Epcot International Food and Wine Festival!

2016 Artwork by Disney

Every year, Epcot hosts its International Food and Wine Festival. This event is a fan favorite, and this year it runs from August 30th through November 12th. Disney recently released all of the menus for the different food kiosks. We attended the Food and Wine Festival during our honeymoon in 2016. I'm going to share some of our favorites from 2016 that will be available this year during the Food and Wine Festival.

Australia Global Marketplace
We enjoyed the Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies. Quite tasty; the mint pesto was refreshing.

Belgium Global Marketplace
This booth was a favorite of mine. We had the Beer Braised Beef with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes, which reminded me of a pot roast. So delicious. We also had the Belgian Waffle with Warm Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream. They also serve the waffle with a berry compote and whipped cream.

So yummy

So so good. 

Brazil Global Marketplace
At the Brazil booth we enjoyed Pão de Queijo, which is Brazilian Cheese Bread. Can't go wrong with cheesy bread.

Canada Global Marketplace We enjoyed the Canadian Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Soup served with a Pretzel roll. While this is slated as "cheddar cheese" soup, I found it to be more like a potato soup. Still quite delightful, but not what I was expecting.

Shown with Neige Premiere Apple Ice Wine

China Global Marketplace
My husband had the Beijing Roasted Duck Bao Bun with Hoisin Sauce. He found texture of the bao bun to be interesting (not bad, just interesting).

Flavors from Fire Marketplace
During our festival we didn't go to this booth, however an item that is there for this year was previously at a different booth. We had the Piggy Wings, which are roasted pork wings with Korean bbq sauce and sesame seeds. This was my husbands favorite item of the entire festival, so much so that he got them two different times.

Germany Global Marketplace
At this booth we enjoyed Schinkennudeln, which is Pasta Gratin with Ham, Onions and Cheese. This reminded me of a baked macaroni and cheese, though lighter on the cheese than an American baked mac n cheese would be.

Shown with Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese

Hawai'i Global Marketplace
My husband had the Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise. He really enjoyed it.

Ireland Global Marketplace
This booth had one of my favorites: the Warm Chocolate Pudding with Irish Cream Liqueur Custard. This was another item we got two times. While it is listed as "pudding", to me it was more of a pudding cake. Oh so delicious.

shown with Bumratty Meade Honey Wine

Morocco Global Marketplace
At the Morocco Marketplace, we enjoyed the Chocolate Baklava, which has toasted almonds and chocolate sauce on top. I absolutely loved the Chocolate Baklava. So delicious!

We enjoyed some other items that aren't offered at this years festival. We had kielbasa with potato pierogis from the Poland Marketplace, Chicken Potstickers from the China Marketplace, the Beef Empanada from the Patagonia Marketplace, and Buttered Chicken and Naan Bread from the Africa Marketplace (though my husband still reminds me how he got none of the naan bread, whoops). There were also a couple of items that we didn't care for, but they aren't back for this year's festival.

The Food and Wine Festival attracts many visitors. The main time we visited the festival (end of October) was a Wednesday afternoon. Hardly any of the booths had a line longer than a person or two. We also stopped by a couple booths on a Saturday afternoon and it looked like peak season in World Showcase. My recommendation is to visit booths during the week if you're able to. You are able to use snack credits from the Disney Dining Plan towards the different items at the Marketplaces. Happy eating!

The Disney Honeymoon Registry

My mother always told me that it is in poor taste to ask people for money for your honeymoon. And to some extent, I agree. When giving a gift, especially a wedding gift, you want to give an actual thing or experience. Prior to becoming engaged, I had heard that Disney offered a honeymoon registry. So I knew I wanted to incorporate that as a registry choice, as we had already decided to have a Disney honeymoon.
A quick google search led me to Disney Honeymoon Wishes. This site allows you to create your own Disney registry. It's free and simple to use. You create your account and then begin picking items for your registry (similar to any other registry you create).

our opening bio for our registry

As you pick the items for your registry, you can pick the amount of that item and the cost of that item. For example, we had an option for park tickets. The gift was a $50 gift, and there were 6 of that gift available. We did a variety of pricing, to give people the best option for their budgetary needs. They offer a large variety of items to choose from; from park tickets to in room celebrations, from specialty cruises to meal plans, and everything in between.

Once you have completed your registry, you are able to share it with your guests. People are able to gift as soon as the site is live. It does give them the option of "hiding" their gift until the big day-meaning you will see that someone purchased one of the gifts, but not who purchased it. Guests are also able to write well wishes to you. 

I'm sure you are wondering...how do we get the funds? They offer the option to either mail you a check with the funds or to do an online transfer of the funds from their site to your bank account. Since our honeymoon was 3 weeks after our wedding, our trip had to be paid off prior to our wedding. We were able to use the funds we received to reimburse our card that we paid on. 

