Here it is: the second and final installment of my trip recap for our 2018 Walt Disney World Food and Wine Festival vacation!
If you haven’t read part one yet, click here to catch up!
day six: back to epcot!
Now for the second half of our Disney journey! Our sixth day of vacation we spent in Epcot, and had lunch again at the Food and Wine Festival. I highlighted some of our favorites from our first F&W meal here in part one of the trip recap, and so here were some more of our favorites from our second lunch at the festival:
- The Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pao de Queijo) from the Brazil booth is a festival favorite and shows up year after year. Why do you ask? Because it’s that good! This vegetarian, gluten-free cheese bread is unbelievably moist tasty, and I guarantee you’ll find yourself going back for seconds!
- Every year, the Hops & Barley booth in the American Adventure Pavilion continues to feature their New England Lobster Roll: a buttery bun filled with lots of lobster chunks and fresh herbed mayo. It is definitely one of the pricier items at the festival, but it is well worth it for that buttery lobster! I love how the bun is griddled and crispy too – no soggy bread here!
- The Short Rib Tostada from Mexico is out-of-this-world, too! It’s definitely a beautifully presented dish as well. It starts with a crispy corn tortilla that then gets topped with a mound of stewed short ribs, black beans, salsa verde, and green onions. The meat is well-seasoned and the accompaniments pair well with the melt-in-your-mouth short ribs and crunchy tortilla!
- The Piggy Wings from Flavors from Fire are a must-have. Roasted pork wings with Korean BBQ sauce and sesame seeds? Yes please! They were well cooked and the BBQ was perfectly spiced!
- At the Ireland booth in the United Kingdom Pavilion you can grab a Warm Chocolate Pudding with Irish Cream Liqueur Custard. And while you’re at it, grab two for me too. This is hands down my favorite dessert of the festival: it’s an ooey, gooey chocolate cake with a lush and velvety Irish cream liqueur poured over the top. Newsflash: this is not a share-able dish. 😀 You will definitely want to polish one off all by yourself!
- If you’re looking to participate in the wine portion of the festival, then definitely snag a glass of wine from the Greece booth near the front of World Showcase. They are featuring several of the wines we had while on our honeymoon two years ago in Santorini, including my favorite, the Domaine Sigalas Assyrtiko. It’s a crisp, acidic white wine that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with!
After lunch and a few FastPasses, we headed back for pool time and a nap. For this trip, we were lucky enough to snag a room in one of our favorite resorts: Disney’s Beach Club Resort. We love what a convenient location this resort is as you can walk to two of the four parks, and we L-O-V-E the pool! The Beach Club Resort shares Stormalong Bay with Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, and it’s an absolutely massive, sandy-bottomed pool, featuring three hot tubs, a long water slide, and my personal favorite: a lazy river! Even better, you can sidle up to the bar over at Hurricane Hannah’s and order lunch or an adult beverage.
That night was extra special, as we had a dinner reservation at one of the nicest resorts on Disney property: Monsieur Paul. It is an authentically French restaurant above the Les Chef de France restaurant in the France pavilion at Epcot, and if the food is outstanding, the service is even more impeccable! I urge anyone celebrating something special on their next Disney trip to consider Monsieur Paul for celebrating: it’s truly a special experience!
day seven: orlando vineland premium outlets
I was so looking forward to this day! For all the trips we’ve taken to Disney World, I haven’t yet been to the outlet malls nearby. Since it was just me and the hubby this time, we figured we would grab an Uber over there to check them out. It was well-worth the trip: they have a number of great outlet stores that we don’t have access to here in Michigan, including Burberry, Prada, and Tory Burch. Suffice it to say, it was a successful trip! If you’re looking for something to do off property and you love a good deal, I definitely recommend checking out the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets!
After lunch, the hubby ended up playing golf over at the Magnolia Golf Course, while I relaxed in the hotel room and did a little blogging. That evening we headed over to Animal Kingdom. I am so happy now that Animal Kingdom is a park that stays open later in the evening, because it is so much fun! The nighttime version of Kilimanjaro Safari is so different from the daytime, and there is a lot of activity around the park now in the evenings. It’s great to see this place transformed!
After a few Fastpasses, we travelled over to Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Kidani Village Resort for dinner at one of our all-time favorite Disney restaurants: Sanaa. We love this restaurant because of two reasons: first and foremost, the food is an African-Indian fusion style that we cannot get enough of (especially the bread service!). Second of all, the restaurant is situated on the ground level of the resort, and has a whole wall of windows looking out into the savannah that surrounds Animal Kingdom Lodge. So you can be eating dinner and look out the window to see a giraffe, zebra, or Ankole cattle just walking by your window. It’s truly breathtaking!
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day eight: magic kingdom, round two!
A sad day! Our second to last day at the parks. We spent the morning at the Magic Kingdom, and headed over to Disney Springs for lunch and some afternoon shopping. Every time we are over in Disney Springs I am amazed at how transformed it is from even just a few years ago. I hardly recognize it from the days when I first started coming there with my husband, back in 2012 when it was still known at Downtown Disney! Since 2015, however, it has been known as Disney Springs, and it is such a fun place to be these days! There are so many unique shops, and so many tasty places to eat, that you could probably spend several full days here without even thinking about the parks!
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On this day, we had lunch at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’, which is another one of our favorite new places in Disney Springs. The deviled eggs are a must-have for us at every meal here, and this time we also tried the thigh high chicken biscuits and the barbecue sandwich. While we definitely over-ordered for just the two of us, the food was outstanding, as usual!
After spending some time packing and prepping for our last day, we headed back out to Disney Springs for dinner at yet another one of our favorite Disney Springs restaurants (do you hear a recurring theme here yet? We really love to eat!!!): The Boathouse. It was the perfect meal to end our trip with: good food, good wine, and good music! After the meal was over, we took the bus over to Epcot to watch the Illuminations night time fireworks show one last time, which is always a favorite of ours. It will be a sad day when that show is no longer with us!
day nine: hollywood studios
If you’re staying on property at a Disney resort, you’ve got to take advantage of the airlines check-in on your final day at the hotel. All you do is take your checked bags to the airline check-in desk in the front of your hotel and they will check your bags and get them to the airport for you. You can even drop off your carry-on luggage at the bell service desk and they can hold it for you until you are ready to leave for the airport! We like to spend a half day in the park usually on our last day, so we will typically take advantage of this service and then head to a nearby park for a few more rides and lunch, before heading to the airport. Today it was Hollywood Studios, followed by a final meal over at Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival. Then we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and head to the airport.
Womp womp, vacation over! It’s always a sad time heading back home, but I think it makes it a little better knowing we get to come home and pick up our two puppy girls from boarding. They make it much better! Now it’s your turn: tell me what your favorite recent vacation was in the comment section below!