Just back - quick Festival of the Arts Booths and Geyser Point Reviews

Can I admit something? I've never had "real" Frosé... :duck:so I really liked this one, but also understand that it's not really Frosé as much as it is a nice peach frozen cocktail! I am going to have to be on the look out for the strawberry version... I can't recall whether Hurricane Hannah's is inside the security perimeter of Stormalong Bay, though I'm sure a good Frosé is worth sneaking in for :laughing:

It's outside!!! Right underneath the shipwreck!
 
Crowd: "HIIIIIII PATRICK" :wave2: haha. I definitely wasn't meaning that folks were lamenting the loss of the BLT in a negative way. There are many dishes I have loved and lost that I am still mourning (I'm looking at you, Kona Cafe... bring back my Samoan!) and I totally get wanting a lighter sandwich. I am just a plebeian who cannot acquire a taste for salmon no matter how hard I try!
I so knew you'd get my humor, and no, I didn't think you were being negative. I agree--dishes come and go too often, it seems. I used to be on the fence about salmon until I lived in Alaska for four years. They know how to make great salmon dishes!
 
I love Flower and Garden as well, I don't think we are making it this year to that thought, but you never ever know :)
 
The opened bag of meat looks like a dirty diaper. :lmao: Not what I would call “artistic.”

I will be (God willing) at the Flower & Garden Festival this spring and will try the La Vie en Rose which I think is the one you got at the Arts.

Gotta love those French slushies at Epcot. The LePassion turned out to be my favorite drink at the 2017 F&W, thanks in part to your review, Melinda. I would have skipped it because I didn’t care for the 2016 version, but yours looked so good. :)

just have to say, this made me lol at work (and glad I have my own office, haha)

I also wanted to post a quick review of Geyser Point since we were just there. We've been to Geyser Point a good handful of times now, but usually we are just enjoying a cocktail and the view. On our last visit we noticed that they'd added a host stand for seating and we briefly discussed the popularity of Geyser Point and the need for organized seating with one of the bartenders. I didn't think much of it, but between that visit a few weeks ago and our visit last weekend, one of the unofficial Disney news/fan sites posted a re-review of Geyser Point that was pretty negative. In that review, the complaints were about portion size, the flavor/quality of the food, and that the menu offerings had changed since Geyser Point opened. I wanted to post my review as I had lowered my expectations based on that other review, but we ended up having a great experience.

We came hungry and cold after having snacked around Epcot for a while earlier that afternoon. We were seated on the side of the lounge near the lake and told we could sit in either half of the two adjacent tables for two. We chose the interior table nearer the bar, and there wasn't really a heater aimed at us so we were a little chilly. The host repeatedly kept attempting to seat another party at the other table for two (which is basically right on top of where we were sitting, in case you haven't been there) but every other party asked for another table - probably partly due to the fact that they'd more or less be joining us for lunch and also it was really chilly and breezy.

This is an official disney photo, not my photo, but you can see in the lower left a duo of tables like we were seated at, in case you can't visualize:

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I feel certain that guest reluctance to sit basically *with* another party played a part in Disney implementing host and hostess seating here.

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First up was our drinks - R, my fiance, had a Space Dust IPA draft and I received not exactly what I ordered. What you see pictured here is the Huckleberry Punch with a splash of lemonade. What I actually ordered was the huckleberry vodka (that they use in the huckleberry punch) with lemonade. What I ordered is supposed to look like this:

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The huckleberry punch is good, though, so I just kept it instead of sending it back. The huckleberry punch is 44 North Mountain Huckleberry Vodka, Bols Creme de Cassis, fresh lemon juice and cranberry juice ($12). It's delicious, just sweeter than I would like, hence my failed attempt to order just the vodka and lemonade. R was glad to see the Space Dust on draft and enjoyed it.

I wanted to try the chili cheese waffle fries after we'd seen the waffle fries looking golden and delicious on prior visits, but the article I read made me scared of the "bad" chili. We ordered the fries with the chili on the side:

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I didn't take a photo of the menu and I can't find the current lounge menu online. They've definitely changed a few things, but these were waffle fries with queso cheese and crumbled queso fresco with chili and green onions ($12). This was a large portion, as you can probably tell, and the fries were perfectly cooked and crispy with a nice battered texture to the outside of the fry. I noted that they were like the outside texture of an Arby's curly fry, albeit without the spice. I thought the chili was pretty good too! I don't know that it was spicy enough for me to want a bowl of to eat on its own, but it was definitely good on the fries - hearty and beefy.

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We also ordered the bison burger:

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Which is on the menu at the quick serve window. "Bacon, tillamook cheddar, sweet onion straws, lettuce, tomato, garlic aioli, and marionberry barbecue sauce served on an artisan roll" ($14). We asked for no onion straws and no barbecue sauce. The sauce came on the side anyway so we got to try it.

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Let's just take a moment to observe the magnificence. This burger was really, really good in my opinion. We didn't have to wait too long on the food so we got a delicious, fresh, perfectly cooked burger with tons of crisp bacon and fresh tomato and lettuce. The bun was a tad dry, but that was easily remedied by applying some aioli (which also came on the side). The cheddar also had a nice bold flavor and everything that we had on our burger worked well together, flavor-wise. This is the best quick service burger on property in my opinion, better than D-Luxe and only bested by the Boathouse and Crew's Cup (if they still have a burger...?). The barbecue sauce that came on the side was more of a fruit sauce, which would have been good on a donut but I was glad it wasn't on our burger.

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For round two, I had the Bourbon & Strawberry Sour – Bulleit Bourbon, fresh Lemon Juice, Strawberry Puree, and Sweet-and-Sour topped with Sprite ($12). Again, this was really refreshing and not too sweet. R had another Space Dust. I greatly enjoyed my strawberry bourbon concoction and would have had another if we weren't ready to move along with our day. Our total for two rounds of drinks, the nachos and the burger was $70.82. I just wish that they took TIW.

Overall, I think the changes are fine. While I know folks are lamenting the loss of the Salmon BLT sandwich, I don't eat salmon anyway and appreciate the addition of the chili cheese fries. I hope that Geyser Point continues to offer new and different specialty cocktails, rotating small plates, and focusing on seasonally fresh foods.


I am leaving first thing Thursday for Disney and we decided this year to upgrade to APs (we're only there for a few days and then onto a cruise) and go again next year, which is January, which is during FoA. We'll be hitting one day of flower and garden festival AFTER our cruise and the picky kid has identified a few things he'd be ok with trying. I was hoping it would be successful and we could have a little fun at FoA doing the same next year.

Off to read and bookmark your last year's review. Not that he'd eat lamb but that dirty diaper thing would have him running for the hills. I love art and thought it would be a good backdrop for another trip... we're going to brave the crowds during MLK weekend because he's got two days off of school then. And hopefully he'll be ok with trying a few things at FoA. Will report back about F&G, we are planning to hit up Canada at lunch (with nearby QS options if the tenderloin is a bust) and the BBQ over by the American Pavilion for dinner (ditto with nearby backups). I suspect by then we'll be sick of eating after the cruise so a couple of small portions might be just right. We'll see!

Also... we have one night pre-cruise with my parents at Copper Creek. We are doing the fireworks cruise but the fireworks are so early that we'll miss the electric water pageant. was thinking of trying out geyser point for a late night snack and pageant viewing. Those waffle fries with queso might have to happen.
 



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