WDW Food and Wine Festival booth

While Disney World is a fun trip no matter what, going solo during my favorite time of the year might be the ultimate in “Disney Magic.”

My favorite time of year, of course, is right around October, when Disney World showcases its Epcot Food and Wine Festival! 2010 marks the festival’s 15th anniversary, and it looks like it will be bigger and better than ever — full of international celebrity chefs, incredible dishes from around the world (in cheap tapas-sized portions, so that you can try everything at least once!), and demonstrations on everything from cheese-making to wine-tasting to chocolatier-ing to hops-tasting. Disney’s even thrown in a couple of brand new options this year.

Magnet From Festival

In my opinion, visiting the festival solo can’t be beat! I’ve had the pleasure of touring with big groups, small groups, and all alone, and that “personal” time with the Food and Wine Festival has been oh so rewarding. There’s so much to see and do that you won’t want to “compromise!” If you’re considering heading to the 2010 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival solo this year, here’s a dream itinerary:

Morning: Get Your Bearings…and a Bottle of Wine Head over to the Festival Welcome Center, located in Epcot’s Wonders of Life Pavilion, to grab a map and a Festival Guide as well as browse your favorite foodie titles at the Festival book shop, check out the wines featured throughout the Festival in The Cellar, and take a look at some of the customized Festival merchandise.

Plum Wine Drink in China

11AM: Eat Around the World Hopefully you’re hungry! The centerpiece of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival are the Festival Marketplace Booths. This year, 27 different countries will be represented with booths set up in a semi-circle around Epcot’s World Showcase Promenade; each booth will feature tapas-sized portions of some of the country’s most famous dishes, and many offer beers, wines, and other representative drinks. One of my favorite ways to spend lunchtime is grazing at several different booths, picking and choosing the dishes I’d like to sample. Usually, each dish costs about $2-$5, so you can safely try several for the price of a Disney World restaurant meal. To give you an idea of what to expect, here are photos and menus from the 2009 Festival Booths.

1PM: See a Show Now is a great time to catch one of the free or low-cost seminars happening throughout the Festival. Check out the History of Beer in America (includes samples — and it’s free with Epcot admission!); attend one of the Culinary Demonstrations, where executive chefs from around the country prepare a dish in front of the audience (includes a tapas-sized sample of the dish — $8/person); or meet your favorite cookbook author at an Authors Without Borders seminar (free with Epcot admission).

Italian Pasta Making Demonstration

3PM: Get Tipsy on Tequila OK, not really. But sort of! I can highly recommend the Festival’s new Tequila Tasting Seminars, which are held in Epcot’s premier Tequila Bar, La Cava del Tequila. These are extremely informational, especially for Tequila novices.

5PM: “Pair” Up or Be a Groupie My two favorite options for dinners during the Festival are Food and Wine Pairings and Signature Dining Events.

During Festival Food and Wine Pairings, guests are served three small dishes paired with spectacular wines; a Sommelier is on hand to describe the history of the wines and why the pairings were made. This year, Food and Wine Pairing meals are scheduled to be held in Mexico’s San Angel Inn, Japan’s Tokyo Dining, and Morocco’s Restaurant Marrakesh.

Shrimp Dish in Bangkok

Signature Dining Events offer guests the opportunity to dine under the watchful eye of their favorite celebrity chef! Premier chefs from around the country (and the Food Network!) prepare their favorite dishes just for you at these outstanding dinners.

7PM: Get Sweet or Eat to the Beat There are lots of opportunities to sample sweets and desserts around Epcot during the Festival, but a brand new event this year will be 3D Disney’s Dessert Discovery, a pre-booked event happening every Friday night during which Disney World will treat you to an amazing array of desserts, along with special seating for their famous Illuminations: Reflections of Earth Fireworks Spectacular. Tickets are a steal at only $45.

Disney's Food & Wine Festival booth

If the price (or the sheer sugar overload) is out of your budget, head over to Disney’s free-with-Epcot-admission Eat to the Beat concerts. These nightly shows featuring favorites like Taylor Dayne, Kool and the Gang, Boyz II Men, Expose, Rick Springfield, Air Supply, and Big Bad VooDoo Daddy (among others!) are sure to be worth a visit to Epcot alone.

