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. Mike's is below. Mine is here.

Mike's Report: Grazing Around the World

So here we are approaching the end of the year. And quite an exciting year it's been. We moved from California to Colorado, where the temperature has been known to drop below the point where water remains a liquid - what a mind blower! And where the air has neither a color nor a taste, which seems almost unnatural.

We did the westbound Panama Canal cruise on the Disney Magic in May and survived the melees for pins with all of our limbs intact. We put the money down on a DVC membership in October. And I managed to convince Mary to spend yet another year with me (I believe that my chicken and sausage gumbo is the secret of our happy marriage).

So with the holidays fast approaching and hordes of in-laws on the march, I expected to spend that last couple of months getting the house in order and decorating. Alas - or Hurray, as the case may be - Mary had other plans. She planned a three day trip to Orlando to check out the Food and Wine Festival, which we had never participated in before. She also booked us into the Grand Floridian, which we also hadn't tried before.

It was a tough decision - 3 days sampling comestibles and alcoholic beverages from around the world while staying in a first class resort, versus shoveling snow and hanging lights on the outside the house. After I looked in the box that contained the lights and noted the tangles I had left them in from last time, I enthusiastically endorsed the Food and Wine Festival idea.

So Orlando in November - excellent! The weather was quite nice, cool at night and warm during the day, and the humidity was laying low. This might become one of my favorite times to visit Orlando - we'll see how our upcoming January trip stacks up.

After the fact I realized that I should have tried another session with Magical Express to see how it performed now, almost a year after rollout. Unfortunately I didn't think of it till too late to sign up for it. I promise that I will try and check it out again in January and file a report then.

Anyhow, Orlando weather in November - nice. Grand Floridian - quite nice. Previously we had just visited and checked out a couple of the restaurants. I always found the resort, which we had typically visited during the summer months, a little too bright and hot due to the separation of the buildings and the lack of shade trees. This visit changed my mind completely. I still don't think I would like to stay here during the warmer months but during the winter I think the Grand Floridian really comes into its own - at least for me.

Mary has given a pretty decent rundown on the resort itself so I won't do much but add a couple of comments. The minibars were, I think, a nice touch considering how spread out the resort is. If you stay in a building that is farthest from the main building, where the majority of the facilities are located, having the option for getting a quick beer or soda without having to walk all the way back to the main building is nice.

One complaint I did have with the resort is the incredible number of gas powered carts in use by the staff. Gasparillas is the fast food court restaurant of the resort and it has a number of tables located outside, overlooking a marina. It could be a wonderful place to enjoy a quick breakfast or a late night snack. However there is a concrete pathway right through the center of the seating area that is constantly traversed by staff with gas powered golf carts towing racks and bins.

The noise, especially for those carts whose mufflers are defective, was astounding. If I had one recommendation for the resort management it would be to replace all the carts with battery powered ones and restrict use of them to off hours if at all possible.

We had dinner in Citrico's the first night. We had never actually dined there before so it was a new experience. Citrico's is the second-highest-end restaurant in the resort, with Victoria and Albert's at the top of the range. We had previously dined at V&A's and enjoyed it immensely. So we looked forward to Citrico's with anticipation.

I had one not-so-minor quibble with the restaurant. We arrived for our meal at exactly the time we had reserved. We were told there would be a small delay and if we liked we could wait in the bar. There were probably three or four other groups sitting in the foyer also waiting for a table.

Fine, it's understandable that they may be busy and therefore we weren't too unhappy with going to the bar. Except from the bar we could see at least a half dozen tables unoccupied… and they stayed unoccupied while we waited for 30 minutes.

I don't normally have much of a problem with restaurants trying to jack up the tab somewhat by having people wait at the bar for a short time. But those restaurants are usually a little more subtle about concealing that they have open tables. And since we were the only people in the bar, with everyone else waiting in the foyer, this strategy was obviously not working.

We experienced the same situation during a previous visit to V&A's - for the very first seating of the night - so there was no excuse about not having a table available. This is intensely irritating to me and really detracts from the experience.

With all the griping out of the way, I will go into commendation mode. Citrico's is a wonderful restaurant. The food, especially the seafood, was prepared perfectly. I would recommend any of the seafood dishes highly.

