Food Blog Forum Orlando – Disney Part One

If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter you probably saw a ton of Disney and food photos come flooding through about two weeks ago. That’s because Thomas and I took a freaking long drive little road trip down to Orlando, Florida to go to Disney World for Food Blog Forum 2013! I was able to go last year and it was just amazing, so I knew that this year I had to make sure that I got a ticket and was able to take my BigBear.

The day tickets went on sale, I planted my butt in my office chair and advised no-one to speak to me until I was done. haha. I NEEDED those tickets. Ticket went on sale and I scooped mine up. They sold out within 4-5 minutes. But YAY, we were in and I was beyond excited. The next few months involved, planning, working and driving my poor husband insane with non stop Disney talk (it got to the point that I had to start referring to Disney as “The Big D” in order for him not to twitch). haha sorry honey. You see Thomas had never been to Disney, so he just didn’t understand. haha.

Thursday the 16th came and I was up at 3:30 am and ready to get on the road! We then made the 12 hour drive down to Orlando. 🙂 We arrived at the All-Star Movie Resort around 4:00 pm and checked in. We got the Dalmatian building, which was super cute.

With a quick shower and change of clothes, we headed down to DownTown Disney for a date and to give Thomas his first real taste of “Disney”. He was in awe, and this was only Downtown Disney haha. We walked around a bit, listened to bands playing and then we saw Iron Man 3 at the Dine in Movie theater (which by the way is fantastic). Apple Martinis, Chicken Mac & Cheese and a movie with my honey all at the same time…. I would call that the perfect date night! 😉

Golden Statue Actually a man dressed and painted in all gold. Stood perfectly still and then moved a bit and froze. Very neat to watch.

Friday Morning we got up and headed over to our Food Blog Forum hotel for the weekend. Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. I’ve never stayed here and this was really a treat.

Yes, that would be poor BigBear pulling our suitcase to the room while I run around snapping photos haha He’s so sweet

It was so beautiful and totally reminded me of the Titanic (the inside not the outside) and anyone that really knows me knows that I love EVERYTHING about the Titanic so that was pretty awesome to me!

As soon as I got to the Grand Floridian, Melanie spotted me as we walked to check in. Food Blogger Weekend had begun haha. It’s always great to see her when I’m at a conference!

Everything was just beautiful there at the Grand Floridan. Plus the Magic Kingdom is a very, very short monorail ride away! (I love staying at the resorts that have monorail access, there is no need for our car the whole time we are there)

So Magic Kingdom was where we headed next. I don’t know what it is about Disney but no matter how many times I go I still get butterflies in my stomach when we arrive.

There is just something about the Castle, the Balloons, the Dapper Dans singing on Main Street and the amazing detail that just makes me so happy when I’m there. Thomas was super impressed with the detail of everything at Disney as well.

We spent a little time on Main Street and then headed off to a few rides. The first one on our list? The Haunted Mansion of course. It’s always a “must ride” when I’m there. I was worried that as an adult he would think it was cheesy and not like it. Half way through the ride I looked over and he was smiling from ear to ear haha.

One thing I was really excited about at Magic Kingdom was seeing the New Fantasyland! There is a new Beauty and Beast Castle and a “Be Our Guest” restaurant!

We didn’t get to eat there but I did get to see the castle and we did stop in at Gaston’s Taven for a quick snack and drink. While we were getting our snack there was a group of girls (guests at the park) outside the Tavern singing and going through the Tavern scenes of Beauty and the Beast haha. It was quite impressive.

Then we headed over to the new Ariel ride. That was one of my favorite movies when I was little, so you know I loved it. We also saw Ariel’s castle! Ariel’s castle is one of the two new castles in the Magic Kingdom!

I wish we had more time that Friday to hang out in the Magic Kingdom. We had a lot of fun and I loved seeing Disney through Thomas’ first visit. But as it got closer to 4 we had to cut our time short and head back to the hotel so that I could get ready for our Welcome Reception.

The Food Blog Forum welcome reception was a great time for us bloggers to hang out and chat! Not to mention Disney provided a few chefs to create some pretty awesome dishes for a great evening.

It’s always exciting to see what Disney will be offering at the parties when we’re at Food Blog Forum at Disney.

The lobster salad cone was one of my favorite things! Everything was very good and it’s kind of hard to pick an absolute favorite from the evening.

After the reception, Thomas and I headed to the Disney’s Polynesian Resort. I personally love Disney’s Polynesian Resort and I think it’s probably my favorite. It reminds me so much of Hawaii and it’s just nice to relax on their beaches and listen to the music playing throughout the property. The hibiscus flowers and dole whips are an awesome bonus. Thomas had his first dole whip while we were at the Polynesian. Let’s just say that he thought that it was the best thing ever! He totally loved it.

After our little trip over to get a Dole Whip, we hopped on the Monorail and headed to Epcot to use those wonderful “Extra Magic Hours” for the night. We had to wait maybe 10 minutes to ride Soarin’.  I rode Soarin’ for the first time last year after Denise (Creative Kitchen) told me about how awesome it was. I’m totally afraid of heights, but I can deal with it for that ride. If you’re not familiar with Soarin’, it’s a simulated ride that “flys” you through California.

After that we walked over to the World Showcase and made it to France before we decided to stop for snack. (Hey at Disney I feel no guilt what-so-ever about eating because I walk A LOT when I’m at Disney)

We stopped at Glaces Ice Cream and Crêpes. I got a chocolate crêpe and Thomas got an ice cream crêpe. I had my first crêpe ever when I was in Paris about 13 years ago so it was nice to be able to sit in “France” with the “Eiffel Tower” in the back ground while sharing crêpes with my honey.

With so much going on within the first two days, I was so tired after Epcot on Friday night haha. I still have more to share though! I have more re-caps from the rest of the trip soon!