Why don't we do a little day drinking? - F&W 2015 - Update 12/11 Bonus EPCOT Night!

[Dis_Yoda]

Yeah, I'm not slamming runDisney at all. I don't blame them for shortening the race in those circumstances. I feel the same as your husband, that race seems cursed lately and the weather is too hot for me to run in anyway. I happen to be starting my W&D TR today.

waiting for the TR

For us, at least the weather wasn't too hot but we do live where its hotter and just as humid so we're used to that for running. I do feel bad for everyone that doesn't train in that type of weather though as I know it affects your body a ton (and the sweat is just a gross type of sweat in that weather!)

A group of friends here is going to Wine & Dine next year - I committed to the 5K + After Party only - no half for me!

I had so much fun catching up on your adventures. I like your vacation style! You really maximized your Food & Wine time! I am also semi-local and managed to visit a few times but didn't do nearly as much as you guys did. Goals for next year! Any idea how to get on the Citricos or Flying Fish email lists? Those wine dinners sound fun!

I like my vacation style too! Food & Wine makes my work life just so much better as it totally helps destress! The first few years of Food & Wine, we didn't do nearly that much, especially my husband. He's learned to enjoy them more and more the more we do! You should totally do more next year! Usually you have to talk to the restaurant's manger to get on the lists. Sometimes you have to remind them a few times (like I did for Citrico's)

I can't wait to see the Osborne lights for my first and only time in just about two weeks. I would order the same drink as you did!

Your trip is so close! You are going to have so much fun. At least you get to see Osborne Lights at least once! That drink was so good and totally in your wheelhouse of what you seem to enjoy!

 

[kastoney]

This will be the hubby's first half and first disney. Longest he's done so far is a 10 miler.

Your Narcoossee's meal looks absolutely amazing, especially all those wine pairings. How do you hear about this and the Citricos one? Would love to do something like this.

Love all your Osbourne light pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Lightning Delays?!?

As I headed into EPCOT, my husband and I were talking some through group chat/snap chat as he was killing the time. He had arrived at Wide World of Sports around 7:20PM and was zoning out killing the time people watching until it was time for him to move towards his corral. He got annoyed at people though when one lady decided to sit literally inches away from him despite there being a ton of open space!

While he was dealing with that, I was enjoying myself in EPCOT. I had some booths to enjoy!

As I had walked through the International Gateway, I started going counter clockwise through the World Showcase and started at France

La Passion Martini Slush: vodka, Grey Goose Le Citron, cranberry and passion fruit juice

My slushie was super overfilled which was awesome! I poured it into my Christmas Osborne Cup and continued along my way sipping! I stopped in Brazil to enjoy another favorite! I ended up stealing a seat at a table a couple was sitting at and they were from Sarasota, FL so we had some fun conversation passing the time until all our food was gone! The bread was perfectly cheesy & I can’t wait until my friend’s fiance brings me back some from Ecuador!

Pão de queijo: Brazilian cheese bread

I headed to the Mexico Pavilion to catch a ride on the boat. I was hoping there was actually going to be a line to avoid Illuminations crowds but there wasn’t. The boat ride was full of some rather intoxicated people that were in a great mood so it made the ride to find Donald a whole lot more amusing (they were happy I was in the front of the boat so I could drive it as the ‘sober’ one)

When leaving the Mexico Pavilion, I noticed the wind was starting to pick up. I decided to send this screenshot to my husband from the weather app on my phone.

His response:

I went to Instagram and saw this!

It seemed like it was going to rain as well at EPCOT and who knew when my husband was going to start running, I headed to Via Napoli about 30 minutes early for my 9:40PM ADR and was immediately seated (Illuminations was starting then a few minutes late)

My service pretty much sucked at Via Napoli but that could be because I knew I was the server’s last table but it took her about 15 minutes to come and take my order. I kept looking at the weather to see what was happening:

Eventually my food arrived after I had about half of my litre bottle of San Pellegrino (I figured I should have lots of water to balance out the drinking of the weekend!) My chicken was great - I felt it was the ‘cheaper’ version of the ravioli dish I love at Tutto Italia. I really enjoyed it though and I knew it would be hearty enough to keep me going throughout the evening!

