To maximize my birthday/Halloween-Disney fun, I drove from Virginia to Jacksonville on 10/30 so that I could get up bright and early on the 31st and have a relatively short drive to Walt Disney World. Also, back during the summer I looked into and booked the Return to Sleepy Hollow event for Halloween night at Fort Wilderness (a separate blog will be coming about this event).
Is there anything more magical than driving under this sign?
My first priority was to get over to Epcot. As an annual passholder, I could get a free cutting board if I visited the Food & Wine Festival four times during the course of the festival. So during this trip, I had to really think through when I could hop over to Epcot to make the most of that. I also wanted to get my cute Chef Mickey AP magnet!
Before heading to the festival center, I stopped in at Spaceship Earth because it's a classic and I know it's going to be down for a long refurbishment before long.
Okay, but why are my eyes all black?
This is a frightening future!
Hi, my name is Amanda and Spaceship Earth thinks I have no soul!
I visited the Festival Center for the first time ever and got in line for my magnet. When I came out of the line, I found that Hanson (the boy band extraordinaire from the 90s) was in front of an audience doing some kind of beer tasting or demonstration. I quickly recalled that they came out with a beer called MmmHops and it all made sense.
Hanson was also performing that day during Eat to the Beat!
Another reason to start my adventure in Epcot was the Food & Wine Festival! If you've never been, there are tons of extra booths set up around Epcot - some representing cuisines from different countries and some which just may focus on seafood or cheese, etc. The best thing about it is that while the dishes are smaller, tapas sized portions, you can try things for usually $5-$8 (with Disney dining plans, you may be able to use snack credits). There are also more alcoholic beverage offerings.
Lump Crab Cake from Coastal Eats: A+
Cheese Trio from The Cheese Studio (Profiterole topped with Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese and Orange-Apricot Jam, Smoked Salmon Pinwheel with Boursin Shallot and Chive Cheese and Everything Seasoning, Strawberry Macaron with Boursin Pepper Cheese): A++ I especially loved the macaron
Spanakopita from Greece: A
Bottle Art near The Cheese Studio
Mickey cooking up some goodies for the festival!
I was lucky to catch Daisy right as she was coming out for a meet and greet! The photopass photographer's equipment was malfunctioning so the cast member with him took our picture.
Before moving on from Epcot, I was able to snag a limited edition Halloween pin
Some thoughts on Food & Wine - I really enjoy the opportunity to try the offerings they have. Also convenient, they sell Disney gift cards that come on a coiled bracelet so you can just hold your hand up for the cashier to scan! I appreciate all the wine/beer pairings but, for the most part, I tend not to spend money on alcohol at Walt Disney World. Sometimes I do, as you'll see later in the trip, but I'd prefer a nice meal or merchandise to alcohol. I think part of it is because if it's warm in Orlando (which, it usually is) I really don't find alcohol tempting!
Also, as a passholder, there is merchandise that is exclusive to passholders that is put out at different times during the festival. Unfortunately, when I got there, some of the things I'd been interested in were all sold out. Some of that probably caters a little more to the Florida passholders, which I understand. Finally, I did (spoiler alert) get to Epcot enough times in one trip to get my cutting board, but it was really kind of a process to think about how I was going to get to Epcot during 4 days of a 5-day trip.
The next blog will be all about my adventures in the Magic Kingdom on Halloween and checking into Pop Century!
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