cousinbb and smile4stamps both correctly matched up Smiling Cheshire Cat with her update from...
Rachel said, "Yesterday morning we celebrated Brianna's birthday at Akershus."
"Sorry no menu pics but here's the guys with the birthday girl."
First some pics from the cold buffet...
"Yogurt, jellies, and spreads"
"Bagels and this pastry. Does anyone know what it is? I think it had chocolate inside."
"And more pastries from the cold bar, which were cold. I really like my pastries warm."
"And here's the fruit, with meat and cheeses."
"Here's the hot plate...
"Bacon, eggs, sausage, and potatoes. We got extras of the bacon and potatoes."
"And here's the birthday cupcake and card that was given to Brianna for her birthday."
"This was a great way to spend Brianna's birthday, and the breakfast was good."
"Later in the day we were thirsty and stopped at China's...
"I was sad to see the peach tea is no longer on the menu. You can even see where it is blacked out."
"Instead I got the strawberry oolong tea slush, which is in the back. And Chase got the mango green tea. Both were delicious but very sweet. But that suited us fine."
4 October Game Points Earned + 8 Bonus Points for signs, menu, pic of Brianna & the guys, and buffet pics
1 October/November Game Point Awarded to both cousinbb & smile4stamps
Our next update was correctly matched to its reporter by smile4stamps and kanadar.
DisneyDreamerMN said, "Last night we had dinner at...
Raglan Road
First a couple of menu pics...
"We started out with the bread of course. You can never go wrong with bread."
"The restaurant was very busy, but I imagine it always is on a Saturday night. Our waiter was very friendly and knowledgeable, but service was really slow."
"I ordered the Serious Steak."
"The two onion rings on top were so good. Unfortunately, that was the best thing about the entree. The steak lacked flavor and arrived barely warm. I would've sent it back, but our waiter did not come back to the table for sometime."
"My MIL ordered Keen eye for the Shepard's Pie."
"Kyle's cousin ordered two side dishes, cider glazed carrots and smoked bacon baked beans."
"My AIL (Aunt-in-law) chose Braised Be. Beef."
"My FIL chose Fish & Chips...
...and Kyle chose Banger & Booz."
"My party had few words on their entrees other than they all thought they were good."
"For dessert three of us ordered Ger's Bread and Butter Pudding."
"So delicious! We should have shared two between the 6 of us, we were just too stuffed."
"Kyle ordered the Dunbrody Kiss."
"He said it was good. I asked if he could expand on that and he said it was decadent."
3 October Game Points Earned + 3 Bonus Points for menus and misc pic
1 October/November Game Point Awarded to smile4stamps & kanadar
Several people (BlovesC, Poohs100AcreWood, mare1203, kanadar, & smile4stamps) correctly guessed that it was Arielle71 who attended this F & W Special Event yesterday.
Gisèle said, "We started with a glass of Prosecco and a Greek yogurt parfait with honey and berries."
"Then we went to the buffet."
"And after that the Cake Boss prepared cannolis that were paired with Asti spumante."
"Then he prepared cupcakes and showed different ways to decorate them."
"And finally he did his favorite pastry and our preferred one...
...a lobster tail with Bailey's custard. Delicious!"
"The boss!"
"And when we left we each received a little box with strawberries dipped in chocolate."
"At that point we were almost in a sugar coma but it was a great event!!!"
5 October Game Points Earned + 4 Bonus Points for ticket (name), menu, pic of the boss, and misc. pic
1 October/November Game Point Awarded to BlovesC, Poohs100AcreWood, mare1203, kanadar, & smile4stamps
Sadly we received the final update from Jen (Merida34), who's trip ended yesterday.
She said, "We are waiting for Fantasmic and got some sugared pecans...Yummy!"
"We also stopped here for something I have wanted to try after seeing it on this thread..."
Carrot Cake Cookie
"It was delicious! The icing was a little sweet for me but still really good!"
"After Fantasmic we were all starving but didn't want anything from Old Key West so we stopped at POR's...
