Photo of the Week: France During Food and Wine

1. This photo was created by HDR processing.  What HDR does well is it makes the light in a picture pop.  In a case like this it almost gives the photo a Thomas Kinkade picture. 

2. Look at the crowd here.  This was taken in October - a slow time of year.  However, it was taken during the Food and Wine Festival on a weekend.  That is a brutal mix.  The result is a 9 out of 10 on the Touring Plans crowd calendar.  This is what a that kind of crowd looks like.

New Video Posted: Moroccan Belly Dancer

World Showcase has something for everyone.  I'm not sure who the belly dancer is for but I'm sure there is someone out there who is really into that.

If you are into belly dancing you'll love this video.  It was captured in October 2011 during the food and wine festival. 

I'm not sure how often the belly dancer dances outside.  I've only seen her in the restaurant in Morocco before but her being outside may have had something to do with the crowd levels.  To put it lightly the crowds were insane on the day this footage was taken.  According to Touringplans.com it was a 9 out 10.  It was wall to wall people.

You can see the video here.

CMDTA Travel Tidbits: Vintange and Vine

Try to imagine you are at the entrance to Epcot.  You pay your admission and head towards to World Showcase to enjoy Food and Wine. 

You arrive at the first booth.  You look through the offerings trying to decide when the cast member hands you one of each for free!  Next they hand you a free wine glass and let you try all of the wines for free!

You go to one booth after another and they are all free.  You can eat and drink as much as you want.  Some of the booths are hidden in the gardens.  Others hidden in the attractions.

You make it to the American Adventure and there are a number of five star chefs doing demos and you don't have to pay to take part.  Outside there is a band playing and a nice big bon fire.

You wake up and realize you are not in Epcot you are at Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, NH.  You are not in the middle of Food and Wine you are at Vintage and Vine.

Vintage and Vine takes place at Strawberry Banke which is an outdoor museum based on the history of the New Hampshire seacoast from the 1600s to the 1940s.  All over the place are historic buildings and amazing gardens.

Vintage and Vine itself is a four hour event and cost $40.  For that price you get a free wine glass and as much food and drink as you can handle.

There are about a dozen stations.  Most stations have both food and wine.  In many cases a station consists of a local restaurant and a local vineyard.  The food offerings are diverse and most stations offered at least two food items.  The wine was another matter.

Every wine station had a minimum of five to six different wines you could sample. 

One of the coolest features is the fact that some of the stations were hidden inside the homes and in their vast gardens.  You never knew when you would stumble across the next station. 

In the middle of everything is the five star chef area.  Five stations put together where some of the areas best chefs do cooking demos for everyone.

If you are a wine fan you will love Vintage and Vine.  Between the free food, free entertainment, free wine glass, silent auction and roughly 70 different wines and meads to try; you can't beat it.

Vintage and Vine is everything Disney's Food and Wine should be.

Disney Cans Food and Wine in Disneyland for 2011 and 2012

Disney announced today that they will not be holding the 2011 or 2012 Food and Wine Festival in Disney Land.  The construction going on at the parks will affect both the entry area and the "hub area" which Disney claims would make it difficult to put on the festival. Right now it looks like Disney has no plans to relocate the event.

There are two things we can expect here.  First there is no possible way Disney can hold this event in it's normal location.  I haven't seen the plans but the fact that Disney is putting off a cash cow for two years in a proof that there is no way they can pull it off in it's normal location.

The second thing you can expect is Disney to have an alternate event for 2011 and 2012.  I can't imagine they'd let that income go without trying to do something else. This is Disney we're talking about.

Back in the World

Against all odds it looks like I’m going back to Disney from October 19^th to the 26^th, 2011. I guess Food and Wine was a big enough draw from my wife and my niece. I’m also banking on the fact that Disney is going to release a round of discounts for that time period. I just hope it’s not the normal “free dining.” I want a good room discount. 40% off a deluxe room is much better than free dining.

I’ll be hitting up some new stuff to review. Here are some of those subjects:

Resort Review: The Polynesian

Dining Review: Ohana

Dining Review: Tony’s Town Square Restaurant

Dining Review: Biergarten

Dining Review: Momma Melrose

Dining Review: Akershus

Dining Review: Jiko

Dining Revisit: Chef’s De France

Dining Revisit: Le Cellier

Dining Revisit: San Angel Inn

Dining Revisit: Kona Café

Dining Revisit: Yack and Yeti

Dining Revisit: Brown Derby

Dining Revisit: Liberty Tree Tavern

Dining Revisit: 50’s Prime Time

Random Disney Stories

Food and Wine Festival

Review: Star Tours: The Adventure Continues

Overview: Fantasy Land Expansion Progress

These subjects could change. I think that goes without saying. We’re 13 months out and nothing has even been reserved yet.

