Sue's Oct 2024 Food & Wine Trip

Safe travels, and enjoy!

DAY 1 – Sunday 10/20/24
Who: Sue (65), DVC Member
SB (67), my husband

Plan: Drive to WDW, Disney Springs, Resort

Actual: We woke in our Ft Myers hotel room and after lounging around a bit, having breakfast in the room and packing up the car were on the road before 8:45. I was surprised the Waze app said the best route was I-75 to I-4. I decided to trust it and the ride was very easy until the last part. While on I-4 it notified us that traffic was stopped (near where highway 27 connects). We would have encountered this regardless of which route we took, so no regrets. The app offered an alternative route to avoid a few miles of the backup, which we took. Rejoining I-4 further up I decided to get off at the first Disney exit and travel the internal roads the rest of the way, arriving at Disney Springs just after noon.

As we approached the Orange Garage it started to rain – what’s up with that??? It was light but steady and coming down somewhat sideways. The weather app said it would end at 1:30. We walked over to Gideon’s first and I saw they were using the virtual queue. I went up and signed up for it, being given an estimated call-back time of 2 hours from now. We then walked over to Planet Hollywood which was mobbed.

We waited for our turn at the hostess stand and said we wanted to just sit at the bar. She didn’t think there would be any seats, considering how busy it was, and the wait for a table would be 15-20 minutes. We decided to try our luck and once upstairs we could see the bar was packed with people! We lucked into the only 2 empty seats, which were partially hidden by a pole. Score! We were right in front of a tv playing some football, so that was good for SB.

We ordered drinks – beer for him, wine for me. For food we stuck with a couple of appetizers, which was more than enough food. He had the buffalo chicken wings, and I got the chicken crunch. He ate all the wings, and a piece of my chicken crunch. I ate the other 3 pieces, and we were both stuffed! We ordered another round of drinks since we had time to kill before the Gideon’s text was expected.

Soon we got the text, so we quickly asked for the check and got that settled. There was a brief delay to get the passholder discount on the food applied. Coming back outside the sun was shining – and of course my sunglasses were in the car, lol. We walked over to Gideon’s and the return line was almost back to the end of the street. However, it moved quickly. We ended up buying 4 cookies – banana bread chocolate chip & triple chocolate for me and banana bread chocolate chip and Frankenstein for him. With that done we returned to the car and drove over to Boardwalk.

It was odd that I hadn’t gotten a single text or notification about our room, so I was really hoping the system had simply failed and the room was ready. Unfortunately, that was not the case – it wasn’t ready. It was around 2:45 at this point. A cast member made a key for SB since he’d forgotten to pack his magic bands and then contacted housekeeping to let them know we were here waiting (supposedly the room was almost done – only 1 thing needed to be finished for it to be ready). We waited and waited. I was concerned about SB grumbling – not because he was wrong, but because I don’t want to hear it. We’re on vacation, in a beautiful place, don’t spoil it with complaining about something I can’t control!

When almost an hour had passed, I went back up to the front desk and asked them to call again – this was getting ridiculous. Shortly after that I got the notification with our room number. We’re on the 4th floor, fairly close to the elevators, so my requests were met. We brought our stuff to the room and got settled – I did the unpacking and SB stayed out of the way, lol.

We hung out in the villa for a while – he was watching football and I started to work on the trip report. I was not hungry at all, so I asked him if he was still wanting his chicken dinner tonight. He was full too, so no to that. I looked at the options at Boardwalk Deli/Bakery, Beach Club Marketplace and the Market at Ale & Compass and he suggested we walk over to Beach Club to get him a chili cheese dog. That worked for me since it was beautiful outside, and I wanted to get a little walking in.

We stopped to look at the menu at the new Cake Bake Shop restaurant that’s opening soon, and the prices are ridiculous. A cup of tea is $8. A soda is $8. A hot chocolate is $11 or $13. A simple croissant is $12. Cake slices are huge (probably similar to Gideon’s) and start at $22 and go up from there. I told SB I’ll go to my grave never having eaten here – it just beyond ridiculous! Let’s not forget the kid’s menu buttered noodles for $18. Wow.

