Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival with Amanda Tinney – Episode 92
Join guest Amanda Tinney from DisneyEveryday.com and Rick as they stroll around Epcot’s 15th Annual International Food & Wine Festival and sample food from China, South Korea, Poland and Puerto Rico on this week’s Travel with Rick with host Rick Howard
Hope you enjoy this week’s video, be sure to leave a comment!
Just a couple of extra notes this week….So sorry that we didn’t post a video last week, I had really hectic travel schedule this month and some technical difficulties that threw us off. Going to get better at posting on Friday morning, thanks for your patience!
Also for everyone who answered Tracy’s question last week, or wondered what it was, the correct answer was Pinocchio. See cultural references here in this wikipedia post: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothenburg_ob_der_Tauber
Have a great weekend everyone, thanks for watching the show!
Rick Howard
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Right Click and “Save Target As” to DownloadLinks mentioned on this week’s episode:
- Follow Amanda on Twitter
- Check out Amanda’s Blog
- Check out Bob McLain’s Disney Dispatch Website
- Check out the Main Street Gazette
- Check out Travel with Rick on iTunes!
- Follow Rick on Twitter
- Friend Rick up on Facebook!
- Visit Kingdom Magic Vacations
Great segment; looking forward to trying some of these next week. To answer the question…I have booked WDW vacations through online travel agents, and by myself. I prefer to do it myself because the last time I used a travel agent, there were problems with communication, but I’m not sure where the breakdown occurred. When I book, I know that dates and room requests are all entered as I wish…and it’s just really easy to do now.
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Great show love the food this week. I have book my vacations to Disney World by useing a travel agent and doing it through Disney on line booking. When I used a Travel Agent they were not very willing to disclose infermation such as meal plans and any perks that Disney had at the time.That was when my Daughter was 7 years old. She is now 15.
When I stared to book our trips to Disney and trips on the Disney cruises I got more information by going throughDisney and have been very happy with the service. They were will to give more information on what they had to offer and what we paid for. Some day I may go back to a travel agent but it wont be here in New Jersey.
Thanks for a great show See you next week.
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Great Show Rick and Amanda!
My wife and I are looking forward to attending the F & W Festival next week.
In regards to the question of the week…Yes, we have booked our Disney vacations through Travel agents in the past, but because we have experianced problems, and because we have been to WDW so many times, fortunately we are now able to find the discounts and packages we like, and we make our Disney World vacation plans ourselves.
Scºoºtt
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I have used a travel agent before and also have done the work myself. I prefer to do the leg work myself because it is fun to explore the many possibilities and find things I might not be aware of.
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Well I use to book my own trips until I found a great travel agent. She works with KMV. Summer made things so easy. I still do all my own footwork but all I would do is tell her and she would do everything. I will be booking my next trip to WDW soon. I still do my own other trip myself but when it comes to WDW I will only use KMV.
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Hi Rick and Amanda,
To answer your question of the week I use a local travel agent. First I know
ahead of time what I want and I do my own dining ressies and I will call her
when I see that there is a good rate or other good offer such as free dining.
I like to use a local agent because I can pay the initial fee then make payments until the trip is paid in full. I do my own airline tickets because
I am use to doing this when we visit our grandchildren in NC so I know where
to get a good deal on flights. Using an agent is a good idea just in case there is a problem.
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Great episode. My Husband and I will be going to WDW next week and will be arriving just in time to enjoy the last day of the festival. Thanks to you we will be able to try some dishes without worry. The sandwich in Puerto Rico may be my first stop.
I have booked through a travel agent. In fact I wasn’t comfortable any other way until we became DVC members. Now I use them for almost all my travel plans. I guess they are now my agents. Old habits, hard to break. I like talking to a human, it makes it seem more exciting.
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Great episode, Rick and Amanda! I’ll miss the Food and Wine Festival this year and enjoy seeing what food was being offered.
I usually book my trips through our local AAA agency. I always have everything planned out so our agent just has to make the call to Disney Travel. That way I’m sure all my tickets (including the Auto Train) are all together in one place when I pick them up a month before our trip. The agent always offers to make our ADRs when the time comes, but we do that ourselves, either on line or by phone.
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Great fun Thanks,
I have made 2 trips to DW and both trips booked through Kingdom Magic Vacations.I always go to Colleen at KMV and always will. She made everything easy. Helped us with all the choices and made great recommendations.
Kind of funny watching this video and listening to you guys talk about how hot it was. Woke up to 36 degrees here in Texas this morning, of course it will warm up to the mid 70’s so can’t complain.
I do have a question though. How much is the average glass of wine at the festival and how much is the average plate of food so I could get an idea on how much to budget for a trip to The F&WF. Food looked good.