Sorry I seriously doubt I’ll be doing Fantasmic so don’t ask. The only guaranteed way I’ll end up seeing it is if it starts playing everyday. There is a chance that if one of our days ends early and Fantasmic is playing that night we might head over to see it.

The Cast Member Who Threw Me Under the Bus

My wife doesn't like Disney. I've always gotten a guilt trip when I book a Disney vacation. I thought my last trip in February 2010 would be my last trip. I couldn't think of any way to convince my wife to go back.

When we were checking in at the Boardwalk the cast member tried to talk Disney with my wife. It didn't work too well but she managed to get my wife to say she liked Epcot. The cast member then asked if she had ever been to the Food and Wine Festival. After the cast member explained what it was my wife asked me why I had never told her about it. Wasn't I a Disney blogger?

I'd heard of Catch 22 situations before but had never found myself in one. I could say I hadn't heard of it before but she'd know I was lying or I could say I didn't think it was something she would have wanted to do and suffer the consequences.

That might not sound like a big deal but you don’t know my wife. She records about three to four hours a week of food shows a week. She records:

Top Chef

Kitchen Nightmares

Next Iron Chef

Next Food Network Star

Iron Chef

Last Restaurant Standing

The F Word

Chopped

Food Network Challenge

Good Eats

Man vs. Food

Food Wars

Dinner Impossible

That’s not counting the shows she doesn’t record. If I ever blocked the food network on our TV you’d find me in pieces. That’s assuming you could find me at all.

After she cooled down she started planning what week would fit in with her work schedule and also thought about who else would want to go.

That cast member really threw me under the bus, but at least I might be going back to Disney World in 2011.

Eat to the Beat

Every now and then I hear about someone doing something and I think to myself “wow I thought they were dead.” Thankfully in most cases it’s just their careers that are dead.

I was recently listening to the “Inside the Magic” podcast and I heard the lineup for “Eat to the Beat” which takes place during the Food and Wine festival at Epcot. I have to admit I had a good laugh as some of the names were read off.

Taylor Dane – I thought she died of an OD, my bad.

Air Supply – The best thing to come out of Melbourne Australia in 1974…hey I’m trying to be positive.

Sister Hazel – The best band named after a nun…I think (Not the nun part. There might be a better band named after a nun.)

Billy Ocean – The best artist to take his last name from a Soccer team which was named after a movie.

Boys 2 Men – Wow. The mighty have fallen.

Hanson – See boys you knew, as grown ups! Yeah I’m sure that works…

Rick Springfield – Instead of hearing teenage girls scream you can see the middle aged women scream.

38 Special – I’ll have to start working on my mullet

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – Nice to know they survived their 2.9 seconds of fame. Remember when everyone pretended to like swing?

Kool and the Gang – Over 70 million albums sold…what happened to the money?

Sugar Ray – The heart throb you remember now looks like the mummy.

Taylor Hicks – Wow that career tanked fast didn’t it?

Night Ranger – AAARRRRGGG!!! I have “Sister Christian” stuck in my head now.

There are others but I just don’t feel like listing them. I guess there are a few ways to look at things. These people either – love to perform, are desperate, or are in denial. I’ll take the happy road and say they all love to perform.

Lou Mongello Breaks Disney Record

Lou Mongello, author and host of the WDW Radio Show did something no one in the history of Disney World was ever been able to accomplish. At this years Food and Wine Festival in Epcot, he ate everything!

“I’ve seen a few people eat one everything, but I’ve never seen someone actually eat everything,” Stated Jabba the Hutt – Food and Wine enthusiast.

Mr. Mongello started eating at the first booth around 11am. He kept eating his way around the world over the next eight hours. It is estimated he consumed four hundred and five pounds of food and over eighty gallons of wine.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. His wife had to literally roll him through the last two countries. It’s a good thing no one got in the way when she was rolling him or they’d be a pancake now,” stated Disney fan favorite Goofy.

Many people were amazed by the display of digestive fortitude. Words such as epic, amazing, inspirational, and disturbing were uttered by many.

Some were not as impressed by the display of joyful gluttony. A number people complained that there was no food left for anyone else and demanded a refund. Remy the Rat was upset that all the hard work he put into making his world famous Ratatouille was erased in less than three seconds.

“I made enough Ratatouille for one hundred people and he inhaled before I could blink,” Remy exclaimed.

It is unknown if Lou will attempt the feat again before the festival closes. If he does the chefs will be ready next time and have additional food and wine to bring out after he rolls out of the park.