What Do You Do On a "Mom-cation"? Eat and Drink Mostly! October 2018 Dining Report COMPLETE 12/30

Hettie

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 24, 2001
What Do You Do On a “Mom-cation”? Eat and Drink Mostly!
October 2018 Dining Report
It’s been a week since I’ve returned from my much-anticipated solo trip and I’m finally ready to get started on my dining report!

Name? Heather.

Me.JPG

This is my first solo trip and was meant to be a little break after being mostly a stay-at-home mom for the past three and half years. I’d never spent more than a few hours away from my little boy and I was feeling a little depleted as an autonomous human. I thought a long weekend trip to WDW would be just perfect because I could relax a little but stay busy so that I didn’t spend the entire trip worrying about the boys back at home.

Asher.JPG

Chad & Asher had a great time doing local activities, like going to the zoo and carving jack-o-lanterns. I think it was good for them to spend some time alone together too. Asher somehow got the idea that I was going to “exercise in the big city” so we rolled with that story. Someday when he realizes that mommy went to Disney World without him, he will certainly be furious.

Directive???

I got a great travel agent rate at Pop Century for three nights, my first stay at this resort. My objectives were to eat, drink, and do the attractions that we have been skipping since Asher was born because rider swap takes up too much time. My meals consisted mostly of Food & Wine booth items and lounges, but I also was able to do a F&W special event, the French Family Traditions Lunch. There were plenty of hits and a few misses this trip and I have all the details and photos ready to share!

Table of Contents:

Day 1 – October 26
F&W booths
Nomad Lounge


Day 2 – October 27

F& W booths
California Grill Lounge
Everything Pop Food Court


Day 3 – October 28
French Family Traditions Lunch
F&W booths


Day 4 – October 29
Sunshine Seasons
 
Last edited:


Joining in and so excited to hear all the details!
 


I'm so excited about your report. Our trips overlapped! I really wanted to do the French Family Traditions that you did, but was outvoted on the Bubbles Brunch at Il Mulino. I cant wait to hear about it.
 
Day 1 – October 26
“You must be on vacation!”

I booked a 7 am flight to maximize my travel day. With a connection in Charlotte, my arrival time was scheduled to be 11:06 am at MCO. I wasn’t very hungry when I got to the airport at 5:45 am, but I needed something in my stomach since I wouldn’t have a chance to eat again until I arrived at WDW. I got something small and somewhat edible from Dunkin’ Donuts (or is it just Dunkin’ already?) and a coffee drink with WAAAAYYY too much vanilla syrup. I asked for one pump. Oh well.

It was a rainy morning and the view once above the clouds was spectacular.

flight clouds.JPG


My first flight to Charlotte was running a few minutes late and I had to run from terminal E to terminal B to make my connection. :scared: It was a good thing I ran because they had just called my boarding group when I walked up and there was still room in the overhead bins for my carry-on. It was seriously a joy to travel so lightly with just one small under-seat size carry-on and my cross-shoulder bag that I carry in the parks. So easy.

Now I could relax a little since I didn’t have to worry about making any more connections and of course that included an in-flight glass of wine at 10:30 am.

airplane wine (1).JPG

My seatmate commented, “You must be on vacation!” to which I answered with an emphatic “YES!!!” He and his family were making their first trip to WDW and he was a little shocked to hear I was going by myself. Oh, if only he could experience the level of Disney insanity that we have here on The Disboards.:disrocks:

My flight came in at 11:09 and I was speedily off to the DME loading area. They put only Pop Century guests on one bus, which was fantastic because I was at Pop just an hour after landing. I had just gotten the text saying my room was not ready, but when I went to the desk to make a couple of requests, I found that it actually was ready and met my room request specifications perfectly. Yay! :banana:

First, I stopped by the food court to buy some water. They had 24 packs of the small Dasani water bottles for $7.99 and TIW works in the food court, so I got all those waters for $5.96 with tax which was a much better deal than buying the individual large bottles. It ended up being the perfect amount for my trip, I drank the last bottle on the way back to the airport.

I got to my room as quickly as possible, unpacked and organized, changed into summer clothes, freshened up and I was off to Epcot! Boy, is it easy to get out of the room without wrangling a child and all the necessary accoutrements!:moped:

According to my receipt, I was purchasing my first beverage at 1:53 pm. Not bad at all.:drinking1

From the Light Lab:

rose cider.JPG

Original Sin Dry Rosé Hard Cider – $4.25

I really enjoyed this and I will look for it locally. It was, for real, dry. I normally steer clear of ciders because they’re too sweet but this was perfect. Very refreshing and a nice way to start my afternoon at Epcot.

