Drinking Before Noon Everyday-An Oct F&W Adventure *COMPLETE!

Since I anticipated that we would have a very full first day I planned an evening park visit for our second day and left the morning and afternoon open for food, movies and sleeping in. When we got up we all decided that a big breakfast sounded ideal and my SIL had never done Trail's End before, so I got on the app and was able to book it with no problem. Yay!

I don't know what I was missing, but I could have sworn that I've read on here a ton of times that you can walk from WL to Trail's End, but I could not figure it out and my map app told me it would take hours to walk there, so I gave up and we went out to wait for the bus. Does anyone know if you can? Did I make this up in my mind? :rotfl:I dunno, but first, look at this view from the Lodge.



I was willing to drive, but we figured an internal bus over to FW would be along shortly, so we decided to wait it out. Check out my Nightmare Before Christmas inspired outfit for the day.



There was a CM at the bus stop this morning and I asked if one of the buses would stop at FW next other than the internal bus as it had done so on our way to Epcot the day before, but he said no, so back we went to waiting for the internal bus. And wait, and wait, and wait. Then he yelled for us to run down to the end as our bus was there... but it said Disney Springs. We went with it and went down only to be told, oops my bad, not your bus. Back we go to wait again. It was getting very close to our reservation time and I was really about to just get in the car and drive over when a bus pulled up. And the lovely CM felt bad about making us run for the wrong bus, so he gave us a Fastpass for the park that night, which was really sweet!



This was especially great since I was unable to book the safari for AK that night because I used our Fastpasses for Na'vi River Journey, Everest and River of Lights. Score! Thanks Henry!

The bus to FW from WL only had the three of us on it and took us right to where we needed to go with no other stops, so we made it right on time for our reservation. Perfect!



One of our favorite breakfast spots.

We checked in and got our pager and waited outside to be seated. Selfie time!



After only a couple of minutes we were seated and drink orders were taken and we were off to the buffet! The best part was that it was Sunday and it was the brunch buffet, which we had not done before. It was essentially all the best parts of breakfast and lunch combined. Mickey waffles and fried chicken? Yes please!



My first plate.



A Mickey waffle (obviously), breakfast potatoes, seasonal pasta, breakfast pizza, tater tots, French toast bread pudding and a cinnamon roll.

Their breakfast potatoes have big chunks of beef in them and are the absolute best potatoes ever. Everything else was super yummy, but the real stand out for me was the season pasta which was penne pasta with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and goat cheese cream sauce. I couldn't get enough of it!

Rob's massive first plate complete with gigantic omelet and every meat known to man. :laughing:



He was RAVING about the chicken, so I had to save room for some.

My smaller second plate.



More pasta (YUM!) and a small piece of chicken with some mashed potatoes and gravy.

I have had their chicken before and loved it, but I forgot how good it was. Delicious!

And of course we had to get the Moonshine to drink, which is the awesome fruit blend they serve at a number of spots throughout WDW.



Brunch at Trail's End was a total success! My SIL loved it too. I would absolutely do brunch again over breakfast. This was the best of both worlds and everything was fresh and tasty. I highly recommend!

We were all super full and ready to sit in a movie. Off to Disney Springs we go!
Yes, you can walk to FW--we do it all the time. Take the bike path that starts at the junction of the walkway between the main Lodge and the VWL building and the walkway to the bus stop. There's a New Balance map right there (but, you don't need it). Take that bike path toward FW (i.e., same general direction as the bus walkway) and just stay on it. It's roughly a mile, one way. It's paved the entire way until you get to FW where it joins up to the pony section where it's mostly mulch. Regardless, you stay on it and you'll come out about 50-60 yards from Trail's End which will be on your left. Easy peasy.

We, too, have thoroughly enjoyed Trail's End. Not sure they still have it, but their BBQ eggs benedict used to be delicious, at least if you could get them fresh out of the kitchen so that the yolks were still runny. As for Roaring Fork, we've stopped going. Once they renovated, they lost the fresh aspect of the food. For example, the Mickey waffles now come as part of a basket meal and aren't made fresh-to-order. Gone are all the wonderful toppings save some sludge-like glop that is supposed to be akin to bananas foster but tastes more like sweet glue. There have been many complaints since the refurbishment; seems RF has lost its mojo.
 