We continued to Beach Club and once inside SB ordered his foot long chili cheese dog. I browsed through the shop while we waited, and then we walked back to Boardwalk. He went up to the villa while I continued walking a bit more, wanting to at least get up to 10,000 steps. The Gartner Group is doing their annual convention and must be staying at and having meetings/events in all the resorts in this area. They have loads of golf carts sponsored by T-Mobil transporting convention attendees from one place to another if they don’t want to walk. They’ve also rented out Epcot for a private event Tuesday night – sure would be nice to attend a convention like that!

Once I had my steps in I returned to the villa. SB had eaten half of his chili dog and put the other half in the fridge for later. I sat at the dining table to get today’s report done, and then will head into the bedroom to watch my stuff on the tv in there. It’s already 6:45 and sad to say I think we’re both pretty pooped out!

Today for the most part was a very good day. I did not like the awful traffic, the rain, or the waiting for the room. Boardwalk is notorious for rooms not being ready until close to 4pm – and sometimes after! Despite that, the villa is beautiful and in a very convenient location. I don’t think we’ll see fireworks since there are big trees in front of the balconies in this section of the resort. The timing of Gideons and Planet Hollywood worked well, and we were lucky to find those seats. The food was good as well.

Tomorrow our friends Tiana & Jonell are driving down from Ocala and will spend some Food & Wine time at Epcot with us. SB & I are looking forward to seeing Billy Ocean’s concert tomorrow night. That’s a great way to kick off this trip – our first visit to Food & Wine Festival 2024!

Following along.....

I always enjoy your reports so much, especially for Food & Wine! Staying at an EPCOT resort is definitely the way to go - nothing beats that quick walk to the International Gateway! Hope you have fun today!

Yes - it was in World Showcase (not the Land). They must have fixed the booth pretty quickly after the storm.

DAY 4 – Wednesday 10/23/24
Who: Sue (65), DVC Member
SB (67), my husband

Plan: Food & Wine, Pool, Food & Wine

Actual: Last night it was silent, which is the way I like it. We both slept well again. He was up by 5 and I followed around 5:15. We followed the usual morning routine (cappuccino, online stuff, local news) until just before 7:30 when SB suggested going out for breakfast. That’s not my thing, but I know he wants to, so what the heck. He jumped in the shower, and I got dressed (will shower later again, after the pool) and we headed over to Beach Club Marketplace around 7:45.

Turns out SB was wanting a big sit-down breakfast, which was the exact opposite of what I wanted. I would have preferred just cooking a small breakfast in the villa since we have lots of eggs that are going to end up traveling back home with us. Plus, we have Trattoria the day after tomorrow for breakfast (getaway day). So, we argued most of the way to breakfast at Beach Club Marketplace, which sadly is not unusual. He throws out statements that are either not true or make no sense and then won’t listen to any reason. It’s frustrating, and this is why solo trips are so nice! My priority for this trip is Food & Wine Festival – we have 4 days we can get into Epcot, and that’s why I’m here. We did Beaches & Cream for him last night. He likes Food & Wine too. If I went to a big breakfast, I wouldn’t be able to eat again until tonight rather than having a small lunch and dinner.

At Beach Club Marketplace he got a bottle of chocolate milk, and we ordered the Bounty Platter (big breakfast) for him and the kid’s egg sandwich for me. The kid’s meal comes with a small bottle of water, small container of yogurt & some grapes. We took it outside to eat and it was all good. His bounty platter now comes with 2 Mickey waffles rather than one plus a biscuit. I ate one of the waffles and more than half of the egg sandwich.

Once finished we walked back to Boardwalk and went up to the villa. He decided that since he’d showered, he would skip the pool (surprise, surprise <g>). It’s a total coincidence that something to watch would be on ESPN <g>. Usually on trips he’ll come to the pool the first time, then skip it, possibly returning for the last day. It doesn’t bother me – I’m fine going down there by myself.