The service is efficient, though a little strange. We encountered a total of 5 separate servers and bus persons who brought dishes, took orders, refilled water glasses, etc. I'm going to assume that tips are put into a common pool.

We were fortunate to be seated at the windows overlooking the lagoon and much to our surprise we had a superb view of the fireworks. I can't remember this location being mentioned before as a place to watch the fireworks, but in my mind it actually was better than California Grill because we didn't have a couple of dozen people rushing over to get between us and the window. So I would recommend this as an alternative for fireworks watching for those who enjoy a good meal at the same time.

Our first night's dinner behind us, we repaired to our room to rest up for a strenuous day of drinking and eating on the morrow.

I might consider the possibility that we overdid the food sessions the first day, but that hardly seems possible. Not for me at any rate.

There are a number of different special classes, tastings and the like during the Festival that are available for an additional fee. Sometimes this is quite a substantial fee, as in the "Lunch and Learn" session with the chefs from the Magnolia Grill from Durham, NC. Seventy-five dollars for lunch is pretty darn expensive, but in this one case I would call it justified.

First, we received a full lunch, appetizer, entrée, and dessert and tastings of three different wines from Silver Oak Vineyards. Second, the chefs in this case were quite comfortable with an audience and their talk while preparing the meal was very instructive.

The food was excellent - on par with the best we ate during the event. The wines presented were also well paired with the food and good enough to go on our must-purchase list. By the way, the session we attended appeared to be sold out - there were no empty chairs in evidence.

Mary and I both concluded from the audience questions that there were a number of fans of Silver Oak in attendance. So this seems to be a chance to attend a tasting for a winery you like without having to go all the way to Napa or South Africa or wherever.

Overall I'd say that this type of event is right at the top of my price range. In this particular case I thought it was worth the price, but if the chefs had not been up to the standard exhibited in our session, I might feel like I did not receive my money's worth.

So much for the good news - now for the bad. The second session we attended was a "Food and Wine Pairing," this time located at the Coral Reef restaurant. As Mary mentions in her article we expected that the since the session was in the Coral Reef we would be served seafood paired with a white wine. What we got were two meat dishes and a cloyingly sweet dessert.

The most irritating thing, though, was the wine selection at this event. All three offered were from a single vineyard, and all were Pinot Noirs. Now I love Pinots. Always have, even long before the movie whose name must not be spoken. Since that movie came out the popularity of Pinots has exploded. Again, I don't have any problem with this - I'll just move on to other wines till the hubbub dies down.

But why in heaven's name would they offer us pairings with three different vintages of a single Pinot Noir and then tell us that the first two are completely out of stock and the third will almost certainly be sold out before the end of the year?!? So even if we had fallen in love with these vintages and desperately wanted to add them to our wine cellar (or in my case my wine shelf), we could not do so. It's downright sadistic, is what it is.

Fortunately for us we didn't actually care for the wines offered so we will not be suffering from any kind of Pinot envy.

After the disappointment of the second session we decided to leave the World and partake of some of the other culinary offerings of Orlando. We waddled over to Seasons 52, the flagship restaurant for a fledgling chain. Mary had dined at the restaurant before and liked it a lot, so I was looking forward to it. I like the concept - the 52 refers to the fact that the menu changes weekly and they concentrate on seasonal dishes. There are of course stand-bys that are on the menu all the time but you can always find a new dish you haven't seen before.

The décor is similar to other high end theme restaurants that have sprung up in the last decade, like P. F. Changs and Biaggi's. Which means lots of wood, indirect lighting and booths along with regular tables. I like it - your mileage may vary. And objects in the mirror may be closer then they appear, and so on.

Anyhow, the meal coupled with a respectable wine list restored our faith in humanity and fortified us for the next day where we would face our biggest challenges yet.

The second day of our trip we decided to devote to sampling the booths set up around the World Showcase. Mary laughed at my plan to try and sample every single booth in the course of a single day and she was right. I only got about 60% of the way through them before the truss failed. There's always next year!