Yes, you can walk to FW--we do it all the time. Take the bike path that starts at the junction of the walkway between the main Lodge and the VWL building and the walkway to the bus stop. There's a New Balance map right there (but, you don't need it). Take that bike path toward FW (i.e., same general direction as the bus walkway) and just stay on it. It's roughly a mile, one way. It's paved the entire way until you get to FW where it joins up to the pony section where it's mostly mulch. Regardless, you stay on it and you'll come out about 50-60 yards from Trail's End which will be on your left. Easy peasy.

We, too, have thoroughly enjoyed Trail's End. Not sure they still have it, but their BBQ eggs benedict used to be delicious, at least if you could get them fresh out of the kitchen so that the yolks were still runny. As for Roaring Fork, we've stopped going. Once they renovated, they lost the fresh aspect of the food. For example, the Mickey waffles now come as part of a basket meal and aren't made fresh-to-order. Gone are all the wonderful toppings save some sludge-like glop that is supposed to be akin to bananas foster but tastes more like sweet glue. There have been many complaints since the refurbishment; seems RF has lost its mojo.

This is so helpful! Thank you! Now I know for next time. I have no clue why my maps app was saying it would take forever and a day to walk there.

They do still have the BBQ eggs Benedict. That is my favorite also. It wasn't on a biscuit like it used to be when we went this time though. Not sure why.

I too was disappointed in Roaring Fork. I was HYPE to have that at our disposal this trip and only ended up eating there once. None of us liked the looks of the breakfast options when we went one morning and they never had their yummy desserts when I wanted them. Super disappointing. I really wanted the bananas foster waffles before the refurb. Hopefully they are hearing people and making some changes. I know I put it in my resort survey when I got home! :thumbsup2

Playoffs at WDW is awesome! you get to stick your tongue out at the opposing fans lol

Haha exactly! That is, if anyone from the opposing side braves coming in there with a bunch of crazy Eagles fans. :rotfl:

I am putting TE breakfast on our radar for our April trip, we will be staying at WL. The brunch looks delicious and thanks to @sleepydog25 we can walk there!

Perfect! I would definitely recommend the brunch on the weekends. But breakfast and dinner are amazing too. I am trying to figure out how to fit brunch in again on our next trip as I already booked up our weekend days. There's just not enough time!
 


heck out my Nightmare Before Christmas inspired outfit for the day.

Perfection!

And the lovely CM felt bad about making us run for the wrong bus, so he gave us a Fastpass for the park that night, which was really sweet!

That was sweet, but it seriously looks like a kindergartner wrote that out! Clearly handwriting analysis is not part of the CM hiring process



Brunch at Trail's End was a total success! My SIL loved it too. I would absolutely do brunch again over breakfast. This was the best of both worlds and everything was fresh and tasty. I highly recommend!
Those drinks look and sound amazing!!! Glad you had a great brunch. We're huge fans too!
 
Perfection!


That was sweet, but it seriously looks like a kindergartner wrote that out! Clearly handwriting analysis is not part of the CM hiring process


Those drinks look and sound amazing!!! Glad you had a great brunch. We're huge fans too!

Thanks! I was digging my outfits this trip.

It's funny you say that because it was the first thing my friend said when she saw that pic too.

Love Trail's End! Glad you do too!
 
After brunch we took a bus from FW over to Disney Springs to check out our first movie of the trip. Those of you who have read my past DRs know that we love going to the movies. We dragged my SIL along with us too this time.

But first, a beverage before the movie. We stopped at Homecomin' for some pre-movie drinks.

Rob had a drink that is a favorite of ours. The Bootlegger with RumShine and dark rum, blackberry jam, house-made grenadine, simple syrup, lime juice.



The blackberry jam is what makes this drink so good. It is not a heavy drink and tastes so fresh and smooth.

I went with my all-time favorite The Local with Rum Haven coconut water rum, lime, simple syrup, and fresh pineapple.



I LOOOOOOVVVVEEEEE this drink. I have recreated it at home as well. It is so fresh and light and the fresh coconut flakes are a perfect addition to this drink. It makes you feel like you should be sitting on a beach when you drink this.

Cheers!


For my second drink I went with another Local and Rob had another drink that we love, the Fig and Berries with fresh muddled strawberries with Dobel Diamonte Resposado tequila, fig jam, agave and lime juice.



