On this episode, we review the 2024 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, talking merchandise, activities, entertainment, and of course, the food booths. Today is September 3rd, 2024, in this episode 699 of the Main Street Magic Podcast. Hello and welcome to another episode of Main Street Magic. I'm your host, Jeremy Stein, and as always I'm joined by my lovely wife Rhonda. Hey guys, make sure you check us out on the web at mainestimagic.com as well as follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @Mainestimagic and on TikTok @msmpodcast. If you want to be part of the community and join the conversation, in addition to live streams from the parks and our weekly live show, head to Facebook and search for the Main Street Magic community and ask to join. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you can get brand new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Planning a trip to Disneyland or Walt Disney World can be overwhelming and at times just downright frustrating. But don't worry because mouse dining removes the frustration of booking Disney dining reservations alerting you when they spot availability for your desired restaurant, date, meal, and time. Visit msmfriends.com to use this free service. No matter where you want to go, our trusted partner, MEI Travel, will handle the planning so you can focus on the memories. They offer free vacation planning services and have nearly 20 years of experience creating memorable vacations. Visit mainestimagic.com forward slash travel for a fee free, no obligation quote today. Okay. So on today's episode, we have a full fun weekend we get to talk about over the course of some days. But first and foremost, we are going to talk food and wine. Yeah, it started. Yay. Yay. Yay. I'm glad it goes a long time. Yeah. Yeah. So, and actually, this is, you know, shorter than the past several years. So this year's is going to run from August 29th. So just kicked off. We went down for opening day and opening weekend. This is going to run through November 23rd this year. That's 87 days. You got you still got, you know, by the time this was 80 days to enjoy this, right? It's got a long, long time. Now, last year, a lot of the previous years, it was over 100 days long. Okay. You know, and even I was one of the ones that forgot, that's how it used to always be, you know, we've got coming after our COVID and the shutdowns, and then reopening the parks when they brought back food and wine, they, you know, we're trying to make some money back. They're trying to figure out summer. They butted it right up against flower and garden. And we got used to that for a couple of years. So everybody was in such shock this year and they're like, it's not starting till August 29th. But pre-COVID times, that's how it always was, you know, we had the, the diet Epcot or, so I like to call it acoustic Epcot during the whole summer. So how this compares now to the other festivals, for example, at the beginning of the year, the festival of the arts was 38 days, then this previous flower and garden ran for 89 days. Okay. Right. Of course, now we got 87 days for food and wine. Wow. And then the 2024 festival, the holidays, we already have our dates because normally you didn't have this comparison because food and wine started so much earlier, right talking about it. But that's going to kick off November 29th. It's going to run through December 30th. And that is only 31 days. So that, that and the old farts are still in that about month long period. We'll see if they start to stretch any of these moving forward. All right. First, what we always like to do with our festivals is give you guys some tips. So Rhonda, what are some tips? Well, I think one of the biggest ones is where to stay. And unfortunately, we stayed, and the only reason I say unfortunately at all Star Sports this time is because we had to take a bus. I did ask Jeremy too late to see if we could have stayed at pop century, which is on a Skyliner resort. So that's one of the ones and that is a value. Art of animation in the little mermaid rooms are on the Skyliner and our value resort rooms. When you get up into the obviously family suites, they are not and they can run more expensive, depending on who you're going with and staying with. And then of course, you've got your moderate, which is Caribbean Beach. And then all the way to your deluxe, which would be like the boardwalk area and staying where you can walk instead of the Skyliner. But you could also take the Skyliner as well. But boardwalk Skyliner resorts tend to do really well if you're going to put a lot of focus on the festival. And and that's one of the other things is like you need you need multiple days. Yes. You know, yeah. And even I hate to say like this, even multiple days, I feel like could occur what happened with us, which we'll talk about. So sometimes you need multiple times, maybe multiple multiple vacations. Yes. So just know you're not accomplishing this in one day. And that isn't even just food. That's kind of everything else that we'll talk about as well. If you can, you know, steer clear of the weekends, they're going to be busier. That's when you'll have a lot of locals that will come in, you know, for the weekends and enjoy food and wine. So again, if your trip is a week-long trip and it maybe includes a weekend, the weekend, you might want to plan around Epcot being a little bit busier, specifically as regards to food and wine. How about like weather and just being comfy walking around? Weather is a really good one because, you know, food and wine now starts for, you know, I mean, the end of August, but really it starts technically for a lot of folks what they would consider the fall. Correct. And maybe September where you live, if you're not in the south or in the southeast, you know, September starts to get cooler for you. And then you think about October and November, it's not always that way here. So September can be the hottest, right? Not only can it be the hottest, but technically in Florida, we are still in quote-unquote hurricane season. So it's usually always fine. But my point is, is things like hurricanes bring lots of rain. So it just, you never know. Yeah, be prepared for that. Be prepared. Yeah. And the funny part is that we learned so well, this past weekend, getting rained on there, is yeah, be prepared in your mind to where you're going to go or what you're going to do when that rain ultimately. Yeah, you know, because you don't want to not really have a plan because nobody else does. And all of a sudden everybody is in the exact same place as you want to be. You know, the food boots will sometimes shut down if there is lightning. But even if it is just pouring rain, they're either almost, you know, they might be open, but nobody's going to them obviously. So you just want to go, you want to have a plan like, Hey, we know the afternoon rain might hit. So let's front end trying to hit these different festival booths and do these things or the scavenger hunt or whatever. And then know that we might want to have a period to break that will just go back to the room. And then you may be come back for the evening or something like that. Set a budget for yourself the best you can ahead of time. And as you listen to this episode, as you do your research online, you can see pricing. So you can easily set a budget and saying, you know, planning out what you want. Because I think that's important too, right? Right. And not only planning on a budget, but planning on what you want to eat. Like our main focus when we first come is to always try the new food so we can talk about it. Now we're very excited to go back to try some of the old foods. And we can, you know, we talk about those too, but just for you as a person planning go, Oh, I do want the Australia lamb chop, get it. Yeah. And then, you know, put that in part of your planning. Yeah. Yeah. And that just helps. And it gives you a flow of how you want to do things too. You know, because you may get there and decide again, which way are we going? You know, when we get to the world showcase, there's plenty of stuff prior to the world showcase that you can try. So and look at the menus, because you first thing in the morning, you might not want to, for example, you know, start on the side you heading towards Mexico, where you've got like the noodle exchange and you've got hot wings in the Odyssey area. And you know what I mean, you may decide like, let's just let's figure out what we want. Correct. You know, we end up going by dessert booths at 11 a.m. when we haven't even had like lunch booth food. Yeah. And you're like, all right, well, now we got to double back because this is one we want. So just have that whole plan. When it comes to your budget and all, we have always recommended that you get the gift card wristlets. And I think that recommendation is going to end here. Well, this year's, unfortunately, is just not plastic. It's hard board like every year prior, yeah, I've got one on my desk and the gift cards on the wristlets were made of plastic. And the ones this year are paper like that compressed layered paper. It's not exactly cardboard, but it kind of is. So what's wrong with that? Well, a couple things. You know, this is around your wrist and I can say from the beginning, just because it was so hot when we were there and I am sweating like crazy. The edges of the gift card, it's gift cards started to get wet. And you know, it happens when that compressed paper gets wet, it starts to expand. Right. So then that was happening. When you get anything at all to drink, the condensation in this heat on the outside is it's just going to drip everywhere. So all of a sudden that's dripping down my arm. Then we get stuck in rain. Well, by the end of it, the gift card actually ripped off of the wristlet that it's held onto. So that could have been a catastrophe. You know, another reason we always say go to disneygiftcard.com register these. If it goes missing, you can immediately transfer it to another physical or digital or whatever gift card. The other thing was happening. I mean, this whole wristlet was starting to fall apart. Also, if you did not register it and you forgot, I could see the numbers on the back of that thing running or the card ripping to a point that you might lose some of those numbers or where the scanner is that they scan. And you're out of luck if you don't have that registered. And I agree with that. So just register it periods so you don't get. But when I was really kind of like looking at it and almost dissecting it a little bit, for some reason, it did seem to have like some type of like like plastic-y like a coating was over the important words. Yes. But the major concern was it ripping where it connects to the wristlets? Yes. Because I went because I always have it on my wrist and I will hold it out. But I'm able to put almost the gift card portion because it stretches in my hand. Right. So they can easily scan it. And as soon as I went to do that, it ripped right off. Right. Now, if that had happened when I wasn't looking, yeah, and that thing falls on the ground somewhere, you could really be out, especially if you didn't register it. So, and then finally, as always, can you share, Rhonda? Should you share? Yes, sharing is caring. It is. It is wonderful to share because you can get a dish that sounds like exciting, which one thing we are going to talk about. And I was super excited and probably in my mind wanted to get two of them because I thought it was going to be that good. And it wasn't. So it's nice that we didn't waste money on two. And, you know, so sharing, yeah, is wonderful. And then not only that, but you can get multiple dishes, like Jeremy and I got all the three things at Mexico. So that was nice. And then, like, I had a couple of bites. And then I'm like, okay, I'm just about full. So, yeah. And it worked well too. I mean, even on the day, the opening day, we ended up just running into and meeting up with, you know, friends of ours and walking around and spending time together at the booths. And yeah, some of it was like, you know, one of our set of friends might have been going to get something and we're like, you know, we were going to get it already, like we were planning to. So just save your money. And, you know, we'll try it. Or later, they got something and we could be like, mine if I have a bite. Right. And so even that, like amongst groups of people, you just get to try more and more. Then also, you can accomplish more in that first day or so. So when you have another day planned, that's when you go back and you just focus on, I really loved this. I really wanted that from past years that I like, I'm going to get myself a whole one. So that part works really well. All right, let's go over a little bit about Eat to the Beat, their concert series. All right, so this is going to be in the America Gardens Theater there in the American Pavilion. This runs the entire length of the festival. And there's going to be three shows every night, 5 30 p.m, 6 45 p.m, and 8 p.m. A couple of the standouts this year, at least I know for me, Sugar Ray, by the time this episode comes out, they'll just be finishing up. But you got like Huba Stank, yellow card is new this year, which I imagine will be very, very, very popular. Tiffany's back, Mercy Me. Who else we got that's really good. Joy Fatone and friends. There's always a fun one. He's on, I believe, a Sunday and Monday. One of these years, I really want to catch him, but those dates don't work for us. Switchfoot, October 13th, 14th, I will say, after seeing them live for the first time recently, if you are there, go see them. Absolutely unbelievable. Of course, you've got Hanson that weekend that leads up to Halloween that they have every year. New this year, magic. Okay. All right, well, you got to be so rude. That would have been a fun one to see. I don't know if I know another song. I probably do, but their new is good too. I don't know. Their new this year. What kind of music is that country? Okay. Smash mouth and then closing out with 98 degrees and then a whole bunch of bands and artists and singers in between all those. Who were we excited to see Jeremy and we did not get