I was starving as it had been hours since my measly breakfast so I picked up some hearty meat dishes from the Flavors from Fire booth:

corned beef and piggy wings.JPG

Piggy Wings: Roasted Pork Wings with Korean BBQ Sauce and Sesame Seeds – $4.75

Smoked Corned Beef with Warm Crispy Potatoes, Pickled Onions and Blonde Ale Beer Fondue featuring BelGioioso Romano and American Grana Cheeses – $5


These were both very tasty. The piggy wings were SMOKY, which gave them a very rich flavor. I could have handled more spice in the sauce, but it had a nice flavor. The corned beef was tender and flavorful and they had piled on a generous amount of the fondue. I could have used more of the pickled onion though. Both of these dishes were rich and I found myself wishing I had someone to share with because I was feeling full already. I would say that even though the piggy wings look like a small portion, it’s still shareable because two of those felt like a bit much smoke flavor to me. The slaw with those had a spot-on Korean flavor and I loved it.

I still had a couple more food items on my list for the afternoon so I decided to go find a light drink and let the smoky food settle for a bit so I could further stuff myself. This drink from the New Zealand booth did the trick:

frozen wine.JPG

Frozen Wine Cocktail featuring Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc – $7

Very enjoyable. Sometimes frozen wine drinks are way too sweet, but this one had just the right amount of fruitiness and you could still taste the wine. I sipped on this while hanging out with some friends.

ibis.JPG

Then I heard reggae music coming from Canada, which I found very confusing. I decided to wander over and see what in the world was going on and discovered the current act at the Canada stage was a French Canadian ska band. Very cool. The singer was really great, like Gwen Stefani but a better vocalist (sorry Gwen).


Another item in the area was on my list, so I headed to the Australia booth to pick up another drink.

coopers ale.JPG

Coopers Brewery Original Pale Ale — $4.25

For me, this was just blech.:crazy2: I didn’t care for it at all. I generally like pale ales, with IPAs and APAs being some of my favorite, but this tasted like nothing followed by bitter. I still drank it anyway.:blush:

By that time my appetite had returned enough to have one more savory dish from the Wine & Dine Studio.

scallops and rose.JPG

Seared Scallops, Truffled Celery Root Purée, Brussels Sprouts and Wild Mushrooms – $6

Rainstorm Silver Linings Pinot Noir Rosé – $5

I also had the unplanned glass of wine because I needed something to cancel out the bad beer. This wine was tasty, I was happy I got it and I enjoyed it with the scallops, which were prepared perfectly. The celery root and wild mushrooms gave the dish a nice fall flavor, like Thanksgiving. I had exactly two brussels sprouts leaves which was a bummer because I love brussels sprouts. Overall the dish was a winner regardless.

Finally it was time for my dessert of the day, which I picked up at the Cheese Studio.

cheesecake.JPG

Maple Bourbon Boursin Cheesecake with Maple Bourbon Cream, Caramel and Pecan Crunch – $4.50

This was almost perfection and there is a reason it gets rave reviews all around. I love maple flavor and I am required to love bourbon in desserts because I’m from Kentucky. The pecan crunch just put it over the top. My only complaint was the same as so many other reviewers- it wasn’t cold enough and the texture wasn’t as firm as I wanted it to be. They need to leave these in the cooler until someone buys one or just load a small tray at a time.

By this time I was completely stuffed and Epcot was starting to fill with Friday evening F&W crowds. I decided it was time for me to meander back to the IG entrance and head over to Beach Club to catch a bus to Animal Kingdom to finish out my evening.

To be continued…
 
Last edited:
Count me in! Can’t wIt to hear all about it!!

Welcome!

I’m so excited! Glad you enjoyed your alone time!

Thanks! It was really great...

Signing on!

Glad you're here!

Joining in and so excited to hear all the details!

I'll probably have too many details, as usual!

Can't Wait. I love solo trips!

I do too now!

Looking forward to hearing all about it! :)

Thanks for joining in!

can't wait!

Welcome!

I'm so excited about your report. Our trips overlapped! I really wanted to do the French Family Traditions that you did, but was outvoted on the Bubbles Brunch at Il Mulino. I cant wait to hear about it.

I haven't gotten to the lunch in my report yet, but spoiler alert...I am guessing that you made the better choice. I'll be excited to read about the Bubbles Brunch.

Joining in!

Howdy!

Sounds good! I enjoyed reading your last report : )

Thanks! Welcome!

Can't wait to hear all about your weekend and all of the yumminess and drinks :):drinking1

Glad you're joining in!
 
I'm here! Excited to read about your solo adventure!

Boy, is it easy to get out of the room without wrangling a child and all the necessary accoutrements!:moped:
:worship: I haven't done a complete solo trip yet, just sans family but with a friend, however YES it's so much easier when it's just DH and I even with my boys being older!

Maple Bourbon Boursin Cheesecake with Maple Bourbon Cream, Caramel and Pecan Crunch – $4.50

This was almost perfection and there is a reason it gets rave reviews all around.
Hands down my favorite dessert from the festival :goodvibes
 
Solo trips are so fun! Too bad you had some bad beer but glad the wine made up for it.
 