The drinks here are just so pretty too.

My SIL went all out and got the Moonshine flight which was three different house-infused shines served with a spiced pickle juice chaser and candied pecans.



Cheers again!


Like the title says, we were drinking before noon everyday!

And we needed the drinks because Rob picked Geostorm as the first movie. :rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:



After the movie it was time for, you guessed it, more drinks.

Rob insisted on visiting Jock Lindsey's at some point this trip and there's no time like the present.



Now don't get me wrong, I like it here, but I don't love it. There's no drink I've had here that really stands out, so I am never pushing to go here, but Rob loves it. I feel like this place has potential that it hasn't quite lived up to.

It is open seating here and we grabbed a pretty good spot at a high top inside. There was a season menu today that caught my eye.



Our server came over and was really awesome the whole time. I asked him what was in the Jock's Spooky Potion #13 drink and I heard rum so I was in! I also placed an order of the seasonal nachos because chipotle-pumpkin cheese sauce sounded too crazy to not try.

Behold! Nachos!



Oh. My. Gravy. These were the best nachos I ever had. The chipotle-pumpkin cheese was so subtle yet delicious and I loved the chicken with the butternut squash. I am sad these were seasonal because I would get these every time. Win!

My seasonal drink.



This drink just completely tasted like fall in a glass. I loved the addition of the cinnamon stick and the cool tilted glass made for a nice presentation. The seasonal menu was a win!

Rob started with a Wrong Island! Siesta Key Silver Rum, Tito's Handmade Vodka, Tamiami Gin, Tippler's Orange Liqueur, and Sweet-and-Sour with a splash of Coca-Cola.



Vacation!



My SIL order a Scottish Professor which is Monkey Shoulder Blended malt Scotch Whiskey, Hendrick's Gin, Pear Nectar, Simple Syrup, and fresh Lemon Juice.

Siblings!



My SIL then ordered a Bedtime Story which is Absolut Mandrin Vodka, Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur, Hibiscus Syrup, fresh Lemon Juice, and Iced Tea.



Someone brought it over to her and then a few minutes later our server came back with another one. He couldn't take it back, so he just left it on the table. I mean, if we haaaavvvveee to. :laughing:

And for Rob's second drink he went with the beer flight.



Well, this visit helped to boost my opinion of Jock Lindsey's. We had such a good time. And I love that they accept TiW now. It is very likely we will be back here on our next trip.
 


After drinks we decided to make our way back to the resort to freshen up before heading to AK. But first I needed cupcakes.

I love, love, love Sprinkles. It is my favorite. Rob has a weird hatred of this place for some reason and waited outside. MY SIL isn't much of a sweets eater, but she decided to come in with me and check it out.





I ordered some cupcakes to enjoy over the next couple of days. My SIL ordered an ice cream cone which they put in a cup for her. I think she got coffee flavored. My notes suck this time so some of the details are escaping me. But whatever it was, it looked awesome.



I got something here to enjoy now. Something I have been dying to get. A frosting shot. That's right folks. A small serving of just frosting. Had to go with the salted caramel.



Now that is a thing of beauty.

We made our way back to the resort and when we got back they left this for us in the room since we are DVC members.



So cute!!!! I love this. Oh Disney. You get me.

Now it's time to get ready for our first trip to Pandora!
 
We picked a good time to leave Disney Springs as it started raining after we left and kept up until we got to AK.

You can see the dreary sky and wet walkway around the Tree of Life.



We made our way right over to Pandora. It was so weird to not have any clue where I'm going somewhere in WDW. I felt like a tourist. :laughing:

Just look at this view. Even on my cell phone camera it is stunning.







We rode Na'vi River Journey first with a FP which, honestly, I was not terribly impressed with. It's a standard float along ride with weird creatures and glowy lights. It's cool, don't get me wrong, but if I waited for 2 hours in line for that ride I would riot when I got off. I will ride it again to see if I was just being a grump or something, but I was not impressed.

After that we made our way out in a different area from where we entered Pandora and came out at Festival of the Lion King, which freaked me out. It was weird navigating around this area now.

We used our paper FP from the CM this morning and rode the safari. We had the most awesome CM as our guide this time. He really 'broke character' and let us in on some cool insider things throughout the ride which I really liked. We also got to see three lions all at once which was cool.



