Prepping for Food & Wine Fest!!!

It's on it's way! Disney's Food and Wine Festival is starting to set up all it's Kiosks along World Showcase. As you may know the festival runs from October 1st through November 14th. I have a couple of suggestions that my help you tour the countries with ease.

1. Get a park map and a festival guide from the entrance of Epcot. This will help you decide on where you want to start off and look over any schedules of demonstrations going on that you may be able to sign up for. Remember that some of the wine seminars and dinners will need to be scheduled ahead of time with reservations.

2. Pick up a Disney wearable mini gift card to load up funds to make purchasing food and souvenirs a lot easier. You can reload it any of the kiosks as you go along. Last year at the bottom of your receipt showed your gift card balance to keep track of spending. Here is this year's design.

 

3. Make sure you pick up your passport at the festival center to keep track of the food and drinks you sampled that you enjoyed. That way when you get home you have a souvenir of your cuisine experience and you can remember what you had to share your suggestions with others. 

I am heading down to WDW in little over a week and have lots of Food and Wine events planned. I plan to share my experiences with all of you and give you the full report. Buon Appetito!

Food/Dining Updates!

La Hacienda is now open in Epcot’s Mexican pavilion! Reservations won’t be accepted until after October 15^th, but they are taking walk ups. For some wonderful pictures of the new restaurant please check out Disney’s official site. http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/09/first-taste-of-la-hacienda/

 

On the ADR front Disney is now offering a mobile format to make dining reservations. Currently they have iPhone and Droid systems available but Blackberry will be released soon. You will be able to search for reservations by different categories: Date, time, resort, park, and type of food that may be interested in. You don’t have to download this App. It a Disney site made for mobile phones to easily navigate their dining system.

What's In Your Bag?

I started thinking about what type of bags that people bring with them into the parks and what type of items are a "must" to be carried with them. There are several types of bags people use...

Back Packs

Diaper Bags

Fanny Packs

Lanyards

Small Purses/ Wristlets

Baggallini

When I am in the parks I use a baggallini. Some of you are going "huh what is that?" Baggallini's come in different varieties. They are small bags that were designed by flight attendants for smart travel and it is machine washable. I have the small backpack style with the one shoulder strap. It is compact but can hold so much stuff. It has a little compartment for your water bottle, keys and on the front strap is a place for your Key to the World card and ID. There is a small band built in to hold your cards in tight. I couldn't travel without it. I love how I am able to be hands free and access what I need without feeling like I am carrying a bulk of stuff on my shoulders. Here is a picture of the Baggallini the one I own personally is lime green. 




Now on to what people bring with them into the parks. I have to have my camera, cell phone, small tube of sunblock, poncho, lip gloss, Advil, list of Adr confirmation numbers and baggies to put stuff in if it rains.  Depending on weather I may bring a light sweatshirt. I like to keep things as light as possible. 

I would love to know what kind of bag you take with you in the parks and the stuff you "must" bring. For those of you that go without a bag at all I want to know how you do it!

Planning for the World

I have been wondering how many of you Disney goers out there do your planning. Some people are really into the details. They plan everything ahead with which park on what day and so on. Some 180 days in advance with spreadsheets and binders full of Disney information. Then there are others that don’t make any concrete reservations, they just go where the wind takes them. They don’t have any sort of plans set.

As for myself I am a Disney neurotic planner. I have to make sure that I have all my dates, ADR’s and plans set in place. I like to figure out which parks we want to start out in and then proceed to where our dinner reservations will be. That will help to decide where we will most likely start and end the day. I love eating at the Table Service restaurants in WDW so I take the time to figure out where everyone wants to eat to coordinate the times we can get for our Advance Dining Reservations. It always good to have backups to where you want to dine in case your first choice is booked up.

I then create a spreadsheet that has the confirmation numbers, time of events, parks to avoid and park hours to keep with me. I don’t go verbatim to the plan but I like to have an idea of what is the best way to maximize our fun and time at Disney.

Touring Plans.com is a great resource to use when planning your trip. They give you crowd calendars and tips to let you know what parks are less crowded each day of your vacation. It really saves you a lot of your valuable time. You can also pick up The Unofficial Guide which in my opinion is the best guidebook about Walt Disney World and traveling.

I would love to hear from all of you in the Disney committee on how you go about with you planning. Are you a planner or a wing it kind of person?

UPDATE ON LE CELLIER

It is true! Le Cellier will become a Signature restaurant for dinner only starting March 1st, 2011. I spoke with a castmember on the Disney Dining line tonight to confirm this information.  Hopefully this new change will work out for the better.

Toy Story 3

 
(Photo from Pixar)

This weekend I got to see Toy Story 3. I was a little bit nervous as to how this was going to pan out storyline wise being a sequel and all. You know how most sequels go. Wrong. This was just as good as the first two movies. It was engaging and funny as ever. 

Andy is all grown up and ready for college. The toys are eager for him to play with them again but with no such luck. They end up on an adventure to Sunnyside Daycare which shows them the ups and downs of a new generation to play with. There are new characters that are introduced: Lots o’ Huggin’ Bear, Ken and Big Baby. Pixar did a great job in making all the characters seem real and how toys can be played with in using your imagination not with electronics. It was nice to see that. Many children of this generation do not have the luxury of making their own fun since most of the toys do all the work for them leaving nothing to the imagination.

 

I will admit at the end I cried and was moved by the heartfelt exchange that takes place. No spoilers here you will have to see it yourself and let me know if it moves you as well.

Le Cellier Becoming a Signature Restaurant?

I’ve been hearing rumors the past few weeks about an immense revamp to one of the most popular restaurants in Walt Disney World. Le Cellier which is in the Canada pavilion at EPCOT is thought to be switching to Signature status for the Disney Dining Plan as early as September 2010. You will have to use two table service credits instead of one in order to use the dining plan here. I also hear that there will changes to the menu and more tables that will be taken out. 

I am on the fence about this new development. Everyone knows that getting a reservation to this restaurant is an event in itself. You call the reservation center 180 days in advance with fingers crossed that you can get one of the coveted slots. Now you need to use two of your table service credits just to dine there. I don’t know. The food quality has significantly gone downhill since this whole dining plan has started. Not to mention the service. Now I know some people will agree with me about that, but some of you won’t. 

I am hoping if this rumor is true that Disney will have to make the food a superior quality like the other Signature restaurants on property (Cali Grill, Narcoossee’s, Jiko’s). If that is the case than I will be okay with the price increase. I am guessing that this will mean that it will be easier to get a reservation since most people will not want to use two credits for this restaurant. 

I do have one concern. My dear friend and I have booked reservations for Le Cellier for our upcoming fall vacations. I wonder if Disney is going to allow people who have booked prior to the upcoming announcement to still use credits as a 1 table service. I will have to keep everyone posted if this will be.

(Apparently this rumor began with employees that work at Le Cellier)