“I do not deal with my problems like I know I should” - F&W Fest 2018 - Update 1/20 Going Home

Dis_Yoda

DIS Veteran
DVC Silver
Joined
Apr 26, 2008
Table of Contents

Pre-Trip
Introductions
Trip #1 - ADRs
Trip #2 - ADRs

DVC Membership Extras
Trip #1 - Initial Plans
Run Disney Race Update
Memorial Day 5K/10K
Trip #2 - Universal Studios Visit
Bonus - Pop Up Dinner: Masterchef Season 6 Runner Up
Food & Wine Festival Special Events - Frustration
Bonus - Last Minute Booking - Solo June 2018
Trip #2 - Initial Plans
Bonus - Last Minute June Trip
Trip #1 - Fastpass+ Selections
Victoria & Albert's Debate
2018 Food & Wine Festival Booth Menus
Bonus - Wedding and Britney Spears
Trip #2 - ADR/Plan Changes
Bonus - Palm City Brewing Beer Dinner
Trip #2 - FP+ Selections
Trip #2 Updates/Life Update
Trip #2 - Updates/Current Detailed Plans

Trip #1

Thursday, August 30th
Lots and Lots of Rum

Friday, August 31st
Wine at Nine & Your Day Starts Just Fine
Old Favorites
More Boozing
I'm On A Boat
Enzo's Is The Stronger Of The Pair

Saturday, September 1st
A Big Kid
Music To Our Ears
Outdoor Eating
Victoria & Albert's

Sunday, September 2nd
These Shoes Weren't Made For Walking
Hitting A Wall
Back Side of Water
I See The Light

Monday, September 3rd
Pesky Gordon

Trip #2

Thursday, November 1st
Drive-Bys
Inside The Void
Sanaa

Friday, November 2nd
Fall Feast 5K
Magic Kingdom Morning
He's A Tramp
Alert!

Saturday, November 3rd
Wine & Dine 10K
Extinction
Some Of My Favorite Things
Jiko

Sunday, November 4th
Wine & Dine Half Marathon
All The Mimosas
Rainy Dessert Party

Monday, November 5th
Grand Morning
First Round Around Festival
Hibachi Experience - Part 1
Hibachi Experience - Part 2

Tuesday, November 6th
Around Future World
2nd Round Of Festival
Italian Food, Beer Vs Wine
Disappointment

Wednesday, November 7th
The Dark Side
Childhood
Don't Let The Muggles Get You Down
Islands of Adventure
Flying Fish

Thursday, November 8th
Magic Kingdom Morning
Bar Hopping

Friday, November 9th
Early Morning
Round 3 of Food & Wine Festival Booths
Mexican Tequila Lunch
I Can't Tell Time

Saturday, November 10th
Hooray for Hollywood
Enjoying The New Stuff
Brown Derby Lunch
Savoring The Last Moments

Sunday, November 11th
Goodbye
 
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Introductions

This report will address my pre-trip and trip/dining report for my September and November 2018 trips food the Food & Wine Festival. I currently have two separate trips scheduled, although there is always a risk I could add a third one if the Eat to the Beat concerts strike my fancy and its within the budget.

Cast of Characters

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Dis_Yoda - 31 Year Old Aerospace Engineer

I grew up going to Disney since I was little as a native Floridian. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve been there but I can tell you it's at least over 200. I’ve been going to Food & Wine Festival since the beginning when all I could enjoy was the food while my parents enjoyed the good stuff. It is my favorite time of the year at Disney! I used to run half marathons at Disney but I decided against running anymore until Star Wars - Light Side returns at Disneyland. My RunDisney experience will be limited to 10Ks from now on.

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Mr. Dis_Yoda - 34 Year Old Retail Manager

His first trip to WDW was in 2007. Since then he’s been a ton of times and has grown to love it as much as me. Since starting his new job this past November, he really enjoys trying new alcoholic beverages. This will be our first food & wine festival since his palette has really changed. He now loves tequila, vodka, ipas, and red wine rather than tolerating my love of these events.

Dis_Yoda’s Mother

She’s been going to WDW since before I was born. It also is her happy place. She’s never been to Disneyland although she’s going to correct that this year with a one day visit.

