Sue's Oct 2024 Food & Wine Trip

DAY 6 – Friday 10/25/24
Who: Sue (65), DVC Member
SB (67), my husband

Plan: Trattoria breakfast, drive to Gainesville

Actual: Again, we slept well. It will be a shame to wake up at home rather than here tomorrow morning. I was up a little before 5 and made my cappuccino. I got up and took my shower a little before 6:30 and then packed up more of our stuff.

Our breakfast reservation is at 8 rather than 8:30 like I’d previously thought. We were both showered and dressed by 7:15 so we took a load of stuff down to the car. What’s left we can manage easily in one trip after breakfast. We hung out in the villa until it was time to go down for breakfast.

Today the Cake Bake Shop is officially open as of 7am this morning. We didn’t walk down to it, but I could see there wasn’t any line waiting to get in when we arrived at Trattoria before 8 or when we left just after 8:30. At Trattoria we checked in and were told to have a seat in the lobby area. As usual, we no sooner sat down when someone came to get us. I don’t know why they don’t just have us stand to the side since it’s always so quick – at least in the morning.

We were taken to a nice table and the restaurant wasn’t busy at all just yet. There were perhaps 6 tables occupied. For once SB agreed to share a meal! Last year I got the breakfast pizza, and it was way too much for one person. On our way to our table, we passed another couple who was sharing one, so it must be pretty common. He added a side of sausage (3 fat links), a side of toast and a glass of orange juice. I just stuck with the ice water, although I did eat half of a sausage link and was surprised how good it was. He said the orange juice was excellent as well.

The pizza was terrific – scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon, sausage, little onion and some red bell peppers. They cut it into four pieces, so I ate 1.5 and he had the other 2.5. We were both very full when we left. Even sharing, it would be way too much if we had planned to do Food & Wine or have lunch somewhere, which is why I booked it for getaway day. He commented he may not be hungry by dinner time, but we’ll see about that – call me a skeptic!

We settled the check and then returned to the villa. I checked out via the app, we grabbed the last of our stuff and went to the car. It was an easy drive home with no traffic at all (shocking). We were home unloading the car before 11am.

Overall, this was a really nice trip, and I attribute that to a number of reasons – some under our control and some not. We can’t control the weather, but I was thrilled to have it so nice! Sure, it could have been a little cooler, but the humidity was low, and it was a million times better than trips taken May through early October! Since our focus was really only Food & Wine, we stayed in one of the only 2 locations that make sense. We also did it in a 1-bedroom villa vs cramming into a hotel room. Thanks to DVC we can do that without breaking the bank. We bought a bunch of gift cards before the trip and approached it with the mindset of we’ll do whatever we want without regard to price – the $79,000 spaceship earth was the one exception to that rule, lol.

I asked SB what his single favorite item was from Food & Wine this year and he said the lobster tail – but that chocolate pudding cake in America is a very close second. I was surprised to hear lobster tail, so it must have been truly spectacular. I agreed with him on the cake, but said we really should share it going forward!

Moonlight Magic was not part of the plan when I booked, but when they added this event and it happened to fall during our trip it was a no-brainer to sign up. Most of the time the dates don’t coincide with my trips, so this was a treat.

My next trip starts November 8th and is just a long weekend. We’ll be back at Boardwalk Villas again, but this time in a 2-bedroom villa. Chris, Amanda & Ari will be joining us. SB & I can only access Food & Wine on arrival day, we’ll then have 2 resort days and go home the next day after breakfast. After that we leave 11 days later for a HAL cruise!

I always love reading your trip reports. We were there at the same time - just getting home last night. I'm motivated now to write a trip report, though it will never live up to yours.

Haha.

I never cared about the cooking demonstrations, celebrity chef appearances and special meals - to me they weren't worth the $$.  I remember the free wine tastings and enjoyed those. Once they started charging for them they were no longer a priority for me. So, the current festival offerings are just fine!

Sue/WDW1973