Paccheri alla Crema Con Pollo - Large Macaroni Tubes, Cream, Chicken Pancetta

As the rain delay was still going on and the Illumination Crowds were finally leaving, I got a dessert. I only ended up eating about half of it but I did enjoy it. The soda was bitter but that was really balanced out by the sweetness of the gelato so it felt like a very balanced dessert!

Gelato Frizzante - Ice Cream Soda “Italian Style” Made with San Pellegrino’s “Aranciata” and Vanilla Gelato

I paid around 10PM and checked the weather again.

My husband had sent me a text around this time saying that the race was going to be delayed until 10:45PM so I knew I had some more time to kill until I needed to worry about finding a place to cheer him on! I walked towards Future World to see how the line for Soarin was and visited Dopey along the way. He wasn’t a fan of my shirt as it said Evil Queen on it!

I did stop by my favorite booth to get one last fondue for the year. I don’t need to review it at this point as I think this is my 5th of the year!

I was pleased to see Soarin had a 10 minute wait, except that wait was actually a lie and it was walk on. Everyone got to sit in the front row which made for an awesome ride.

Around this time, I got a not so pleasant text from my husband to which I responded with the screenshot so he would know how it was actually shortened as it wasn’t greatly described by the race announcers!

As I knew it was close to the time he was going to start - I decided it would be a great time to get all the characters in before the runners would be done and the lines turned into a hot mess. All of these photos were taken by the cast members. Their skills varied as you will soon see!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

This will be the hubby's first half and first disney. Longest he's done so far is a 10 miler.

Your Narcoossee's meal looks absolutely amazing, especially all those wine pairings. How do you hear about this and the Citricos one? Would love to do something like this.

Love all your Osbourne light pics. Thanks for sharing.

That will be exciting for his 1st half! Disney is such a great place for it (provided he isn't one of those super serious runners who will get mad that some people aren't too up on race etiquette) They have so much entertainment on course! I was reminded of that during my 4 Miler over Thanksgiving and while I had some nice scenery, it isn't the same as Disney!

The Narcoosee's Dinner was one of the special events they announce as part of the Food & Wine Festival - its called "Adventures in Signature Dining" and they have these meals at many of the nicer places across Disney at varying dates and costs - I think the cheapest is around $119 and it goes up to $299 for certain places. The Citrico's I was emailed about from their mailing list I got on sometime in 2014. The Disney Food Blog sometimes announces these dinners as well when they are sent out and tell you how to book it.

 

[huggybuff]

waiting for the TR

A group of friends here is going to Wine & Dine next year - I committed to the 5K + After Party only - no half for me!

Awesome! Sounds like the right way to go.

He got annoyed at people though when one lady decided to sit literally inches away from him despite there being a ton of open space!

Whew. So glad that wasn't me! I was irrationally worried until I saw the orange socks.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Awesome! Sounds like the right way to go.

Whew. So glad that wasn't me! I was irrationally worried until I saw the orange socks.

I'm not so sure you won't not do the Wine & Dine considering your latest development I think you addicted to RunDisney!

This person literally sat like 2 inches from him and was touching him. I was like, she must have thought you were cute. He didn't like that answer and was like - her boyfriend was there!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

The Racing End!

It was nearing 11:45PM and with the notification I had gotten by text when my husband crossed the start line, I figured he would be close to the end as it was roughly a 6.2 mile course when I did the distance in my head and I figured he would be super fast. After dealing with the crosswalk, I settled here to see if I could see him nearing the end!