to? So this is another one where weather comes into play and adjusting those plans. I wanted to go see the fray. Yep. Right. So they had one band opening night and the fray was going to kick off that Friday and Saturday. And so we were going to go to the five 30 show on Friday. We already had taken a break. We actually went back to the room to change because we had already gotten wet from rain that morning. So we come back and we want to see the five 30 for the fray. And so we sit down about five o'clock or so. It was actually very busy. I did not expect it to be so busy. It did end up getting busy a lot busier. And I like so we're going to talk about the dining packages in just a minute. But I like how now they rope certain rows off and that's where you get to go. So you don't have to stand in this long line. Yeah. And you can pretty much walk up just like we did. But when we walked up, we didn't have a dining package. So we had to sit where there was seeds. And that's just, you know, in the center in the back and it's fine. And it was very strange. There was no announcement over a loudspeaker. And we saw clouds coming. We saw dark clouds. But I mean, let's be honest, it's Florida. And sometimes it's just around us and it the way the whatever goes, it doesn't get us. But there was some cast members starting to come back and say that there is lightning in the area and you cannot stay in the theater. Yeah. I'm going to assume because if lightning struck something that it. I mean, they're metal seats. Right. They could something. Yeah. So that's not good. Right. Right. So anyways, we left. Yeah. So we didn't get to see him. No. And and the rain hadn't quite started. And then we thought, all right, well, I wasn't sure. Like maybe we'll come back for the next show. Maybe we won't. Let's just we had some other stuff we wanted to eat. And we'll tell you now. Yeah, we didn't get to everything we wanted now because of what we're about to tell you. So anybody that is going this week, there are some new dishes that we did not get to try, but we will this coming weekend or next weekend, I should say, we'll be back down there. So then we'll we'll follow up on that, you know, whatever else we try. But yeah, we went to Spain to go to get their charcuterie that they have. And we're getting in line and the rain starts. Well, it's funny because we're in line. And when we say the rain starts now, listen, Florida has two types of rain, like those start out little like sprinkles and sometimes that's all it is. And then sometimes it gets heavier. Or sometimes it starts with these big, giant drops. And it just literally down pours. Like, yeah, like drops the size of marbles, I feel like they're huge. And you get wet, quick, and there's there's no way to go anywhere. There's nothing you can do about it. So we tried to hide under the umbrellas at the actual booth, because they said they were closing down the registers, but they were going to take orders basically inside the booth as you walked up. And nothing was really moving. The rain came in so hard. So we're getting wet enough trying to be under the umbrella. So finally, we were like, you know what, let's just go. So we went out and just we're singing in the rain, dancing in the rain. I mean, we had a great time and five minutes later, you know, we're walking, getting ready to hit China. And it stops. Yep. And so we're like, okay, Ronald looks at the radar. She's like, this is done for the night. What do we want to do? Do we want to go back, see a show? Do we want to go eat more? We are. It was the wettest I've ever been while wearing clothing. That was it was like, like, I mean, I've only been wetter in the shower and I don't wear clothing in the shower, but I assume that's what it would be like. I feel like it jumps into a pool. Really? I told you it was you got wetter there than you do on a Bluto's build strat barge over in the islands of adventure. I mean, drink. So we're like, okay, we I was just like, I'm good with whatever, but I don't want to spend the rest of the evening in these drenched clothes, like you could ring them out. Yeah. So we're like, all right, let's call an audible. We knew we're coming back the following Saturday. We can go ahead and hit some of the new dishes that we missed. So we decided to go back to the room, change for the second time that day, and go out to dinner that night, which we'll cover two episodes from now. But just be so prepared for that. Yeah. So going back to the concert series, though, and like Ronda was talking about dining packages, it just goes to show you don't you don't know. Like, you know, for me, I'm going, all right, the fray, you know, anybody our age will recognize them. They'll recognize their music. But if somebody says no, it's how to say that is one you will definitely recognize. But, you know, so I'm kind of thinking, well, I don't I don't think it'll be that busy. I know it's a Friday night and all, but like it, how many fray fans are there? Or how many people that just think, oh, there's a concert series, let me go see it. And we've still arrived 30 minutes before showtime. And we were pretty far towards the back. So and it's sort of filling in a lot. It did. It feel it was filling in a ton. I was shocked at how packed it was. So with that being said, if you are a fray fan or whoever else may be coming up and you're thinking in your mind, you know what, it probably won't be that bad. Go ahead and look at the dining package. Now, the only thing is the dining package is not available Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays. Now, when you look at the schedule, the Tuesday, Wednesdays, Thursdays are not only the middle of the week, so lower crowds, right, but they're not the Hanson's or the Sugar Ray's or the Stangs or yellow cards for the most part, right? So Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, though, if it is a band you truly do want to see and you want that nice reserve seating up front that is guaranteed for your showtime, take a look at the dining package. So at most all restaurants there, it's going to be an entree and the dessert, or it's going to be the full buffet, right? That will be included, as well as one non-alcoholic beverage or an alcoholic beverage for guests 21 or over. So it falls under that dining plan, allotment of what you get, right? Spice Road table, however, will include two small plates, a shared tagine and a shared dessert platter, and then same thing with the drinks. So each of that is one guaranteed seat in that reserved area that they started this past year for the concert of your choice. You know, and when you go to book the dining package, it will, you'll also, it'll book your showtime. Usually breakfast and into early lunch is going to be that five 30s show, correct? Lunches into a dinner will be the 645 late dinners 830, who's can fluctuate, but just keep an eye out when you're looking at what type of meal you want to do. Just some quick pricing examples for this, something like acro shoes for breakfast is going to cost you $72. Lunch and dinner would cost you 84 as adults. We can move down to something like Garden Grill, 64 for breakfast, 79 for lunch and dinner. There is a spice road is always the cheapest at $56, right for adults. And that's just lunch or dinner. There is a same day available dining packages as they always do at Regal Eagle, which is only going to cost you 36 bucks for an adult. And that would be day of walk up. So that's one where you can say, you know what, I really don't want to drop, you know, $70 a person or 99 for La Celia. Just to make sure I see this band that I like. Then you might want to look at the Regal Eagle, or you just want to line up real early. But at the same time, I mean, we'd have to probably go in to Celia and pick out food ourselves and then see if it would be more than a 99. Well, normally what we normally what we found in the past, and you can really base it off of the price of price of a buffet. You're paying about 15 to 20 or so dollars extra per person on top of the meal for that guaranteed seat. So you got to think, what I pay 20 bucks to see yellow card in a tiny little American Gardens Theater in the first five rows, and also eat a meal. Right. Then that's kind of how you want to gauge it, right? All right, all this so far sounds like stuff that adults love. And when we get to the food and drink, it's definitely the things adults love. But we do have some fun for kids, Rhonda. Not only one, but two, let's talk about the first one. We do. We can only talk about the first one because the second one is Pluto's pumpkin pursuit. And there is no date yet of when it's going to be released when we were there this past Friday. Yeah, as soon as we find out, we will let you know. I'm super excited because you get to celebrate the Halloween season with a pumpkin themed scavenger hunt. Now, what is available right now is Remy's Hide and Squeak, which is always around, which is super cute because it's Remy. And you get to go around the world showcase and little statues, you find them all throughout. Yeah, super cute. This year's prize, super excited. To me, I'm going to call them little cereal bowls. Yeah, that's a perfect sizing to explain. Yeah, because ice cream bowls that we got a few years ago, we collected. Yeah, we did. And those are really because we use them all the time. Yes, we do ice cream. And we're honestly put like, a little condiments or a fruit out of it all the time. Like we've gotten such good use of those things. And there are usually four. We got four of the little ones. And this year, there are four right cereal bowls. And we got two. And then the next time we go, we're going to go ahead and get the other two. And then, like I said, we'll let y'all know about pluto's pumpkin pursuit as soon as we find information. That exists out in downtown Disney and Disneyland. The pluto's pumpkin pursuit. I believe they kicked it off last year. They're doing it again this year. And I know out there, like the prize is sippers. So I don't know if it be something similar here. But I believe I remember hearing it should start here in the next week or so. Okay, we'll actually run, I think, to like just after Halloween, I believe through that weekend because Halloween's on a Thursday, I think it may run through like November 2nd or 3rd. But we'll be down there during that time frame, probably in the early October period. And we'll go ahead and make sure we check it out. All right, let's talk about the 2020 for festival merchandise collections before we get into the real good stuff, which is the food. So this year, they have a chef, Remy, chef Mickey, chef, figment collections. And then they've got a festival logo collection, talk some about the merchandise, Rhonda. But first, why don't you talk about the conversion of communicore hall, if that's, do you want to call it? And how that relates to merchandise and stuff as well. Yeah, so on one half of it, there's some merchandise. There is a lot more in creations. And there's pretty much everything in creations. And then throughout the festival kiosks and all, but it's a limited supply in communicore hall. I feel like in communicore hall, you have, I guess, the figment collection. I feel like it was the figment in Remy collection only. Yeah, no passholder stuff. I don't believe there was much for, there was a couple logo items. And I don't think there was much for Mickey, but it was like a very small tasting. Well, and then I got that's where I got my mini shirt. So it is, it's still a small tasting. But anyway, like Jeremy said, but the point is, is that on that one side, and then on the other side is the Mac-a-tizer booth. Yeah. So, and yeah, I mean, it's some cute stuff. I got a cute little mini that says step up to the plate. And I always love her. I'm glad they always put her on it. Because usually food and wine, when they do figment and stuff, I don't love it. I do like the Mickey stuff. And I like Remy. I just don't love him as a character either. So that's just where I go. But we got some stuff. I like the stuff this year. It's pretty good. And I like that you have the different collections, you know, that it's not all heavy on one character. So, yeah, if you're not a figment fan, but you love Remy or you're not a Remy fan, but you just love Mickey and Minnie. Like, I do think that there's a lot to offer. So, you know, we picked up some things, you got a tank, I got a shirt, we got some like salad, you know, wooden serving things, we got, you know, a couple cool things there. But what do you, what do you think that about Communicor Hall? Like, do you still think that this is more? Here's the problem. Okay, the merchandise half. Stupid. Looks like a Kmart. It's stupid. Yeah. I mean, I hate to say it that way, but it is because everything's in creations. In fact, that's where I was going to go. But Jeremy was like, no, it's in Communicor on. I was like, Oh, well, that's awesome. That's where you think you're going to go, right? Correct. Because you feel like this needs to be, this needs to, this should have been the festival centerpiece. Right. And this is where I'll go back and say with the, you know, extension of the Encanto show, which again, I love, because it's a great show, I love it for the folks that didn't get it to see it and they want to see it. Right. But I think if this could have turned into more of an entire just festival center area, and I don't even know what I want there, but I don't either because it's hot out there. It is. That's the thing too, you know, so you only have in the Macatizers, which is inside and then you have a favorite, which is outside, but there's not a lot of seating once you get to that half and they packed as much in as they could. They did. And you have a line to Macatizers that's running out the door, it just, you know, I think maybe even Disney's trying to figure out what to do with it. It's probably a flex space, but it's still not what anybody thought it would be or hoped it would be. So we'll just have to keep seeing what to do with it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think just anything that even would have been more the core or just something. Well, the Macatizers is fine being in there. I would have something