Although Mike and I have been to Walt Disney World many times, our November trip included many "firsts" for us -- a true indication of how much there is to do at Disney's amazing 47-square-mile resort! This was our first visit during the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival and the Festival of the Masters at Downtown Disney; our first stay at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort; and our first time trying the Magic Your Way Vacation Package with the Dining Plan add-on.

Not surprisingly, we had a wonderful time. We also learned a lot!

We each wrote a report on our experiences. Mine is below. Mike's is here.

Mary's Report

Disney's Grand Floridian

The Grand Floridian is certainly the most upscale of Disney's Florida resorts. The hotel is indeed "grand," without being particularly pretentious or stuffy. The Victorian theming has always struck me as pretty and pleasant, but overall quite similar to Boardwalk Inn, Beach Club and Yacht Club, all of which are quite a bit less expensive. For that reason I had only visited the Grand Floridian a few times to try out the restaurants and take a look around at the public areas and a few of the guest rooms. I now realize you have to stay at the Grand Floridian to get a real feel for the place.

The resort is large, but the six buildings are set around the main pool and marina in such a way that nothing feels too far-flung. In the main building are located the "Main Lodge" concierge rooms and suites, which are the most expensive and naturally also the most convenient, since they are closest to the restaurants, shops, front desk and Monorail. There are also concierge rooms in the Sugar Loaf building, which is directly behind the main building. These rooms cost a bit less than the "Main Lodge" rooms, partly because they are a tiny bit further from the action and partly because the Sugar Loaf concierge food offerings are not as extensive as they are in the Main Lodge concierge lounge.

Four other buildings house the standard "Garden View" and "Lagoon View" rooms, which do not include access to a concierge lounge. We booked a Garden View room, which is the least expensive option. When we arrived at the Sago Cay building (a short walk from the back of the main building), we were surprised to discover that we had been assigned a Lagoon View room. The upgrade wasn't mentioned when we checked in. Our balcony overlooked the marina and the Seven Seas Lagoon. We could see the top of Space Mountain and the Magic Kingdom fireworks across the lagoon.

The rooms at the Grand Floridian are quite large and some things are "upgraded" a bit when compared with Disney's other Deluxe resorts. For instance, guest rooms have minibars instead of empty refrigerators. (This may or may not strike you as an improvement, particularly if you have small children in tow.) The bathrooms have marble tile instead of ceramic, and special Victorian-style toiletry packaging instead of the standard Mickey soap. The beds have pillow-top mattresses, but the linens are ordinary. Overall the room quality is similar to what you'd find at a Westin or one of the better big-city Hiltons, but with very attractive theming. It's not quite up to the decadent standard set by true 5-star luxury hotels such as Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons, but it is very nice and comfortable.

Other advantages of the Grand Floridian include Monorail service to Magic Kingdom and Epcot, a multitude of dining and drinking options (six restaurants, a tearoom, three lounges and two pool bars) and lovely shops selling merchandise like Bally, Tommy Bahama and Polo. There are two pools, one of which offers a slide and elaborate waterfalls. The hotel's location right on the Seven Seas Lagoon allows for quick access to many water sports, and we saw quite a few of the resort's guests enjoying the fishing, water-skiing and boating that are offered. Near the hotel and accessible via a walkway along the shore is the Grand Floridian Spa, offering a wide variety of services such as massages and pedicures. The Fairy Tale Wedding Pavilion is beyond the spa along the same walkway.

The Grand Floridian has an impressive lobby and there is frequently a pianist performing in the lobby, which adds to the elegant ambiance. We were also fortunate enough to be staying at the hotel at exactly the time of year when the Christmas decorations go up. On Thursday night around 11:00 pm we noticed the shop windows in the lobby were being changed out. I speculated that they must be putting in the holiday displays, and sure enough, the next morning they were sparkling with decorated holiday greenery. On Friday night we returned from dinner and found a squad of Cast Members near the entrance of the main building, unpacking an enormous load of decorations. By morning the main lobby was sporting swags and wreaths everywhere, and the outer buildings had small Christmas trees in their lobbies. Seeing the transformation was a lot of fun, and it was especially entertaining to witness the astonishment of small children on Saturday morning, seeing the "magical" changes that had taken place overnight.