Right before midnight, I captured this moment:

He had no clue I was screaming his name as he was completely zoned out. I walked towards the front slowly as I knew it would take a bit of time for him to finish, get through the finishers shoot for his medals, drink, snacks and alcoholic beverage. He wasn’t too thrilled with the Michalob Ultra as he is a beer snob but he finished it!

So happy!

He stole the clothes from my purse and headed to the bathrooms by the lockers to change into non-sweaty clothes and take a bath with baby wipes so we could enjoy more of the evening!

The first thing we did was Spaceship Earth because I figured it would be a good cooldown for him before we started walking around the World Showcase for some alcohol or food.

Once off the ride, we headed to Farm Fresh where we each got a cider.

Wyder’s® Dry Pear Hard Cider, Two Henrys Elderberry Hard Cider

We then headed to the Refreshment Port where while I got alcohol, my husband went for a standard Frozen Coke. I think the Frozen Coke made him the happiest person ever! He was dehydrated and in need of sugar so he found to be perfect!

Frozen Elephant & Frozen Coke

We then stopped at Belgium for him. He loved his cider & his waffle!

Belgium waffle with warm chocolate ganache and whipped cream, Stella Artois® Cidre

After this, my husband looked at me and said he was ready for bed. I was ok with it as it was after 1:30AM and way past my normal bed time! We walked back to the Beach Club and saw that there were still a ton of runners just now entering EPCOT and watched the balloon ladies pass! Once back in the room, I proceeded to use the clear Run Disney bags to sort the laundry from the trip (Stinky Run Clothes, Delicates, Everything Else) so I could pack up the room after our showers. We were in bed by 2:30AM.​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

The Final Going Home for Food & Wine Festival 2015

We naturally woke up a little before 7:00AM and said goodbye to our room!

We got gas for the car and I smiled as I saw the Jeep had just hit 2000 miles.

The drive home was uneventful for me. My husband napped off and on and I zoned out listening to the radio. We stopped by the kennel to pick up our dogs and were home by 10:30AM!! They were super cuddly once we got home!

 

[huggybuff]

This person literally sat like 2 inches from him and was touching him. I was like, she must have thought you were cute. He didn't like that answer and was like - her boyfriend was there!

Touching him? YIKES! I'd be weirded out too. Sounds like that guy won't be her boyfriend for long, hehe.

They were super cuddly once we got home!

What adorable little faces!

 

[Mom2m&k]

No! Now what am I going to read. You were so great with doing updates...clearly you need to go back soon for my reading pleasure! Thank you for writing it, I enjoyed it very much!!

 

[momabaarjo]

AHHHH your fur babies are so cute!

I loved remembering along with you the night of W&D! I so enjoyed the pictures you posted as it was happening that night! I must ask though, what is an elephant? And looking at your pictures I am thinking now of skipping the half and just do the party...LOL just kidding that would not fly a reason to go to Disney yet again with my husband.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Touching him? YIKES! I'd be weirded out too. Sounds like that guy won't be her boyfriend for long, hehe.

I know, right? My husband isn't the most social of people so it totally made him feel uncomfortable!

What adorable little faces!

They are! At least they were super cuddly rather than the sulking we sometimes get on shorter trips.

No! Now what am I going to read. You were so great with doing updates...clearly you need to go back soon for my reading pleasure! Thank you for writing it, I enjoyed it very much!!

Well, you have about a month until my PTR for Disneyland turns into a TR and about 2.5 months until I do my joint trip TR for Princess & Star Wars Dark Side Challenge. I also should be starting my Aulani Planning soon. There are some other great Trip Reports around! I've been following huggybuff's and franandaj's regularly and some more I need to catch up on.

Plus this trip report may be getting two bonus updates thanks to an unexpected business trip

AHHHH your fur babies are so cute!

I loved remembering along with you the night of W&D! I so enjoyed the pictures you posted as it was happening that night! I must ask though, what is an elephant? And looking at your pictures I am thinking now of skipping the half and just do the party...LOL just kidding that would not fly a reason to go to Disney yet again with my husband.