Thanks,
Penny
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Great video, Rick.
That black pepper shrimp in China looks good. It was kind of diffult to hear you guys when you were in France. My mom does the Walt Disney World bookings. We do not use a travel agency, because, we think its more convenet to mom to do it herself. Looking forward to next week’s episode. Nicklas
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Hey Rick and Amanda, Another great video, lots of great food, and two great hosts! Every time I watch your video it makes me want to go to WDW. I sure hope I get to take that trip soon. To answer the question of the week: Of the four times I have taken a trip to WDW, three times I used a travel agent and one time I did it by myself online. I prefer to use a travel agent for several reasons. Going on a vacation to WDW or to any vacation destination is a rarity. I want the knowledge and expertise of a travel agent to help maximize my vacation experience. I want to have face to face contact with the travel agent. I want to know that the travel agent is there to help me. Booking a trip through a travel agent gives the added security that if something goes wrong during the trip you have someone to contact to give you the assistance you need.
The one time that I booked my trip to WDW online–It was fun to make all of the arrangements and to do the detailed planning. But I had no travel agent resource to discuss my trip with. The timeshare company that provided my lodging also recomended a car rental agency for me. That was a mistake. It ended up being a small agency off the beaten path near the airport. The drop off location was different from where I picked up the car. I drove around for over an hour trying to find the drop off location and almost was late for my flight.
I would rather pay a little more and have the expertise of a travel agent to help me avoid problems like what I just described.
See you next week,
Bob
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Great Video Rick and Amanda! I love seeing you two work together. You act like a brother and sister. The very first WDW trip we went thru AAA because it was all too over whelming to do it myself. Now that I have become a Disney nut I can do it myself and have fun with it. I advise any newbie to go thru a Travel agency for the first trip and see how they like it. I feel TA are awesome, and I hope to use one for another trip that is not to WDW. I know, “Not Disney?”, we will be back!
Thanks again!
Jeanne
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You’re really selling me on the Food and Wine Festival. You’re making it all look so good.
I have booked through travel agents in the past. But then I learned a lot about what I wanted, and how to get it, and I seemed to be more knowledgeable than the travel agents available, so I have been doing it myself the last few trips. I like to book directly from Disney, and make my own travel arrangements so that I know all the details.
If I were to be going anywhere but Disney World, maybe Disney Land, I would probably seek the help of a travel agent.
I loved the little outtake at the end, by the way. 🙂
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Great video, thanks so much Rick and Amanda. I love lettuce wraps and that one looked great.I have not used a travel agent because I love so much doing it myself, it gets me so excited. I book through Disney, arrange the airline, limo service and dining, it’s so much fun! I loved the blooper at the end, you need to put more of those! When I travel with Adventures by Disney or something like that, I’ll use a travel agent. By the way, I just got off the Magic on a 7 night western caribbean cruise, all I can say is, AWESOME, can’t wait to book the Dream or Fantasy!! My little boy cried the last night because he didn’t want to get off, now that’s a memory, just magical! Keep smilin’ y’all!
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Dear Rick: Thanks for a great segment, since I cannot go to F&W Festival this year. 🙁 In answer to the question of the week, I do my own travel arrangements online because Disney’s website makes it easy, you get a good price, you can compare prices between the resorts, and I like to schedule meals (especially dinner) in the early afternoon. I don’t like to trust travel agents to book meals when my first preference is not available. I have a special way of handling that when I book meals. I booked through a travel agent once–because two friends insisted on it–and I got the same price as I would have paid online through Disney’s website, plus a $75 fee. Meanwhile, our travel agent didn’t send the coupons which normally come in the reservations packet (she received it at her office). So I didn’t get a half-off coupon for miniature golf. And finally, there is just something fun about planning a trip to Disney that I enjoy. Making the reservation is an extension of the vacation.
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Loved the video – I am so sad I missed the Food & Wine Festival this year, but watching you guys gives me that feeling of being there. The lettuce wrapped looked very good, maybe by the time I am able to make it back, they will still have it.
I actually booked a trip through Kingdom Magic Vacations several years back, but we had to cancel, so I didn’t have the pleasure having them help me with evreything. I now book everything myself, since we have a timeshare off site and we do minimal ADR each trip. I do agree with Peggy above – if I were to book anywhere but WDW, I would seek the help of travel agent.
Looking forward to more video’s!
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I’ve not felt the need to use a TA for WDW mainly because there is so may resources out there, that make doing it yourself very easy. The Disney site is very easy to use and gives you lots of information. It was through Disney that I learned about WDWinfo.com, which was my portal to more than a half dozen other disney related sites and blogs like yours!
I feel that with traveling to the Disney Parks outside the USA that I would use a TA.
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