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Tips:

• Consider purchasing a Food and Wine Festival gift card for yourself. This is smaller than a regular credit card, and comes on a plastic bracelet to wear around your wrist. You can load the card with as much money as you’d like, and use it as payment as you visit each Festival Marketplace Booth. Of course, the card is good for use at any Disney World purchasing location, so if you don’t use up the money at the Festival, it can be used for other purchases throughout Disney World.
• Before touring the Festival Marketplace Booths, check out the menus for each in your Festival Guide. There’s no way you’ll be able to sample everything (believe me, I’ve tried!), so choose a few don’t-miss items and hit those booths first.
• Paid events like seminars, food and wine pairing meals, and celebrity chef demonstrations, will sell out fast. The full itinerary of events usually comes out in July, and booking often begins in August. Stay tuned and pre-book your tickets so that you don’t miss out on your favorite Chef or seminar!
• There’s plenty to do at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival without breaking the bank. If you’re planning a budget trip, check out the seminars and demonstrations that cost only $5-$10, plan to “eat around the World Showcase” at the Festival Marketplace Booths for at least a couple of meals, and visit the free events in the Festival Welcome Center. Oh, and don’t forget to catch Air Supply at the Eat to the Beat Concert! (You KNOW you want to…)

Hopefully this helps as you plan your trip to Epcot during what I consider to be the very best time of the year! For more Disney Food information and to keep up to date on the 2010 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, visit me on The Disney Food Blog!

This blog post is proudly featured in Dismarks’ 5th Disney Blog Carnival, along with a wide variety of other terrific posts about Disney World. Check it out!

Planning a trip to Disney World’s Food & Wine Festival? The DFB Mini-Guide to the 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival e-book can save you time and money while helping you to make the most of your time at the Festival. Compiled by The Disney Food Blog, this handy resource is available for just $11.95. Click on the image to the left to download your copy today.

Going Solo to Disney’s Food & Wine Festival is a post from: SoloFriendly.com

Jetblue flight

Compassion never goes out of style.  I’ve always appreciated Jetblue‘s True Blue membership program, because I have had to cancel trips in the past, and it was nice knowing I had up to a year to use the airfare credit instead of just being SOL.  But now, my favorite blue airline is going one step further: Jetblue has announced a new policy today, that will, I hope, give potential travelers some peace of mind during this recession.

Everyone with even a mild interest in travel probably knows by now that there are some terrific travel deals out there right now.  But with massive layoffs being announced every day from companies all over the country, it’s hard to consider planning a getaway when you’re afraid you might wind up on the unemployment line before you get to take your trip.  Worry no more.

Jetblue has promised that if you lose your job after you’ve booked your airfare but before you take your trip, they will refund your airfare.  This applies to air-only travel booked and scheduled to fly between February 1 and June 1, 2009. So go ahead and book that spring vacation with confidence. . .just make sure you fly Jetblue.

Details can be found here:  The Jetblue Promise.

The Jetblue Promise is a post from: SoloFriendly.com

The Enterprise

Trekmovie.com is reporting that it’s no longer a rumor or wishful thinking: Star Trek: The Experience will be back in Vegas in the near future, at its new home in Neonopolis.

More Details Emerge For New Home of Star Trek: The Experience

It’s not yet known how the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie will be incorporated into the Experience, but they would be crazy not to take advantage of it somehow.  Apparently all aspects of the previous experience will be incorporated into the new location as well–starting with Quark’s Bar and Restaurant and the Promenade Shops, and followed by the museum and rides. The rides may be modified and/or upgraded (which is badly needed). They hope to have the first elements of the Experience open by the time the new movie premieres in May 2009.  Former employees will have first dibs on jobs in the new incarnation.