It does seem that Disney recruits the "best of the best" Cast Members to work at its flagship hotel. Everyone we encountered, from the front desk to the valet parking attendants, was extremely helpful and oustandingly friendly. We've certainly had service of that quality at the other Disney hotels, but it can be a bit inconsistent. On that basis alone, we'll be returning to the "Grand" in the future, I'm sure.

Epcot International Food and Wine Festival

When it comes to the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, let me start by saying "yum." The Festival was a delicious experience. If you love to eat, and particularly if you enjoy trying new foods, you need to schedule a trip to the next Food and Wine Festival right now. If you enjoy tasting wines and/or beers, you definitely don't want to miss out on the Festival.

Mike will be writing a complete report but I'll give you a short overview. The Food and Wine Festival can be enjoyed on many levels. The primary thing you don't want to miss, in my opinion, is the "walk around the World" to visit the tasting booths scattered throughout World Showcase. This year there were more than 20 booths representing foods from countries all over the world, from India to New Zealand, South Africa to Chile, Singapore to Poland. A few additional booths presented regional specialties from the US, including Florida shrimp. There was also a "Great Beers of the World" booth and one devoted to Champagne and other sparkling wine.

Each booth offers appetizer-sized portions of two or three food items (generally two "savory" choices and one dessert), plus three or four wines and beers from the region. Prices range from about $1.25 to $4.25 per "taste," with the desserts tending to be on the lower end and most other items costing $2.50 and up. I would say the average price for food items is around $3. Beer samples were usually available in two sizes (6 oz and 12 oz) and wine tastings were generally 2 oz. Prices for the beverages ranged from $2 to $7, with the average price around $3.

We chose to skip breakfast and enter World Showcase right when it opened at 11:00 am, with the idea that we would do lots of tastings in lieu of lunch. This worked out very well. The weather was pleasant and the crowds remained relatively light until about 1:00, even though it was the final Saturday, probably the busiest day of the entire Festival. By late afternoon, you could hardly move due to the crowds and it was a bit hot outside to be drinking much wine, in my opinion. Ideally you would visit the booths over the course of two or even three days, because there are over 65 food items to try. We managed to eat 14 "tastes" and a half-dozen beverages between the two of us, before deciding we were just too full to continue.

Access to the booths is included in the price of Epcot admission, though obviously you have to pay for the foods and beverages you select. In addition, there are dozens of complimentary culinary demonstrations, as well as wine and beer seminars, offered throughout the festival. All of the events are listed in a program you can pick up at the gates. If you get a chance, try to pick up a program early and plan out your strategy, because there is a lot to do.

In addition to the food and beverage booths and the various free demonstrations, you can also participate in relatively inexpensive experiences such as the "Aussie Walkabout," which allow you to taste wines from different regions of the same country for a nominal charge (in the case of the Aussie tasting, we paid $7 to taste 5 wines).

For those who really want to immerse themselves in the Food & Wine experience, Disney offers special classes and parties that cost extra and must be booked well in advance. Typically these separately ticketed events go on sale in late summer and range in price from $35 for a "Food & Wine Pairing" lasting about one and a half hours, to multi-course gourmet "Signature Dinners" at $145 per person. We attended three of the special events to get an idea of what's offered.

On our first day we tried a "Lunch and Learn" session. For $75 per person, you are treated to a three-course lunch with three wines, accompanied by a cooking class conducted by well-known chefs. The courses are served as the chefs demonstrate how to prepare the dishes you are eating. In addition, a winemaker or winery representative discusses the wines that have been paired with the meal. This all takes place in the Odyssey Chef's Showplace, which has a demonstration kitchen and video screens for easy viewing. Attendance is restricted to a certain number of participants (I think it was around 50), making it a fairly intimate experience.

We attended the "Lunch and Learn" session conducted by Ben and Karen Barker of Magnolia Grill in Durham, North Carolina, with wines from Silver Oak in Napa Valley. The presentations were excellent and very entertaining. The food and wine were outstanding and very well-paired. Just 4 or 5 participants are seated along one side of each round table, making it easy to view the demonstration. Even the service was excellent, which is always impressive in a banquet-style setting. We thoroughly enjoyed this experience and would certainly try it again.