The Trips

Trip #1
Dates: August 30th to September 3rd (for Dis_Yoda), August 29th to September 7th for (Dis_Yoda’s Mother)
Hotel: Grand Floridian - Outer Building

Trip #2
Dates: November 1st to November 11th
Hotel: Animal Kingdom - Jambo House (Standard View) from November 1st to 4th
Boardwalk Villas - Studio (Boardwalk View) from November 4th to 11th (Waitlisted 1st to 4th but that’s a long shot, especially at this point)​
 
Trip #1 - Current ADRS

Disclaimer: All These ADRS could change based off the Food & Wine Festival Special Events when they are released in July.

Friday, August 31st
12:00PM - Coral Reef Lunch
6:00PM - Maria & Enzo’s

Saturday, September 1st
5:45PM - Victoria & Albert’s

Sunday, September 2nd
11:05AM - California Grill - Brunch At The Top
5:30PM - Skipper Canteen
7:30PM - Fireworks Dessert Party at Tomorrowland Terrace

Monday, September 3rd
7:30AM - Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast​
 
I'm in! Just DIS'ing trying to pretend it's not Sunday night and I don't have to get myself ready for another week of work and saw your post pop up. Yay for procrastination!!! Ooooh on V&As... I cannot wait to hear all about that! I haven't tried Coral Reef in probably 20+ years but lately I've been hearing good things - can't wait to hear what you think. Brunch at Cali Grill was first on my wish list for my Oct trip. It sounds SO good! I just hope they don't get rid of the bottomless mimosas before I can get there!

Looking forward to hearing about Trip #2. Wish those F&W events would come out already but I know it's way early.

Oh, and I'm intrigued by the PTR title. I don't deal with mine either... see procrastination amongst other bad habits. :rolleyes:
 


I'm in! Just DIS'ing trying to pretend it's not Sunday night and I don't have to get myself ready for another week of work and saw your post pop up. Yay for procrastination!!! Ooooh on V&As... I cannot wait to hear all about that! I haven't tried Coral Reef in probably 20+ years but lately I've been hearing good things - can't wait to hear what you think. Brunch at Cali Grill was first on my wish list for my Oct trip. It sounds SO good! I just hope they don't get rid of the bottomless mimosas before I can get there!

Looking forward to hearing about Trip #2. Wish those F&W events would come out already but I know it's way early.

Oh, and I'm intrigued by the PTR title. I don't deal with mine either... see procrastination amongst other bad habits. :rolleyes:

Yeah, Sunday Nights are no fun knowing that work is the next day. Work this morning has not been fun and I wish I was at Disney World instead but something has to pay the bills! While I love Gantu, he puts a hamper on my ability to take last minute trips. Maybe I'll end up trying one of those 'dog' friendly rooms once he's a little better trained with the potty since I tend to be out of the room for only a few hours at a time.

Coral Reef may end up cancelled based off the conversation my mother and I were having yesterday as she wanted to start planning our Fastpass+. Food & Wine Booths are more important than eating there.

yay for you finally getting to try Brunch at California Grill!

I deal with my problems with vacation planning, alcohol and procrastination too!
Joining in :wave:

Welcome!
 
Joining in too! I am in awe of your plans to do Cali Brunch, Skippers and the dessert party all in one day. I would be sound asleep in the corner if I even thought about attempting that. I do want to get to Cali brunch on our anniversary trip next July, it looks wonderful!
 


Joining in too! I am in awe of your plans to do Cali Brunch, Skippers and the dessert party all in one day. I would be sound asleep in the corner if I even thought about attempting that. I do want to get to Cali brunch on our anniversary trip next July, it looks wonderful!

Welcome!

Skipper's most likely is going to be either appetizers or a shared entree experience. We are also planning on a nap on Sunday after Brunch. I think any plans that doesn't include a nap would be a bad life decision.

Hope you are able to get California Grill Brunch for next July! It is wonderful - so much its going to be featured twice in this report! Once in September and once in November!
 
Trip #2 - ADRS

These are subject to change once the Food & Wine Festival Event Calendar is released, but I rather have something booked and cancel then have to find something later.

