Brad's 2010 Food and Wine Trip

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Brad's 2010 Food and Wine Trip

I have a history of doing spotty trip reports, so I thought I'd keep it up by doing another one for this trip. We've successfully arrived and I've even gotten through immigration:

We checked into Pop Century yesterday and have already changed rooms, which is becoming a tradition. The noise from the pool area was unbelievable. After a bunch of fuss and bother we finally got moved, to another room overlooking the pool area. The claim is that the kiddie pool will be quieter...we'll see.

Had lunch at Via Napoli today. It was awesome. Otherwise the trip has been largely a fiasco since getting to WDW. Will have more updates later, once I get all the pictures ready.

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Waiting to hear all the news Brad, both good and bad so bring it on. Sorry to hear it's not off to a great start here's hoping the rest will be better.
Was "Disney Immigration" tough to get through. laugh

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Hee hee! I've heard some STORIES about Disney Immigration! Glad you got your pin!

So fun to have so many people at WDW at once. Looking forward to hearing more!!

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So. Jealous.

Have a blast!

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Glad you made it! Seems like almost everyone is there now. Me and Jeff and the rest of us who aren't going soon are going to roast marshmellows and have a grand old time. You'll see!

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dsoup wrote:
Glad you made it! Seems like almost everyone is there now. Me and Jeff and the rest of us who aren't going soon are going to roast marshmellows and have a grand old time. You'll see!

Yeah! Roast Marshmallows around the WDWFG fire while you guys are stuck waiting in lines and battling crowds and...eating stuff at the F&W festival... laugh

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Yummmm...Via Napoli!! Tell us more Smile)

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Yummm.......I can't wait to hear about Via Napoli. Have you stayed at POP before?? I haven't been there in years but I am excited to stay there in May.

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bali wrote:
dsoup wrote:
Glad you made it! Seems like almost everyone is there now. Me and Jeff and the rest of us who aren't going soon are going to roast marshmellows and have a grand old time. You'll see!

Yeah! Roast Marshmallows around the WDWFG fire while you guys are stuck waiting in lines and battling crowds and...eating stuff at the F&W festival... laugh



Yeah we're just wasting away down here huh bali!

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I think my marshmallow just fell into the fire.... mad

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Thanks for your well-wishes. I thought I'd hit some highlights of the trip so far:

First off -- Holy cow the lovebugs. They're unbelievable and we've seen some bad scenes before.

Secondly -- Crowds. Pretty bad for September. Some places have been downright packed. I think it's the usual Free Dining crowd, who make it seem like it's more crowded than it is. I'll be interested to see what Mr Hub and Scrappy say.

Go to the Animation Academy thread to check out my Buzz Lightyear Drawing. I'm still waiting for everyone else's!

Via Napoli was really good. Here's a pic of one of our pizzas:

Pretty much everything we tried was really good except for one desert. My expectations had been lowered a bit when I realized how much it diverged from the similar spot in Disneyland but it was really good. The quatro formaggi pizza was wonderful. But this brings me to another observation: Prices. I don't know if I'm just being frugal because I haven't been in a while, but everything seems really expensive. All the new restaurants seem really pricey.

We tried out Hacienda as well, I'll put up some pictures later. It was okay, not as bad as I was expecting given the reviews, but probably not worth the price.

We just had Jiko this evening and this dish was AWESOME:

I was a little grumpy about how much the menu had changed, but that Flank Steak Flatbread there made up for it all. It was fantastic. Way better than the Barbeque chicken one that everyone loves.

Will be back with more soon!

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Looking forward to more Brad.

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Excuse me..I just went into a food coma!

Look at that pizza!!! Is that pepperoni?? I can't even tell..that cheese makes me want to dance!!!
What did you have at Hacienda? Did you try the new counter service?

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Everything looks pretty yummy to me so far!

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JeffC wrote:
I think my marshmallow just fell into the fire.... mad

rolling

Great trip report so far, Brad!

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My mouth is watering for Via Napoli!! Been "watching" what I eat lately and haven't had pizza in MONTHS!! We have a ressie for Via Napoli...can't wait!!!

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Resorts

2017 AKL-Jambo House (May)
2017 Old Key West (Apr)
2016 Port Orleans Riverside (Oct)-Hurricane Matthew!!
2016 Old Key West (Aug)
2016 CBR (Jul)
2016 Art of Animation (May)
2015 Ft. Wilderness Campground (Oct)
2014 Sherwood Forest RV Park (Nov)
2013 Pop Century (Jul)
2012 Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress (Jul)
2011 Radisson Lake Buena Vista (Aug)
2010 Pop Century (Nov)
2009 PO Riverside (Jul)
2008 Pop Century (Apr)
2006-2007 FL residents: Hunters Creek 8 miles from the parks!!
2005 All Star Sports (Jul)
2005 PO Riverside/CBR/CSR (Apr)
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That pizza looks amazing...I'm a bit of pizza fanatic, it's like a staple of me and my husband's diet.

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The pizza is great. The one pictured above is pepperoni. I would recommend it if you're not adventurous. If you're feeling like trying something else the quatro formaggi was AMAZING. You can't go wrong either way.

Since Mr. Hub's trip report is putting me to shame, I thought I'd try to catch up a little bit by including some details of our trip.

I'm getting confused on days, but I'm pretty sure we did 1900 Park Fair of those days. I can't seem to find any pictures of it, which is good because it was a very forgettable experience. There was really nothing redeeming about it, except for the fact that you have some rarer characters there. I think I'll do an article about it one day.

After Jiko, which I mentioned earlier, we hit the storytelling pit:

I have to say the storyteller was really into it, but the whole story was a bit...odd. Didn't really seem to have a point. Maybe cultural differences?

The next morning we went to MK in the morning for Cinderella's Royal Table, which I'll do a review of later, but wasn't much to write home about. For lunch we had Kona Cafe and you can read my Kona Cafe review. To quickly summarize: Yummy burger!

Today we went to Epcot F&W. I put a review of the Canada Booth up. Summary: It's like Le Cellier, but you can actually get in!

After that we met up with Mr. Hub and Scrappy who are just as awesome in person as they are on the forum. We were really glad we got the chance to see them before we left. We're also a little sorry we backed out on the party on Tuesday because it looks like it was a really cool experience.

Anyway I skipped some stuff because I'm all confused on timing, but that brings us up to the present, more or less. I'll probably go back and cover stuff I forgot as I remember it.

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Look at me go!

So last night we had Boma, so you can read my review.

This morning we hit a ton of food and wine booths. I'll do reviews shortly, but I have to say Puerto Rico was a standout. I'd never tried it before and everything there was great. Be sure to try the "Medianoche Sandwich" if you go. I have no idea what was in it, but it was delicious.

We also hit Mexico, China, Poland, Singapore and probably some others I've forgotten.

Then we had lunch at Le Cellier which was great. Tonight we're going to bluezoo at the Dolphin. Very exciting.