They are great beggars and masters of the puppy eyes' Posting all of it on Facebook to you girls definitely helped the time go by as I was waiting for the race to start so I had a better idea of when my husband would be done. The Frozen Elephant is Frozen Coke + Amarula - So creamy yet icee at the same time! You and your husband totally need to do a Food & Wine only trip without the kids.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Star Wars Overload? Nah!

On December 1st at work, I found out that the next day I had to be in Orlando for work at 1PM. I also would still need to be in Orlando on Thursday as well. Despite the amount of work that I would need to focus on in the plant, I was actually super happy to get out of the office. I had been playing the boss for 2 weeks as my manager had a family issue he needed to deal with on top of taking care of my normal job. I was thankful to get out of the office! I booked my hotel (Holiday Inn - Universal) as it was the one approved through the company and near where I had to be. I packed my bag when I got home from yoga and decided I'm totally going to enjoy some Disney to free my brain of all the mess inside.

Fast Forward to the next morning. I woke up at 5AM and shortly found my way on the road up to Disney. I shockingly had zero traffic on the entire drive up! I timed it well.

At 8:15AM, I drove through this beautiful site:

I grabbed my wristlet and headed towards the park. They let us inside the main hub around 8:45AM and kept us entertained with these two podcast hosts which were fine until they still hadn't opened the park to get to the rides and it was after 9AM, they just kept going on and on and people were getting annoyed! At 9:05, they finally opened the park and I joined the mass heading towards Toy Story Mania!

I got sat with another solo man who had left his wife behind as she was sleeping in after their enjoyment of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I kicked his butt in the game

The park had just opened the Launch Bay the day before but my husband didn't want to me enjoy the main attraction without him so I just went to the shop.

I was tempted to spend entirely too much money on some costumes or statues, or not really as I do have some sense on reasonable amounts of money to spend at Disney.

$2250!

$3050!

I ended up buying my husband The Bounty Hunter Code book + 2 pieces of laser metal artwork (BB8 + Millennium Falcon) I headed over to Star Tours and really enjoyed the new scene that is from the new Star Wars movie! I then went on the new movie attraction that took over the area that Drew Carry's Sound Dangerous used to live.

It was a good summery of what happened to Luke Skywalker throughout the movies in a 10 minute format. I hope its good prep for the movie as I have a theory of what happened with Luke Skywalker after the end of the Return of the Jedi that I want to see if its true or not.

It was only about 10:15AM so I decided it was time for a cupcake!

BB8 - Lemon Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream + Chocolate Rocks

This cupcake was so cute that I felt slightly bad tearing it apart to eat it all! It was so good! The cupcake was moist with just the right amount of lemon flavor that could easily be cut with the vanilla icing.

My husband had texted me that he wanted me to pick him up a new Star Wars tie so I first got myself the cutest soda mug ever and then I bought him a tie!

Totally BB8 Obsessed

It was nearing 10:30AM, so I headed out of the park to check into my hotel and head to some lunch spot as I had a conference call at 12PM I needed to be on before I had to be at my business thing at 1PM. This morning was what I totally needed!
​

 

[huggybuff]

There are some other great Trip Reports around! I've been following huggybuff's and franandaj's regularly and some more I need to catch up on.

Thanks for the shout out! Very cool of you!

It was a good summery of what happened to Luke Skywalker throughout the movies in a 10 minute format. I hope its good prep for the movie as I have a theory of what happened with Luke Skywalker after the end of the Return of the Jedi that I want to see if its true or not.

Ooooh, I want to know your theory, but then I don't, because what if it's right and then I won't be surprised.

The BB-8 cupcake looks so cool with those chocolate rocks. I read about that one and the new German chocolate Chewbacca on DFB today. I think I'd have to go with Chewie...okay, I'd get both, who am I kidding?

