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67 Days and Counting

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Wed, 08/10/2011 - 13:58
Kris1971's picture
Kris1971
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67 Days and Counting

Hi folks! I'm new to the forum but have been a Disney fan for years. My husband and I both celebrated our 40th birthdays this summer and ,as a present to ourselves, are planning to do Disney for the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival this year in October. We're going to be staying at the Contemporary (Magic Kingdom View Room) for the very first time. Given this is our first time at the Contemporary and the first time we'll be experiening the Food and Wine Festival, I would love some tips from the experts (i.e. you). Has anyone stayed at the Contemporary since the rooms were refurbished? Also, is there anything we need to know about the Food and Wine Fest to give us a leg up? We're so excited!

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Wed, 08/10/2011 - 14:31
#1
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Hi Kris and welcome to the friendliest Disney site you'll ever find! Congrats on your up coming trip. We'll be there in Oct too for the F&W festival. One tip would be, if you have the meal plan, you can use the snack credits at the vendors. Never stayed at the Contemp, so can't tell you anything there. Let us know what your trip plans are, we would love to here all about them.

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Wed, 08/10/2011 - 14:32
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Kris - welcome to the board from a fellow 40 year old! We're super glad to have you here, and we look forward to getting to know you and hearing about your trip.

You are going to LOVE F&W! A favorite resource for our crowd is the Disney Food Blog. DFB has TONS of information hereon the F&W Fest, and they will be there, reporting from the event as well.

I think my biggest tip is - don't make lunch or dinner ADRs on the days that you're doing F&W. Save your money to snack and drink around the world.

As for the Contemporary, I love it! - but haven't gotten to stay there yet. This is a great site for lots of info on the Contemporary, just in case you haven't visited yet.

http://www.disneycontemporary.com/

Good luck with your planning!

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Wed, 08/10/2011 - 15:16
#3
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SWEETNESS

Ahhhhh the wine and food festival. don't make lunch plans just each your way around the world, it's so much fun. a little something over here and a little something over there. It's like a picnic on the go

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Wed, 08/10/2011 - 15:24
#4
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Congrats and welcome to the forum! Sounds like you guys are going to have a blast!!! clapping

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Wed, 08/10/2011 - 17:23
#5
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Thank you all for the wonderful welcome and tips. I am so excited. I'm usually a bit more thrifty when I take my Disney vacations (I'm a big fan of Port Orleans FQ), but being as though it was my 40th and its Disney World's 40th, we decided to splurge on this trip. We've even got reservations at the California Grill for dinner one night. Has anyone eaten there? Oh and Lizzy_B, thank you for the website link. Its very cool!

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Wed, 08/10/2011 - 18:35
#6
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Hi, Kris and welcome to WDWFG. You will find the people here to be the greatest and friendliest bunch ever assembled, AND I might add the most knowledgable too. Don't be shy and tell us all about your upcoming plans, and don't leave out any food details, you will see that food is a big part of our site.

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Wed, 08/10/2011 - 20:11
#7
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OK Vettlelover, here goes....

We're taking the autotrain down on a Sunday with a Monday arrival, and we're hitting Harry Potter before checking into the Contemporary for our Forty & Fabulous birthday trip. We're scheduled to have dinner at the Kona Cafe Monday night and will be diving right into the Food & Wine Fest at EPCOT on Tuesday. Dinner Tuesday night is at the Coral Reef (one of our favorites). Wednesday night we'll be meeting up with some friends (who are also scheduled to be there the same week) for dinner at Restaurant Marrekesh. I've never dined there before, but I heard its a lot of fun. Thursday is our Magic Kingdom day and a romantic dinner at the California Grill. Friday is check out day (too short I know) but we're planning to hit Wolfgang Puck's at Downtown Disney for lunch and then do some shopping before we head back to the auto train for the trip home. We did Disney on our Honeymoon in March 2009 and went crazy trying to see everything. This time, we're shooting for a more relaxed pace and will be playing some of the trip by ear.

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Wed, 08/10/2011 - 22:50
#8
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Cali Grill awesome that's our favorite restaurant! We go there every trip. Food is excellent, sushi is to die for, and the drinks will knock your socks off! Really great views too. You can go out on the walk ways on both sides of the restaurant and get some great pictures. Pretty cool place to watch the Wishes firework from too, they pipe in the music. Definitely take your camera.

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"WARNING - you may experience sudden hunger from all the picture and talk of FOOD around here!"

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Thu, 08/11/2011 - 03:14
#9
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Welcome to the best disney fourm around Smile

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Thu, 08/11/2011 - 13:34
#10
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You are all so wonderful. It is so nice to join a group that loves Disney World as much as I do. Thank you for the wonderful comments.

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Fri, 08/12/2011 - 12:25
#11
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Welcome
As Mrhub as said, you will be there the same time we will be.

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Fri, 08/12/2011 - 15:04
#12
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Kris1971 wrote:
Thank you all for the wonderful welcome and tips. I am so excited. I'm usually a bit more thrifty when I take my Disney vacations (I'm a big fan of Port Orleans FQ), but being as though it was my 40th and its Disney World's 40th, we decided to splurge on this trip. We've even got reservations at the California Grill for dinner one night. Has anyone eaten there? Oh and Lizzy_B, thank you for the website link. Its very cool!

My pleasure! I visit that website whenever I'm "homesick" for the Contemporary Smile

As Mr. Hub said, you will LOVE the Cali Grill! Food is amazing, the ambiance is refined yet relaxed. Everything is fresh. The wine list is to die for. And the views...yes! I celebrated my...let's see...28th bday there. I thought it was my 30th but I think I had my years mixed up. Anyway, definitely worthy of a celebration, and destined to become a favorite for life Smile Enjoy!

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Fri, 08/12/2011 - 17:06
#13
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I'm super excited about the Cali Grill. I've heard amazing things about it before, but I've never splurged. Everybody I've talked to who has been there said it is definitely worth it. I asked for Disney gift cards for my birthday this year, so dinner is on my family. That way we don't have to use two of our allocated dining plan meals.

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