~If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff~ COMPLETE

[TinkerBelle_325]

"If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff" - Remy, Ratatouille​

Ok, so I lied...a little...today I am starting my October Dining Review BEFORE I have finished my May Dining Review BUT the May review will be completed...within the next hour or so...I swear....really....

Welcome to my newest Dining Review! Thank you to those that have followed me since 2009 and welcome to those that are new followers! I truly appreciate that you all take the time to read my reviews

My DIS-inspirations are MickeyNicki & oybolshoi. Their reports are fun, filled with pictures and great commentary

ABOUT ME

I'm Meg, I'm 26 and I have done a many Dining Reports in the past, most notably March, Sept & Oct 2010, as well as May 2011. I also seem to be somewhat famous for *this* picture:

At which most people go and then when they discover this is NOT Yoshi's Deluxe Platter but our insane first experience with California Grill Sushi that set us back $100 LOL. It was soooo worth it but we've never ordered that much since. Typically we stick to 2 or 3 rolls now.

This will be my 42nd trip to WDW and my 5th stay at the Poly, which is now my favorite resort. I am a true foodie and I love trying new restaurants and menu items. I take pictures of everything we eat each trip and love reviewing our meals.
Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Rides:
MK = Haunted Mansion & Splash Mountain
EP = Soarin'
DHS = Tower of Terror
AK = Kilimanjaro Safaris
Favorite Restaurants:
TS = California Grill and Victoria & Albert's
CS = Flame Tree BBQ & Wolfgang Puck Express
Favorite Snack: Dole Whip

Pre-Review Table of Contents
Introductory Post
Rating System
Dining Game Plan, Pre-Review Table of Contents, Itinerary & Dining Reservations
WDW Cravings!
F&W Festival Flashback
F&W Frustrations
Dealing with an Indecisive DD (DDad and Disney Diner):The Tale of the Last-Minute Dining Changes
Cravings Countdown! Day 10 - F&W Festival Items

WDW Cravings Countdown
Day 10 - F&W Festival Items
Day 9 - Sushi
Day 8 - Snacks
Day 7 - Signature Dining
Day 6 - Alcoholic Drinks
Day 5 - Via Napoli

Table of Contents
The Best Laid Plans...
Saturday, October 1st - Garden View Tea
Saturday, October 1st - Kona Island Sushi Takeout
Sunday, October 2nd - King Kamehameha Club & Liberty Tree Tavern
Wedding Events Part 1 - Ohana Rehearsal
Wedding Events Part 2 - Brunch Reception at the Attic at the Boardwalk
Monday, October 3rd - Jiko
Tuesday, October 4th - Chefs de France & Food & Wine
Tuesday, October 4th - Garden View Tea & California Grill
Wednesday, October 5th - Flame Tree BBQ, Via Napoli & Karamel Kuche
Thursday, October 6th - Cabana Day, Captain Cook's and California Grill
Friday, October 7th - Victoria & Albert's (Part 1)
Friday, October 7th - Victoria & Albert's (Part 2)
Saturday, October 8th - Red Lobster and Romano's Macaroni Grill
Sunday, October 9th - Sweet Sundays with Cake Boss - Buddy Valastro!http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44538643&postcount=113http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44538643&postcount=113

CAST

DMom
Age withheld at penalty of death. It will be her 47th trip to WDW. She is punctual and easy going at the same time (She had to learn to be with my DDad and I who are both well....stubborn and perpetually late)
Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Rides: Soarin & Impressions de France
Favorite Restaurants: Victoria & Alberts, California Grill, Kona Island Sushi
Favorite Snack: Champagne!

DDad
Age withheld under the same penalty of death. It will be his 46th trip to WDW. He is as much a Disney freak as me but hides it better. His favorite part of the trip is the food and spending time at World Showcase. As mentioned above...He is stubborn and perpetually late. He also finds it fun to "challenge" me on our vacations, most often by asking me to obtain "impossible" dining reservations with less than 24 hours notice (more on that later).
Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Rides: Pirates of the Caribbean, Soarin
Favorite Restaurants: Victoria & Albert's, California Grill, Kona Island Sushi Bar
Favorite Snack: Dole Whip

GUEST STARS

Jaclyn (Belle_373)
She is 25 and one of my very best friends! We met in 1st year university, but the true start of our friendship was in 2005. We were both going on WDW vacations in May, the same week in fact. We jokingly mentioned that we might run into each other….and WE DID! From that point on, we were practically inseparable. We share a love of Disney, Starbucks, anything Coach, Sushi…and many other things. We are also each others DIS-support as anyone that frequently goes to WDW is used to the "You're going there AGAIN?" so we share our obsession and ignore DIS-haters. In September 2009, Jaclyn got engaged at WDW and she and her DF (Chris) asked me to be the Maid of Honour at their Disney Fairytale Wedding. That wedding is taking place during this trip!