Thursday, November 1st
5:05PM - Sanaa

Friday, November 2nd
11:30AM - Tony’s Town Square
5:00PM - Boathouse Dinner

Saturday, November 3rd
11:30AM - Yak & Yeti
5:40PM - Jiko - The Cooking Place

Sunday, November 4th
12:00PM - California Grill - Brunch at the Top
7:30PM - Tutto Italia

Monday, November 5th
Lunch: No ADR - Food & Wine Festival Booths
5:10PM - Homecomin’

Tuesday, November 6th
11:20AM - Beach & Cream Soda Shop
6:35PM - Citricos

Wednesday, November 7th
12:05PM - Hollywood Brown Derby
5:50PM - Flying Fish

Thursday, November 8th
12:15PM - Afternoon Tea at Garden View Tea Room
5:50PM - Yachtsman

Friday, November 9th
12:00PM - Teppan Edo
6:00PM - Il Mulino

Saturday, November 10th
11:30AM - Tiffins
5:30PM - Victoria & Albert’s Queen Victoria Room

Sunday, November 11th
None!​
 
Looks like some good dining choices! I love your Dining Reports!

Thank you! I'm sure they may change a few times between now and then but if they change, its for new fun things!

Wow... that is quite a line-up for November! :worship: And a nice, long trip!!

I'm happy we're finally doing a long trip at WDW again! The last long trip we did was in 2015 for our first trip to Food & Wine Festival that year. It seems like recently its been mostly short weekend trips. Although I can't complain too much as we did have 2 almost week long trips to Disneyland in 2016/2017, Hawaii in 2016 and Italy in 2017 so worthy trips to give up extended WDW vacations for! This is our savings year for vacation!
 
DVC Membership Extras

We attempted to book two of the special events DVC members have access to. We succeeded in getting 1 of them booked but we were locked out of the other.

The first one is a Bourbon Tasting! This will happen on November 6th at 4:30PM! It was $40 per person so hopefully it will be some good bourbons!

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The one we weren't successful in was the Soarin' Around The World Member Tour. I'll probably try back a couple times to see if anyone ends up cancelling but they did let me know the tour group is super small (less than 20) and with 180+10 booking ability - its hard to get depending on the date range you are staying.

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We have 6 of the same ADRS, but not at the same time. We will be doing the afternoon tea for the first time. I'm pretty excited to do this for my tea-lovin' husband.

The Soarin' around the world tour looks great! How awesome to have a complimentary tour.
 
Awesome for booking the bourbon tasting! I tried to get a DVC beverage tasting as well (for the Disney family of wines) and was out of luck. I'm not sure how many spots there are but seems they're pretty popular. Wish you could book online as I spend at least 15 min on the phone with member services only to find it was full. The more they utilize TotWL, the better, I think. I'll be curious to hear what you think of this.
 
We have 6 of the same ADRS, but not at the same time. We will be doing the afternoon tea for the first time. I'm pretty excited to do this for my tea-lovin' husband.

The Soarin' around the world tour looks great! How awesome to have a complimentary tour.

Well, Yak & Yeti is pretty close ;) We'll probably will be leaving as you are coming in. I'm hoping they add a special dish this year for the royal wedding like they did when Catherine & William got married. If not, I'll just enjoy the normal tea! I have another surprised booked for our tea day but it isn't booked yet since they haven't opened reservations for November for tours/extras yet.

Hopefully someone cancels and I can book the Soarin' tour! I'm going to keep trying.

Bourbon? That looks like a great extra!

I'm hoping it will be! My husband used to not enjoy bourbon but since he started his new job last November, he's grown to like it. Makes me happy we can finally enjoy that together!

Awesome for booking the bourbon tasting! I tried to get a DVC beverage tasting as well (for the Disney family of wines) and was out of luck. I'm not sure how many spots there are but seems they're pretty popular. Wish you could book online as I spend at least 15 min on the phone with member services only to find it was full. The more they utilize TotWL, the better, I think. I'll be curious to hear what you think of this.

Once we learn how the set up goes in November, I guess we'll find out how many people can book. Having to call for it is annoying as I rather just do things online too! Haven't seen many people review them anywhere on the boards so should be interesting. I'm glad they are using ToTWL more so that is isn't dormant most of the day! Hopefully means it won't close up in a cost saving effort although with Reunion Station getting a lot of events too...wondering if they are trying out which one has a better value.
 
Following along!!! Our trip overlaps with yours a few days in November!!

That Soarin tour sounds amazing! and the Bourbon one too, I wish I was a DVC member! That is so awesome!

Also - I LOVE your dining reports and your reservations look amazing, so I already can't wait to read about them all!
 
Following along! Super jealous of the 2(!!!) V&A reservations I see! I keep trying to convince him to do it, but he'd rather spend the extra money on the better hotel. I did convince him to do brunch at Cali though, in addition to dinner.
 

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