Using the Disney Honeymoon Registry was quite simple and allowed for an alternative to the every day household items that are asked for on wedding registries. 

Below are more images from our registry.

A Disney Wedding!

Inspired by posts I've been seeing on Instagram, as well as the new Disney Fairytale Weddings series on Freeform, I'm sharing how we incorporated a love of Disney (read: MY love of Disney) into our wedding. Having been with me for 7 years prior to getting married, my husband was well aware of my love of Disney. Knowing how happy Disney makes me, he was more than willing to incorporate Disney touches into our wedding. I began figuring out what I wanted as any bride would: by consulting Pinterest.

our wedding pinterest board

As our ideas came together, I then turned to my husband-to-be to take all of my ideas and create them into something fantastic. He is a graphic designer, so we were able to create many things in-house, inspired by things seen on Pinterest and Etsy. What we weren't able to create ourselves, we were able to get from designers on Etsy.

This was the basis of the design throughout our invitations, inspired by multiple designs seen on Pinterest. We also incorporated Disney font into the design.

Within my bouquet, my mother incorporated the Mr and Mrs Disney pins. She also up-cycled a plain secondhand ring bearer pillow into this Disney pillow. 

Take a closer look at the yellow flowers in the middle...a hidden Mickey!

My brother-in-law gave this to my husband in tribute to their uncle, my husband's godfather. Grumpy was his favorite character. 

For our table decorations, we incorporated rose petals (from Beauty and the Beast) with a centerpiece of a Disney couple, which doubled as our table identifier. There were coloring pages and crayons at each table of different Disney couples. We also had small packages of butter mints, wrapped in black, red, and yellow packaging. 

Both our cake topper and our guest book were purchased through shops on Etsy. 

This may have been one of my favorite DIY pieces from our wedding...and a perfect card holder too!

Along with Disney touches in the designs, we also incorporated Disney music into our reception. Our first dance song was to the song "All for Love" by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting, from the 1993 film The Three Musketeers (if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.) We also utilized a playlist of Disney songs for our dollar dance.
--"You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan
--"Beauty and the Beast"
--"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King
--"Married Life" from Up
--"A Whole New World" from Aladdin
--"Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid
--"Bella Notte" from Lady and the Tramp
--"Once Upon a Dream" from Sleeping Beauty
--"So This is Love" from Cinderella

Overall, after talking with our guests, we felt that while we had a very Disney wedding, it was done in a tasteful, not over the top way, which is what we were going for.

To read more about other ways people incorporated some Disney magic into their special day, check out these posts from WDW Radio.

Disney Details on your Wedding Day pt. 1
Disney Details on your Wedding Day pt. 2 <----there may be some things you recognize ;)
Disney Details on your Wedding Day pt. 3
Ultimate Disney Wedding Song Playlist

Time to Eat! a Review of Be Our Guest

One of my favorite Disney movies of all time is Beauty and the Beast. So when I found out that the Fantasyland expansion would have Beast's castle with a restaurant inside, I was stoked. In both 2015 and 2016, I was able to get lunch reservations for Be Our Guest, and let me tell you, it was amazing. From the theming to the food, I loved it.

Be Our Guest offers Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. I have personally only had lunch at Be Our Guest, so that is what I will talk about. Lunch is considered "counter service" as far as dining plans go. However, because of its popularity, a reservation is a must. When you arrive at Be Our Guest, you are ushered to a queue area where you go by knight uniforms (during the dinner time, this area is utilized as a meet and greet for Beast). Once you round the corner, you encounter a multitude of stations with touch screens for you to order your food. After you've ordered your food and tapped your Magic Band (for those without a Magic Band, they provide "roses") you then venture into the dining area. Be Our Guest does also offer the option to order ahead of time. This option does expedite your entrance into the restaurant. Instead of going down the queue area with the knights, you proceed straight to a cast member, who verifies your order and asks if any changes need made.

The digital screen to order from. Don't worry-a cast member is available if you need assistance

There are three different dining rooms available during the lunch period. The largest of these areas is the ballroom...yes *the* ballroom...the one where Beast twirls Belle around as Mrs. Potts serenades them with the Oscar-winning song "Beauty and the Beast". There is also the West Wing (complete with ripped painting of Prince Adam and the Rose) and the Castle Gallery, a room filled with different paintings and giant dancing figurines of Belle and Beast. Find yourself a table (and trust me when I say, the first one you find you should take, as most of them are full a majority of the time) and have a seat. Through the power of Disney magic (or in reality, RFID technology within the Magic Band) your food is brought to you.

 The ballroom

The Rose Gallery  

The West Wing

Now for the food...

