The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival will start today, July 27th, and run through November 18, 2023, this year. This is one of our favorite Disney World events!

Eat around the world at the many marketplaces featuring global cuisine and beverages. This is foodie heaven with delicious dishes, fine wine, craft beer, spirits, and other beverages sure to satisfy every palate.

For a full list of the numerous marketplace menus, check out the festival page below:

• EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Global Marketplaces

In addition to the food, there are also other fun activities. Participate in the Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak or Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit scavenger hunts. Commemorate your trip with special photo ops. And of course, there will be plenty of merch if you want to do some souvenir shopping.

You can also enjoy live concerts at the Eat to the Beat concert series with performances nightly starting at 5:30 PM, 6:45 PM, and 8:00 PM at the America Gardens Theatre.

For a full performance schedule, see below:

• Eat to the Beat Concert Schedule

This year, EPCOT will also be the focus for the Disney Company’s 100th Anniversary celebration activities in Orlando so expect additional fun related to that as well. Don’t skip EPCOT on your next Disney World trip.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about this or any other Disney event. We love these festivals!

Disney has announced that the Trails End restaurant and adjacent Crockett’s Tavern at Disney World’s Fort Wilderness Campgrounds Resort will be reopening tomorrow, July 27, 2023!

They have been closed for refurbishment the last few months. We were sad at the closing of one of our favorite Disney buffets at Trails End, now reimagined as a quick-service takeaway food market. It used to be our tradition to take the ferry boat over to Fort Wilderness after a long hot day at the Magic Kingdom Park for their buffet dinner. Resting our feet with the cool breeze blowing as the ferry sailed across the lagoon was the best feeling ever at that point. Then, we sat for a while as a family, recapping our fun day, enjoying the delicious fried chicken, brisket, ribs, gigantic baked potatoes, and more. Yummm! At least, it sounds like some favorite foods are returning, along with some new selections.

Most importantly, YES, the fried chicken is back! The old Trails End had the best fried chicken at Disney, and I contend even the best I’ve ever had elsewhere too. Crossing fingers that it’s returning the same. Too bad it won’t be all-you-can-eat anymore, but I can’t wait to try it again.

Along with the fried chicken, there will also be pecan smoked chicken and brisket, bbq ribs, chicken nuggets, chicken wrap, cheeseburgers, and pizza, including new meat lovers or veggie versions of the latter two. Sides will include mac n cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, coleslaw, plant-based cowboy beans, french fries, and cornbread. Of course, they didn’t forget dessert! The famous strawberry shortcake from Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue next door is back, along with other favorites like banana pudding, lemon blueberry trifle, carrot cake, ice cream, and several cupcakes and cookies, including s’mores flavors.

The restaurant has been refreshed into a casual seating area with warm wood furnishings and rustic accents. You can sit there to eat your food from the marketplace or take them to go.

Crockett’s Tavern has also been reimagined into a lounge with expanded seating indoors and out. The outdoor window will also reopen for you to grab a quick drink to-go.

Light bites include a charcuterie board, chicken bites, crispy cauliflower, and a trio of sliders (pulled pork/brisket/buffalo chicken or plant-based fried green tomatoes). There’s also a dessert trio with s’mores chocolate pudding, strawberry shortcake, and banana pudding.

Of course, the adult beverages are the stars of the lounge, with a moonshine cocktail flight and several new cocktails featuring Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey, Laird’s Applejack Brandy, Angel’s Envy Bourbon, Hendrick’s Gin, Teremana Blanco Tequila, Ole Smoky White Lightnin’ Moonshine, and more.

Were these places some of your favorites too? It’s sad to see the old favorites go, but I’m glad they’ve reopened back in some form. We’ll have to check them out on our next trip!

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat more about a Disney trip.

Pics ©Disney

For travelers to Disney World in Orlando Florida, the Sunshine Flyer and Mears Connect bus services have announced their merger this week. The new service will be called Mears Connect Driven By Sunshine and officially begin service on August 1, 2023.

These services provide bus and van transportation to and from the Orlando International Airport and the Disney World area resorts. With the merger, they can now provide 24/7 service and additional features. Unfortunately, the buses will no longer have the cool old-fashioned steam train look though.

If you have a current Mears Connect reservation, you will not be impacted. If you have a Sunshine Flyer reservation before August 1st, you should have gotten an email with new instructions.

Future reservations can be made on the Mears Connect site. You can also visit the site for additional information about the merger.

This is just one of several options for transportation to the Disney Parks. You can always rent a car and drive yourself, book private car services, or take Uber/Lyft. Feel free to ping me if you want to chat about your options for a Disney trip.

Pic ©Mears

Heads Up! You can now book Disney World tickets, rooms, and dining plans for 2024! Yes, dining plans are back!

As you can imagine, their systems got bogged down with the high volume this morning, but it looks like bookings are open again. If you’re interested in booking a 2024 trip, now’s the time.

Unfortunately, there is no one nice list of the prices for next year though. You just have to plug in your possible trip dates with the options you’re considering and see what the total is…or have a travel agent like me help you do the legwork.

In general, 2024 will cost more than 2023 though, but there are many factors that go into the total. Disney uses dynamic pricing, so the prices will vary depending on popularity and availability. Days that tend to be busier, such as weekends and holidays, will generally cost more than other days. The length of your stay and which resort you stay at will also affect the overall cost.

Finally, many people have been waiting for the dining plans to return. These are basically prepaid meal plans that folks like for the convenience. You should evaluate which restaurants you plan to really dine in, including what you might order there, to see if the plans are worthwhile to you though. Everyone in your booking will have to get the same plan if you opt-in for it, even the kids.

There are two types of dining plans that you can add to your resort packages. These are the prices and allocations per person per day of your resort stay. Both plans also include 1 Resort Refillable Drink Mug per person per stay.

Quick Service Dining Plan:

$57.01 per adult (ages 10+), $23.83 per child (ages 3 – 9)

• 2 Quick Service Meals
• 1 Alcoholic/non-Alcoholic Beverage per Meal
• 1 Snack

Disney Dining Plan:

$94.28 per adult (ages 10+), $29.69 per child (ages 3-9)

• 1 Table Service Meal
  
• 1 Quick Service Meal
  
• 1 Alcoholic/non-Alcoholic Beverage per Meal
  
• 1 Snack

If you’re thinking about a 2024 trip, you can now begin to crunch the numbers. Resorts can fill up for popular times of the year, and prices will just go up the closer you get.

Packages (which means booking a resort room and tickets together) just need a $200 deposit and that’s fully refundable if you cancel at least 30 days before your check-in date.

Room-only bookings need to pay the first day’s amount and are refundable if you cancel at least 5 days before your check-in date.

Ticket-only bookings are not refundable but the tickets can stay in your account for future use. You’ll just have to pay the additional difference if ticket prices increase for the days you eventually use them.

If a special offer comes along in the future, you can get that applied if your booking qualifies for it too.

As always, feel free to contact me if you want to chat about booking a Disney World trip! See ya real soon!