else in there like that's hot because, you know, you don't think about eating hot mac and cheese outside. So the fact that we got to sit inside and eat in this nice cool, that was fantastic. Yes, it was. To me, I hate to say it this way, but the merchandise, it's wasted space right there. It is because it's in creations and you better off with that all being tables. Yeah. For more people to come from festival favorites or other areas or favorites, I like how they didn't have like, like major hot food. No, no, but that in that key lime tart there is good. Yeah. And we'll talk about that. But, but again, imagine if you had your Macatizers or whatever it is, right? And instead of having that little half that was merchandise that is all available in creations and the rest of the party. Yeah, that's where you had your little stage, and that's where you had your little cooking demo. And guess what they're making? They're making mac and cheese that you can get and purchase right in the back. You know, like you could have, you don't need tables there, even if this isn't one that they charge for like they used to, you know, you have a rotating cooking demo going on there the entire day. You got rows of seats on that half. And then behind you, you have the Macatizers booth or whatever they decide to put in there in the future festivals, and you have regular tables to sit and eat at. Yeah, still have the incanto show outside. Like I just, I'd be interested to see what they do with this. Yeah, that's all in the future. We didn't talk food. Let's talk food. So here's how we're going to do food. We will go through the menu with you here. And we will talk about items that we have had in the past, and we have enjoyed, and we'll give you our opinions on those. And then we'll talk about the new items that we did get to try on these couple, couple days and couple times to and from Epcot, right? Yeah. All right, let's start with the Alps. I would say one of our favorites, year after year. Yes, it is. Is the warm or clet Swiss cheese. I can get that with alpine ham, baby potatoes, cornichones in a baguette for 575. They also have a version without that alpine ham. That's 525. Then they have a dark chocolate fondue with berries, pound cake, and meringue for $6. Most everything we're going to talk about is Disney dining plans snack eligible. We'll just make sure we point out if it's not. Okay. Right. Because otherwise, we just have to say that over and over again, 100%. And we have had all three items here. And all three items are fantastic. And if you don't want those cornichones, which Jeremy calls them baby or baby pickles, pickles, you can not have them on there. Yes. So they will just they will get rid of them for you. Another thing we'll do, we'll we'll talk about beverages as we go throughout as they stand out again for ones that we've had in the past or some non alcoholic versions that are now available. The frozen rosé there I've had before. Yes. Very good. At the Alps. Yeah. All right, move on to Australia. On our list, hopefully to try next time, we'll be that new grilled bushberry spice shrimp skewer, sweet and sour vegetables and coconut chili sauce. Again, it's new this year for $7. Most they've had a bushberry grilled shrimp every festival. What they do is they change up kind of the accoutrements on the sides to it. Okay. The shrimp is very good. Oh, yeah. Of course, Rana, your lovely roasted lamb chop with mid pesto and crushed salt and vinegar, potato chips for 875. So good. You absolutely love this and I do as well after the first one we had. Yeah. And and if you if this was your first episode ever listening or you haven't heard us talk about the festivals to, you know, first of all, in these first couple days, first week, you do be patient a little bit. Sometimes they're figuring some stuff out. Moving beyond that, sometimes there can be inconsistencies. Absolutely. So one lamb chop could be amazing. One could not be the best. Correct. For the most part, we have found consistency. But in items like that, there isn't as much. And the ones I think is the least consistent, usually pork belly. Now, when they do it right, it's amazing. Yeah. Sometimes it's not scallops and shrimp and seafood are consistent. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Okay. They also have a laming tin yellow cake with raspberry filling with chocolate and coconut for 475. We have that before. I believe we have had that in the past, but it does not stick at being very memorable. That's what I was thinking. In fact, I know we've had it. All right. We're going to move over on to a Belgium. And when we talk about planning, if you're thinking a booth open at 11 a.m., but if you're thinking you want to start with something more breakfasty, you got up, you didn't do it at the resort, Belgium's a good one to start because they have a Belgian waffle with warm chocolate ganache for 550, or that Belgian waffle can come with berry compote and whipped cream for 550. So that could be a way to start your day with some Belgian waffles, right? And these are good. They're Belgian waffles. Oh, yeah. Right. Nobody's going to turn these away. No, if you like waffles at all. They're good. They also have a beer-brazed beef served with smoked gouda mashed potatoes for 650. This is also excellent. Yes. We've had this in the past. This is one of those that we go back and get. Yes, it is. I personally just don't always want to waffle. A lot of times we'll go there for this instead. New this year is Bramblewood bites. So there is going to be this new section that was play areas before. Yeah. And they also, you'd have you'd see like rotation of booths next to that play area. But now this has I feel like this central effort between Bramblewood bites right there and then the new milled and mold. And then I think the one down there is earth eats that that we'll talk about in a little bit with ravioli. But this little path right here in these three booths is just like autumn. You want to be just like fall season. It's like like all these booths kind of scream that. So everything here is new, including grilled cider brine pork tenderloin with a fennel apple slaw and apple cider gas streak that is 675. They also have as like a little side a cast iron roasted brussel sprouts and root vegetables with dried cranberries, candied pecans and maple bourbon glaze. That is five dollars. What we tried for our new dish from this booth was the grilled bison with butternut squash puree roasted mushrooms and a huckleberry gas streak. This was 875. Listen to those prices too and think about what's really good for that dining snack plan. 875 is a pretty good spend of your dining snack plan. Whereas something like the five dollar brussel sprouts, you might just want to pay out a pocket or something. Oh yeah, 100%. Alright, so we got the little vintress with the bison, right? And we've had bison before. We love the bison burger over at Geyser Point. What did you think of the grilled bison here? I thought it was really good. And I really like the butternut squash puree. And I personally like the roasted mushrooms. The huckleberry gas streak was but let's see it. The flavor was a lot. So when you have a lot of flavor, you just need a little bit of sauce, like, yeah. And there was a lot. Yeah. So once you took a look and put a little bit on it, it was fantastic, I thought. Yeah, what did you think? I thought it was excellent. I didn't care for the mushrooms, but I don't usually love mushrooms. Some I'm finding I like, these are not it. These are very, very, very mushroomy. The butternut squash puree silky. It was silky smooth. It was like just fall. And then yeah, this grilled bison. If you've never had bison, this tasted like a perfectly grilled medium to almost medium rare, a piece of filet mignon. And it's two pieces. They're they're a little thinly sliced, maybe like a quarter inch, but they're just tender. They are so good. Like you said, they put a big glob of the huckleberry gas streak on top with a couple berries in there. And like Rhonda said, it is very good, but it packs a lot of punch. So once you scooped a lot of that off and you had a little bit left with that bison, it was absolutely perfect pairing. And not that the bison needed it. Yeah, but it did have a nice little flavor to it. Right. So yeah, I just I thought that was so, so good. We move on to Brazil. They have a black beans with pork belly, Brazil nut pesto and Ben's original long grain white rice for 650. We've really enjoyed this in the past. Yes, we have. This is very good. Very good. Again, but that is one you need sometimes the pork belly. But we've always had a good experience with this pork belly. Yes, we have. So really, the pork belly we haven't is with that deconstructed BLT during festival of the arts. Right. It's been hit or miss, but that egg has also been hit or miss. True. So it really might just come down to that booth specifically during festival of the arts. Maybe. Of course, they got the Brazilian cheese bread for $5. Everybody will rave about this Brazilian cheese bread. It is good. It just means a pesto and cheese sauce telling you, you take they do it over its kipper canteen magic kingdom. They have Brazilian bread. It's off menu. You got to ask for it. And it comes with this smear of pesto and cream cheese. And it is so good. You can get these Brazilian bread bites at your local grocery in the frozen section. So for me personally, even though it's only five bucks, I'm going to save it and move on. I also think these would be good with just like a marinara. Yeah, but they're still I mean, they're still good by themselves. They are still good by themselves. They are. Okay. Next, inside of the odyssey, the muppets are all over the place. And we have the brew wing lab. So they have traditional Buffalo wings with celery and ranch for 775. Everything here is 775 until the last thing. So peanut butter and jelly sticky wings. These are surprisingly good. If you want to give those flavors a try, let's just say that. Garlic Parmesan wings. They're okay. And if you go back to the standard Buffalo, these wings have been hit or miss in general, where some to me have been a little bit smaller and overcooked. Well, and I think that's where they get. Well, I think that's because of getting them, you know, wings where they're from or whatever. So unfortunate. I mean, I don't know, but Oh, I thought you had insider information. No, I do not. I thought maybe there was something going on with chicken wings I wasn't made aware of now because there was an issue a couple of years ago. Yeah, we're chicken wings like shot up in price. And our local restaurant decided to save some money. And I they started serving wings the size of a quarter. Know that because I put one next to a quarter. No, it wasn't that much bigger. No, those wings were the tiniest thing. It's again, it's one of those rare instances that I requested they take my food back. Okay. They also have, which I think last year was one of our standout items. Oh, this was really good. Flying into the radar is their impossible Buffalo chicken tenders with ranch and celery, completely plant based, including the ranch. Yeah, that's also the 775. Really good. These are like childhood meets adulthood. It is it's the childhood chicken nuggets you remember, even though they're impossible with the Buffalo sauce. You know, maybe I'm sure you didn't need as a kid, maybe, but right, you know, your college and adult years as you sit around watching football on Sunday Buffalo wings. So new this year, but only a slight take in the change of some peppers from last year. Okay. Is there unnecessarily spicy yet extremely tasty Carolina Reaper pepper curry wings with creamy cucumber, right? Last year, these weren't that spicy to me to be calling them unnecessarily spicy. Yeah. Like if you're going to say it's that, have people running for the bathroom. Oh, not no to like get water. It's disgusting, Rhonda. Um, but that too, like these should be they should hurt. If you're going to call them that because that's the people that are looking for them. Like you don't go to the places, right? You don't go to Cluck you, which I think is around. Do you not? Did you not have those around here? Well, I lived in a college town. Are you cursing at me? No, I lived in a college town. It's called Cluck you. Okay. And they had a wing. I think it was the 911 wing, maybe their college town places. And you had it was one of the ones you had to sign a waiver. Nah. You 100% had to sign a waiver so they could not be held reliable for whatever. What would happen? So I never had that, but I went one night. It was late night. I think I was like worked late or something or overtime. And I went there and I grabbed this giant, this huge fried chicken sandwich. And I got it with spicy buffalo garlic and I got a side of fries and I went home sat in my bed watching TV and ate it. And then within an hour I was calling Michelle to see if she could potentially take me to the emergency room because I thought I was possibly having a heart attack. Oh my god. Are you serious? And this is when I learned that what heartburn was that I that I have acid reflux, but I never felt it. So I thought I was possibly having a heart attack. I didn't want to drive myself to the hospital. It was like 22 years old probably. You know, so she took me there to the hospital to the ER. And they finally take me in. And it's just this weight, you know, it just doesn't feel right. And they did EKGs and did all that stuff. I mean, it was actually a very attractive nurse. And you have to put the EKG stuff and I've, I very, I'm very hairy. It looks like I'm wearing a sweater vest when I go to the pool. And I was so embarrassed that she's trying to stick these things on me because they're not going to stick. It's like, if you like trying to put a sticker on a shad carpet, you know what I mean? So, so they're not like sticking right. And it's really hard for her to get a reading. And I'm just as embarrassed as can be until I would get more embarrassed when the doctor walked in and said, you have heartburn. And I was like, so I'm not having a heart attack. And it's like, not even close, dude. So I started prylo sec and never turned back. But that was