After the safari we went over to ride Everest which was closed from the rain earlier. Ugh. So we waited around a few and Rob and Linds grabbed beers while we waited to go in for our FPs for River of Lights. Lindsey and I were super excited to see this for the first time. Even Rob was looking forward to it a little bit since it was new. The poor CMs in here. Let me tell you. The seats in the theater were ever so slightly damp and people were not having it. They would refuse to move to the end of the row because they perceived one section to be more damp than another. Or they just blatantly weren't listening at times either. We were on the end of the row watching two CMs just struggle, so we tried to joke with them and commiserate a bit. They were appreciative that someone else was aware of the struggle bus they were driving. After what felt like the longest wait ever cramped in this seat the show finally started. Again. Not impressed. Unless they change this entire show that will be my first and last time at River of Lights. It was so BORING! There's not a real cohesive thread running through this show to bring it all together. They just took stuff that looked cool and threw it all in one package. Man, I feel like a downer, but this show was not for me. And that was the consensus among the three of us. None of us hated it by any means, but none of us would do it again. And Everest still wasn't open, so off we went in search of dinner.

I had my eye on Flame Tree BBQ and fortunately we caught them about 5 or 10 minutes before they closed up for the night. In a rare move all three of got the Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Pulled Pork.



This was sooooooo goooooooooddddd!!!!!! I wish I had realized it had cole slaw on it because while I like cole slaw with pulled pork it just wasn't the best when served on top of mac and cheese. But even with the slaw this was excellent. I loved the onion rings on it too. Heaven! We all enjoyed it. I would absolutely come back again for this dish. And you get 20% off here with TiW and there's no tip, so it was a reasonably priced meal for us.

On the way out we stopped back at Pandora to check out the views at night.





So cool! This area is stunning at night too.

We made our way out of the park and caught a bus right before it left, so that was a win.

When we got back to the room I ate my first Sprinkles cupcake of the trip. In bed. While watching tv. If that's not vacation, I don't know what is.



Ended my night with salty caramel amazingness.

We did brunch, a park, a new ride, a new nighttime show, ate cupcakes, had lots of drinks, ate amazing mac and cheese, saw a terrible movie and had nachos. This. Is. The. Life. And it's only day 2 people!
 
Wow!! What a fun-filled day! I like your style!! I had the same weird, disoriented feeling in Pandora - SO odd to not know where everything is! Totally agree on the Na’vi boat ride thingy. I haven’t seen Rivers of Light but your thoughts confirm my lack of strong desire to do so.

Oh, the fig and berries drink at Homecomin’. Pure perfection!!!

I never even heard of the movie you saw, haha!

Those nachos at Jocks look super yummy. I still haven’t gone in there.

Those DVC sketches are sooooo cute. I was also there at end of Oct, staying on points (at Beach Club), and didn’t get any special treats. Bummer.

Can’t wait to see what the next day brings!
 
After the safari we went over to ride Everest which was closed from the rain earlier. Ugh. So we waited around a few and Rob and Linds grabbed beers while we waited to go in for our FPs for River of Lights. Lindsey and I were super excited to see this for the first time. Even Rob was looking forward to it a little bit since it was new. The poor CMs in here. Let me tell you. The seats in the theater were ever so slightly damp and people were not having it. They would refuse to move to the end of the row because they perceived one section to be more damp than another. Or they just blatantly weren't listening at times either. We were on the end of the row watching two CMs just struggle, so we tried to joke with them and commiserate a bit. They were appreciative that someone else was aware of the struggle bus they were driving. After what felt like the longest wait ever cramped in this seat the show finally started. Again. Not impressed. Unless they change this entire show that will be my first and last time at River of Lights. It was so BORING! There's not a real cohesive thread running through this show to bring it all together. They just took stuff that looked cool and threw it all in one package. Man, I feel like a downer, but this show was not for me. And that was the consensus among the three of us. None of us hated it by any means, but none of us would do it again. And Everest still wasn't open, so off we went in search of dinner.
I fully agree with you about ROL. As you say, while not an awful show, it's not compelling, either. Not cohesive, not captivating, and no memorable music. The technology it uses is a take on the projection on water mist idea that's been around for years, and it's not that good. Some of the images were hard to make out, and we had good seats. We were expecting something along the lines of World of Color in DL, but it wasn't even close. Like you, it's one and done for us unless we run out of things to do in the park.
 
