Food Blog Forum – the food

May 27th, 2013 by justJENN

Last week I went to the Food Blog Forum in Orlando hosted by the Walt Disney World Resort. We stayed in the Deluxe Disneyworld Resort, The Grand Floridian and listened to amazing speakers who spoke about passion, success and blogging.

Food bloggers get hungry of course, and Disney pulled out all the stops and showcased their best of best to feed us. Every meal felt like a show!

The first night was a hosted cocktail reception, but it was a cocktail hour like no other – specifically perfected for food bloggers! There were stations with beautiful plates all made a la minute. Watching the chefs put together intricate dishes with tweezers was fun but eating the food was even better!

Poached quail eggs and caviar, pork belly, mushroom risotto and cones of lobster salad. The unique display of dishes was never-ending and the perfect way to kick off the conference!
Still full and dreaming of the delicious cocktail hour, Disney gave the best wake up call ever in the form of a uniquely Disney breakfast!

There was a nice selection of bagels, croissants and muffins but wait…is my breakfast, glowing?? These adorable fruit cups had light up ice cubes in the bottom making for a rager of a morning! It was a beautiful set up and a happy way to start the day.

If you think that cocktail hour and breakfast couldn’t be topped, you have NO idea. Lunch was in full ‘let us impress you’ effect!

When we arrived we were given our first indication of the theme when we were handed plate with light up Tink and Lightning McQueens! I recognized these light up clips from the kid’s drinks served at the resort so it made sense that the meal was themed as “Disney Kid’s Cuisine”. We were also greeted by a GIANT Nemo sculpture which was a foreshadowing of desserts to come…

The thought of kid’s food might make one bristle at the idea of chicken nuggets and pizza but this is Disney, and they are stepping it up with new Mickey Check meals which offers an array of nutritious choices. Since I don’t usually let my kids eat fast food, this is a great alternative for me as far as park food, although Disney has always done a great job being on the forefront of that mission.

Turkey Pot Pie with a cheddar glass slipper, Pork Tenderloin to Meatballs and Orecchiette. Healthy 1/2 calorie pineapple Mickey heads dipped in dark chocolate were downright irresistible.

From healthy…to decadent. The dessert bar, aka my happiest place on earth. The desserts on display were not only playful and beautiful but incredibly delicious. There were hand dipped cake pops, special themed Monsters Inc and Sophia and Jake cupcakes all of which, despite all the frosting they were surprisingly not overly sweet. Now that’s a good cupcake.

A few of the stations showed off their cake decorating skills with a fanciful teapot themed cake and beautiful wedding style cakes decorated as tiers to hold up even more cupcakes! Disney made over 100 cupcakes, and um…they were all gone by the end of lunch. Food bloggers can’t resist adorable cupcakes!
The chefs showed off a beautiful white chocolate slipper and carriage. It’s the treat that’s filled with truffles and presented at turn down service when you stay in the Cinderella Suite! Now that’s the princess life!

My favorite of all the desserts was the “Paint Your Own Nemo” dessert plate. You could take bottles of edible paint (frosting) and paint in the outlined chocolate Nemo that decorated the plate. So interactive and fun!

After the fun of decorating you are rewarded with a dessert – edible Mickey ears in cookies and cream mousse form! One look at this and I was a little worried that it would be really rich but I was pleasantly surprised that it was so light and subtle. It was the perfect way to end a meal.

Ok, the conference is over which means eating is done too, right? Not in the least. As a final goodbye Disney offered up a dessert party with a private viewing of Fantasmic!

Since I arrived a little late, another blogger and I were escorted through backstage which is always fun to see. There are so many behind the scenes things that the park goer never knows about or gets to see.

As opposed to Disneyland’s Fantasmic is set up on the ground by the water, Disneyworld’s Fantasmic is set up in a tiered ampitheatre which is cool for short people like me. Once I made my way up to the top in the private viewing area I was greeted by a glowing dessert wonderland. There were light up tables filled with drinks, desserts and chefs ready to serve!

There were cookies, dipped rice krispy treats, Mickey bon bons, and that was only the first table! The second display table had chefs making extreme desserts on demand.

Chocolate risotto and hand scooped ice cream along with an impressive Liquid Nitrogen Smores presentation. I took a video which promptly got deleted in the dark but trust me, it was a site to behold. A chocolate casing was frozen in liquid nitrogen and once it melted, it revealed graham crackers, marshmallows and even more chocolate. Total decadence.

The dessert party was wonderful as was the spectacular show. The private viewing area made it even more special! Disney is an amazing host with so much culinary talent in all the parks and resorts, you can’t go wrong with a vacation that’s all about food!

Disclosure: Disney was a sponsor of Food Blog Forum and provided all meals and lodging as part of the event. All opinions and reviews expressed are my own.

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