One Year Later...

It feels like yesterday...

    And it truly does. It really is hard to believe that my check-in date for my DCP was exactly a year ago today. I feel like I just left and I still think about my program every day. On top of that, countless times I find myself reminiscing with the friends I made during my program, always expressing how much we wish we could go back to the magical period of time that was our DCP. I am grateful that I still have a friend who still works at Disney, doing Vacation Planning at DAK whose snap stories keep me wanting to go back for more. I have already gone back to visit once since my program ended for a vacation, am in the process of planning my first trip to Disneyland with one of my DCP friends and we are already discussing going back for Food and Wine in 2017. So needless to say, my time in Disney has had a lasting impact on my life on both a daily basis and where I see myself in the future.

     I do what I can to keep the Disney in my life at every opportunity. From using all the stuff I bought, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos and, of course, planning my future trips back, I will never escape it and I am 100% okay with that. I have left the closet Disney fan way behind me and will be forever shameless of my love for everything Disney. And in doing so it has sparked some new friendships in my post-DCP life. When you are able to become best friends with a new employee at work because you both came from Disney...let's just say we were both pretty pumped, and are constantly talking about the parks. What I've learned the most in the past year is no matter how far removed I become from my DCP, it is going to be a part of my life that I cherish and hold near my heart forever, and the same goes for the people I got to experience with.

Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Wave goodbye to your money...

     It's that time of year where EPCOT will be the bane of your existence and will heartlessly destroy any and all financial stability you thought you had. But, your gonna love every second of it because no matter what you say or think, resisting the temptation to buy food or drink while walking through World Showcase during this month and a half is nearly impossible. I held back for as long as possible, then went HAM over 3 days.

     First off, I thought I was a big deal when I said I'd eat thru the world in 1 day. HA nope. I went with my friend from work prepared to eat....and eat......and eat. We went to the Festival Center near Ellen's Energy Adventure and perused the booths checking out everything they had and I went and threw down a couple hundred dollars on a gift card to make paying at the countries easier....in my opinion well worth it. It's about the size of a key tag and it's on a bracelet you can wear on your wrists. So every time you go to pay, just hold it up and the cashiers will just scan it, easier then whipping out your wallet for every country.

     So Day 1 I made it to about France, not too bad but jeez I was FULL. I went into this endeavor fully prepared to try at least one item from each country and I did, and I have the stamps in my passport to back it up. Oh, whatever the first country you stop at is...ask for a passport and have each country stamp it as you go thru, it's a cool little memento to have when your done. We spent a good 2 hours going from country to country eating, enjoyed every second of it.

     Day 2 was a little more tame, didn't eat nearly as much but that made Day 3 a beast. Day 3 I think I ate at about 2/3 of the countries and still had money left over on my gift card to spend, which thankfully is taken at all the shops on EPCOT so I grabbed myself a Food and Wine shirt (not gonna not) and a Mickey Mouse hoody. When all was said and done I have no regrets. This is one of the reasons I saved up before coming down, I wasn't gonna miss out on the opportunity to eat around the world. No chance.

     
     Of course the menus change every year so you will see different menu items than myself, that being said my top items from the festival:

Kahlua Pork Slider from Hawaii
Lamington from Australia 

Side note: Look up the menus online before you head out. I remember waking around World Showcase before the festival started and seeing the menus out while the countries booths were still covered so I was able to preview them. And days later I found everything online with prices so I was able to plan how much money I would need to try everything I wanted.