Trip Report How Many Attempts Does It Take To Induce a Diabetic Coma: An Adult Adventure at Food and Wine Festival *completed*

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How many attempts does it take to end up in a diabetic coma: An adult adventure at Food and Wine Festival

Hi there, Hey there, Ho there!

Most of the planning has been concluded and we are just in that waiting phase for the adventure to begin.
It all started with three friends enjoying happy hour in the late spring of 2018. Getting together we realized that we all loved Walt Disney World, wanted to return, and all agreed on key things for our trip, such as we must stay on site, we must spend about a week there, we must have the Disney Dining Plan, and we needed Park Hopper tickets to minimize line waiting times. Since then, there have been a lot of changes, including who is going. I’ll spare you the play by play of it all.

Who: All three of us are young at heart fans of the Disney parks.

Douglas – I’m the plotter, the planner, the organizer living in Philadelphia, PA

Keith – My roomie is a gigantic Star Wars fan. When we first started our plans, we weren’t sharing a 3-bedroom house. But life has brought the two of us together (omg, I just read that and thought, no, no, no. We are not Tiana and Naveen. He is like my brother. Purely platonic). We agree we are our favorite roommates ever.

Andy – A local Floridian who used to live in Philadelphia but moved to Naples, FL and signed up to share in our adventures.
When: Even that has changed. Originally, we were going to be visiting for the traditional first week of June to Gay Days in Walt Disney World. Now, we are visiting from October 22 through 28, 2019. We figured the three of us had enough of a gay factor we really didn’t need to go at that time. While we aren’t lushes, we do enjoy an adult beverage. A lot. The fact that this time is Food and Wine Festival time is great fun and I know that Keith and I have never been at that time before. Months after we had booked our vacation, Disney announced an earlier opening for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Keith is super excited to explore the planet of Batuu. I mean you should see his bookshelves. He has so much Star Wars literature I had no idea that it all existed until I moved in.

Where: We wanted to stay on site. For those few short hours where I am resting my head, it is Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter for us. A moderate Disney resort fits the bill. I’ve always wanted to stay there since it is frequently people’s choice for favorite moderate Disney resort. For me, the biggest bonus is the extra magic hour. Having a time in which I can have less line waiting is terrific.

Even though I’m an excellent planner, I hired a travel planner that I have known for over 15 years. I can’t believe that it has been that long. She owns her own Disney specialized agency, "Reach for the Magic Destinations". It is nice to bounce ideas off her. Why not have her be up at the crack of dawn contacting Disney for me while I get a decent amount of sleep. I’m not paying her, Disney is. Denise Lang is the best! Whatever you do, I highly recommend getting a Disney specialized travel planner.

Getting a park hopper option was important to me and Keith agreed. We can go to the extra magic hours and then move on to a park that has a predicted lower crowd level for the day. That leads me to one of the subscriptions that I purchased. I subscribed for a year to touringplans.com. It is the web tool brought to me by the folks at The Unofficial Guide of Walt Disney World 2019. I purchased that guidebook as well. A good guidebook is a $20 investment towards a better $4000 vacation. I’ve been using the touring plans in the Unofficial guide since 1994. They have worked incredibly well. Now that Walt Disney World’s popularity is bigger than ever, touring plans are more important than ever. That’s evidenced by the fact that there no longer is a slow season. There is just crowded and wildly crowded, it seems by all reports. It’s the crowded times that touring plans come into more importance.

I also subscribe to the Disney Food Blog mailing list. Much of the information that I learned over the past year is from the copious amounts of emails and YouTube videos that I received from that team. The DFB 2019 Guide to Food and Beverage is incredibly thorough and allowed me to make important decisions. I also purchased the 2019 DFB Guide to the Food and Wine Festival. Basically, we will be taking AJ Wolfe and team’s recommendation to use our snack credits from the Disney Dining Plan at food booths of the festival. There are so many choices. Let their guide help you make the necessary decisions about food and beverages.

Do I think the Disney Dining Plan is worth it? For me, it is worth the peace of mind. I like knowing that most of my meals are paid for in advance. Anything I can do to enjoy the moment is appreciated. Also, I like being able to pick whatever I want on a menu and not be concerned with price. Will I save money? I really doubt it. I figure the cost of the meal plan will be close to what I would spend out of pocket. But I intend to track all of that just as a curiosity exercise.

