Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom <<The food & spirits we had we very good with the exception of the cheese fondu.>> That's an intresting point. Other than food stands at Food & Wine, are there any sitdown restaurants on WDW property where you can enjoy fondue?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I can't think of any. Seems like an obvious choice for the planned-but-never-built Switzerland pavilion, but I can't think of anywhere in WDW that it would be available. Granted, I haven't been to most of the hotels, but I feel like fondue would create a bit of buzz around it. Maybe we're onto the next big WDW restuarant idea here!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 We have a chain here called " The Melting Pot' - been around a long time but actually seems to be having a bit of a rennaisance with younger groups ... <a href="http://www.meltingpot.com/" target="_blank">http://www.meltingpot.com/</a> I wouldn't mind it-- one thing however is table turnover slow in this kind of restaurant
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer I've been to one... it'.... OK. A little gimmicky, but if it's your sort of thing, it's probably fun.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 ^^ I view it as the same kind of experience as a Beni Hana except you do it yourself
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb We had one here in my hometown. They spent scads of money on the space, specialized tables, etc.. I think it lasted a year or so, I had hoped to get some of my friends together for a fun "girls night out" but the place closed before we got the chance. I think it was a combination of too expensive and too gimmicky to make a go of it during a recession.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>^^ I view it as the same kind of experience as a Beni Hana except you do it yourself<<< And why you would want to do that is beyond me...
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I know those who find it romantic...when I was a lot younger I went to one with my wifeand it was some fun. For me it's not a real repeatable expereince- at least often..but then we only visit WDW once a year
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I love a real fondue experience where you start with the cheese and beer/or wine fondue with crudities; followed by the oil and meat and ve fondue; and then the chocolate fondue, yum.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>>^^ I view it as the same kind of experience as a Beni Hana except you do it yourself<<< Well, they already have a Benihana-type restaurant in Epcot, so why not keep the 'gimmick' type places going? I think that Korean BBQ is even more of a gimmick than fondue (try it the next time you're in LA...or don't, and you won't feel like you're missing much), and people seem to love that too. It seems like the staff-to-customer ratios would be significantly less for fondue than Teppan Edo, so why not? I guess they don't have as much control over how quickly guests leave the table (which is a hallmark of the Benihana-type operations), but WDW hardly lacks space to build a large restaurant that could accomodate the crowds.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom The Melting Pot are very popular here in metro Atlanta. I would just think that fondue might be a enjoyable and different dining option for WDW.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 We went out to Food and Wine today. A couple of observations about our day at EPCOT. 1) The parking lot was busy and there were several CM's working the lot, but they seemed incapable of parking more than one row of cars at a time which caused traffic to back out on the road towards the toll plaza. Bad show to have cars backed up waiting to park while 3 CM's stand over a lane and chat. I almost went over and said...You guys know how to park two rows of cars at the same time dont you? But to avoid embarrassing my son I thought better of it. 2) It was a weekend and EPCOT was very busy. A lot of folks strolling around the Food and Wine Festival and long lines at most booths. We enjoyed several great tastes of food...my favorite was the lobster roll at America. My wife commented at how much the prices have gone up since the festival started. 3) My daughter noticed that the booths had little signs on the country signs that said established in 1995 or such. Telling you how long that country had been represented at the festival. Nice touch. 4) The lack of free things to do are disappointing. Long gone are things like the Sam Adams beer school. I appreciate the up charge on many of the seminars and larger tastings, but it would be nice to see more free things to do. 5) Lots of people playing Kim Possible. We ran into many guests (especially in Germany and China) with Kim Possible game phones. A little distracting at times but all in all pretty benign to the experience of World Showcase. 6) Attractions were not as busy as I thought they would be considering the crowds. Soarin and Test Track were the longest at 60 mins but most other attractions in the 15 min range. 7) Saw a guy with the neatest Horizon logo shirt today. Before I could ask where he got it he was gone. Checked the gift shops and they aren't selling anything like that. A shame, it was cool looking.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 Ah, found a picture of the shirt I saw today. Scroll down. Interesting that it was sold out in California but nor Florida as far as I can tell. <a href="http://www.mouseinfo.com/forums/mousellaneous/94217-epcot-pavilion-logo-shirts-mog.html" target="_blank">http://www.mouseinfo.com/forum...mog.html</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros They were selling a lot of shirts with old Epcot logos (black T shirts, with the logos in various colors) at Mickey's of Glendale at the D23 Expo a couple months ago. The prices on the shirts were surprisngly reasonable (less than $15). When I was there, the Horizons ones were all sold out, but they still had many of the other FW pavilions. As far as I know, the only place to get them now is at the actual Mickey's of Glendale, which you need to know an Imagineer to get in.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <I appreciate the up charge on many of the seminars and larger tastings, but it would be nice to see more free things to do. < shows how tight the marketing budgets are for the sponsors also
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo That is a great point VBDAD. The pricing and portion size/free attractions are also a sign of the lack of sponsorship funding going around right now. Heck, even just getting some donations for charity fund raisers are very challenging right now.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom I have no problem with having to pay to sample at Food & Wine. The entertainment is free. Disney does a gracious plenty already. I'd just like to see them maintain what they have and demonstrate a willingness to add more to EPCOT.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I just want to clarify. I dont mind paying for samples or for some of the larger seminars. But for most of the festivals history there have been free things to participate in. The Sam Adams beer tasting being one of our favorites. It was free, educational, nice tasting and it made us big Sam Adams fans, so in the end it paid off for them. There used to be several of these around the festival. We didnt see any this year.