I *love* your DRs. Thank you for sharing!
One thing. Please tell me more about the moonshine flight at Homecomin. I have my eye on this, but am not sure which ones you get? Can you choose?
 
Rob had a drink that is a favorite of ours. The Bootlegger with RumShine and dark rum, blackberry jam, house-made grenadine, simple syrup, lime juice.

Oh I so needed to read your reviews before our last trip as I had a drink ordering foul. Both of your drinks looks AMAZING. I got some kind of a watermelon drink that just did nothing for me.



Like the title says, we were drinking before noon everyday!
My kinda people :-)



Oh. My. Gravy. These were the best nachos I ever had. The chipotle-pumpkin cheese was so subtle yet delicious and I loved the chicken with the butternut squash. I am sad these were seasonal because I would get these every time. Win!
WOW!!!! These look and sound delicious. Pumpkin and squash is something I'd never think of with nachos but somehow it totally makes sense.

I got something here to enjoy now. Something I have been dying to get. A frosting shot. That's right folks. A small serving of just frosting. Had to go with the salted caramel.

Um yum!!!! Cause whats better than following up alcohol with a shot!

We used our paper FP from the CM this morning and rode the safari. We had the most awesome CM as our guide this time. He really 'broke character' and let us in on some cool insider things throughout the ride which I really liked. We also got to see three lions all at once which was cool.

I didn't even know there were 3 lions. I always thought there were just 2.



This was sooooooo goooooooooddddd!!!!!! I wish I had realized it had cole slaw on it because while I like cole slaw with pulled pork it just wasn't the best when served on top of mac and cheese. But even with the slaw this was excellent. I loved the onion rings on it too. Heaven! We all enjoyed it. I would absolutely come back again for this dish. And you get 20% off here with TiW and there's no tip, so it was a reasonably priced meal for us.
I think this is a new menu add as I've never seen it. As i sit here starving with little to nothing in our house, I would kill for some right about now. Sounds amazing.

When we got back to the room I ate my first Sprinkles cupcake of the trip. In bed. While watching tv. If that's not vacation, I don't know what is.

Vacation Perfection!
 
Such awesome reviews!!! AK has such great QS & your mac looks delish. ALL of your cocktails looked deeeeelicious,seems like 'yall had a great time!!!!
 
Wow!! What a fun-filled day! I like your style!! I had the same weird, disoriented feeling in Pandora - SO odd to not know where everything is! Totally agree on the Na’vi boat ride thingy. I haven’t seen Rivers of Light but your thoughts confirm my lack of strong desire to do so.

Oh, the fig and berries drink at Homecomin’. Pure perfection!!!

I never even heard of the movie you saw, haha!

Those nachos at Jocks look super yummy. I still haven’t gone in there.

Those DVC sketches are sooooo cute. I was also there at end of Oct, staying on points (at Beach Club), and didn’t get any special treats. Bummer.

Can’t wait to see what the next day brings!

It's so weird right? I'm sure that feeling will be even more surreal after Galaxy's Edge opens.

The drinks at Homecomin' are the absolute best!

:laughing: Well, trust me, you are not missing anything. There's nothing like seeing a bad movie in WDW though.

This trip to Jock Lindsey's turned the tide for me. I was starting to feel lukewarm about it and now I am back to enjoying it, so I'm glad we went there this trip.

Bummer! Maybe they took pity on us because we had to pay cash for the room this time.

I fully agree with you about ROL. As you say, while not an awful show, it's not compelling, either. Not cohesive, not captivating, and no memorable music. The technology it uses is a take on the projection on water mist idea that's been around for years, and it's not that good. Some of the images were hard to make out, and we had good seats. We were expecting something along the lines of World of Color in DL, but it wasn't even close. Like you, it's one and done for us unless we run out of things to do in the park.

I'm glad you agree about ROL. I am however looking forward to seeing World of Color. Just found out I'll be going to Disneyland in March! :cool1:

I *love* your DRs. Thank you for sharing!
One thing. Please tell me more about the moonshine flight at Homecomin. I have my eye on this, but am not sure which ones you get? Can you choose?