Chris (Jaclyn's DF)
He is 28 and also one of my close friends. Obviously we know each other through Jaclyn lol.

BLOG, TWITTER & DINING REVIEW

Outside of a few brief updates, this trip report won't be live. However, I will be updating my blog (www.thedisneyfoodie.com), my twitter (@thedisneyfoodie) and my dining report (LINK TO COME: ~ If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff ~ F&W 2011) LIVE throughout the course of my vacation.

With that said, as a close to the first post I must mention a poignant thought my Thomas Jefferson that has led off ALL my other reviews:I will mention:

We seldom report of having eaten too little...

For the previous editions of ~We seldom report of having eaten too little~ please click here for 2009, here for March 2010, here for Sept 2010, and here for October 2010.

COMING UP NEXT: Rating System

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Rating System

Whenever it comes to F&W Festival, I find myself inspired by the petite chef Remy from Ratatouille, as evidenced by my dining review title.

So I have decided to use a rating system of Ratatouille characters

5 stars: A culinary revelation!

Items ranked as 5 stars will be on par with Ego's experience eating Remy's ratatouille.

4 Stars "So good I'm afraid to share!"

Items ranked as 4 stars will be excellent, so much so that you would hesitate in sharing as it would mean less for you!

3 Stars "Solid, but anyone could cook this"

Items ranked 3 stars will be good, but not surprising. They go along with Gusteau's motto that "anyone can cook."

2 Stars "Just hork it down"

Items ranked 2 stars will be decent, worth eating once but not worth repeating. You would feel compelled to just hork it down as Emile so often does.

1 Star "Run away screaming!"

Items ranked 1 star will be bad, either bland, or disgusting, but regardless you would prefer to run away from them.​

COMING UP NEXT: Dining Game Plan, Itinerary & Dining Reservations

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Dining Game Plan

If you have followed my previous dining reviews then you will know that my family doesn't use the Disney Dining Plan. It just doesn't work for us. Instead, we use the Tables in Wonderland card, which is a great deal if you are going to be eating in the main Dining Room at V&A. For our party of 3 we recoup the entire $75 cost of the card AND we save about $45 on top of it. So in one meal we can justify the cost of the card.

We also tend to order 3 or 4 appetizers to share, have a dessert or two and call it a meal. That isn't to say we don't follow the convention of appetizer, entree & dessert from time to time, but we find it more fun to try multiple small items at certain restaurants.

On our last trip we started using the principle of "Why do we dine here?" to help us avoid having eyes that are bigger than our stomachs. Nine times out of ten this was a fantastic tactic. We often return to restaurants to enjoy their "signature" item and can sometimes find ourselves ordering additional items that are just OK. As a result, we don't enjoy the "signature" item as much.

Itinerary & Dining Reservations

Saturday, October 1st
Breakfast: Airport
Lunch: Kona Cafe
Wedding Event: Garden View Tea (Meg only)
Dinner: Via Napoli & Food & Wine Festival Booths

Sunday, October 2nd
Breakfast: King Kamehameha Club
Lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern
Dinner: Kona Island Sushi (Mom & Dad)
Wedding Event: Ohana (Meg only)

Monday, October 3rd
Breakfast: King Kamehameha Club (Mom & Dad)
Wedding Event: Bridal Party Room Service Breakfast @ Grand Floridian (Meg only)
Wedding Reception: Brunch at The Attic at Disney's Boardwalk Resort
Lunch: ESPN Club (Mom & Dad)
Dinner: Jiko

Tuesday, October 4th
Breakfast: King Kamehameha Club
Lunch: Les Chefs de France & Food & Wine Festival Booths
Dinner: California Grill

Wednesday, October 5th
Breakfast: King Kamehameha Club
Lunch: Flame Tree BBQ
Dinner: La Hacienda de San Angel & Food & Wine Festival Booths

Thursday, October 6th
Breakfast: King Kamehameha Club
Lunch: Via Napoli & Food & Wine Festival Booths
Dinner: California Grill

Friday, October 7th
Breakfast: King Kamehameha Club
Lunch: Kona Cafe in our Private Cabana at the Polynesian
Dinner: Victoria & Albert's

Saturday, October 8th
Breakfast: King Kamehameha Club
Lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern
Dinner: Les Chefs de France & Food & Wine Festival Booths

Sunday, October 9th
Breakfast: King Kamehameha Club
Lunch: Food & Wine Festival Booths
Dinner: Airport

COMING UP NEXT: WDW Cravings

 

[MickeyNicki]

Oh yeah! I am totally in for this review Megan! I am so bummed our trips are not overlapping again

 

[kabuki]

We are in! Can't wait!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Oh yeah! I am totally in for this review Megan! I am so bummed our trips are not overlapping again

Hey Nicki!