The food at Be Our Guest is amazing. It does have a french flair to it (after all, Beauty and the Beast is set in France), but even a picky eater can find something amazing to eat. I have gotten the Croque Monsieur, which is a grilled ham sandwich with gruyere cheese and bechamel, served with pommes frites (french fries). I've also tried a bite or two of the braised pork, which is slow cooked and served with mashed potatoes and green beans jardiniere, which was also amazing. However, my favorite thing on the menu is The Master's Cupcake. It is a chocolate sponge cupcake served with the grey stuff on top. Try it; it's delicious!

 The Braised Pork with the Triple Chocolate Cupcake

The Croque Monsieur with the Master's Cupcake

The Master's Cupcake topped with the Grey Stuff. It's delicious!

Be Our Guest has been open since late 2012 and continues to be highly sought after reservations for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Being able to step into the movie is so magical. The food is delicious. If you're able to, try for a reservation! It's worth it. 

"When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake..." Liberty Square

Liberty Square is our next stop on our tour of the Magic Kingdom. This is the smallest of the lands of Magic Kingdom, with only 3 attractions and a show. This land has one of my most favorite attentions to detail. Throughout the middle of the walkways there is a brown part of pavement. This signifies the raw sewage that would flow through the streets of colonial America.

photo taken April 2015

Entering Liberty Square from the Hub, the first attraction you will come to is the Hall of the Presidents. This attraction was inspired by the '64 World's Fair Attraction 'Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln', an attraction that still lives on at Disneyland in Anaheim. This attraction was the fulfillment of Walt's wish for a full presidents attraction, after the success of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at the World's Fair. The attraction opens with a film narrated by Morgan Freeman, then the curtains open up to show animatronic version of the 44 Presidents to date (currently the attraction is under refurbishment to add in an animatronic of the 45th President). Since 1993, the sitting President has lended his voice to the attraction. Another fun detail about this attraction: in the waiting area prior to going into the theater, there is an exact copy of the Seal of the United States. This is the only location, other than the Oval Office, that you can see this Seal. It took an act of Congress in order to have the Seal in the Hall of the Presidents.

photo taken April 2015

A new show recently debuted in Liberty Square, featuring the Muppets! It is called 'The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History'. This show is featured just to the right of the Hall of the Presidents. A town cryer announces the beginning of the show, which is then featured in the windows of the second level of the Heritage House and of the Hall of the Presidents. While I have not personally seen this show, I can only imagine the hi jinx that ensues with the Muppets. 

The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History

The Liberty Belle Riverboat hold origins to Walt's first plans for his first amusement park that was planned for across from the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. While these plans were changed into what is now Disneyland in Anaheim, the plans for the riverboat stayed. This attraction is very mellow, taking guests around Tom Sawyer Island on a leisurely riverboat ride. 

The final attraction on our tour of Liberty Square is a fan favorite. It is the home of 999 happy haunts: The Haunted Mansion. In the Walt Disney World rendition, guests weave through the courtyard prior to entering the mansion, which has recently added interactive features, making the wait in the queue not seem as long. Once you get to the door, you are let into the foyer by a sullen-looking cast member. There you begin to learn the story behind the Mansion, in a room that has no doors and no windows. But as your "ghost host" says..."there's always my way..." You then exit the preshow area into the loading area. The Haunted Mansion has an omnimover ride system: meaning that the ride is a continuously loading ride. It can be slowed or stopped to load people who need extra assistance in loading. Once you are loaded, you begin moving through the Mansion, passing through the corridors, the attic, Madame Leota's seance and into the iconic ballroom dance scene. Once you enter the graveyard, your ears are delighted with the tune 'Grim Grinning Ghosts'. You then move into an area where, through Disney magic, a couple of hitchhiking ghosts try to join you. And with that, you have completed your journey through the Haunted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion inspired a film in 2003 starring Eddie Murphy.

some of the details within the courtyard queue area of the Haunted Mansion

That completes your tour of Liberty Square. While this land is one of the smallest lands in Magic Kingdom, it has some of the most historical and educational pieces of all of Magic Kingdom. I leave you with the Barenaked Ladies singing 'Grim Grinning Ghosts', which was used in the film The Haunted Mansion.