So we started off with the New Zealand booth to celebrate the fact that we have a trip scheduled there next year. "Lamb sliders" is a dish I had never heard of before but I enjoyed it, even though to a Midwestern boy like me, "sliders" has a decidedly different connotation, denoting the offerings of a chain many I'm sure are familiar with - White Castle. I am pleased to announce that the difference between the two products could not be greater.

Mary also scored a glass of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc which was excellent. Having recently discovered Kiwi wines, Mary has now come to the conclusion (after substantial testing) that there are quite possibly no bad or even mediocre Sauvignon Blancs produced in New Zealand. She has resolved to continue her research next year on the ground, as it were.

After New Zealand we sampled Greece, Florida shrimp, Japan, Morocco, USA, Scandinavia, Puerto Rico, China, Australia, and Singapore. To fill in the blanks we also sampled Australian wines and beers from around the world. Then after lunch…

No, even I, aspiring trencherman that I am, had to call it a day after that little excursion. Especially in light of the fact that we had to attend the Party for the Senses that same night. So we repaired back to the room for a nap and a little Tums before the evening's festivities.

Okay, since Mary has given a rundown on the Party for the Senses in her report so I'll just touch on a few other observations of my own. First, she is right that the "Chilled Cantaloupe Cappuccino with Lobster Salad" may have been one of the best things I have ever tasted. In small quantities, mind you. I don't think I'd like a whole bowl of it, but served in a demitasse it was just perfect.

The wine selections were varied and for the most part quite interesting. We ended up the evening with several selections that we will look for in our local wine shop in the future. A recommendation - take a pen with you if you attend this event and then you can mark on the program those wines that most appeal to you for future reference. With so many choices it can be hard to remember which ones were especially worthy later.

I second Mary's comments on the seating. For $95 a head I expect to be able to get a seat, indeed I would expect reserved seating. There really is no excuse for not having enough seating.

I will note however that a couple we spoke with mentioned that they had been at the same party earlier in the Festival and there was enough seating for all. So it is probable that the Festival in October, for instance, would be less crowded. Since we were there the last weekend of the Festival it is almost certain that it would be more crowded then other weekends.

The music was somewhat loud, though since my hearing is not completely up to snuff I might have been able to tune it out better then others. It did make holding conversations somewhat problematical. We never did see any of the Cirque de Soleil acts on the center stage as we were as far from the stage as it was possible to get (not intentionally - that just happened to be where we ended up). I'm beginning to think I'm cursed and will never see a Cirque act as every time we've had tickets or planned on attending a show something has come up to prevent it.

As Mary notes, I enjoyed the party more then her, probably because I'm more of a party animal then her. She is actually a shy and retiring type who is uncomfortable in groups of more then 3 people, poor thing.

I will agree that the enjoyment of the event would be enhanced greatly if it were less crowded. We probably will try it again, earlier during the Festival, to see if this has any impact on the numbers attending.

So - "Food and Wine Festival" - worth the trip? Frankly, we had never attended before as we had expected the event to be mediocre and not worth the hassle. We were wrong. The food is inconsistent but the chance to graze and sample dishes from cuisines that we don't normally get a chance to try is worthwhile in our opinion.

We found the "Lunch and Learn" program we attended worth the price of admission, though this might be a bit of a crapshoot. It's certainly possible that one will attend one that is not nearly as enjoyable as ours. But we would certainly take the chance to do it again. And if you're lucky enough to see one with chefs you're familiar with or a winery you like - then go for it.

The "Food and Wine Pairings," at least as far as we experienced, were not that good. On the other hand the cost is considerably lower. If there was more information on what was being offered on a specific day and location it would help. As it stands it probably isn't worth the time or money in our opinions.

The "Party for the Senses" was mixed. We loved the selection of foods and wines offered (though more beer selections would have been great). We didn't find anything we didn't like. On the other hand the music was distracting and the lack of seating early on in the evening was annoying.

We realize it is difficult for Disney to refuse entry to people who are dressed inappropriately, since they have already prepaid, but it would be nice if there were some middle ground that could be reached. I would attend this event again without question, though next time we will probably try and pick a weekend other than the final one of the Festival.

Overall conclusions: If you have the opportunity to go to the Festival and you like food and wine from all corners of the world - go. We will certainly go again when the opportunity presents itself.

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