I updated the report and read a few online things before getting changed and going down to the pool around 9. It was another nice quiet morning and once again I pulled a chaise lounge over to the sun. Once another half-hour had passed the sun was hitting a bigger area. Only 2 other couples were out there. I again alternated between the chaise lounge and the side of the pool. It got warm pretty quickly, to the point where I pulled my chaise lounge to where part of me would be in the shade but just the back of my legs would get some sun. When the sun shifted, I decided it was time to head back upstairs (around 11:30).

SB was laying on the murphy bed watching Stephen A Smith and some other guy screaming at each other (sports talk). Yikes. I immediately noticed it was warm in the villa and found the thermostat not working at all. He said he hadn’t touched it. That could be true. I called engineering to report the problem. I noticed the Gideon’s box had been moved so I peeked inside and noticed he’d eaten big chunks of both of my cookies! When questioned he said he didn’t know which were his and which were mine! Omigod. I guess I know which cookies I’ll be eating next time, lol!

I changed into clothes and a lady from engineering knocked on the door. When she saw the problem, she had to send a picture of the thermostat to co-workers (electricians). She said they would have to fix it. She left and at most it was 3 minutes before 2 engineering guys with tools were knocking on the door! They removed the panel on the wall and fiddled around with stuff in there. They removed some of the parts, cleaned them & replaced them, etc – it was quite the production. But, it’s working again now!

In terms of Food & Wine for lunch today – no surprise I am not hungry after eating breakfast, so I basically ruined it for myself by ordering that kid’s egg sandwich. I should have stuck with just his waffle. He was willing to go over but admitted he wasn’t really hungry either – big breakfast, trail mix, MY COOKIES, etc – no wonder. We agreed we’d go over after General Hospital. He wants to try new stuff this time, but I don’t know that he has anything specific in mind. I plan to try the sparkling pineapple wine at Hawaii (although it's from a Florida winery) based on the recommendation of another member, but I’m not sure what my food item will be.

It's a beautiful day today, but definitely on the warm side when in the sun. In the shade it’s wonderful! I decided to put our pool noodles out in the car, then came back in and did some online stuff and a little work stuff until it was time to head out.

We left around 3 and since the boat was pulling in we rode it over to International Gateway. It’s a pleasant ride when you have the outside seats in the back (we did), but the inside is nothing special – I’d rather walk in that case. The park was not busy at all so we breezed right through security and the entry.

This visit turned out to be somewhat of a feeding frenzy on SB’s part. His plan was to go around twice but he made it once. He wanted to do a loop, then head into the former Future World to do the Flavors from Fire booth, then return for another loop around the countries. Our first stop was at the Noodle Exchange, where he got the Thai shrimp with rice noodles bowl. The shrimp are really large, and he enjoyed this but said the beef one is better. He ate as we walked and since there was nobody in line at the margarita booth I got him a strawberry margarita. These are definitely better than the ones across the way in the cantina!

We hadn’t spent any time in Germany yet and I wanted to see what the bratwurst looked like this year, so we stopped there next. I got the bratwurst on a pretzel roll and broke it half, so we shared it. He likes mustard on his and I don’t, so I took the “clean” half and gave him the other. It was pretty good!

Next was Spain, where he decided to try the paella Negra with squid ink rice, shrimp, bay scallops and octopus. He ended up loving this! I was proud of him for trying something so adventurous, but I figured he would like it since he likes oysters and other seafood! This was his first time trying octopus.

As we came back around, we stopped in Hawaii and I got a glass of the Fl Orange Groves Winery sparkling pineapple wine. I was shocked it was $10 but figured what the hell. I liked it ok (SB liked it more) – probably wouldn’t buy it unless we would be sharing the bottle, but I appreciate the recommendation and am glad I tried it.

We walked into the other half of Epcot and went to the Flavors from Fire booth. SB got the steakburger while I grabbed a table across the way at Coastal Eats. The steakburger would be the perfect thing for me except it’s a mixture of ground beef & mushrooms – I don’t want mushrooms. He enjoyed it, though. I’d told him the warm water lobster tail and jumbo shrimp were highly recommended, so he went to Coastal Eats and came back with both of them.