Another resource are YouTube videos. The DIS team have given me countless hours of insight, information, and excitement about my upcoming trip. Since I’ve been watching them over a year now on a weekly basis, I feel like they are my friends even though we have never met. DISunplugged is my church, if you will. The DFB team makes a plethora of videos multiple times a week and I watch them religiously too. You never know what tidbit I might pick up from a trip report like this one on the forums. One thing that any expert on Disney can agree on is that it is an ever-evolving destination. You might have fallen in love with a restaurant on your last visit. Well guess what, the executive chef has been changed out now and it is just not up to the level you are used to. You used to be required to go to your resorts check in desk. Now, your room assignment will show up on MyDisneyExperience and you can unlock your door with your phone.

Podcasts are another great source of ideas. I love the duo Annie and Brady from “Never Growing Up”. It’s geared specifically to those of us who frequent the parks without children. They are speaking my language. I have known Sara Vance Varney for over 15 years. She and her fellow travel planners are great at giving tried and true tips on their weekly podcast “Disney Park Princess”. The duo at “Gays on the D” are also great at providing a different perspective.

I can not overstate how much insight I gain from reading trip reports. For this trip my resource was mainly trip reports found over at Disboards. If a trip report had a lot of detail, I probably got more out of it. I really don’t need a list of all the attractions you visited. I need opinion, insight, and tips. Thank you everyone at the Disney community for helping me out.

Part of the challenge for our visit is no one, I mean, no one can predict really what the line waiting will be like now that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is due to be open roughly for a month before our arrival. Disneyland really can’t be used as a template because it is a different type of park. It is more of a park for locals whereas WDW has a much larger vacation crowd. Disneyland blocked the annual passholders from entering Galaxy’s Edge at the beginning. WDW will not. I say it is anybody’s guess what the heck will happen even though folx can see hotel availability for October. Walt Disney World’s answer to help manage crowd levels is to introduce what are called extra, extra magic hours. These are hours that only guests staying onsite may experience. During our visit, Hollywood Studios will open at 6 am. Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will be open at 7 am for their magic hours. It is only on our first day that any evening extra magic hours are offered.

Based on touring plans crowd level predictors, I came up with a game plan for what parks to visit for extra, extra magic hours, and regular operating hours. Once I knew where I would be, I figured out my dining based on my location. I came up with a list of which restaurants to patronize in each park. I simply plugged my choice into the day I am visiting that park.

I created a Google Doc which was our itinerary of the day and contained some notes for myself so I wouldn’t forget to do or see some key things at that time.

Instead of boring everyone with where I will be every minute of every day, I’ll give you all highlights of my days because no one is interested in all of that, except me.

Dining plans:
Be Our Guest, Sunshine Seasons, Docking Bay 7, Ronto Roasters, Oga’s Cantina, Geyser Point Bar & Grill, The Wave…of American Flavors, The Edison, Restaurant Marrakesh, California Grill, Satu’li Canteen, Boma, Kusafari Coffee and Bakery and the International Food and Wine Festival.

Fun plans:
Eat to the Beat Concerts, Savi’s Workshop, Happily Ever After, Epcot Forever, Monorail pub crawl, Frozen Ever After Sparkling Dessert Party, Sangria Hour at Jaleo, and Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular.

Memory Maker: I’m happy that I could add this on later as opposed to having to order it at the time of booking my package, like travel insurance. Looking forward to seeing the three of us in front of the big icons at each park.

The gift bag will include the complimentary Magic Band, a cooling towel in the same color as the Magic Band (this way we will know whose towel is whose) and a dining tray for Food and Wine Festival. The tray is like what we had as children at the school cafeteria. It is decorated with a sticker from the Disney Food Blog to announce that this is a Food and Wine Festival Official DFB Tray. DFB where “food IS a theme park”. I get a cooling towel and a tray too. I also made customized t-shirts for each of us for the main day we visit Food and Wine Festival. I made a graphic that is consistent for each and then have a fun saying that is individualized for each person. Oh! I just discovered a travel rain jacket in purple which is Keith’s color in the basement, so I’ll add that in.