how I learned I had heartburn at the age of 22. Thanks to Clucku, wings and stuff. So they also have, I believe you were talking about spice. Yeah. Well, I still had a very spicy one. But I just had never experienced that. I really thought I was having a heart attack. So I think you had these last year, the fried pickle spears with dill ranch for 575. They're good. Very good. They're good. You like them? Very good. I'd get them again. Back this year is for people that just don't like themselves, the pickle milkshake. It tastes more dilly instead of like a pickle. Now I didn't taste it this year, unless they added more like, like a vinegary pickle juice. I don't know what they could do. But it was more just dill to me, like almost like those pickles that you get in your grocery store that's in the refrigerated section. And we've gotten them from Costco before, and there's just a whole bunch. You got a rat in your pocket. I didn't pick those out. There's zero reason to have the pickles from Costco. Nobody should be eating that quantity of pickles. And their pickle spears. And they're, they just got a whole bunch of dill do like in there. It's literally floating within the liquid stuff. Yeah. You've seen them because- Oh no, I know what you're talking about. Okay. So anyway, it's with all that being said, it says it's a milkshake pickle, but it's very more dilly. So, but it was, I thought it was actually kind of good. Like it was weird at first, but then I was like, huh, and then I kind of kept drinking it a little bit. They do have here a really good non-alcoholic beverage is their frozen pomegranate and raspberry tea. This is twinning's pomegranate and raspberry herbal tea infused with orange ice cream molecules. If you are the alcoholic type, they do have some really interesting ones. And actually now that I see it on the menu, I didn't, I would like you to try this. We can get a six ounce for you. They have a three daughters brewing pickle hard seltzer. Oh, okay. So will you try that next Saturday? All right, we can do the six. I really almost wouldn't mind the flora with hibiscus and prickly pear one. Well, we can see what comes in their beer flight because they, yeah, they've got that and then they've got a elderberry serrano hard cider. Like they've also got a copper tail brewing smoked lager. Like this is the place for some inventive beverages and with some hops and stuff. So all right, move on to Canada. If you've heard of food and wine, you've heard of the Canadian booth, which has their cheddar cheese and bacon soup served with the pretzel roll for six bucks. One of those really good Disney dining plan purchases is the filet mignon with mushrooms, bores and garlic and fine herbs, mashed potatoes, and a bores and garlic and fine herbs butter for 975. Mmm. And it's so good. It's just a little taste of lacellia. It's fantastic. It really is. They also have a Cabernet 7 y'all, which they usually always do. I'm not sure if it's always the Chateau Discharms, but they've always had a Cabernet 7 y'all and it has always been good. And pairs so well. Yes, it does. Now, for us, we don't get this in August or September, because it's just so hot out and we know we'll be back. If you're going anytime soon, I don't care if it's 200 degrees outside and your hair is on fire. If you're not going to come back there, get both of these. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing. And it's that taste of lacellia. You know, maybe you're not going to sit down for that $99 person dining packet. Yeah. And honestly, you could still get two or three of these steaks and the soup. Just make it your dinner and you're getting a taste of lacellia for a fraction of the cost. So a little money saving tip from your host Jeremy Stein. All right, move into China. Now, they've got a pan-fried chicken dumplings with house made sweet and spicy sauce for $5.50. Crispy duck bowel bun with hoisin sauce for $8.25. That is very delicious. We had that in the past. Yes, it is. Love it. New this year that will be on our list this next trip because of the rain out is the Shanghai scallion noodles with shrimp for $8.50. We know you love some noodles. Yes. And some shrimp with that. I bet this will be outstanding. They've got a lot of inventive beverages here. I do. The baju punch is is always very, very delicious. Baju spirit, leechy syrup, sparkling water and a pina colada mix. That's $14.50. New this year is a non-alcoholic beverage, which I'll probably get when we go to get the noodles is a green tea mango and peach syrups in white boba. They've got the fiery dream, which is citrus vodka, triple sex liqueur, guava nectar, and spicy hot honey syrup. That sounds like something you would really, really enjoy. So you got almost three months though to try it out, right? And then they've got an orange mango cocktail with gold tequila, vodka, orange juice, and mayo syrup. Mango. Oh, sorry. Mango syrup. Mayo syrup. Oh, God. That would not be good. I'm shocked. It's not a thing. They're putting pickles and everything. What's next? Mayo. You get a Mayo hard seltzer? That sounds disgusting. All right. Talk about Google juice is cool. Google juice is supposed to be very, very good for you, but is it going to do anything for me when I'm hovered over a toilet throwing up after drinking it? Okay. It's there's no way around it. That's what would happen to me. Why don't you talk about coastal eats? We didn't stop this year. No, but Craig did. Craig did. We will be by this several times. We just had work to do. So we only hit new items. Right. And they are back this year with their roasted warm water lobster tail with garlic butter for $13 and this is a great place to use your snack credits and their jumbo shrimp cocktail with cocktail sauce for also $13. It's I'm shocked that those are those didn't fall out of the snack credit. Those are great spins. Oh, 100%. Oh, that lobster. It's got it's got a grilled half of a lemon. It's so good. Then you get that grill flavor when you squeeze it over. And I asked Craig too because it was really hot and it always does make me nervous with seafood around this time. But he said it was fantastic. It was great. Tasted, smelled. Everything was fantastic. They also do have a Boyden Blair pomegranate cobbler drink or cotter. Excuse me. Always want to say cobbler. Cotter drink for $12, which I've had in the past before too. Very, very good. Yeah. Nice and refreshing and it bears so well with these seafoods. Yes. All right. Let's move on to Earth Eats. Two new items this year. Actually, Earth Eats is not the one I was thinking of by Bramblewood and Milled in Mold. Earth Eats is over near the land. As you come out and you head towards the imagination pavilion, it's there on the right. Okay. One of the new items is the red. Red. That's when so country there for some. I almost said red wine. Red wine. Rass wine. Red wine brazed beef short rib with goat cheese polenta, pudonesque sauce, shaved pecorino and petite herbs. I we forgot to talk about going back to the bison. I'm meant to bring up because you once told me that at these festivals, if it's on the plate, you can eat it. And this had a little decoration on the plate in the way of some flowers and they've had edible flowers before that I've eaten. This looked a little bit more like we call it baby's breath. Isn't that the stuff you buy with like roses to do the filler? But you go through living with the land and it literally shows. I know all this edible flowers and stuff and you taught me that because it was off. It was off a food network that you're never supposed to really put anything on a plate that's not edible. Yeah. So there was. This was supposed to be edible because I didn't hear me ate it. I don't know what was wrong with you. Imagine what eating a flower tastes like. That's it. That was it like that you're not supposed to eat. It tasted like dirt and grass. It was it shouldn't have been on the plate. And the petite herbs got me thinking about that. So we did not get the lemon poppy seed cake with icing because we did get the red wine braised beef short rib. We had the exact same thoughts on the dishes a whole. First of all, this is a meal. This is a very large portion for eight fifty. This could be this could be a lunch for a person. Yes. And then you maybe pick up the poppy seed dessert and and you'd be full. Honestly, if you I feel like ate this yourself is a good piece of meat. No. Yes. Yes. It is. And I would like to get this again. But I would like to ask specifically if they cannot put the pudanesca sauce on there. I tasted it. And I do really like olives and and capers, but holy moly. It was so salty. Yeah. And just too much. It was like and like it was I felt like it was 50 50 ratio of strictly olives and capers and everything else. You know, like it was so many. It was just we've had pudanesca's we made it at home one time. And it's very, very good. And that saltiness first of all salt ads. We'll talk about that in the review episode about some last minute dinner plans. Salt adds such this just flavor bomb to most everything. But there's something about the way it pulls out flavors in a marinara or tomato sauce like this. And that's where a pudanesca can be really good. But yeah, they just loaded this thing. Yeah. I don't know if somebody, you know, you've seen like, you know, somebody unscrews the lid to like a seasoning and then the person goes to use they didn't the ghost did it in Haunted Mansion. Yeah. And the whole thing dumps out. I feel like somebody did that to the olives in the capers when they were making this sauce. Yeah. And they just left they turned it over and everything fell out because the lid was unscrewed and they just left it. That being said, how was the meat? Oh, it was fantastic. The polenta, the goat cheese blend was fantastic. Really, really good. The braze beef was fork tender. It was fantastic. Again, I would get this completely again. I just would like to ask because I like polenta. Yeah. I would probably say, can I not? Can you not put the pudanesca sauce in the same time? I want to get it again with the pudanesca and see if it's the same. You know, what I mean? You can. I'll get mine without you get yours. I get my info for testing purposes. And then literally you're going to want mine, but probably too bad. This was outstanding. So far, this is one of my favorite festival dishes. I'll say I will definitely put it up there. They also have a drink. Yeah, they got a blood orange, aqua, agua fresca that is non alcoholic for 475. This was good. I mean, it tastes yeah, it tastes like a blood orange soda, but it was refreshing. It was light. It wasn't over overly citrusy. It didn't like, you know, it can hit you in the back sometimes. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Didn't do that. So I did enjoy it. In 475, there's not a lot of options for non alcoholic flavored beverages throughout these festivals or just throughout in general. So it was nice to have this as an option. All right. Festival favorites. The booth is new. The foods are from previous festivals as a collection that have come together. This is right there attached to communicore hall, basically facing communicore plaza. They got a cabasa and potato parogis with caramelized onions and sour cream. That's $6. Then they got barbecued pork rinds served with pimento cheese for $5 and a key lime tart for 475. They also have, we just decided not to get it because this was the first booth we went to. And it was just early and hot, but they have a frozen s'mores, which is chocolate milkshake with marshmallow syrup, topped with mini marshmallows and a graham cracker. They got a non alcoholic for 475. And then I thought you could add alcohol to it. I think you can. It's not on the menu we're looking at, but they do have the same type of add on is when you do it at like a Joffrey. Yeah. So it'll just cost you a little bit extra, but you can add some. They also have an Irish milkshake, though. It's Guinness stout Bailey's original Irish cream liqueur and vanilla. That's delicious. It sounds amazing. You had that. You always be at the Ireland over by rosen crown is where was famous and you used to get it in the little plastic Guinness cup that you was like a keepsake little cup for me. For normal people would have thrown it in the garbage because it's pretty much what it was, but I like to keep things like that. What'd you think? Because we went ahead and got the barbecued pork rinds and pimento cheese because I had a floor. Fantastic. And this was our starter Yes. It was fantastic. We just need more pork rinds. There are five pork rinds. But it was so good. It's like a tub of pimento cheese. It's not a tub. It's a good. It's a good. I'd say it's a large ice cream scoop, right? Like if you think of an ice cream scoop size at a place, it was one of those. Yeah. But it's, I mean, in you, and it was sad with the pork rinds because five, you still had cheese to eat. So you can just eat it by itself with a spoon. It is good. It is a little on this tad bit spicy. You figured out it was the I feel like a cheese that was carrying the spice, not the seasoning of the pork rinds. Yes, because I was eating the pimento cheese by itself. And it was really good. So good. If I was a true local, I would go over there and get that and bring it home and make like a pimento cheese grilled sandwich or pimento cheese sandwich with some sort. It's, it's outstanding pimento cheese, something I knew nothing about till I came to the south, you know, and, and I don't like to see it being made. Yeah. Because it does contain items that I do not want in there, but I just let that go. It is so, so good. And the key line part was so good. This is just, this is Florida. And I mean, this is why it's at the festival favorites. Yeah. I think they did a really good pick here. Yeah. Because then you're great for half of us, and is there chauffeur for some other beers, and Cabernet Sauvignon, a Chardonnay, I think, you know, just your favorites. They have such a bevy of alcoholic beverages. So it's a really good spot for that. And then, yeah, I mean, it's a good way to start, especially with those pork rinds, yeah, just to grab those and sit and watch the Encanto show. Yeah, you know, so I just will look Saturday. We