Riverside Mill
"I got the Make your own Pasta with penne, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, artichokes and spinach. The pasta was overcooked but it was still yummy! Not a very exciting last Disney meal but it hit the spot!"
5 October Game Points Earned + 1 Bonus Point for sign pic
1 October/November Game Point Awarded for a correct match by smile4stamps
Time for me to call it a night, but check back tomorrow for the four remaining updates from Sunday. All of these are from DonaldDoleWhip and they are the final ones from his trip.
I had to chuckle at Rachel's side of broccoli at Columbia Harbour House.... didn't we agree that that was a point deduction for ordering that. Well, at least we gave Mr. DDW a hard time about that one!!
Good morning everyone! I'm happy to say that our (currently active) 8 reporters are doing an outstanding job and provided us with more than 20 updates again yesterday! But before we start with those, let's finish up with our updates from Sunday.
And so first up for your viewing pleasure this morning are DonaldDoleWhip's final updates of his 3-day trip.
He said, "On Saturday, I returned to the Food & Wine Festival for the final time. At that point, I'd basically tried everything that interested me, so this visit allowed me to enjoy some favorites again."
"First stop:
Menu
"This is another booth with some really cool visuals on it."
"The garlic shrimp with rapini still tasted great (although there were less shrimp in this serving than in the one we had on Thursday)."
"Next was:
"The baklava was definitely worth repeating - I enjoyed it just as much the second time."
"After that, I headed to Les Halles to get an item I enjoyed in August."
Sweet menu
Savory
Drinks
"I was looking forward to having the raspberry macaron once again."
"Between the fresh berries and the tart lime cream, this macaron is full of flavor."
"Another thing that excited me - the bakery has introduced some beautiful new macaron displays, in the same style that you'd find at places like Ladurée."
"For comparison's sake, here's a picture from Ladurée in NYC:
"Back to Epcot - the final booth of my Festival experience was:
"There were two items here that I really wanted to repeat: the refreshing watermelon juice...
...and the chocolate cake. This plate fortuitously contained a generous serving of the passion fruit sauce - it's what makes this dessert, IMO."
"After enjoying my Terra selections, I headed back to Yacht Club so we could transfer resorts."
5 October Game Points Earned + 12 Bonus Points for signs, menus, and misc. pics
DonaldDoleWhip then said, "From Yacht Club, we headed over to Pop Century for the night. We received a room in the 50's section and were very close to a parking area. In addition, since our room wasn't facing the pool, it was pleasantly quiet."
"Some resort pictures:
"We decided to grab something to eat at...
"This place has received atrocious reviews since they updated the menu. Naturally, that meant we had to try it for ourselves."
"We decided to share something from the burger area."
Menu
"We split the salmon burger with pasta salad. Honestly, we both really enjoyed it - the burger wasn't dry or overcooked at all, and the Thai curry mayo had a unique lemongrass flavor. The pasta salad was an average side, but I liked that it wasn't mayo-based."
"This was my first time seeing the tie-dyed cheesecake in person - it didn't look great to me. (I know the presentation of it has recently changed - I wonder if the recipe has changed at all?)"
"Since we'd split the burger, we decided to split something else. Instead of getting another item at Pop, we headed over to AoA."
"View of AoA from Pop Century...
"We were looking forward to returning to the food court here."
Menu
"Here's a picture of the steak and the fish."
"The fish sounded good, but we ended up choosing the vegetable plate."
"Clearer picture (after moving the naan to the side)...
"This was a huge portion, and it was absolutely delicious - I would've liked some more tomato sauce with the cauliflower, but that's an extremely minor point."
"One more pic from Art of Animation...
5 October Game Points Earned + 14 Bonus Points for signs, menus, and misc. pics
In addition to hearing DDW's take on the new version of CA Grill, I (and probably many of you) have been looking forward to his review of Jiko. Although I myself have not had much luck with Jiko during my last two visits there, it seems to be a favorite of many here on the Live Thread and even with a couple of members of my own family. I know that DonaldDoleWhip has counted Jiko among his favorite WDW restaurants for awhile now, however I also know that his last visit there was not quite up to par. So let's see if Jiko has redeemed itself in Mr. DoleWhip's eyes, or if it has been displaced by CA Grill and Monsieur Paul on DDW's list of WDW favorites, shall we?