It’s Ba-a-ack is a post from: SoloFriendly.com

Activities at Disney World for the Solo Traveler

There's more to do at Disney World than just rides

You can do pretty much anything at Disney World as a solo that you would do if you were there with family or friends:

• Go to the parks, ride the rides (and enjoy that single rider line!)
• Wander around taking in the sights, people-watch, and take pictures
• See some shows
• Rent a boat or a bicycle
• Sign up for the Richard Petty Driving Experience or go parasailing
• Sign up for a behind-the-scenes tour
• Go horseback riding
• Sit by the pool and read a book all day
• Get a massage, a manicure and pedicure
• Go to the water parks (take a surfing class at Typhoon Lagoon!)
• Go shopping in Downtown Disney
• Get your picture taken with Disney characters
• Enjoy the fireworks and parades
• Go resort-hopping
• Eat your way around Epcot
• Go hunting for hidden Mickeys
• and so much more!

See a show, like Off Kilter at Epcot

One of my favorite activities is to see shows.  I loved the Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom, and the Indiana Jones Stunt Show at Hollywood Studios. Fantasmic! would have been more enjoyable had I brought a book to read during the long wait for the show to start (that’s the downside of not having company).  I also like the live shows at the parks, such as Off Kilter (the Celtic band in Epcot), the British Invasion (a Beatles tribute band in Epcot), and the Jammitors in Future World at Epcot.  Other live shows include Lights, Moter, Action! Extreme Stunt Show and Mulch, Sweat & Shears (a street group) at Hollywood Studios, and the Village Beatniks at Animal Kingdom.

I can’t think of any Disney activities that you can do as part of a group or couple that you can’t do alone.  Okay, I might feel a little weird playing miniature golf by myself, but that’s just me.

But what do you do if you’re looking for some non-park, adult activities at night when you are ready to unwind after a busy day at the parks?  Well, sadly, Pleasure Island is no more, so that’s not an option. (R.I.P., Adventurer’s Club).  Not to worry!  You can still find plenty to do.  I asked Betsy from WDWForGrownUps.com what she likes to do at night when she’s on her own at Disney.  “I love Jellyrolls, personally. Other activities include La Nouba, shopping at Downtown Disney, movies at AMC Theater, and Bob the piano guy at Port Orleans Riverside.  I also love night swimming and hot tubbing.  Never done this, but it might be fun to go to the Chip and Dale campfire at Fort Wilderness!”

Jellyrolls dueling piano bar on the Boardwalk

Other than movies, shopping and Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba, you can go see a live band at House of Blues or Raglan Road in Downtown Disney.  And along with Jellyrolls’ dueling piano show, you can walk along Disney’s Boardwalk along Crescent Lake and maybe stop and catch a game on TV at the ESPN Club. Or stay a little closer to home. Almost every Disney resort has a bar and lounge where you can unwind over a drink and maybe make some new friends. Try the Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian, Kimono’s at The Swan (which turns into a karaoke bar in the evenings), or Coronado Springs’ Rix Lounge, an upscale lounge with music and specialty cocktails.

I hope you realize by now that there is no reason why you can’t have a fun and enjoyable vacation at Disney World by yourself. So what are you waiting for?  Book that solo trip!

Postscript:  If there is any aspect of a solo trip to Disney I have not covered and you are curious about, please feel free to comment here or email me.

For more resources on Disney World, see my Disney World links.

Solo Walt Disney World, Part Seven is a post from: SoloFriendly.com

Disney's Boardwalk Inn

Where should the solo traveler stay at Disney World?

Many people prefer to stay on-site in a Disney resort for easy access to the parks and resort facilities and the “magic” of staying on property.  Other advantages to staying on-site are access to Disney’s (free) Magical Express bus to and from the airport, being able to charge expenses to your room via your room key, and participating in Extra Magic Hours. (Each day, one Disney park opens an hour early and one closes late to allow guests extra time to enjoy the park.)  Perhaps not surprisingly, my entire panel of solo travel experts stay on property.

Fran from Pittsburgh says, “Any Disney hotel is great. There are four levels of hotels at Disney: value, moderate, deluxe and home away from home.  I’ve stayed at all levels.  While the value hotels are fine, there are tons of kids, so my preference are the deluxe hotels.  My favorite is the Polynesian for the theming and incredibly relaxing atmosphere, although the Yacht Club and Boardwalk Inn are both great for their proximity to Epcot & Hollywood Studios.  The Beach Club is in the same area but there are soooo many kids there I tend to avoid it because of the noise level in the lobby.  I also really like Port Orleans Riverside (moderate).  Even though it’s a large resort, I enjoy the lush landscaping and the walkways.”