went back the next day just to try and watch an order come out to see if it was the same kind of pork rinds, but nobody was ordering it. It was funny. So we will try and go back, though. And even if we don't order it, we'll try and get some eyeballs on it and see if they've up the pork rind. Because when they did this in the past, they came, the pork rinds came in a small paper lunch bag, looking dang, and there are a lot more of them. Yeah. Like, I remember the ratio being pretty dang good of pork rind to cheese. All right, flavors of America. I was not happy that they went to a full hot dog menu. And then they've got a freshly baked chocolate pudding cake with bourbon caramel that is new this year for $5. We will be getting that when we go back. Yeah, we did not get that this time, but got a good selection of some American beers that are all new. A farm fresh ale conditioned wildflower honey actually sounds pretty dang good. Actually does. So here's what they got for the hot dogs, right? You've got a New York style all beef hot dog with sauerkraut onion, tomato sauce and spicy mustard and a brioche bun that is 675. They've got a Chicago style dog, tomato, dill pickle, pickled sport pepper, diced onions, yellow mustard and Chicago green relish and a poppy seed bun. That is 675. Also at 675, you got a Carolina style all beef hot dog with chili, coleslaw and yellow mustard. That's an a brioche bun. And then finally, a little bit more expensive because it's got more toppings. $7.25. You got a Southwest style all beef hot dog wrapped in bacon with warm pinto beans, tomatoes, jalapenos, avocado, crema, and queso fresco in a French role. The only one that are our team are a team of assembled fooditions was the Chicago style all beef hot dog. Based on what we're going to tell you about the other dogs, if you like Chicago style hot dogs, you're probably going to be very safe getting this. Yes, 100%. I did not understand why they chose to only have hot dogs on the menu. I am now 100% okay with it. So you're going to get another one another time? Yeah, I'll start with the one that I specifically had because all of the toppings are things I'll eat. I didn't want to get anything else and have to take stuff away. So I went ahead with that Southwest style hot dog. First of all, it is I was talking to someone with a little inside knowledge. They're not Nathan's hot dogs. They're the hot dogs that are available around property. But to me, it tastes like a Nathan's hot dog. It is wrapped in bacon and like fried to be cooked. And it is so good just like that. It's very messy. Grab a fork with this one. It's going to be all over the place, but everything about it is perfect. You taste the hot dog, you taste the bacon, the combination of all the different toppings from the beans to the crema and the cheese and all the French roll. I mean, it tastes as fresh as though you think they're almost baking it in the booth, which they're not. So my guess is they're baking them in Epcot right there on property and like getting them to them. These things are delicious. I just, I love this as much. I loved the lobster rolls in the past. And those are the ones I would get time and time again when I just wanted something there. And I could see me going back to this thing again and again. Yeah. That was so good. Yeah. Scott ordered the Carolina style dog, which he enjoyed very much. Yes, he did. Do you end up trying that one or not? No, I thought you did. No, because it's got the mustard on it. That's right. Yeah. So I just didn't bother. Did I try it? I don't know. I don't know if you did or not. But I know that he enjoyed it. Yes, he did. And then you went and then I went with the New York style, which is the hot dog with sauerkraut onion, tomato sauce, and then a spicy mustard and a brioche bun. And that was fantastic. The brioche bun, like Jeremy said, is so nice and soft. I love the sauerkraut tomato jam actually worked well and it was really good. And it is a full hot dog. It's not like a half. I forgot to mention that. Yeah, they're full size hot dogs. I thought they're going to be hot dog sliders. I kind of thought so too. Which needs to be a thing. So with that being said, I ended up eating quite a bit of mine. So yeah, we didn't taste any other. Good job. I mean, really, and I do like that they did take something like a hot dog now that I think about it that is very American, but then they took it to different regions in America, which is really, really cool. So kudos, American pavilion. My bad for question. All right, flavors of fire. We have had in the past the steakhouse blended burger. This is beef and wild mushroom slider with truffle, brie cheese, fondue, arugula, and a truffle potato chips on a sesame seed bun for 625. We've always enjoyed this. Flavors of fire has always done a really good job with everything they have. Yep. They also have a smoked corn beef with house made potato chips, cheese curds, pickled onions and a beer cheese fondue for 650. This is the fan favorite here. This is what you see almost everybody walk away with. Okay. And we really liked it last year. A lot. Oh, yeah, that's right. We sat there with Chuck and Amy and ate it. Yeah, that's right. This is when I went and got these and brought them over while you guys were all eating the fries and we sat at that table near the cool zone. Yep. And this is one of the things we had. And we all just loved it. Yes, we did. Very, very good. New this year is the Impossible Montreal style burger slider. It's got cheddar cheese, tomato jam on a sesame seed bun. Of course that's plant base for six dollars. Thoughts on this little little cute little give us cute cute little plant base burger. All the things that all the flavors. Thank you. All the flavors together. And everything was really actually good. Slider was really good, but it's just crumbly. Yeah. And kind of falls apart. So just make sure you have a. There's another four point. Yeah, you think this is going to be a handheld. It's not. We have another very specific one coming up. Yes. You think is a handheld and you definitely want to fork. I agree. All the flavors were perfect. It's really good. The way that it falls apart. But I love this. This is another one that I would easily get again when I'm just like, I just want to know something that I know I like. Yeah. And this would be it. They still have the swine brine with Jim Bean bourbon apple cinnamon cider lemon juice and a Dijon mustard for 1150. So you drank that. I don't think it has a Dijon mustard in the past because it used to have the pork wing in it. It's got something else in it now, but it still does come with a piece of meat in it. Okay. So but I enjoyed it in the past, even if it had the Dijon, I have enjoyed it in the past. And it's just one of those things like, you can't really get that a lot of places. Yeah. So you might as well try it here, right? Oh, of course. All right. Next up new this year. This is the one I was thinking of on that little track is the forest and field. They got an autumn chili with bison, lamb, pork belly, root vegetables, jalapeno cornbread, smoked cheddar and crème fresh. That's 725. We got the pumpkin mascarpone ravioli with sage brown butter, pecorino cheese, and hazelnut praline for 525. And then they do have a burrata with seasonal fall fruit, spice pecans, apple puree, and a fig vinaigrette for 550. You were so looking forward to this pumpkin ravioli. So that's the one that we got and what did you think of it? Because we have the same opinion on this one as well. Yeah, I was sad. There's only three pieces raviolis, I guess. So this is where I was kind of excited. And I was thinking we should have gotten to glad we didn't glad we shared and didn't waste our money. I would like to go back here though, when we get the autumn chili and get it the pumpkin ravioli again, because I think it has potential. And I'm not even sure if they put the brown sage brown butter sauce on it. It was very dry. It was pretty much just ravioli with the pumpkin filling. Yeah, and it was just very plain. But the hazelnut praline on top was really good. Super good. And what we had, the flavors together, it wasn't awful. I think it just... It was missing that sauce. It was something. Yeah, it was missing that sauce. But as it was prepared that we got it, it was very good. It just wasn't what we were expecting. Yeah. New this year sounds very interesting. Somebody let me know how it is, is the all-hallows treat chocolate peanut butter imperial stout. Yeah, that sounds pretty interesting. All right, we did not stop by France for any food. We will have to get some new stuff, but honestly, I just don't think we were feeling it like what's on the menu because you've got your egg mulex goat cheese and caramelized onions, which is new for 795. It's like this little tart. Then you have the escargot brioche with garlic and parsley cream. It's new this year. It looks like they're taking the old one that I really loved and that kind of not-so-good croissant one and almost made a different version. So it's like a stuffed brioche. But from the photos that I've seen of it, it seems like the filling has a lot more butter and garlic to it. So I would be interested in trying that. They've got the braced short ribs and cabernet with roasted potatoes for 795, which is always outstanding. This is so good. Like if you like the flavor of red wine and the cabernet, this is the most perfect red wine sauce with this beef. And then they've got creme brulee, mango passion creme brulee with fruit, compote. Pretty sure we had that last year. We had that last year and it was very good. So we will look at getting either that egg dish, that kind of tart or try the escargot. Would you try a bite of the escargot one? I'd try a bite. Just like I did the croissant one. All right. So you did get a beverage here? I did because it's new. Yes. And it is- You're doing the work. Cocktail au jin. And then there's more and there's more words. I don't know. That's how you say it. So this is a rose strawberry gin with cranberry juice and dolwet pineapple juice for $13.95. And you watch them. Now that I'm going to say when you talk about it, because you have the most perfect explanation in the world. And I can't take- Because I am no longer- Well, tell us that, but since I am no longer drinking alcohol, but I want to know how these things taste, you nailed it that I can picture it. I know exactly what this beverage tastes like. And I didn't nail it. I completely have to shout out and give my friend Michelle Atwood at the main street mouse all the credit, because she is the one who actually set it. Okay. And when we tasted it, because we both got it, which I'm kind of sad for her because I think she would have preferred the frozen French Cosmo, which is vodka, Gregus, Citron vodka, Gran Monier, and cranberry juice for $14.95. It's so good. It's always good. It's always there. It's always great. I'm sure she probably got one at some point. But like I said, we tried the new one. We watched them take the strawberry, the gin, and it's beautiful in this bottle. And it looked like a double shot because it was the bigger jigger, I guess you call it, and then pour it in. And then they poured this juice on top. Cranberry juice, and then the pineapple juice kind of turns it to this brownish color. I didn't even see it. It's not very pretty, whereas in the past, there has been some pretty drinks, right? Oh, yeah. Usually you're putting this out from here. The French Cosmo is a red drink, and it's very beautiful. This one was not. But so basically, let's everybody, I'm going to take you back to when you were a child, and you went to eat lunch, and you opened your lunchbox, and you had a dull fruit cup. And in syrup, right? Yeah. You ate your dull fruit, and then you would drink the syrup. Everybody did it. Every kid did it. If the kid didn't do it and you were home, the parents pretty much drink it. I know I did. I drank many of those. That is exactly what it tastes like. That's so funny. It's good. Right. It's not bad. It's, it's like a adult fruit cup. Adult fruit cup. Perfect. There you go. Perfect description. Like it just paints such a perfect picture thing. Yeah. Move on to the fry basket, which is over there near test track in the cool zone. They have adobo yuca fries with a garlic cilantro aioli that is plant-based for $5.75, or you can get the fry flight. Now you get the fry flight. It's all three of these. They don't sell these individually. For $8, that is truffle Parmesan fries, barbecue bacon fries with smoked aioli, and then sweet potato casserole fries with candied pecans, toasted marshmallow cream, and bourbon maple syrup. All of these are delicious as yuca fries are outstanding. Yuca fries are the best. Best in my opinion. 100% agree. Love them. Yeah. The truffle Parm fries are fine, and I think the barbecue bacon fries are fine. That sweet potato casserole fries are like dessert. It is. It's dessert fries, and it's super good. Super good. Thanksgiving. Yeah. That's exactly what it will remind you of is Thanksgiving and fry form. Yep. So they do have a Borden Blair grapefruit mule there for $12, and then new this year they have a collective arts brewing mango irita sour with chili. That sounds very interesting. You can get the six or the 12. The grapefruit mule if I remember was good. Okay. We had that in the past. I believe so. Yeah. I mean, mules are good. Yeah. So grapefruit just got to be fine. I don't believe it was too tart. A lot of them. Yeah, that could be. All right. Move on to Germany. They've got a pasta gratin with ham, onions and cheese for $5.25. You got bratwurst on a pretzel roll with mustard for $6.25. Apple struell with vanilla sauce for $4.75. All these are good. The bratwurst on a pretzel roll. You can get without the mustard. That's how I would do it. This is what we've always said. Really good. I didn't see it this year, but normally it's like a six to seven inch bratwurst, skinny bratwurst in like a three to four inch pretzel bun, which was always kind of interesting, but it's a thick pretzel bun. So but it is, it is very, very good there. All right. Let's move on to Greece. They have the spanna copata $5 and they have an impossible moussaka for $5.50. So we did that last year. They have the griddle cheese with pistachios and honey for $5. We've done that. Yep. And the lamb euro with shaved lettuce, tomato cucumber relish and taziki on warm flatbread for $6.75. All right. So obviously you love the lamb euro. I think our whole family has in the past, right? Yes. Very good. It's perfect. Yes. There's just no notes on that one. The grilled cheese with pistachios and honey, I would say for us has been hit or miss. We've had a couple of times in the past. I agree. I agree. It was like weirdly good and some and then I don't know. And a lot of it to me, and I'm somebody who likes burnt cheese. Yes, you are. But not me. I remember the one year we had this. It was it was like a thicker piece and it wasn't completely like just melted and like, and the problem with talking to you with what happened last year when we did it, is it seemed like it was melted to a much further point. And then if you don't eat it almost immediately, it starts to harden a bit. So it was just kind of, but the flavors are outstanding. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just I would get it in there and then I would try and sit and eat. Yeah. You know, because it's in a little tangerine cafe. And then we love we really enjoyed the Musaka last year. It's almost like Greek shepherds pie. You know, meat, veggies, like a potato topping, mashed potatoes, having very good in the span of kopita is pretty much always good. Wherever you get that from places I feel like. All righty. Let's move on to Hawaii. They have a slow roasted pork slider with sweet and sour dol pineapple chutney and spicy mayo for six. I will say, this is one of the best items at food and wine. Yeah, it has been year after year. It's been there for a long time and there's a reason. Yeah, it's outstanding. It's almost like Canada. Yeah. And this is one of those, you know, you get into some of these and they're just, they're very inventive. They're very this and that. If you think just classic, like tell me about a country, give me a sample because you're at a carnival or a fair. That's what they give you here. They give you that potato soup at Canada. Like it's just perfect. Right. They've got new this year, a Hawaiian rice bowl that says spam, eggs, eelsauce, spicy mayo. And for a cocky, that's the 625. They have had a spam bowl in the past with potatoes and all that we really enjoyed. It was like a ham hash almost. And we actually really liked it. Only time we've ever eaten spam was in this dish. So I'm excited to try this one. And then we've got a passion fruit cheesecake with toasted macadamia nuts for five bucks. And we've always enjoyed this in the past as well. They do have new this year, a Maui Brewing Company orange mango guava, hazy IPA. They also have the Alani, which Alani Sunrise, which is vodka, dole whip, juice and grenadine for 14. And that was just really good. That's a that's a brunch drink. Yeah, it was really out just sitting by the beach and breakfast. Okay, over in India, they have a potato and pea samosa with coriander lime cream. This is plant based for 550. And they have a chicken tikka masala with fennel spiced yogurt and non bread for 625. So good. It's very, very good. I actually don't know that we've done the samosa before. I don't think we have. I just think we just don't want the the pee. We just we're not big fans on peace. Right. All righty. You can get a mango lassi there, which is like their signature beverage in India. And that's $5 or you can get one with a chai cream liqueur for 1150. So if you ever want to try one of those, they're very refreshing. Also have them over it like sana and stuff, good animal kingdom lunch. All right. It is the moment that everybody's been everybody's been waiting for. We could we could save it to the end, but it's probably better that it's kind of smack dab in the middle here. Yeah, we are talking about Italy. Yep. If you know the show, if you know us, we only go back to Italy for y'all. We get every dish when we go. They're always new. And well, let's get into it. All right, they got a Italian style nachos. And that is in quotation marks for a reason. This is homemade beef reggae pasta chips, tomato sauce, dried ricotta cheese for 925. They've got a pulpitine Toscani. This is beef meatballs, rosemary, focaccia, and a Pomodoro sauce for 850. Then they got a vanilla cheesecake, this vanilla cheesecake whipped cream and fresh strawberry sauce for 775. We'll end on that one. Yeah. So we end on a positive note, those nachos were 925. They were 925. Where do you want to start? Do you want to start with the nachos? Do you want to start? You want to start there? Yep. First off, because at least the second thing is a little better than the first thing. It's it's it's self. And then the third thing is. So first off, it comes in your standard cardboard food, both that you get at the festivals, but not just one, no, two of them, because it's so greasy that it will soak entirely through the first one and start to go into the second one. You ever you ever wear an undershirt? And you're like, this is going to protect sweat from my regular shirt that I'm wearing, but it just breaks that right on the pit gets a little wet right all the way through the undershirt regular shirt. That's what it was doing with these, right? Let me paint you a picture. This is a glob. It's the only way to say it, because glob sounds gross of beef ragu in the middle. A teeny bit of what they're claiming is this dried ricotta cheese, right? Yes, I would agree with that too. And then around the edge are the fried pasta chips, which are fried wontons. Really? I mean, pretty much fried wontons. I mean, a one time they're those wontons weren't even as good as that though. They weren't because there was zero seasoning on them. Was it a fried like? Do you think it was a fried? What am I trying to say? Like a lasagna little? So you just chop up a lasagna? We will find out because we are trying to make this at home sometime. Right. So there was probably three, six, seven, eight total, because three on the sides, that's the longer and one on each side. Yeah. And then this little sprinkling of this dried ricotta cheat, like, and to be fair, Rhonda and I tried it. And I know we always talk trash about Italy. We feel it's usually well deserved. Not only do we try it, we had three, four, five other folks with us possibly that all tried it and pretty much all had the same opinions. So you know how they say one and every like one out of five, like it or whatever, one out of our group kind of liked it. Yeah. And I was like, we didn't know. No, we did not. Yeah, like I didn't even want to swallow it. It was that. Yeah, it did. No, it's not that bad. It's sad because it is just a fried piece of pasta that actually like I'd prefer over at Yakin Yeti that fried one ton chip. If that was it, it would probably make this a little heck of a lot better. But then the meat itself, I think it needed some more cheese. I do not believe it was homemade by any means. And if it was, I mean, it's homemade with beef that they got and then they just pour canned sauce in and then that's it. I mean, they needed and like Jeremy does, like there's a lot of times sometimes he'll use a ground and I think this is amazing. He won't use a beef he'll maybe use like ground chicken or ground and or something that's healthier. But the way he puts stuff seasoning like balsamic something in it, I sometimes don't know that it's chicken. I think it's beef. So he I think they I think if it really truly is air quote unquote homemade, they could have done so much better. I'm sad that it is a dish that is just sad. I mean, I heard I heard on opening day, they sold out of this by seven o'clock. So and again, you know, we we've seen it looked exciting. Yeah, I think no, I'm glad that they're I'm glad they're trying to get inventive, but it's just it's not working. Surf pizza here. Just surf pizza here. Just do that and do a couple different takes on it and just let it be like in the consistency, first of all, the consistency of the ragu look like Taco Bell meat. And I would say this was like if Taco Bell made Italian food, but that would be offensive to Taco Bell. Taco Bell is a heck of a lot better than this stuff. All right, let's move on to the the beef meatballs, the focaccia and the pomodora sauce. So sad looking to picture here, right? You have a white plate, right? Like you think of it as dessert size plate, because this is a sample plate or whatever, a festival plate. You have a nice big piece of focaccia in the middle, which was very good. Yes, caution was outstanding. Yes, it was a little cup catch up looking cup size thing you would use, you know, a pomodora, pomodora sauce. And then you've got like, I don't know, maybe four or five meatball, just meatballs, nothing, nothing, there's no sauce with them, no seasoning on them. And I can guarantee you, we have them in our freezer right now. And that's not just being rude. It's not being mean. We have them. You put them in your microwave and defrost them for two minutes and then zap them on high for a minute. Add some sauce and you got yourself a quick lunch. I do that. But that's what they are serving here. And then the sauce just tasted like a can of crushed tomatoes. Yes, it did. Which all you got to do is put some seasoning and it is amazing. It's vibrant. It pops. But when it's just simply unsalted, crushed tomatoes is what I think they put in there. And I think it's I don't think it needed to be separate like that. No, there was absolutely zero reason to have it separate from each other. I think if it would have been like the meatballs on the plate, the pomodora, pomodora sauce drizzled over top of it. And then the then maybe a sprinkling on John and then Parmesan, of course. And then some bread like that. Even if the bread's soaking up the sauce a little bit, it's it's it was fantastic. The bread was fantastic. It really was good. The meatballs itself was just plain. The pomodora sauce was very plain to just some seasoning would have like or just have a little salt and pepper. Like, you know, I can get napkins and forks. And if you could get a little salt and pepper, maybe we should pack our own. That's what I was thinking seriously because I bet I bet you could. I bet you put a little salt on it and it would have probably took it to another level seriously. With all that being said, if I had to pick, I was like, Oh, what am I going to spend my money on? I would pick the meatballs because it was a little better than. Yeah, like, I mean, it's still playing. Yeah, if you had to pick one, you picked that one. Absolutely, because the bread was fantastic. But I even think with what they have on hand, if you took that piece of focaccia and you cut it in half, and then you put some of that sauce on it, maybe you put a little Italian seasoning and some salt, you then cut those meatballs, laid that on top, put some mozzarella on top and throw it under the broiler for real quick to melt that cheese. You'd have this like focaccia pizza, homemade focaccia rustic pizza. That would be better than what this was. And that's what the stuff that they already have in just a little bit of seasoning. So don't just now the cheesecake, the cheesecake was good. Cheesecake was fantastic. From anywhere which was good. But that's what John said. Yeah, it was super creamy though. Said it's like from Costco and it's just which I didn't know that but it was fantastic. It is literally just creamy and whipped like to me and it was just really good. Yeah, loved it. Yeah. Well, it's good that we follow up because we're going to go from the most disgusting dish to the most disgusting looking dish. We're going down to Japan that they have two new items. They do have their teriyaki chicken bun for 795 that we've always enjoyed in the past. Oh, that's very good. Think what a teriyaki chicken bun tastes like. That's so good. That's it. It's perfect. So good. New this year are these handheld sushis. So one is the Wagyu Tamaki which is a handheld sushi with sweet and savory American Wagyu beef topped with Takana Japanese pickles and spicy mayo sauce for 950. They also have an eel tamaki sushi. This is the handheld sushi with grilled eel, egg crumbles, cucumber and pickled daikon radish served with eel sauce that is also 950. We opted for the Wagyu Tamaki sushi. Paint us a picture. Well, I guess the best picture would be like if you took the seaweed and like it's like a taco. So on both of the sushis. So it's just this nice, I guess, harder seaweed that's standing up basically. If it gets wet, it does tend to flop over. Yeah. Unfortunately, trying to find cover. This was another time it started to rain a little bit and the seaweed got wet and it just it just turns like a wet paper towel. Pretty much. But this also when I was holding it was warm, which I never think of sushi as warm. Like everything, even the rice and everything. Yeah, the meat. I was dying laughing before we even turned on live before we did anything because Jeremy's face was over here like disgusted like he's like looking like he's not even going to take a bite. And I was very tempted not to laughing because he's just like and it's warm. And I'm I'm just laughing and it's raining. I was waiting for this to be one of the worst dishes I've ever had. Yeah, we were underneath where you come out of the China shop, correct? We were going to get to stand by the horses, but there's a bunch of people there. So we went in there. This was actually shockingly really good. You 100% need a fork. You do. It's not really handheld. I did try to pick it up. And the seaweed itself is really good. It's just harder. Like, it's I don't know. It's hard to get your teeth through. It's hard to bite into. But you had to pull a little bit, you know, to get it. But it was really good. And all the flavors worked together. And Jeremy had me taste it because of these Japanese pickles and wasn't sure. And I'm like, I got no like pickle flavor from it at all. So and he was thinking it was probably going to be like the ones that are from is it Tepanito? The Japanese cute. They actually call them Japanese cucumbers. They don't get. They don't cross that pickle line. Right. That is not always greener on the other