DonaldDoleWhip said, "Our final dinner (which also happened to be our last Disney meal) was at...
Restaurant interior
Menu
"If you know anything about me, you already know the entrée I chose."
{In other words, the following may contain food with faces...PARENTAL GUIDANCE IS ADVISED}
"To start, we received a tasty amuse bouche - pickled beet with crème fraîche."
"We actually decided to split the roasted cauliflower flatbread, in addition to our choices on the DxDP. The flatbread was very nice, with a decent spicy kick to it."
"My appetizer choice was the fire-roasted oyster dish. I didn't love it, since the hot sauce flavor was barely noticeable."
"My mom enjoyed the Mozambique-style tomato salad once again. The tomato, peaches, avocado, and salty feta are wonderful together - I wish I'd gotten this again!"
"For her main course, my mom chose the whole local sea bass. However, since the accompanying sides are very spicy, she requested it with the veggies and tomato-butter sauce that accompany the monkfish. (The sauce is on the side.) She also requested that the head be removed from her plate. She really enjoyed it."
"I also chose the whole sea bass. However, my dish didn't include any modifications."
"I also enjoyed this dish - it was spicy with a hint of sweetness, and there was plenty of fish to enjoy. I preferred the whole fish at Bluezoo, but this dish was still enjoyable."
"Finally, dessert."
"I chose the pistachio cake and thought it was quite tasty (although not as memorable as the black forest cake that Jiko served last year). The shredded wheat on top was a fun and crunchy addition."
"My mom picked the milk tart with figs, port reduction, and goat's milk balsamic ice cream. She definitely won the dessert round - the filling was slightly soft (as it should be), and the sweetness of the figs and tanginess of the ice cream were unique additions. Milk tart is a traditional South African dessert, and while this isn't the best version we've ever had, it was still really good."
"We also received some dark chocolate-pistachio cookies - I'm always a fan of these cookies."
"Rooibos tea was a perfect way to finish off the meal."
"This meal had some highs and lows for me - the whole fish was great and my dessert was good, but the oysters weren't amazing. My mom's meal was better than mine, but she still enjoyed Monsieur Paul more. If we skip Jiko next time, I don't think we'd miss it too much."
So what do you think folks...is Jiko back in DDW's good graces and still on the list of his WDW favorites??? I guess only Mr. DoleWhip can answer that question(s).
5 October Game Points Earned + 5 Bonus Points for sign, menus, and restaurant pic
And then there was one...one final update from DonaldDoleWhip.
He said, "After returning to Pop, I headed over to MK to see Wishes and use my FP+ for Space Mountain."
"When I returned to Pop, there was a beautiful moon over Hourglass Lake."
"We woke up early the next morning and drove back to the airport, which means my reviews are officially over. However, I still wanted to share some thoughts about this trip:"
"For starters, trying out the Food & Wine booths was a lot of fun. Interestingly enough, though, I think this trip will make me appreciate 'regular' Epcot even more, since a lot of our favorite items are available year-round (especially in Morocco and France). My favorite booths were Terra and Ireland, while my least favorite was China. I enjoyed individual items at many other booths (such as Morocco, Belgium, Mexico, and Brazil), but I'm omitting these booths since I only tried one item at them."
"Another thing - after this trip, I can now say with certainty that France is my favorite Epcot pavilion for dining (by a huge margin). Not only are the snacks great, but Monsieur Paul is superior to everything else in the park (disclaimer - I haven't been to Teppan Edo, but I don't think it would be comparable). Here are some reasons why I believe the French dining scene dominates World Showcase:"
"With that, I'm officially done reporting. Thank you Barb for keeping this thread going and sharing my updates - I've enjoyed contributing to this awesome thread once again!"
10 October Bonus Points for summary, collage and misc. pics
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Well, at least we gave Mr. DDW a hard time about that one!! 
But before we start with those, let's finish up with our updates from Sunday. 