Thank you so much! :goodvibes With the flight there was a whole list of different moonshines to choose from. I know one was a strawberry one that my SIL got. The other two I cannot remember. I know she went with recommendations from our bartender. She was helpful with her selection process because she was torn on what to get.

Oh I so needed to read your reviews before our last trip as I had a drink ordering foul. Both of your drinks looks AMAZING. I got some kind of a watermelon drink that just did nothing for me.


My kinda people :-)


WOW!!!! These look and sound delicious. Pumpkin and squash is something I'd never think of with nachos but somehow it totally makes sense.


Um yum!!!! Cause whats better than following up alcohol with a shot!


I didn't even know there were 3 lions. I always thought there were just 2.


I think this is a new menu add as I've never seen it. As i sit here starving with little to nothing in our house, I would kill for some right about now. Sounds amazing.


Vacation Perfection!

Yeah, I'm not a watermelon booze person from what I have found. The Bootlegger, Fig and Berries and the Local are the best drinks there IMO. There's always next time! :thumbsup2

It was such strange combinations and a lot of times I would not have found that appealing to try but in that moment I did and I am so glad I ordered it.

Exactly! Frosting shots are where its at!

Same here! I think that is the only time I saw three at once.

The mac and cheese is fairly new there I believe. I had my eye on it though and it did not disappoint. Yummmmmmm!!!!

Such awesome reviews!!! AK has such great QS & your mac looks delish. ALL of your cocktails looked deeeeelicious,seems like 'yall had a great time!!!!

Thank you!!! I always love Flame Tree. QS at AK is always terrific. We really did have the best time this trip. It was hard to leave!
 
The next morning we were up and in Epcot at 9:30am. My SIL and I had our matching D3Tees F&W Epcot shirts on and we were ready to tackle some booths!



F&W tee, F&W ears, monorail necklace and my Spaceship Earth bag at the Bubblegum Wall. Do you even Epcot bruh?



Riding Living with the Land it was easy to see they were hyping the Festival.









Photo op my favorite purple dragon!



We also grabbed our Remy's Hide and Squeak map.





Now let's hit some booths!



First up is Patagonia, where I got to perennial Festival favorites of mine. The Beef Empanada and Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Purée.







So good! I love the flavors in the empanada. Some sour cream or dipping sauce would bump this up even higher on my must-do lost but its great as is. The beef skewer is always a winner too. So tender and buttery. Love it!

Rob instead went to Australia and got the Grilled Sweet and Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion and Snap Peas.



The shrimp here are always good and he certainly enjoyed them today.

Up next is arguably our favorite booth. Canada!

All three of us got the “Le Cellier” Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle-Butter Sauce which is surely one of "the" items to get.



The perfectly pink center.



Cooked just to my liking. Yum!!! This was a hit with all three of us as always. We could just sit here with 3 or 4 of these and be happy.

Since it wasn't oppressively hot I also got the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup served with a Pretzel Roll.



:cloud9: So good! The soup by itself is excellent, but dipping the pretzel roll in there is even better. Tragedy though, I dropped about half of my pretzel roll on the ground when a gust of wind hit our little table. I tried to stop my empty plate from blowing away and lost precious bites of pretzel roll in the process. :sad:

Next up I got another longtime Festival favorite of mine. The Warm Chocolate Pudding with Irish Cream Liqueur Custard.





The pudding is more like a cake. It is beyond delicious! If they ever get rid of this I will cry real tears. It's bad enough Ireland got rid of my favorite cheese platter this year, but at least I had the warm pudding.

We had to wait around and peruse the gift shops in the UK for a few (which I never mind doing) so that my SIL could get the drink she had been wanting at Rose & Crown when they opened. Then at 11:30am on the dot we grabbed a table and ordered some drinks.

My SIL had to have her favorite, The English Rose. Beefeater Gin, Apricot Brandy, Sweet Vermouth, Pineapple Juice, Orange Juice, and Cranberry Juice. She also got an extra floater of gin on top for good measure. :laughing:



Then for extra good measure she got the Johnnie Walker Scotch Flight of Black, Gold and Green.



She drank one of them before I could even take a pic. :rotfl:Like my DR title says, we were drinking before noon every day!

Rob got a Guinness and I got a Cider & Black which is cider with a shot of Black Currant Juice.



Cheers!



Next up I stopped in France for Croissant aux Escargots: Escargot Croissant with Garlic and Parsley.