FastPass+ selections were complete for Keith and I since we are the ones in Port Orleans French Quarter. Since Andy is a local Floridian with an annual pass I will try to make FastPass+ selections for him once the 30 day window opens up. Obviously, the times I was able to make today for Keith and I, Andy probably will not be able to get. My plan is to just get the same attractions and later try to modify, modify, and modify. Just pound that app. Hopefully we can sync it so we share the same window and can then experience the FastPass+ attractions together. My plan is to experience Toy Story Land on a Hollywood Studio day during extra, extra magic hour. The majority will head to Galaxy’s Edge so I shouldn’t have too long a wait for Toy Story Land attractions. Andy already said he is only interested in doing Peter Pan Flight. Other than that all that he does will be gravy. Since he has an annual pass and visits regularly The good news is I was able to get all of my FastPass+ choices today and the majority at the beginning of the day so I will be able to get additional FastPasses the day we tour. Only time will tell.

Basically, my plan is to sleep when I get back to Philadelphia from Orlando.
 
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DouglasE

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I love this trip report. I am local to Orlando and a Passholder, but you gave me so many ideas of foods to try! Looks like you had a great time and I am so glad you got to experience the trip prior to COVID-19! Also love your Food and Wine t-shirts!!

Do you have any other trip reports to read? I love your writing style.

Oh thank you so much with all of your kind words. I personally got a kick out of my Food and Wine t-shirts and thought they came out well. I thought I had posted other trip reports but they were from so long ago I think they have since not made the transition from the various updates of the forums. We are talking from over 10 years ago so it would really be like being in a time machine to read them. Thank you for the support. Stay healthy!
 

DouglasE

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thank you for sharing your trip, I really enjoyed reading your report! You certainly got a lot accomplished!

I'm really happy with how much I got to squeeze in, especially considering how long it will probably be before I return. I was especially sad to hear the postponement of the changes to Epcot, like cancelling Cherry Tree Lane, the three story World Celebration pavilion and the Spaceship Earth update. Thank you so much for your support.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
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The Rose Room

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The West Wing

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The Ballroom

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The name badge that causes all the commotion

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Michael, the awesome cast member, took the photo. I love it!

NEXT: What is wrong and right with Port Orleans French Quarter

Spot on ratings of BoG as far as I'm concerned.
 

DouglasE

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Spot on ratings of BoG as far as I'm concerned.

I probably would have been really ed if they had changed to the prix fixe menu for lunch like they have done post COVID-19 closure. It really becomes a money pit now. It's my understanding that the food quality was higher back in it's first year. Maybe then it would make sense.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
My opinion on the success of Galaxy’s Edge is the approach that Disney took with it. I think that in the short term, the land has not been an automatic home run because they decided to base it on a “create your own adventure” perspective. How many people knew the planet “Batuu” prior to Disney’s announcement of a new land: a very small group of avid Star Wars fans. If instead they were to create a place with places and characters that most people could identify then it probably would have a more immediate success story. Part of the reason Harry Potter lands have been working for Universal is because they populated it with places people could identify from the films. People knew Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. Instead, Disney decided to create a world in the Star Wars universe that you could create your own adventures independently of what transpired in the films. Trust me, I work with people every day and most have very limited imaginations. They are not used to exercising that part of their brain now that we have technology. It is imagination that the imagineers are asking the guests to employ. This might be changing. A new ride, Rise of the Resistance, is about to open. It could be called three attractions in one and utilizing technology like never before. Also, Disney+ has introduced a new Star Wars story, the Mandalorian. If you watch the first three episodes, I swear that Batuu looks so much like the planet where much of the action takes place. If people would understand it is a place for an outer space adventure and forget about Star Wars, Galaxy’s Edge probably would be more successful.

That was our day at Hollywood Studios. We needed to rest and recharge so off to Port Orleans French Quarter we went.


I think you nailed it with your analysis of GE. I wish things were as "interactive" when we were there in July. Stormtroopers and other characters were all at a distance or behind a barrier. Love the report so far!
 