Day 1 Continued…

I noticed my phone battery was low and stopped in the Solarium at the Beach Club to charge my phone and put my feet up for a bit since my run through the airport earlier was like a workout. After some recharging, caught a bus to Animal Kingdom. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself, I had a FP for Na’vi River Journey that I had been trying to modify to FOP with no luck and I didn’t really want to go to Pandora first thing since I was planning to visit Nomad Lounge later. I eventually ended up in the single rider line for Everest, then thought I would try the standby line for Dinosaur. On my way I saw Daisy coming out for a meet and I can’t resist getting some photos with her.

daisy 1.JPG daisy 2.JPG

The Photopass photographer was great, she took action shots which I love.


I tried the Dinosaur line but after standing completely still for almost ten minutes with a close-stander breathing on my shoulder, I had to bail. I had burned enough time to head over to Nomad Lounge anyway.


I found a table outside and settled in. For my first drink, I wanted to try @kastoney ‘s favorite:

zing.JPG

Annapurna Zing

Bombay Sapphire East Gin, Passion Fruit Purée, Mint, Simple Syrup, and Lime Juice topped with Ginger Beer-- $10.25 (without the glowy lotus flower)

I absolutely agree that this is a delicious cocktail. It’s very tangy, but not overly sweet. I could have polished off several, but after a recent incident at the Hendrick’s Gin tasting tent at the US Sailboat show in Annapolis, I now know that gin is not my friend. :rolleyes1I am limited to a single gin cocktail in one sitting.

I was finally hungry again and put together a dinner from the Tiffins’ appetizer and “enhancements” menus:

octopus.JPG

Charred Octopus

Romesco Sauce, Olive Tapenade, Chorizo, Squid Ink Aïoli --$16.00

I was very much looking forward to this octopus but it unfortunately fell flat for me. I realize that it’s supposed to be charred, but one piece was burnt to a crisp and tasted so. It was also cold as though it had been sitting while they prepared my other dish. The octopus itself was tender fortunately, but tasted as though it hadn’t even been seasoned with salt. The only saving grace was that the tapenade and squid ink aioli were tasty and added some flavor. The dish was unfortunately a fail, maybe it would be a safer bet to order it if actually dining inside Tiffins.

My accompanying dish was served piping hot however:

cauliflower.JPG

Gobi Manchurian

Crispy-fried Cauliflower, Manchurian Sauce, Green Onion --$11.00

This cauliflower ended up being the star of the show. It was fried perfectly crispy and the sauce was delicious. It tasted just like one of my favorite small dishes that you can find at Japanese restaurants called agedashi tofu. I know it was supposed to be Manchurian, but something about the flavors were similar to that Japanese dish. I would highly recommend this if you’re sharing with someone, it was a huge portion and I couldn’t finish it even though I hated leaving a few pieces behind.

I needed a drink to wash down my food and decided to try the sangria.

sangria.JPG

Sinaloa Sangria

A South American Sangria made with Miquel Torres Rosé Wine, Barsol Quebranta Pisco, and fresh Fruit--$11.00

This was a nice sangria, light and refreshing. It was a little on the weak, fruity side for me, I would probably just order a glass of wine in the future, but it was fun to try it.

I finished out my evening with another ride on my favorite, Everest, in the dark this time. Then a glass of the DMZ chardonnay from Thirsty River Bar which is a decent unoaked chardonnay that I enjoy. I glanced at wait times and was absolutely shocked to see this:

fp wow.PNG

I can’t believe Na’vi had a higher wait time than FOP! I was hopeful this low wait time for FOP would make for a short wait at park closing. I got in line 5 minutes before closing and ended up waiting about an hour even though they had bumped the wait time up to 170 minutes! LOL! I don’t blame them for wanting to get home though.

That was the end of my night, I wanted to hit the sack and be up bright and early to rope drop the Studios and run the Slinky Dog gauntlet.
 
I am looking forward to reading your report. I am taking a momcation in February.

I am now a firm believer in the momcation! :thumbsup2

I'm here! Excited to read about your solo adventure!

Glad you're joining in! Thanks!

Solo trips are so fun! Too bad you had some bad beer but glad the wine made up for it.

I had done the parks solo when we lived in Orlando, but traveling there alone was a new experience and very enjoyable!
 
I'm here! How jealous am I that you got some alone time in Disney of all places??? Sadly my commute to and fro work is about as close to "alone" time as I get.

So glad to hear you enjoyed Nomads and loved the Zing. I could go for one right about now. And since you mentioned your gin incident, are you in Annapolis??? We're just in Northern VA.

I haven't gotten there in my report yet but we had some serious issues with Tiffins food temperature too. Enough that we likely won't be going back for a while.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top