The three shrimp (for $13) were huge! Each one was easily 3 bites by him. He said they were excellent, too. While we were there, I saw Coastal Eats had an Australian Wildly brut cuvee sparkling wine. The lobster tail was next, and he really enjoyed that! They’ve had a lobster tail at the festival for years, but he's never been interested. I don’t know if this one is the same as in the past, but if so, he’s lucky he finally tried it!

I gave the rest of the pineapple wine to him and got a glass of this – it was much more my style, and only $7. I enjoyed sipping that while he ate. The booth had a sign advertising a crab claw cocktail (4 stone crab claws with some sauce) for $12 so I got that for him as well. He loved them! When we were out with Chris & his family in Ft Myers Beach last Saturday SB thought about ordering the stone crabs but ended up changing his mind so this was perfect.

He was pretty well stuffed by now, and we’d spent a small fortune, lol. We browsed through Creations looking for birthday gifts for me but came up with nothing. I liked the purple festival spirit jersey, but I don’t need any more of those – they’re just too big, too long, and look stupid hanging below a jacket. If they’d had them in kids sizes I would have tried an XL but this one only came in adult sizes.

We walked through Communicore and he sat at a table while I checked the merchandise there and then got the traditional mac & cheese from the Macitizers booth. It was good but cooled off very quickly. Now we were both full, and he no longer wanted to make a second loop around the countries. He waited while I got another glass of the cuvee brut from Coastal Eats, then headed back to the resort.

I walked out to the countries but then decided to check the app. Spaceship Earth only had a 5-minute wait, so I decided to go do that. I checked out the gift shops on either side as I finished the brut, then pretty much walked right into my ride vehicle. This attraction is a classic, but it seems I hardly ever do it – mainly because coming in from International Gateway it’s far enough away that SB doesn’t want to “walk that far”. This worked out perfectly.

I headed back to World Showcase and went into Mexico to do the boat ride. The boat ahead of me had a lady & her baby. My boat was only me and the boat behind me was completely empty – it was great! After the ride I browsed the merchandise on display, but nothing really caught my eye. Back outside I continued walking around enjoying the beautiful afternoon/evening. It was definitely busier now, and the festival booths had some lines, so I’m glad we did what we did when we did it!

I didn’t bother with Norway or China but did look through the shops in Germany and Italy. There was a beautiful Spaceship Earth model in Germany but I hadn’t taken SB’s credit card before he left and wasn’t sure he wanted to spend $79,000 for my birthday gift! I skipped America but browsed briefly in Japan before bailing out. The big store was just too congested for my liking. In Morocco I walked back to see the sangria sips area, then continued to the shops in France. Sometimes they have stuff I like in the shop outside the pastry shop but not today. I did spritz some perfume in one of the shops, but that’s about it.

When I came to International Gateway, I left the park and walked back to Boardwalk. Quite a few people were outside enjoying the evening – it’s such a great place to be. I’m so thankful I discovered DVC back in 1995 and was able to become a member in 1997.

Back in the villa SB was watching tv, waiting for a basketball game to start. He raved again about how fantastic the food was tonight. He swears this is the best F&W festival ever, which is funny because before the trip all I saw online were complaints about how disappointing this year’s festival was. I sure don’t see it, but we all look at things differently. SB wanted some of “his” cookies, so I broke off pieces from his cookies and gave them to him along with some sugar-free lemonade. Later I broke off smaller pieces of his cookies for me – fair is fair!

I did another small load of laundry, our last for this fairly short trip. I went to the bedroom to update the report and watch something other than basketball. He was practically asleep by 8:15 so we’ll see how much basketball he actually remembers tomorrow!

Today was another great day! It was a bit rocky this morning with arguing on the way to breakfast, but it was fine after that. In a way I guess it was better we only did Food & Wine once, because I don’t think he could have kept that pace twice in a day. But then again – maybe he could!

Tomorrow will be our last full day. I’ve already told him I’m having breakfast here in the villa! He’s planning to join me at the pool, then we’ll make one last round at Food & Wine before General Hospital. After GH we’ll need to shower & be ready for the DVC Moonlight Magic event at Animal Kingdom!