 

[tnbrowne2004]

Oh that soda cup is super cute, I wish it was available when we were there. I am also seeing pictures of really cool popcorn containers! Can't wait until your Disneyland TR!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Thanks for the shout out! Very cool of you!

Ooooh, I want to know your theory, but then I don't, because what if it's right and then I won't be surprised.

The BB-8 cupcake looks so cool with those chocolate rocks. I read about that one and the new German chocolate Chewbacca on DFB today. I think I'd have to go with Chewie...okay, I'd get both, who am I kidding?

I'll let you know by the end of next week if my theory is right or not I'm not a huge coconut fan so the BB8 was the right choice for me with the new flavor options! Getting both is always a good option though - thats like me with the F&W Booths when I want to try something even though I know I'm getting super full.

Oh that soda cup is super cute, I wish it was available when we were there. I am also seeing pictures of really cool popcorn containers! Can't wait until your Disneyland TR!

It is adorable! BB8 may turn into a Stitch type obsession for me provided he doesn't super annoy me in the movie - but I may already own a BB8 Stuffed Animal, Pop! Figure, the BB8 Driveable Toy and now the metal artwork. They just started offering it with the Season of the Force! I hope it stays around for a while all the options for the various Star Wars stuff sound great and I totally didn't get to try everything I wanted. The popcorn containers were awesome too! The Tie Fighter is like $25 and as I already spent like $250 that was unplanned in the monthly budget, I figured we didn't need that. When my husband is with me in Disneyland or in February for Princess, it may turn into a need then.

 

[tnbrowne2004]

My husband keeps telling me not to get attached to BB8 because we don't know what he will be like in the film. But seriously no one can be worse than Jar Jar! We bought Jar Jar masks at the dollar store just to take annoying pictures, and yes we brought them to Disney World. Here is a pic of me before the wine and dine half.

 

[momabaarjo]

They are great beggars and masters of the puppy eyes' Posting all of it on Facebook to you girls definitely helped the time go by as I was waiting for the race to start so I had a better idea of when my husband would be done. The Frozen Elephant is Frozen Coke + Amarula - So creamy yet icee at the same time! You and your husband totally need to do a Food & Wine only trip without the kids.

OH MY GOSH...I now have another drink on my ever growing list! I love Amarula!!!!! I know I should take DH with me...but the Cupcakes are so much more fun to hang out with!

 

[debrapagliasotti]

I had gotten behind again, but now I am caught up again lol.

I am super excited to see the Osborne Lights again in just a few short days. I might need a yummy drink while I am there.

5K looks like fun. we will have a blast next year.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

My husband keeps telling me not to get attached to BB8 because we don't know what he will be like in the film. But seriously no one can be worse than Jar Jar! We bought Jar Jar masks at the dollar store just to take annoying pictures, and yes we brought them to Disney World. Here is a pic of me before the wine and dine half. View attachment 139231

That is awesome! That is such a fun thing to do with photos! You should make it like an instagram account and see how many followers you get.

My husband has just accepted my love of BB8. There is a Funny or Die Video released this week about a Star Wars Holiday Special and its totally all about BB8 how everyone loves him without knowing him yet.

OH MY GOSH...I now have another drink on my ever growing list! I love Amarula!!!!! I know I should take DH with me...but the Cupcakes are so much more fun to hang out with!

You're list is just going to keep on growing which is why Disney is awesome I fell in love with Amarula when I was over on that side of the world in college. Cupcakes are fun to hang out with although I only seem to do fly bys. I've only really spent extended time with Betsy

I had gotten behind again, but now I am caught up again lol.

I am super excited to see the Osborne Lights again in just a few short days. I might need a yummy drink while I am there.

5K looks like fun. we will have a blast next year.

Yay for catching up! Enjoy the Osborne Lights for the last year! They were so awesome this year! They had some really nice options for drinks this year As long as you don't go for speed for the 5K, you should be good! The course just is super crowded even starting in Corral A.