Thanks for reading again I'm so sad that our trips aren't overlapping, it was such a blast to meet you and Todd. Though I'm sure our trips will cross paths another time!

We are in! Can't wait!

Yay! Thanks for reading!

 

[franandaj]

I'll be so excited to read your reviews, especially of the New Items at the F&W booths! I'm not going to be there until near the end of the Festival, but at least I'm finally doing the double digit dance!

 

[PrincessBetsy]

I'm definitely in! It looks like you are going to have some fantastic meals! I would love to go to the F&W festival someday, so for now I will just live vicariously through you.

 

[butiflfeet]

I'm so excited for your trip! Almost as excited as I am for my trip! We're going to be there the same time as you, trying to savor as much of the F&W festival as possible! We arrive on 9/30 and DH, my sister and my mom are running the Wine and Dine Half Marathon on Saturday night. Hopefully we won't be too exhausted after that to make the after party worth it!

We'll be there until Friday 10/7 so we better not kill ourselves with this whole half marathon thing

 

[bigal'sdaughter]

Hi! I will be there with you! So excited for my first F&W!
Congratulations to Jaclyn and Chris! What a magical way and time to get married!

 

[bigal'sdaughter]

Hi! I will be there with you! So excited for my first F&W!
Congratulations to Jaclyn and Chris! What a magical way and time to get married!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I'll be so excited to read your reviews, especially of the New Items at the F&W booths! I'm not going to be there until near the end of the Festival, but at least I'm finally doing the double digit dance!

I'm going to try my best to do my reviews live! However, as I recall the Poly's internet sucks for uploading pictures

Now that they have released the info about the booths I'm really getting excited!

I'm definitely in! It looks like you are going to have some fantastic meals! I would love to go to the F&W festival someday, so for now I will just live vicariously through you.

Thanks for reading! You should definitely go for F&W one year, but a warning, it is very addictive!

I'm so excited for your trip! Almost as excited as I am for my trip! We're going to be there the same time as you, trying to savor as much of the F&W festival as possible! We arrive on 9/30 and DH, my sister and my mom are running the Wine and Dine Half Marathon on Saturday night. Hopefully we won't be too exhausted after that to make the after party worth it!

We'll be there until Friday 10/7 so we better not kill ourselves with this whole half marathon thing

Nice! I looked into the Wine & Dine Half Marathon, but it didn't work for me this year. Plus, Jaclyn has basically told anyone in the wedding: "No strenuous or dangerous activities before the wedding!" I can't blame her, don't want any members of your wedding party injured.

Hi! I will be there with you! So excited for my first F&W!
Congratulations to Jaclyn and Chris! What a magical way and time to get married!

Very cool! You will LOVE the Food & Wine Festival. The best advice I can give is budget more time in Epcot than you think you will need! Those booths are surprisingly filling. We can only manage 1/4 of the booths per visit to the park and that is with lots of sharing. We typically schedule 6 visits to the booths

 

[MickeyNicki]

Hi Megan!

Did you see the menus for the food booths?? Todd and I are sitting here making plans, I am highlighting the list on the foods I want to try but he is putting numbers next to the foods...the numbers mean how many times he wants to eat them

I have a feeling we will spend every single day at Epcot

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Hi Megan!

Did you see the menus for the food booths?? Todd and I are sitting here making plans, I am highlighting the list on the foods I want to try but he is putting numbers next to the foods...the numbers mean how many times he wants to eat them

I have a feeling we will spend every single day at Epcot

Nicki we are so alike! As soon as I saw the booth menus I went through and highlighted the items I wanted to try most! I also emailed my mom, dad and my friend Jaclyn lol.

I can't wait to try the coq au vin with macaroni gratin, the kalua pork slider, the cheese selection, the Greek griddled cheese and both of the lobster items at hops & barley!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

WDW Cravings!​

Only 65 days until our next trip to WDW and I am having some serious WDW cravings!

With the release of the International Marketplace Menus I just can't get Disney off my mind.