side. Sometimes it's a pickle. So anyways, I got no pickle taste. So I said, all right, Jeremy, you taste it. And he was still kind of scared. I thought it was funny when yeah, I mean, it is not. And even Amy was like, that is not attractive. No, it looks so gross. But it was really good. It looks so, so gross. But the flavors were all there. And again, think of this, I almost feel like this should be a festival of the arts. And you call it a deconstructed sushi roll. Or call it a sushi bowl. You know what I mean? But the flavors were all there. And when you get past the initial shock of it looks disgusting, and that, wait, the rice and the this wagyu beef is is warm. And this is ground wagyu beef, and it's got a sauce with it. I don't think it's wagyu by any means. I think it's just ground beef. But that's fine. Because it does have good flavor. And everything here really works. I would just grab a fork and I would just go at it with that and go ahead and enjoy it. Yeah. So I was pleasantly surprised. But it is not winning a beauty contest. No, like if if dead, if Ryan Reynolds, instead of Deadpool and Wolverine, if they had not had dog Deadpool, they had had sushi Deadpool, and they're like, we want to find the ugliest sushi dish. The way they found the ugliest dog, this would have won. Okay. But then it has a heart of gold. All right. Well, yes, that's right. We did get the, I'm sorry. I was just like, I got to get past thinking about what it looked like. They do have a kiyoho drink. This is Calpico with fragrant, fragrant mellow, black grape. This is non-alcoholic for seven. Or you can get the cocktail, which has a Japanese, Japanese vermouth and shochu in it for eight seventy five, which because these are frozen, this is actually dining plan snack credit, the alcoholic one. Then I'd get it. Yeah, I would do that. That's actually a really good spin. I don't know. I didn't take, we didn't taste that one. But we had the non-alcoholic one. I really liked it. But. Can I, let me start? Yeah. Let me start. I had it. I took a sip and I really liked it to me. You said it wasn't. It tasted like a melted grape popsicle. Or, you know, when, you know, the, the push up pop ones, what do you call those things? The frozen pops you always put and you have to rip the top off, but then the plastic will cut this. No, push up pop is like the ice cream sherbet version. Everybody knows what I'm talking about. They come, they're all connected and you rip them off of each other. Like that's what it tasted like. Just slightly melted delicious. I'm loving this drink. And Rhonda has a sip. And then I tell them what I think and, which you started with, you started with the same thing and said, this is good. It tastes like, you know, grape and like melted grape popsicle and. And I realized it wasn't laundry detergent. It was the bounce like sheets, dryer sheets. Dryer sheets. You know, when you get like, yeah, it's just, I don't know. It almost, I can't, I can't explain it. And, but it was really good. And I would get it again. It was just funny because I did. As soon as you said it, my brain could taste a dryer sheet. Instead of, no, you're right about dryer sheet. You said laundry detergent. And that, but it's that same. But the smell you get when doing laundry is the taste that it has. Yes. And it was an aftertaste. Yeah. And it wasn't bad, but it wasn't pleasant when you associated it with something that cleans your laundry. But I would get it again. I would too. Even with the laundry detergent, even with the bounce, I'd bounce on over and I'd get that sucker again. All right, let's move to Mac and Tisers. This is new. And this has all Mac and Cheese. So it's got a base mac and cheese for $5.50 with herb panko. Or you can get a cheese steak macaroni and cheese. That includes shaped beef, peppers and onions, and then bread crumbs for $6.50. There's a truffle macaroni and cheese for $6.50. And then finally, there's an impossible chili macaroni and cheese with sour cream and cheddar, of course, that's plant-based for $6.50 as well. We went ahead and decided to do the cheese steak macaroni and cheese. One, we knew that it was based on the traditional mac and cheese. So now we've tried the traditional mac and cheese because you can get a bite without the stuff. Ron is not big on chili. So I'll save the impossible chili one for another time. And I will do the truffle. And you'll try the truffle the next time. So we went ahead with the cheesecake, cheesesteak. What do you think of Mac and Tisers in this dish? This was fantastic. The macaroni and cheese was cooked al dente. The cheese was really good sauce in it. The shaved beef was really nicely, thinly shaved and perfect for this bowl. Onions and peppers, bread crumbs. This was fantastic. I would totally get again. And to be honest, I would probably get any of these. If I just wanted, like, the next time we're there and I'm like, I just need some subsidence or something. I'd probably completely come back and just get the traditional too. It was really, really good. I was very impressed. Yeah, it's those big corkscrew noodles. So they hold on to everything a lot. And yet what I was really nice to see is that was legit shaved beef that you would expect in a steak sandwich or a cheesesteak if you went to a restaurant. They didn't just try and like throw steakums or something, you know, on a griddle and sprinkle some of that on top, right? I'm like, I'm like, if they did, it was... Steakums are still delicious. Steakums are good. If they really did, they did something that was fantastic because it was great. It was all the flavors of a cheesesteak, mac and cheese. Like, I loved it. Yeah, you're right. I would go back with this for sure. They have a very, very extensive beer and wine list here. Yes, they do. They have three different beers, also available as the flight, starting with a crooked can brewing company, Vinifera Velvet Lager. They have a southern tier brewing company, raspberry shine summer wheat ale. Then, just to rub it in, they took one of my favorite beers of all time and possibly made it better. They have a Lexington brewing and distilling company, Kentucky pumpkin bourbon barrel ale. Yeah. So they used to make a winner. First of all, the regular Kentucky bourbon barrel ale is delicious. It's just super good. They used to make during the holidays of vanilla bourbon, Kentucky barrel ale and first used to get it at festivals and then I would buy, we used to do a Christmas party every year. Remember when we would do our Christmas party solar friends and I would buy a six pack of that every year and that's what I would have at our Christmas party. Yeah. And it's just like, it's one of those that just evokes memories thinking that. Yeah. So they have that there and then they've got a list of wines. Yeah, two wine flights and you got everything from chardonnays and rosés, you got cabs, seven on blanks. There's another rosé on there and then a camis 50th anniversary cabernet seven y'all which is $20 for one glass of that or you can get it included in the flight for $14. So if you want to taste a bit lower, you could you want to try what a $20 wine would taste like in that instance. Rhonda's tried to mark Mark, Mark, Mark will serve you a double line and you won't even be like, can you want a doubles 40 bucks? Yep. No, Marco will give you give you a double double thing of wine. But all right, let's move on and forget that Italy ever happened right over there like let's that food as far as I'm concerned now doesn't exist because we went to my favorite booth. Mexico and they have three new things as well. Yes. And we got all three. We did. So they have the tostadade Camaron, tempura battered shrimp atop a fried corn tortilla with guacamole, cabbage, chipotle aioli, diced mango and chili lime powder, 775. They've got a flauta de barbacoa. This is fried tortillas filled with barbacoa beef topped with salsa verde, crema mexicana and queso fresco, that is $8. And then finally they have the pan de elote. This is traditional Mexican corn bread topped with chocolate sauce and queso fresco for $6. They do have two new margaritas this year, as they always do. One is a mango sunrise margarita. And then the other one is a poblano margarita. Yes. And we did not. Yeah, you'll probably try at some point maybe because you do like jalapeno margaritas. I do at some point you try this over the next two months, but there's whiskey in it. Oh, that's right. That one does have the whiskey in it. Well, we'll see what you think. I think we're going to get chucked to try that one. We'll get chucked to try that one. Okay, well, let's talk about the food because we did get all three items. We did. And it started to rain again. And we went into the Odyssey, found a little trash can and hung out there and ate all three of these items. Tip, if it is starting to rain and you want to get your food safely from the booth to a covered area, what should you ask for when they give you your food? They will ask, you can ask for an extra plate so you can cover it and they will allow that and do that. If you're me, you run through the rain, you don't cover it properly and that top plate just flies off onto the ground, but normal people will protect it. But it is, but it really is a good tip. And I understand and think of it any other time, like you could have, we could have done that at the Japan booth. They would have given us another cardboard boat. We could have flipped on top. These were plates and they were like, do they were even saying, I think, do you want an extra plate? For to the lady in front of us, maybe. But let's talk about the food. Yeah, the food was fantastic. I love flautas. So I really wanted this and holy moly, this was fantastic. The tortilla was fried. I felt like perfectly. And the beef was really good. The crema mexicana was just the whole thing. I really like this one the best. Just because I love flautas. But that tostada was fantastic too. The tostada to me was more, how do you say, basically, like refreshing and summery. Yes, it was. Where as the flauta, I feel like you could get in a little warmer month, but it was still fantastic in cooler month. Yeah, like fall or winter dish. And then this was a very spring summer ditch. I love both of these savory dishes so much. The flauta was like too, it was elegant flauta. You know, like when we go to some of like your local Mexican place, usually get them, they're much more tightly rolled. They're much more deep fried. This to me have a very light fry on it, but it made it just crispy enough. And all the flavors, it was just a perfect bite. Yeah, I think that the tostada is one of my favorite dishes I've had at Mexico. Three big lightly fried shrimp on top. Everything else that went with it matched perfectly. Yep. You just picked it up. You got a little messy, picked it up, just bit into it. And I loved it. You were like, I kind of want to finish the flauta. And I was like, cool, I can have the rest of this. I'll go back and get both of those just for myself sometime. 100%. What do you think of the pandae elote, which is very new take? We've never had a Mexican dish like this, but it sure was familiar, right? Well, it's so funny because it says traditional Mexican cornbread. I wonder, like, we don't even know what traditional Mexican cornbread is. I do not. Like, if you probably looked it up, I wonder if it is almost like, we felt like it was between almost the type of like a like a bread pudding and a flan type situation. So I wonder if traditional Mexican cornbread has like some type of almost like a poke cake. That's what this tastes like as a poke. Yep. Yeah. When you ever read, it's like, what the heck is a cake? You poke holes in a cake and drizzle, like, what would it be? Some sort of liquid, syrupy, creamy, whatever, over top and it soaks into the cake. And that's exactly what it tasted like. Yep. It had a bit of a flavor of flan, but then it had that consistency of like a poke cake. You just nailed it. Yep. What we can come up with. It was very good. And the chocolate sauce and the queso fresco on top. It was weird because when you first take a bite, again, not knowing what traditional stuff is like, I took a bite and I was like, okay, this is different, but I kind of like it. And then I'm kind of like, I want another bite. Yeah. I want another bite. I would get this again as well. It was fantastic. I would too. I really, really did enjoy it. All right. New right there next to Bramblewood bites is milled in mold. They've got freshly baked carrot cake with walnuts and cream cheese icing. That actually is the one that's coming from the American adventure, I believe, that used to be over there because they've always had that year after year because new this year, they have a Borsen fig and balsamic cheesecake with fig jam and pomegranate. This is 525 or you can get a paren almond frangipine paté bresé for 525. We went with the Borsen fig and balsamic cheesecake. This was actually, I will say, and this is how they intended it. I'm sure I didn't mean it that way. This was a perfect pairing and dessert with the bison that was right next door. Don't you think now that you really think about it? They were really good pairing with that huckleberry jam that it had and then when you look at this kind of like balsamic, how did you like this? This was really good and it really just to me tasted like a fig newton. Yeah. Cheesecake, cheesecake. Yeah. It was really good. I agree. So it's just different though. Like you don't expect to get the flavors you're going to get from it. As a cheesecake, it's composed very, very well. Yes. And then you get the fig and there's a slight touch. I'm sure balsamic, it doesn't stand out. No, but I know that it's enhancing the flavors in there. Really good. Really, really loved this. Noodle exchange. We've eaten all of these. We have liked all of these. We were just not slurping down some hot, brothy noodle soups when it was 110 degrees outside. They've got a ramen with shaved beef. It's got mushrooms, carrots, daikon radish, shaved spicy peppers and a soy egg. I love those soy eggs so much. In citrus sesame broth, this is $6. You get a Thai shrimp with rice noodles, mushrooms and basil and a coconut curry broth. This was really good. That's