We also attended a $35 per person "Food & Wine Pairing" at Coral Reef restaurant, which was a huge disappointment. The attendees were seated along one wall of the restaurant while the general public was dining right alongside. The restaurant noise was deafening and the layout was awkward, making it hard for the winemaker to communicate with the group. He finally gave up and wandered from table to table taking questions. The chef also made a brief visit to each table, asking if we liked the food. We didn't. It was not well matched with the wine and just wasn't very good, in our opinion and the opinion of our tablemates.

Disney does not announce what the actual offerings will be for the Food & Wine Pairings offered at Coral Reef or Le Cellier, so with those presentations you are pretty much buying a "pig in a poke." We were told at the time of booking that the food and wine would be "themed to the restaurant where they are presented." Naturally we assumed we'd be having seafood and probably white wines at Coral Reef. Instead we were served three vintages of Etude Pinot Noir (two of which are no longer available for purchase, having sold out due to the current Pinot Noir craze) and a heavy mini-meal of overly spicy cheese grits with very fatty veal cheeks, tough lamb with mint and berries, and a warm chocolate cake that had some unidentified but odd-tasting white liquid center. It might have been white chocolate or coconut goo -- we couldn't identify it, the menu didn't say, and the chef was nowhere to be found by then, so we couldn't ask him. Overall, the menu wasn't well-suited to a 3:00 pm tasting on a hot day.

Some of the Food and Wine Pairings do have a bit more focus -- the pairings held at Mitsukoshi Teppanyaki Dining Room are focused on sake, sushi and sashimi, while those at Bistro de Paris include French wines, charcuterie and cheeses. Next time we'll try one of those, instead of the "grab bag" approach. If the food and wine are to your liking and the presentations are better than the one we experienced, the Food & Wine Pairings could be a relative bargain, since you do have the opportunity to interact informally with a chef and a winemaker.

On our final evening we attended "Party for the Senses," a $95 per person extravaganza offered each weekend during the Festival. This party includes unlimited tastings of about 30 outstanding dishes prepared by chefs from Disney and other leading restaurants around the world. There are also endless tastings of dozens of fine wines and some beers. An especially enjoyable aspect of the event is that the chefs are present at the serving stations, fussing over the preparation of their dishes, and when they aren't too busy you can chat with them. Likewise the wines and beers are served by representatives from the producers, so you can learn more about them. (Oddly enough, Disney doesn't really play up this aspect of the party, which we think is a shame.)

There is entertainment during the party, consisting of very loud electronic music performed by a roving band and intermittent performances by Cirque du Soleil, which immediately attract a huge crowd. If you don't hustle over to the stage you really can't see the Cirque performances. Another issue is that there is not enough seating to accommodate everyone -- in fact, I would say only about 50% of the crowd can sit at any one time. When you enter the party you are provided with a nice wine glass etched with the Food & Wine logo (which you get to take home) and a plate with a slot in it for your glass, which makes it possible to eat standing up. However, I find that kind of balancing act to be awkward and tiring.

It seems there are two ways of handling the logistics at Party for the Senses. You can plan on standing for two and a half hours, making the rounds of the tasting stations and perhaps grabbing a spot at a random table from time to time. Clearly this is what Disney intends for you to do. What we did (and we saw many others doing likewise) is to nab a place at a table and then have one person hold down the table while the other "forages" and brings back two plates or two glasses to taste. Mike and I took turns doing the "foraging" and managed to try almost everything that was offered, but needless to say we didn't have much time for conversation with each other... not that we could have heard it over the music anyway.

One side note: there is a "business casual" dress code for this event, which was completely ignored by some. We saw people wearing everything from shorts worn with beer t-shirts and gimme caps, right up to cocktail dresses and nice suits. This didn't bother us, but I think it's fair to say that you should not expect a consistent level of elegance at this event.

If you love "grazing" on outstanding food and drink, a loud cocktail party type of atmosphere, and table-hopping, you'll love Party for the Senses. Overall I found the atmosphere too noisy and crowded for my taste, so frankly I was torn about whether I would attend again. (Mike was more positive about the experience overall.) The food was surprisingly innovative. For example, a surprise "best of show" in my mind was the "Chilled Cantaloupe Cappucino with Lobster Salad" presented by Einav Gefen of ICE, New York. The wines were excellent. However, I couldn't help thinking that for $100 a head we could have had a lovely and intimate dinner at a fine restaurant. It all comes down to what you find more enjoyable.

