line was for an event until the CMs came through the line to check us in and give us our wrist bands.

Around 5:50, they started letting us in. They only let groups of 12 in at a time, so we just missed the first group, but we were first in the second!

Not long after it was our turn to enter! They had us walk down to the display where they did a brief explanation of the event, then let us head into the train station to start!

We were greeted with the welcome drink, the Harambellini! It was really good, but super sweet. I’m not someone who likes super sweet things, so I only had one.

Upon entering, we headed to a table with seats, I wanted to make sure my mom got a seat so she could get off her foot for a bit.

Once seated, I went up to grab food for us.

A line had formed at the food station by the time I got up there, so I waited for my turn, but right when it was my turn, these two women who where behind me, just stepped in front of me and ordered! What the?!?!? Of course I said, “excuse me, you just cut me.” But the women just ignored me. I was just blown away by the rudeness!

Once I got over the 50 year olds acting like spoiled 15 year olds I ordered my food. I got the meat pie and the charcutamatata and brought them back to the table. The meat pie was really good, and my mom loved the charcutamatata, I thought it was just ok, it wasn’t anything special, just some grapes and cheese.



After our snacks, I headed to the bar to grab my mom a Tusker Lager and I got myself a chenin blanc. We didn’t stay at the first stop for long, so once I grabbed our drinks, we hopped on the train and headed over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch!

It was a nice train ride over, I loved that we got the see the rhinos back there!

Once we arrived, we headed straight to do the virtual reality with the lions. It was SO cool! They encourage you to look around to see everything, but warn you to be careful not to hit the person sitting next to you since we were all sitting next to each other really close together. Well, I got a bit too into the VR, and ended up whacking my mom with my hand while I was looking around, sorry mom!!

Once we finished the VR experience, we decided to go meet Rafiki and Timon since there wasn’t a big line yet.



Once we met the characters, it was time for some snacks! Now, most of the food offerings at this station didn’t really interest us. I grabbed the apples covered in caramel and chocolate, which oddly enough isn’t on the menu we received, but I think was the best offering at that station! I also picked up the charcuterie at this station for my mom.

I also ran and grabbed the Wanjohi’s Dawa for both myself and my mom, this drink was STRONG! It was so good though!







We didn’t stay at this stop for very long, and once we were done eating, we took our drinks back on the train to the final station, Harambe Market!

This part of the dinner was amazing! There were stations set up named after the big five animals, each with different food offerings.

We found a table over by the train tracks, which was a lot cooler than the tables closer to the entrance. There was a lot more airflow by the train tracks, plus there were a ton of fans over there, so it was a great place to sit! The one downside to this event is that it’s all outdoors, so you never get a break from the heat, so finding a table near fans and with a lot of airflow was important!

I had my mom just sit for this whole part so she could stay off her foot, so I did all the running to get the food and drinks.

My first stop was the Leopard booth, where I picked up the grilled lamb for my mom, then I went over to the Lion booth to get the steak for myself.





We loved these, the steak was delicious, and my mom LOVED the lamb. After finishing up, I asked my mom what she wanted, so she wanted to try the steak, and I wanted to try the lamb, so I went back to the same booths. The CM working the leopard booth recognized me and mentioned that the lamb has been a very popular dish!

I brought the dishes back to the table, and I ended up liking the steak a lot better while my mom preferred the lamb!

My next trip up, my mom wanted the lamb again, so I got that, the CM couldn’t help but laugh that I was back again!

This trip I picked up the pork belly from the elephant station.



The pork was really good, but I still preferred the steak.

The next trip up I picked up the shrimp curry, and once again, I got the lamb for my mom. The CM at the leopard station thought it was hilarious that I was back yet again. Yes, my mom REALLY likes lamb!



The shrimp was fantastic! I think it tied with the steak as my favorite.

The next food run I got each of us the sustainable fish, which coincidentally, was from the same booth as the lamb. The CM couldn’t get over the fact that I was up there every 10 minutes. HA!



Somehow we weren’t quite full yet, so I ran up again, this time to the buffalo booth where I picked up the grilled sweet corn for my mom and the mac and cheese for myself.





The mac and cheese was amazing, but sadly by that point I was getting really full so couldn’t finish it.

For drinks, I tried two of the wines, and my mom tried the Talking Monkey. They were all really good!



Finally for dessert, I grabbed the passionfruit ice pop for myself, and the Lion S’more pop for my mom.





These were both really good, and how cool is the lion pop?!

At this point we were both super full, so rested to watch the band and just enjoy our surroundings. It was such an enjoyable evening!

At one point we also went up to make our bead necklaces, I picked the elephant and the blue, white, silver, and gold beads, whereas my mom got the leopard, and I believe two blues and two white beads. It was a fun activity and a cute souvenir!

Before we headed out, my mom also tried the blueberry frozen pop. I tried a bite, but preferred the passionfruit. Regardless, the frozen pops were wonderful in the heat!



We ended up leaving the event before it ended, we were both exhausted and very full at that point! Hard to believe we just arrived in FL that morning! On the way out we got our gift bag with a coaster and a really nice wine glass!

We slowly made our way out of the park, on the way we saw a photopass photographer with no line, so quickly got our pictures! Apparently we left the event with fairly full drinks...



We got to the buses right as the Boardwalk one was pulling away, however the BC/YC bus just pulled in, so we hopped on that one instead!

It was a nice quick ride home, and it was a short walk from the BC back to the Boardwalk. There were a handful of others on the bus who did the same thing!

Of course on the walk back to the Boardwalk we took pictures!



When we got back to the room, we were in for a surprise…we could see the MK fireworks from our balcony! It was such a surprise and a really great end to the night!

Final review of Circle of Flavors: We really enjoyed it, and would definitely do it again, but maybe during a cooler month since it was pretty hot throughout the evening. I also wish the second station had some different food offerings, but it seemed that station was set up more for experiences (VR and meeting characters) vs food focused so maybe that's why they only had a few snack items. The food at the final station was all fantastic, I only wish we had tried more of it! Definitely recommend checking this event out, especially if you are there during a cooler time!


Next up: EEMH – HS Style!
 
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Joining in and caught up!

That’s some travel/arrival day!!

I’m def taking note in your food and wine thoughts! Going to my first one in a few weeks am can’t wait!

So interesting, we also Love Minnie Vans and may take them a bit to much, but they told us they have over 100 now but only 30 (I think) full time drivers everyone else is part time. We did find the waits this past trip to be a bit longer and sometimes abandoned ship to take a bus! Shocking!

This circle of flavors event seems awesome!! Great reading about it!
 
The Circle of Flavors sounds amazing! I've never heard of it before. That's great that you got a view of the fireworks!
 
What an interesting evening. Glad you were able to enjoy it even if it was sooooo hot.
 
Sounds like a fun event! I am sure you and the CM at the lamb station became best friends by the end of it all! Hahaha
 

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