my favorite out of them, right? For $6.75. Then they've got a ramen with tofu, mushrooms, pickled carrots, radish, peppers, baby bok choy, and citrus sesame broth, plant-based for $5.75. We can recommend all of them, but I agree that that shrimp noodle one. So, so good. Refresh for an outpost. New this year, they do have an impossible spicy sausage with puree puree peppers and onions and a puree puree aioli for $6.50. They have a curry chicken in South African sausage stew with chickpeas and potatoes served in a bread bowl for $5.75. Then also new is a chocolate armarilla mousse dome with white chocolate for $6.25. The photos make it look exactly like a zebra dome over at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Nice. No, you're the only one who pointed it out. Remember when you saw it in the book? Is that white dome with a chocolate drizzle? We did not try any of these yet, but I did have someone that said the curry chicken one was stew was really, really good. And now when I think over to the African outpost, remember that peanut stew thing that we had? I can't remember if that was that might have been arts or maybe it was flowering garden then. Blue our minds. We were shocked it was that good. So I want to try that. Sounds very interesting. New this year is a keel farms, blackberry, apricot, jam, hard cider. All right. The refreshment port, which is hosted by Borsen cheese. They have a braised beef poutine. French fries with braised beef. Borsen garlic and fine herbs, cheese sauce, cheese curds, and a gherkin relish for $10, or traditional poutine with beef gravy and cheese curds for $750. We had that last year. We did. We're never overly in love with any of the poutines. Probably our favorite one is the Thanksgiving one. But other than that, they're just not really doing it enough. Also, when we recreate, remind me how I want to recreate the nachos from Italy. I had some really good ideas. By the way, I forgot to bring out the beverages. They do have a boyden Blair pumpkin spice meal. You got to do that. I feel bad. No, do it. I'll just live vicariously through you. You just have to describe the taste to me. All right. Shimmering sips. This is where you the shimmering sips is where you get the yes, because remember, we forgot to mention a meals from Ajman Paj. I'm so excited to get the dessert. There's like a dozen different dishes that contain cheese of some sort. You get any five of them. Make sure you ask them to stamp your book, because they don't always remember to ask you. When you get the five of them, you get a free blueberry. Cheese cake soft serve. Blueberry cheesecake soft serve. Holy moly. When the one cast member was telling us, the other one jumped in and was like, it's so good. And I was like, Oh, man, we'll be getting that Saturday because we didn't complete it because I forgot a book. Why forgot to get a stamp with the pimento cheese. And you also forgot the book. Yeah, I do that a lot. All right. So they do have a guava cake with whipped cream and coconut. Then they've got some different mimosas, including a mimosa flight. Also throughout these, because it's sponsored by cork sickle, there's a couple places like this. You can actually get a cork sickle, stemless flute that you keep, obviously, for 24 bucks. So they do that a lot. We bought some of those types of things. Spain, where we got absolutely rained on has two new items. So we did not get the in line. We're in those Spanish charcuterie. I wanted that Spanish charcuterie because it's got the homon, which I love, manchego cheese, which I love, and that pan con tamate, which I absolutely love for 650. They also have a new paella. So all that squid ink that be our guest has that they're using for Halloween. They're putting it over here with the squid ink rice with shrimp, base scallops and octopus served with garlic, a ollie that you're going to get. I'll give that a shot. Yep. The octopus frightens me a little bit about a festival situation. All right, let's move on to swirled showcase, which we did not stop at this trip. But trust me, we will. Yes. They have a new liquid nitrogen frozen sweet potato mousse with candy pecans and maple caramel glaze sauce for 525. Some early reviews that came to me where this wasn't that great and not as good as the other cheesecake, nitro cheesecake that we had in the past. What are their soft serve flavors? They're soft serve or swirl, right? Yes. And it is vanilla cinnamon apple or salted caramel. We are going to get cinnamon apple and salted caramel swirled together in a waffle cone the next time we go. I'm excited for that. For non-alcoholic, you can get some different floats, including Coke, a barks cream soda or a fancy grape with your choice of those soft serves. A barks cream soda with salted caramel sounds super delicious. They also have a frozen apple pie, which is apple pie filling, apple cinnamon gelato, cinnamon apple cider that is topped with streusel that is non-alcoholic. We've had that before. It's very, very good. It's a frozen liquid apple pie. It really is. All the flavors right there for ice cream and everything. Tangerine cafe that has grilled kebabs with carrot chickpea salad and garlic aioli for 625. You can either pick between the tromilo chicken or the Moroccan spiced lamb. We've only done the lamb. It is amazing. Really good. Lacey, when we would go, would request this every time. It's been there for a while. And she was like nine or 10 at that time. Yeah. It's so good. 14. Yeah. They also have a fried falafel pita with tomato cucumber relish and tahini for 550. That is very good. Mm-hmm. We love the stone-baked Moroccan bread with assorted chips, plant-based for five dollars. Just again, pay out a packet. Don't waste a dining snack credit on that. Yeah. Get it. They're they're wood-firing that that Moroccan bread right in front of you. Yep. So good. And then we actually really like their pistachio cake with cinnamon pastry cream and candied walnuts. They have a blackberry pearl hard cider there. They also have this is the one I would get if you're going there and you want to try a specific one because it's tamarind, which is very Moroccan flavored, mint hard cider. I bet that would be interesting. That sounds very good. Actually. All right. We're closing out blocking Hans as a frozen pineapple chipotle lemonade for 525. I almost got it. And then we were walking by that past the African outpost and Greg had mentioned he loves when they do the pineapple with tahini. Oh, yeah. So when I saw this, I was like, well, that sounds similar. I said something to him later. He's like, that would probably like fill that void. So it sounds very interesting. Yeah. I don't know if it's good or not. You can get it spirited with vodka too. Yes, you sure can. That'll be $15. So almost a $10 up charge on that one. What type of funnel cake do they have in the funnel cake stand in the American adventure that we will be getting. I just, unfortunately, and I asked if we were going to get one, but we could have eaten it at, but we were going to eat more at the American winter waiting. Yeah, we would have if we had known that we're going to get rained out from the fray. We would have gotten this and eaten it in a half hour that we sat there before it got rained out. But we didn't because we thought after the show, we were going to go get a bunch more food. So that's why we didn't get it. But this is a Teramisu funnel cake with vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate rum sauce cream cheese whipped cream and dusted with cocoa and espresso powder for $12. I don't think there's any way that can not be good. I know. And we've yet to have a funnel cake that we didn't like, right? I mean, we've liked everything we've done here. Of course, you're going to have all kinds of different beverages at the Jaffries carts. American Adventure is going to have your coconut banana cream pie latte. All these can be spirited, if you would like, or alcohol or nonalcoholic. Yep. Your Disney traders is a PB and J latte. Yes. That I want this one of our crew when we were in our like crew who basically I felt like had this and she said she really, really liked it. And it was fantastic. I want to do this one. Canada's got a hazelnut mocha latte. Mission space is doing a coconut mocha latte. Then over in connections, a cafe and eatery. They do have some special food and wine items, including a Korean barbecue chicken sandwich with pickled cucumbers on a brioche bun. Then they have this blackberry capra saka, which we did do last year. This is Tito's vodka, Minute Maid lemonade, strawberries, blackberry syrup, and frozen mint syrup for 15. It's refreshing. It's a good beverage. What does sunshine seasons have, Rhonda? I have to pronounce it slowly because if I say it fast, I butcher it. Yeah. I get tongue tied because we went ahead and got it. We sure did. And this was amazing. I think it was one of my favorites. This is a caramel apple milkshake. This is artisanal gelato paté. Paté bresé. Whip cream, candy apple cake, and caramel drizzle for $10.99. This is non-alcoholic. This milkshake is not only fantastic, but on top, it literally has pie crust. It's a shortcut pastry. I didn't know what that meant. The paté bresé is a shortcut pastry. That's what that pie crust is. Yes. That's the name of it. It's so good. Then the candy apple cake, that is a red velvet cake pop. I didn't personally like it. It doesn't add. It doesn't take away because it's literally just a cake pop. It's like it's own separate thing. They can sell that thing for $4.25 on it. 100%. 100%. So cute. Look, just like an apple. If it wouldn't have been the very first day, I probably would have tried to save it for Lacey. But Jeremy also ate it because he loves red velvet. What did you think of that? I don't like cake pops because if I'm eating cake, I like it to be that soft moist cake, but cake pops are baked and then they're crumbled up and then they're mushed together usually with additional icing. They're dense. I thought the flavors were fine. It tasted like just a run-of-the-mill boxed red velvet cake. You literally went by the ingredients and it probably takes water as one of them, and not supposed to maybe whatever. Zuzhin it up a little. Is that a word? Zuzhin? Zuzhin? I don't know. Zuzhin? So again, I just don't like cake pops. The rest of this thing was just- This is outstanding. I mean, I would- Gluttonous. I would get it again. I would get it again, actually. It was fantastic. Share it with friends. Yeah, because Jeremy and I shared it and didn't even eat at all. Yeah, we could only get halfway through it. And then unfortunately, she got one. Yeah, it was like, I'm getting one. She's like, well, I'll get one because she wanted to kind of just, I think, break down all the flavors as well for her reviews. Right. It was so good, though. It was one of my favorite things we had. Mine too. It really, really was. So it makes me super excited for the soft serve, which is the- The caramel apple. Yeah, and then the salted caramel. The salted caramel. Yup. Cinnamon apple. Or whatever. That's- That sounds really cool. Because this was fantastic, I'm super excited to try that. Yeah. And then, of course, the last thing it looks like on our list is at the UK beer cart. They actually have a strawberry basil cocktail with their strawberry gin. Again, Saint Germain elderflower liqueur, ginger ale, and then a strawberry and basil syrup for 17. That does sound really good and refreshing, actually. Yeah. You know, I could- You can actually get elder flour. They make a syrup, obviously, that's not the liqueur. Correct. And then, I have that ritual zero proof gin. This is something I'd like to try and concoct it. I mean, strawberry and basil and then the ginger beer. That sounds super- Well, you actually might have all this ginger ale. We might have all that stuff. But, okay, that's it. This was a lengthy one. Yeah. You're going to see why we're not including anything else from that trip. Oh, yeah. We're going to include all- You don't want a four-hour episode. No, you don't. But next episode is the 700th Main Street Magic episode that we recorded in and around the parks, all four parks from some fun areas, some fun things. We kind of just turned the mics on- Even at Disney Springs. Even at Disney Springs. We kind of just turned the mics on and had fun with some different questions and walked around parks. So you'll get that. Then the one after that will be the rest of this trip, which included, for example, dinner at Terrellina Crafted Italian for our first time. We had dinner again at Summer House. Which is at Disney Springs? At Disney Springs. We had Summer House. We had the peanut butter and jelly croissant I had. So we had a lot of great other stuff that's coming up for that one. And then, yeah, if you want that, and as well as Journey Into Imagination series, this month in September, we'll be with Ashley Craft, the unofficial Disney cookbook author. She's got a new holidays book that is coming out. I believe today, when this episode airs, I believe it is. Order it, get it. Yeah, go on Amazon. We've got her copy. Kaitlyn couldn't wait to get her hands on it and start flipping through it. So you can go get that on Amazon. Of course, if you are ready to plan that next trip to Disney Universal, anywhere, you can go with our preferred travel partner, M.E.I. Travel. Go to manestimagic.com/travel and you can get a no fee quote. Yes, please do. All right. I guess we're wrapping this one up. We're going to be back very soon. Out on the internet, you're doing everything. You're subscribing. You're getting brand new episodes. We would be so very thankful if you could please leave us a rating and review. Because it helps our show grow. That's all we've got. We'll see you real soon. Jeremy and Rhonda are more than a little pond of Disney World. So they made this podcast to share it all with you. Reports and rezords. Top 10 lists of all sorts. Main street magic's bringing it home. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Jeremy and Rhonda review the 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, talking tips and tricks, merchandise, activities, entertainment, including the Eat to the Beat Concert Series, and of course all of the food booths