The items that I am most looking forward to trying are:

Australia
Shrimp on the Barbie with Pepper Berry Citrus Glaze
Grilled Lamp Chop with Potato-Goat Cheese Salad and Shiraz Reduction

Mexico
Rib Eye Taco
Shrimp Taco

Cheese
Cheese Fondue with Sourdough Bread
Artisan Cheese Collection with Sweet Gras Dairy Thomasville Tomme, Delice de Bourgogne, PC Wyngaard Chevre Affineurs Goat Gouda

Germany
Apple Strudel featuring Werther's Original Caramel Sauce and Vanilla Sauce

Italy
Cappellini con Gamberi Piccanti (Cappellini Pasta with Spicy Shrimp)

Hops & Barley
Linda Bean's Lobster Claw Cuddler with Drawn Butter
Linda Bean's Perfect Maine Lobster Roll
Pumpkin Mousse with Ocean Spray Crasins and Orange Sauce

France
Coq au Vin sur Gratin de Macaroni" (Red Wine Braised Chicken, Mushrooms, Pearl Onions and Macaroni Gratin)

Canada
Moosehead Beer Glazed Salmon with Barley Salad

Greece
Grilled Greek Cheese with Pistachios and Honey

Desserts & Champagne
Lemon Chiffon
White Chocolate Macadamia Mousse with Dark Chocolate Pearls
Tres Leches Verrine

Hawaii
Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise
Tuna Poke with Seaweed Salad and Lotus Root Chips

In honour of the menu release, I present you with my current WDW cravings in no particular order

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup!

Lapu Lapu

Volcano Roll

Carrot Cake Cookie

California Grill Sushi

Kielbasa and Potato Pierogie (completed with Sour Cream Hidden Mickey!)

French Onion Soup

Tandoori Butter!

Escargot Persillade en Brioche and Parisian Cosmo Slush

Lobster Roll (excited to try the new one) and the sample sizes of Samuel Adams Beer

Lobster & Scallop Fisherman's Pie, Irish Cheese Selection & Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Bailey's Ganache

Shrimp Tacos

Crispy Beef Bobotie Rolls

Dole Whip

And now a special section for V&A cravings...

Amuse Bouche - Always the most fun course of the meal as you never know what you are going to get

I know it doesn't look like much, but this may be the very best item I've ever eaten at V&A. It was "Tomato Consume." Now, I do NOT like tomatoes, at all. But this was astonishingly good. It tasted like the best, ripest, most balanced sweet, tart, perfectly seasoned tomato flavor in the world. I wanted more!

Sake-soy marinated Salmon with Hojumiji mushrooms, edamame and wild rice. WOW! This was earthy intensity in a bowl, but somehow they managed not to overpower the delicate salmon flavor.

Lobster Bisque - probably the most memorable item I have had at V&A. I still remember the exact taste. It was rich, creamy and lobster-y without being even slightly "fishy" as some bisque's can be.

 

[PrincessBetsy]

The food that's going to be at the F&W Festival all sounds so delicious! Gosh darn it, you have gone and made me all hungry!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

F&W Festival Flashback​

Hi All! Well, I am 51 days away from my happy place and from indulging in my absolute favorite WDW event: Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival.

Here are some of my favorite items from past F&W Festivals:

Greece (2009)

Spanikotpita and Chicken Souvlaki with Pita

U.S. (2009)

Praline Bread Pudding

Italy (2009)

Polpetine (meatballs) with Breadsticks

Baked Ravioli

Germany (2009)

Sausage on a Pretzel Roll, Ham & Cheese Spaetzel and Apple Strudel

Turkey (2008)

Meze Platter: Hummus, Pita and Cucumber & Tomato Salad and Beef Dumplings with Yogurt Sauce

Ireland (2008)

Boxty (potato pancake), Potato & Leek Soup, Cheese Selection

Italy (2008)

Baked Ziti and Chocolate Zeppole

Argentina (2008)

Beef Empanada

Spain (2008)

Churros with Chocolate Sauce

New Zealand (2008)

Lamb Slider and Kiwi Lime Pie (made me think of Friends )

Australia (2006)

Lamb Chop and Shrimp on the Barbie

Ireland (2006)

Bailey's Trifle with Raspberry

Mexico (2006)

Quesadilla with Chicken & Chorizo

France (2006)

Goat Cheese & Puff Pastry Tart

Morocco (2006)

Chicken Bastilla

 

[franandaj]

Some of those things look wonderful! It's too bad that they discontinued some, but there are others that their replacements look evern better. I can't wait until you start your TR and tasting all the foods that are there this year! I've still got 75 days until my trip starts!

 

[TigerKat]

Signing on! We'll be heading to our 4th F&W experience in October and can't wait!

 

[littlelamb70]

Oh my, some of those things look yummy!! I will definitely be following your report to see what yummy food they have this year!

My family and I will be heading down in Nov for my mom's 50th birthday and also for the F&W Fest. We've never been, so we are VERY excited

Also, may I ask where you found a list of all the food they will be having at each station? Thanks!