Needless to say, you won't want to drive after attending many of the Food & Wine Festival events. We used Disney transportation and on one occasion got a cab back to our hotel. Next time we'll stay at one of the Epcot resorts so that we can just stagger back to our room!

Festival of the Masters

Festival of the Masters was an unexpected delight. This art show is held one weekend in mid-November each year at Downtown Disney's West Side and offers a chance to interact with dozens of artists showing their work, including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, blown glass, ceramics, woodworking and jewelry. Festival of the Masters is a juried show put together by Disney, which obviously has very high standards, so the work is top-notch, with artists coming from all over the US. A folk art show is sponsored by House of Blues and we saw some spectacular work in that area.

We had a wonderful time wandering around Festival of the Masters. We bought a couple of beautiful items and collected information from several artists whose work we want to follow. If you are interested in art or high-level craftsmanship at all, I highly recommend Festival of the Masters. There is no charge for admission and it's a great way to spend a few hours. Be sure to pick up a program at the information booth.

Magic Your Way Package with Dining Plan

We had never before purchased a Walt Disney World vacation package. For one thing, vacation packages always include a hotel stay and admission tickets, which we normally don't need because we buy Annual Passes. However, recently Disney has been offering some very tempting deals on packages, and we've been wanting to try the Dining Plan, which is only available as an add-on to a Magic Your Way vacation package.

It is possible to buy a vacation package that includes only a one-day ticket per person, which is what we did. Mike's last Annual Pass had expired, so he used the two admissions included with our package, borrowing my room key one day to use up the one-day ticket that was encoded on it. I used my Annual Pass for admission as usual. Probably this is not what Disney intends, but it can be done very easily and it's one way for Annual Passholders to take advantage of special package discounts and/or purchase the Dining Plan.

(If everyone in your party has Annual Passes and you want to buy a vacation package, just add one-day tickets as we did, but don't use them. The tickets will be encoded onto your room keys. Save the room keys until it is time to buy the next Annual Pass. At that time, buy a new Annual Pass and have the value of the one-day tickets credited toward the new pass.)

I had some misgivings about trying the Dining Plan on this particular trip, since this was only a 3-night/4-day vacation and we had prebooked three Food and Wine events, plus we had a previously scheduled dinner off-site. However, it worked out fine. As it turned out, we well exceeded the $210 we paid for the dining add-on to our package, even though we didn't use up all of our meal credits. We had three unused counter-service meal credits left over, but the cash value of the meals and snacks we consumed was still over $255.

Here's how the Dining Plan works. The add-on costs $35 per night per adult and $10 per night per child ages 3-9. (Prices will rise slightly in 2006, to $37.99 and $10.99). For each night you stay, you get one table-service meal credit, one counter-service meal credit and one snack credit. The credits are "pooled" and can be used by anyone in your party, at any time during your vacation from the time you check in, until midnight on the day you check out. You can use the credits in any order, so for instance if you want to use all of your snack credits in one day, you can do that. In addition, there is a fair amount of flexibility in how you use the credits, as I'll explain further on.

I actually decided to add the Dining Plan to our package after I learned it was possible to use the snack credits at the Food & Wine tasting booths around Epcot's World Showcase. Since plenty of items at the booths cost $3 or more, using snack credits for them is a great value. (The normal "snacks" allowed by the meal plan -- items like bottled soda, popcorn or ice cream -- are priced around $2.00 to $2.50.) Mike and I stayed 3 nights, so we had 6 snack credits (3 nights x 2 people) to be used anytime we wanted. We walked around World Showcase sampling the goodies and using our snack credits as payment for the most expensive items we selected. We got about $21 worth of food items for our 6 credits and paid cash for a few items that were only $2 or less. (We also paid cash for the wine and beer we tasted, since dining credits cannot be used for alcohol.)

We also planned to eat two table-service meals during our long weekend, including one at Citrico's, a restaurant in the Grand Floridian that we hadn't previously tried. Citrico's is a "Signature" restaurant and a meal there requires 2 table-service credits per person instead of the usual single credit, so this meal alone used 4 of our 6 table-service credits. However, it's worth it. The Meditarranean-inspired food was outstanding and the view of the fireworks from our window table was excellent. Our meal for two, including tax and tip, would normally have cost over $120, and we did not even select the most expensive items.