Grim Grinning Ghosts

Let's Eat! Disney Treats Edition

Time for another Let's Eat post! This past weekend I made 3 Disney treats for the youth at my church. We had the classic Mickey Rice Krispie treat, "the Grey Stuff" from Be Our Guest Restaurant, and Dole Whip.

photo from July 2017

For the Mickey Rice Krispie treat, you will need a Mickey-shaped pan. I had purchased my pan during our last trip to Walt Disney World in 2016. This followed the traditional Rice Krispie treat recipe. After mixing the cereal in with the butter and marshmallows, I scooped the mixture into the silicone Mickey pan. The pan will fit the standard recipe. After filling the pan I flipped it onto a lined cookie sheet and set the entire thing in the refrigerator (be sure to not remove the Mickey pan), and let it set overnight. In the morning I removed the pan and Mickey came out perfectly. 

there were candles as it was used for someone's birthday

Next up, we have "the Grey Stuff". You should try it; it's delicious. This item is typically served at Be Our Guest Restaurant, atop the Master's Cupcake. For the recipe you will need:

1 (3.4 ounce) package Instant Vanilla Pudding

1.5 cups whole or 2% milk

12 Oreos*

1 (8 ounce) tub Cool Whip

1-1.5 tablespoons of Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix**

Edible pearls or silver sprinkles (optional)

*trust me when I say you want Regular Oreos...not double stuff or thins. The first time I made this I used the thins and it didn't turn out as good as it could have been

**for a double batch I used barely 2 tablespoons of mix

Mix together the box of instant vanilla pudding and milk. Place the mixture into the refrigerator. 

Crush your Oreos. This can be done in a food processor. Since I don't have a food processor, I chose to scrape out the filling, smash the cookie halves, then melt down and mix the filling in with the vanilla pudding. It turned out well this way. 

Mix the crushed Oreos into the vanilla pudding, then fold in the Cool Whip. Once this has been mixed, add in the dry chocolate pudding mix. You'll want to add the mix in spurts, as to not darken your "Grey Stuff". 

Add edible pearls or sprinkles as you like. 

"Try the Grey Stuff. It's delicious! Don't believe me? Ask the dishes!"

The final recipe is the Dole Whip. The Dole Whip is an exclusive item, only found in one park location in Walt Disney World. For this recipe, you will need: 

2 cups frozen pineapple

1 cup vanilla ice cream or vanilla frozen yogurt (I used the frozen yogurt-turned out great)

Orange or Pineapple Juice

In a blender, combine the 2 cups frozen pineapple with the 1 cup of ice cream or yogurt. Add a splash of your juice choice and blend until smooth. 

You can then serve it one of two ways. You can dish it up in a bowl, or put some into a glass and pour your juice choice over it to make a float. 

These Disney treats are quite delicious, and fairly simple to make. A great way to transport yourself back to the Parks. 

"Dead Men Tell No Tales"....Adventureland

Our next stop on our tour of the Magic Kingdom brings us to Adventureland. Adventureland is home to five attractions, three of which are opening day attractions.

The first attraction you come to is the Swiss Family Treehouse. Based on the old film Swiss Family Robinson, this walk-through attraction brings the family home created on the deserted island. This is one of the original attractions to Magic Kingdom.

We next come to the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. The newest attraction in Adventureland, this attraction is modeled after Fantasyland's Dumbo attraction. Guests fly around in Magic Carpets...but beware of the spitting camels! This is a favorite of kids and families.

The next attraction we come to is a classic. The Jungle Cruise is a Walt original concept. This attraction is not only a Walt Disney World opening day attraction, but a Disneyland opening day attraction. Walt wanted an attraction with real animals, however when planning, it was discovered that the real animals they would have used would have been asleep during a majority of the attractions' operating hours. So the imagineers turned to audio animatronics to create this attraction. This attraction has stood the test of time. Part of the appeal of the Jungle Cruise are the corny jokes that the skippers tell throughout the cruise.

Weird Al's Skipper Dan

We then come to another MK original...the Enchanted Tiki Room. This attraction has gone through a couple of renditions throughout the years, however it is currently back to its original state. Just thinking about it puts the song back into my head. "In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room, in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room, all the birds sing words and the flowers croon in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room."

Our final stop in Adventureland brings us to Pirates of the Caribbean. This attraction first opened in Disneyland in 1967. Imagineers didn't want to add it to the Magic Kingdom because of its close proximity to the Caribbean. However guests loved the attraction and so Pirates of the Caribbean was eventually added to Adventureland in 1973. Pirates of the Caribbean has thrilled audiences for many years. It even inspired a film franchise, introducing us to the character of Jack Sparrow. Because of the films successes, they then in turn inspired the attraction. In 2006, the attraction underwent refurbishment to add in characters from the film. Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my favorite attractions.

Before we finish our tour of Adventureland, I want to share one of the best Disney snacks there are: The Dole Whip.

The Dole Whip is an elusive snack that is only served in 2 locations in all of Walt Disney World: at the Polynesian Village Resort and at Aloha Isle in Adventureland. There are two versions that you can get: the Dole Whip cup, which is soft serve pineapple ice cream, or the Dole Whip float, which is the pineapple ice cream with pineapple juice. I am not a huge pineapple fan, but I sure love the Dole Whip. 

This brings us to the end of our tour of Adventureland. Be sure to check out all the fun details as you wander around (and watch out for the Tiki statues).