Food & Wine Festival 2013

Food & Wine Festival 2013, a set on Flickr.

Over the weekend of October 19 I was satisfying my Disney fix with some much needed time away from school and work. During my mini vacation I had the pleasure of attending the 2013 Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT. There were two things about this year's event that really amazed me. 1. It was incredibly hot out, and 2. There were so many people! I do not think I have ever seen so many guests at the park during this time of year. Even with those set backs I still had a fantastic time and was able to at least take a peek at the menu for most of the stations.
The garlic shrimp at Australia was delicious as was the lamb chop, this coming from someone who really does not like lamb. The Cheese stop was just the perfect amount for a sample of the three types they offered. I loved the wines at this station as the names were all fairy-tale inspired. The ravioli at Italy was incredibly cheesy in a great way. I needed a sweet kick after and baklava from Morocco did the trick. I shared a few bites with a friend at France, unfortunately I'm not brave enough for escargot yet The seafood pie at Ireland had huge pieces of lobster which was a treat. My last stop of the day was my favorite classic. I can't go to the festival with out having my cheese soup from Canada.
My only wish is to have had more time and shorter lines to have been able to enjoy more of the dishes offered at this year's event.

Tree House Villas

Part of my visit for the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival for 2013 I stayed at the Tree House Villas at Saratoga Springs.

The villa is spacious and the rooms are decent. The master is beautiful, especially the bathroom!

 I do not like that there is a very limited car allowance by the villas. I had to park over by the Grandstand and then walk through a path which could have been lit much better. The walk itself is not difficult but the principle of not being able to park more than one car bothers me.

 This bathroom is too awesome not to share!

Helicopter Tour

So I took a flight for the first time ever in a helicopter today! I had such a blast my only complaint is that it was not long enough. I took a friend of mine as a present. We left from Kissimmee and the flight path took us over to Downtown Disney and Typhoon Lagoon. We could easily see Tower of Terror and EPCOT in the distance though. The guide didn't have much to say, but I know so much about the area anyways so I would be surprised if he had any information that was new to me!
Here are a few photos and some video from the quick flight!

 

Fall 2013

So I must say, it's been over a month since I've gone to a Disney Park.  I think I'm about to reach withdrawal!  Fortunately I'll be going the way of Walt Disney World in a couple of weeks. The Epcot Food and Wine Festival is in my sights and I'll be staying on property thanks to my awesome best friend at the Treehouses! Check back in then and I'll be posting about my new experience there and of course how awesome of a time it will be at Epcot.

D23 Expo Floor

It was easy to forget about the expo going on around you when you were sitting in the presentations and shows. All of the Disney stalls were magical as expected and done above and beyond. Interactive meet and greets, the Talent Round-up, and of course FREE SAMPLES are all some of the awesome parts of the Expo floor. There were a few things that I was a bit disappointed about. The Collectors Forum felt like a flea market, the lines for the stores were hours long except for the once I went in the Dream Store late in the afternoon, and there was so much empty space that could have been used to have more stalls and vendors.

The exhibits that were part of the Expo floor were a great insight to the history of Disney and what we can expect in the near future. Journey into Imagineering had a wonderful floor space showing off everything from vintage material to brand new concepts. You could see the artists working and talk to them about what they do for Disney. It was so amazing to be able to actually speak with designers and imaginneers who work in the parks and in the studios to create the world we all love.

The Treasures of the Disney Vault was a beautiful display of costumes and props from Once Upon a Time, Designer Disney Princess Dresses (Harrods), Wizard of Oz (Both old and new), and a huge area for Mary Poppins. Also at the ending part of this area was the fan art competition entrants for Mary Poppins. I loved the detail put into the winner's piece but most of the others were also just real amazing with how beautiful they are.

Disney Voluntears was a fantastic way to bring in a large amount of workforce to quickly create packages to send out to different communities. When I went through I made a care package for a young school child with books and coloring pages. All you had to do was put things into a bag. It helped to show to some people who would not normally reach out how easy it could be. And bonus! Free Disney reusable totebag.

There were too many stands to really go into detail of all of them. I just hope that the next expo will have more going on with the floor area because it was sometimes difficult to get into the presentations. When so many people are just walking around it just makes sense. 

At the talent round up there were a lot of designers, Disney legends, and authors. Every time I walked past there were people lining up to meet their favorite. I only waited for one person, Ridley Pearson, author of the Kingdom Keepers series. It was so awesome to meet the author and talk to him if only for just a minute. I am just so jealous that his able to go anywhere at any Disney park that he wants to. I wish I was able to have the possibility.

Disneyland CA - Cars Land

A lot has changed since I was here last only a year and a half ago. Cars Land has been finished and ElecTRONica is no longer running having been replaced by the Mad T party.   Personally I think they need to bring back Tron. The live band was decent but nothing compared to everything that was going on before.  I did manage to snag a picture and autograph with the White Rabbit DJ who seemed super excited.  There was no one dancing the futterwacken though...

Cars Land is fantastic! They totally brought Radiator Springs to life and you feel as if you are really in the movies. I did not get a chance to go on Radiator Spring Racers because the wait was over 2 hours all the time. Luigi's Flying Tires was a welcome surprise. Imagine a giant air hockey ring, where you are riding the puck! Less impact than bumper cars and so much more fun and interactive as well. Mater's Junkyard Jamboree was also a big surprise and not at all what I expected. Those lovable tractors toss and turn you to a country line dance. Hold onto your Mickey ears they get more whip on them than expected.

D23: Pixar Doing Our Homework.

From Saturday morning's panel of Pixar directors here is a few fun facts I learned about the research that goes into these amazing films.

For Finding Nemo many of the artist department became certified divers to learn more about the underwater world they were creating including the Director himself.
Research for the obese humans of Wall-E was done by observing sea lions!
UP had research done in Venezuela. While on site the trip to the top of the mountain was supposed to take 1.5 hours but actually took everyone over 10! Also the grandfather of the director was secretly videotaped to have reference for Carl Frederiksen's movements and mannerisms.
Before starting on Brave the Pixar family came together to discuss mother-daughter relationships to make sure that the feud between Merida and Elenor was not made without basis.
The Toy Story series included a lot of bringing in childhood toys to work for the Pixar team and reliving the play habits of their youth. Jonas Rivera admits to being the destructive child much like Sid from the movie by blowing things up and waiting for them to break. Whereas John Lasseter was Andy and played nicely with stories behind everything.

During the Q&A there were a few things that were memorable to me.
When asked about creative license versus following reality a scene from Finding Nemo was recalled by the director. During research the team visited a sewage processing plant and ask what would happen if a fish was flushed and put through the system. The resounding response of "It would die" was all it took for the team to realize, alright we will act like we didn't hear that information.
With inconsistencies and plot holes such as this the production team does their best to cover it up with other information. Their job is to create a refrigerator moment of it. So that when the movie is over and you are back home getting something from the fridge you realize; Oh wait! Did they really do that?
Its brilliant in my opinion that they are able to do that so well and cover the small incongruities that do happen when you are making a complete new world and story. There will always be those small slips with any film but it is impossible to say that Pixar does not go through the extra effort to truly have all the details for their movies.

D23 Expo 2013

D23 Expo 2013, a set on Flickr.