Rubberburner

New Member
Bravo! Hands down, yours was my favorite trip report yet (and on a board chock full of great reports)! I live the detail you provided, along with the great photos. This was just what I needed as I prepare for my trip in less than three weeks.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
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We allowed enough time, so we didn’t feel rushed. When it was time to leave, we decided to take a boat over to the Magic Kingdom to experience Happily Ever After, the nighttime spectacular at the Magic Kingdom. We just missed a boat, but they run so frequently that we didn’t have too long to wait. We sat in the bow and I really loved the breeze. As we were waiting to get underway, I overheard a family start to freak out that their little boy (about 5) had lost his Magic Band. I was able to calm them down and brought reality into the situation. I asked about their plans and told them where it would be easiest to get a replacement for him. I assured them every day some little tyke loses a Magic Band and they will be able to replace it no problem. You could just see the anxiety and fear disappear and at about that time we were underway. The crew member who was up in the bow with us was very entertaining with all sorts of trivia about Walt Disney World. He was great at making the time fly by. Before you knew it, Keith and I disembarked and were through the turnstiles. We were dodging guests left and right and tried to find a spot to view the show. So many areas were blocked off already. I don’t know how we did it, but I found a really great spot looking onto the front façade of the castle. Just after we arrived, they were closing off the area to guests so no one else could enter. We were fairly close to the castle and left of center. I think we were lucky. I’m guessing we got there 40 minutes before the show began. We were right next to a toddler who was enjoying her bubble wand that lights up. She was able to entertain herself no problem. Her parents were so anxious about their daughter annoying me. The little girl was quiet the entire time. I told them bubbles in my face was a small price to pay for good behavior. Keith and I had a nice conversation with our neighbors. If I have one criticism of Happily Ever After is that it is a montage of images and sounds of different Disney animated intellectual properties. I think it might be a bit more of a pull on the heartstrings if you had a bit of a storyline. That’s part of what Disney does well is story telling. If they had incorporated just a little bit of a plot to hang all of this on would have been great. In truth, I loved the whole show. It was the next evolution of nighttime spectacular with how much use of projections were used. I loved that Tinkerbell is still flying through the sky in the show. No one does fireworks like Disney. No one. The last Magic Kingdom show I saw was Wishes which I loved. But once again, they present a wonderful spectacular. The crazy creativity that they had with all of the projections upon Cinderella’s Castle was incredible. They were able to take 2D images and make you believe a 3D event was happening. Maleficent’s fire ended with a firework where it landed. You could have done a show with just projections. But no, they incorporate fantastic fireworks on top of it. Good for Disney for pushing the innovation envelope. There was so much going on throughout the show that I would need to see it several times. It was a bit hard to focus on the projections and on the fireworks, listen to the music, and then get all the visual references. I am sure I missed stuff even though I was right there with no interruptions. Next time I will just allow more time to find a viewing spot that is a little bit better. No doubt it is on your list of must do’s for each trip. It is for me.

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Look at that crowd behind me!

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We lingered quite a bit. We knew the buses back to Port Orleans French Quarter would be insane. We didn’t feel the need to rush. Instead, we looked around the shops of Main Street. But honestly, I thought that was ridiculous. I spent the whole time dodging people. I really didn’t find it much fun at all. Next time, I’ll just be prepared and sit down and eat something. Maybe a sundae? Something to get me away from all of the people. It was a tiny bit of insanity. Eventually, we decided we had waited long enough and exited out of the park. It will be time for me to play park commando in only a few hours.


NEXT: I was present for what woke half of Walt Disney World up at an ungodly hour. Another first is recorded in the books

Completely agree with you on Happily Ever After! 👍
 

DouglasE

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Bravo! Hands down, yours was my favorite trip report yet (and on a board chock full of great reports)! I live the detail you provided, along with the great photos. This was just what I needed as I prepare for my trip in less than three weeks.

Wow! That means a lot to me. Sometimes I think since there are so many reports out there that mine get lost in the shuffle. Glad that you got a something out of it. Although, let's face it. The Walt Disney World you will encounter will be significantly different than the one I did. I would believe if I were to go during the pandemic it would be a much more leisurely trip instead of the commando version I described in the report.
 

DouglasE

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Completely agree with you on Happily Ever After! 👍
It is such a special show. I'm a bit sad that it has been put on hiatus. But that photo of the crowd behind me during HEA now gives me anxiety. Looking forward to the day when we can relax and really enjoy a night time spectacular.
 

flowergirl45

New Member
Hello! I just read your trip report in two sittings, and I wanted to say that I enjoy your writing style and how much fun you were having. Thank you for sharing your experiences! I like your enthusiasm, but also find your honesty about things that could have been better very helpful, without being a downer. You walk that line perfectly! 😁
 

DouglasE

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hello! I just read your trip report in two sittings, and I wanted to say that I enjoy your writing style and how much fun you were having. Thank you for sharing your experiences! I like your enthusiasm, but also find your honesty about things that could have been better very helpful, without being a downer. You walk that line perfectly! 😁
You are better than me. It definitely would have taken more than two sittings to read all of that. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for all of your kind words. I can't believe how much Walt Disney World has changed in less than a year. I'm hoping for a better 2021.
 

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