My intention had been to use our counter-service meal credits for breakfast each morning. As it turned out, we really only had enough appetite to do this one time, at Gasparilla Grill in the Grand Floridian. The food was mediocre, but if we'd paid cash, it would have cost over $22.50 for the two of us.

One afternoon we returned to the hotel in the afternoon and wanted a couple of soft drinks. We had used up our snack credits but had a bunch of counter-service credits left. I grabbed two soft drinks and two Mickey rice krispy treats (which we carried home in our luggage) and asked the Gasparilla Grill cashier if we could use counter-service credits for them. Each counter-service credit normally entitles you to an entree, side dish, dessert and soft drink, so I figured we would just skip the entree and side dish. No problem. In fact, she only charged me one counter-service credit, which was really pretty fair since the snacks I selected would have cost around $10.

Similarly, I've been told you can use table-service credits for counter-service meals. In general it seems that a "downgrade" is fine. As long as the dollar value is the same or less, most Cast Members are willing to be a bit flexible about how your credits are used. You just can't "upgrade" -- for instance, you can't use a counter-service credit at a table-service restaurant, or a snack credit for a counter-service meal.

On our final day at Walt Disney World, we spent the morning checking out Festival of the Masters at Downtown Disney. When we were ready for lunch, we decided to try Wolfgang Puck Cafe, another "first" for us. Naturally it was very busy due to the Festival, and we didn't have a reservation. However, it turns out the bar serves the full menu, so we sat at the counter and enjoyed outstanding food and service. Since our remaining table-service credits included an appetizer, entree and dessert per person, we really pigged out, ordering anything that took our fancy. We couldn't begin to finish all of the food we ordered, but it was fun to try a lot of different things on the menu, since we'd never eaten there before. (The sushi was outstanding and the creme brulee sampler was especially delicious.) If we had paid cash, our bill would have been almost $83, plus alcoholic beverages.

Clearly the value we received from the Dining Plan was good. We ordered whatever we wanted and didn't worry about price, which was a lot of fun. I think we ate more adventurously because we didn't worry about ordering something we didn't like and paying a lot of money for a bad choice. So much for the "pros" of the meal plan. Now for the "cons." The biggest issue is that the meal plan tends to dictate your choices. For instance, because we had counter-service credits remaining, we ate breakfast at Gasparilla Grill. It wasn't very good and we would have preferred a sit-down meal in a nice restaurant, but we felt we needed to use up those credits. To feel you're getting your money's worth, you may order more food than you really want. If you take full advantage of the plan, you get a LOT of food at each meal -- far more than most people can manage. If you are really big eaters, or you don't mind sharing meals or leaving a lot on your plate, then this isn't a problem.

If you are an Annual Passholder and generally prefer table-service dining, your best bet is to purchase a Disney Dining Experience (DDE) card. For $50 per year, this card entitles you to 20% off food and beverage (including alcohol) for your entire party of up to 9 persons at almost all table-service restaurants at Walt Disney World, most of the Moderate and Deluxe resort lounges, and a few of the counter-service locations in areas that don't have a lot of table-service offerings, such as Animal Kingdom Park and the Value resorts. We have a DDE card and we did use it on this trip to cut the cost of alcoholic beverages at Citrico's and Wolfgang Puck, since those weren't included on the Dining Plan. If we hadn't been on the Dining Plan we would have used the DDE for the food portion of those meals, too. That would have saved us around $40 if we'd ordered exactly the same meals -- but we definitely wouldn't have ordered as much food if we had been paying cash.

Basically you need to evaluate whether the Dining Plan fits your personal style. If you prefer to eat a table-service meal (or Character meal) and a counter-service meal every day, you can certainly at least break even on the cost, and you'll have the pleasure of ordering whatever your little heart desires, without looking at the price. If you are like us and prefer to "graze" and/or eat table-service meals instead of counter-service, the Dining Plan may not fit your needs so well.

MouseSavers.com® is not an official site of The Walt Disney Company or of Universal Studios. Content of MouseSavers.com is © MouseSavers, Inc. 2001-2010. Website content may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of MouseSavers, Inc. Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions of Use - Marketing Disclosure