Fran’s point about children is well-taken. If you are traveling without children, ask yourself if you want to be surrounded by them (and the higher noise levels) all day in the parks and at night in your hotel, or if you would prefer a more relaxing, quieter environment at a resort where there are fewer children?  There are three resorts on Disney property that are considered “more adult” than the others, because conventioneers often stay there:  The Swan and the Dolphin (owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts, but located in the Boardwalk area) and Coronado Springs, a moderate resort.  These might be good options for anyone looking for a higher ratio of adults to children during their stay.  The beauty of staying in hotels hosting conventions is that during the convention meeting times, other guests pretty much have the run of the property.  Which means you probably won’t have to hunt too hard to find a lounge chair by the pool.   You can also find nearby hotels off-site that are predominantly business hotels.  You won’t get the same magic you would at a Disney hotel, but you’ll still get great amenities and be surrounded by other adults.

Disney's Coronado Springs resort

If you’re looking for peace and quiet and fewer children, you should probably avoid the Value Resorts .  They tend to attract more families and youth groups, such as cheerleading teams.  They also do not offer table service dining at the resorts, if that is important to you.  They have very basic amenities. Refrigerators in the rooms are not complimentary here, but you can arrange for one for a modest fee.

I stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter (a moderate) and I don’t recall there being an overabundance of children or noise (except at breakfast), but then, it was a less crowded time of year.  The grounds were lovely, and the greatest benefit of this resort is the boat service to Downtown Disney.  I probably would not stay here again, though, because of the lack of a table service restaurant (you have to go over to Port Orleans Riverside for that).

Bill Brown from CA has different priorities for his preferred hotel.  He likes the Pop Century Resort (a value resort), which is also very popular with families, because “it has its own buses to and from the parks and POP is value priced, which allows me to enjoy a longer WDW visit with less of a drain on my wallet.” Pop’s dedicated bus system is a plus if you do decide to stay at a value resort.  The other three value resorts all share one bus system, which means it takes longer to get anywhere and the buses are more crowded.  Bill’s point about price is important.  Budget is a big consideration for all travelers, but especially for solos, since you have no one to share the room cost with.  Your heart may say “deluxe,” but your wallet may say “value.”  What is your budget and how long do you want to be at Disney?  Which is more important to you–staying at a resort with all the amenities or having more days at Disney?  This will determine what level of resort you can afford.  To get an idea of what each resort level offers for amenities, check out the resort comparison chart at Disney’s website.

If budget is your primary consideration, and you plan to have a car anyway, you might consider staying off-site and driving to and from Disney.  You can generally find better bargains off-site.  This would especially make sense if you plan to do more in Orlando than just Disney (Sea World, Universal, downtown Orlando, etc.).

Another factor for the solo female traveler is security.  Where will you feel safest?  For my money, it would be a Disney resort.  I can’t imagine not feeling pretty safe on Disney property.  Betsy from WDWForGrownUps.com prefers Disney’s deluxe hotels because “they offer better room service, more options for spa treatments, a gym/workout room, and decent dining options on-site.  They offer a tad more security as well: you can valet your car and not have to make the walk from the parking lot, through the outdoor hallways, to your room.”

Obviously, taste in hotels, budgets and priorities are all very personal.  Only you can decide  where you will feel most comfortable.  The variety of options in and around Disney World are plentiful.  You should do some careful research online before you make your decision about which one is right for you.  Not all hotels are created equally.  Tripadvisor is a great resource for getting the “inside scoop” from other travelers about what a hotel is really like.

If you are certain you want to stay on-site, though, the best piece of advice I can give you is to save yourself a lot of time and consult a Disney travel specialist.  (There is no fee for this service.)  As I have mentioned in this blog before, I booked my Disney World stay through Debbie Kuhns of Magical Journeys.   She and her colleagues know everything about Disney resorts and the discounts available to you and will do everything they can to get you the best deal possible.  Let them do the heavy lifting for you; after all, it’s your vacation!

Next up:  Solo Dining at Disney

Solo Disney World, Part Five: Hotel Options for the Solo Traveler is a post from: SoloFriendly.com