Another favorite of mine! I love the garlicy buttery escargot. So delicious! If you have never tried it you really should. It is not at all gross and it absolute decadence.

Continued in next post!
 
Then Rob and Lindsay stopped in Belgium for the Beer-braised Beef served with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes.



I wanted to try this but I was super full. And they were not super impressed with it, so I didn't go back for it.

Rob also got the beer flight here.



We also started spotting some Remys around WS.









We also stopped so I could do the Pick-A-Pearl win Japan, which is always super fun and now I had a pearl for my monorail pearl cage necklace.



Next we went to Hops & Barley where Lindsay and I got the New England Lobster Roll.



This is yet another favorite! There was so much lobster on this and the roll was not dry at all. I could eat these all day.

Then we stopped at Spain and my SIL got the Charcuterie in a Cone with a selection of imported Spanish Meats, Cheeses, Olives and an Herb Vinaigrette which she enjoyed very much.



Here I tried the new item Sweet Olive Oil Cake with Powdered Sugar and Lemon Curd.



I am not much of a lemon fan, but this was just the right amount of lemon and the cake was moist and perfect with the lemon curd. Very enjoyable!

Next in Germany Rob got the Roast Bratwurst in a Pretzel Roll and the wine flight. Both of which he enjoyed and he was glad the pretzel roll was back instead of the plain roll.



We never get sick of this sight!



Then we went in the pavilion at Mexico and checked out the new displays which were awesome!





Since we now made the full circle around we went to the new Light Lab.



We all got drinks and enjoyed the atmosphere and air conditioning.



Rob said we did not look impressed and awed by Light Lab so we had to retake the picture. :rotfl:



Better right? :laughing:

Rob got the Space Flight and I got the rainbow colored Bleu Spectrum: Blanc de Bleu Cuvée Mousseux with Boba Pearls drink.







The atmosphere in here was pretty cool. I feel like they could have done even more with the space and the theme though.

The tables were pretty cool in this lighting too.



We saw the cutest service dog with Figment ears on getting into the Festival in here.



Back outside we stopped at the new Coastal Eats booth, which I was looking forward to the most.

First up I tried the Baked Shrimp Scampi Dip with Sourdough Baguette.



This was hands down my favorite dish at F&W! It was so cheesy and full of shrimp. Totally worth the money for only $5.50!

I also tried the Seared Scallops with Roasted Corn and Butterbean Succotash and Chili-Chipotle Butter Sauce.



These scallops were huge and perfectly cooked. There was a bit too much corn but it was still good and I liked the butterbean succotash with it. Another hit!

Next we went to Chocolate Studio where Rob got one of his favorites from last year, the Sweet Dark Chocolate Raspberry Torte with Whipped Cream and Raspberry Dust.



I decadent hit once again for him!

I tried something that everyone seems to like, the Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey-Caramel.



I. Don't. Get. It. It was hard as a rock so it was difficult to eat or enjoy. This was just weird. Not sure why this gets so many rave reviews. :confused3 It wasn't bad, just underwhelming.

Lastly Rob stopped at the Cheese Studio booth for the Braised Beef “Stroganoff” with Tiny Egg Noodles, Wild Mushroom, and Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Sauce.



I thought this looked awesome, but he was not wowed by it.

After that we called it a day. We hit a ton of booths and got a lot of the items we wanted, so we were already feeling great about our F&W experiences and it was only our second full day! There was so much great food and it was a perfect reminder of why we love F&W Festival so much.

Up next, relaxation and football!
 
What a great day at f&w! Funny how so many dishes are hit or miss. I always wanted to go later in the festival to enjoy some of the heartier dishes that just don't seem proper in 90 degree heat... one day I will get to really enjoy the beer cheese soup from Canada! I always love your reports and am looking forward to the next update!
 
Love all your F&W pictures! You all really tried many different things, thanks for the great reviews.

It was boiling hot the one day we dedicated to F&W so it was a total flop! Living vicariously through you!
 
Great reviews so far! One day, I will make it to F&W..... Love all the deliciousness and your room at WL? Did you stay in Boulder Ridge or Copper Creek. I am planning on WL for my trip this summer with my niece. I'm glad to see you can walk over to FW and I can't wait to try the breakfast at Trail's End!
 

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