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Food Blog Forum Orlando Part 2

breakfast with mickeyYesterday was the first full day of actual conference sessions. It was a day filled with lessons on visual technology, work-life balance (ha! as if!) and a lot of food.

I’m saving most of my thoughts on this conference for a post that I’ll be sharing with you tomorrow because I have a lot to say. But I wanted to mention that one of the more fascinating (to me anyway) speakers was an imagineer who was on the Kadani Village design team.

It was so interesting to learn how much thought and planning goes behind each and every element of the Disney attractions. Every hotel, restaurant and ride is designed with the tiniest details in mind so that the guests have a full immersion experience.

Specifically, the cultural projects such as Kadani Village are designed with much thought and respect to the culture it represents. In fact, Disney has a cultural team to make sure that the design remains true to the culture represented.

And in this case Kadani Village, which is resplendent in colorful fabrics, beadwork and other natural textures and fibers, stays true to this mission to authentically represent the African culture.

And after hearing about how they sourced 100 year old antique baskets and other such treasures for the new Kadani Village, it only made sense to eat dinner at Sanaa last night. More on that in a more thorough review down the road.

I’m now off to brunch and a final action packed day in the parks. But before I go, I thought I’d share some highlights from yesterday. Have a great Sunday!

nemo

mickey dessert

kadani village

zebra kadani village

kadani village

sanaa

lanterns

balloons

castle fireworks

Food Blog Forum Conference 2013 Part 1

Disney World CastleAs a blogger, when your mom leaves a comment on your last post with this message, you know it can’t be good:

“I look forward to reading your blog everyday and you are not posting anything??? Hellloooo where did you go?”

This means a couple of things. First, she has probably emailed me several times and I haven’t checked my email in a few days. Ignoring your mom’s emails/phone calls/text messages only makes her crazier. If that’s even possible.

It also means that I’m in trouble because I’ve forgotten to tell her that I’ve left town. This never bodes well with moms. They kind of like to know where their kids are. Even if that kid is 43 years old. And even when the parent lives in another country. (my mom lives in Portugal)

This kid happens to be in Disney World this weekend. This weekend is the Food Blog Forum Conference here at the house of mouse. Myself and lots of other food bloggers have gathered together to learn from some of the best bloggers in the industry. And of course we are also here to eat some really good food. This place is certainly good for that.

My first day here has been action packed. I’ve never come here sans kids before and it’s truly a whole new world when you visit Disney without kids in tow. It’s amazing how much more ground you can cover when you aren’t stopping every five minutes to take a little person to the potty.

And before you even ask, no, I don’t feel guilty for not bringing the kids. They’ve been here many times and considering that we used to live here and that we were season pass holders, I’m sure they won’t need counseling over being left behind this one time.

It’s now 1am my time. So, I’m going to close this post with some pictures from my day which include a visit to Magic Kingdom, Epcot and the opening cocktail party for the conference.  Much more on this will be coming up over the next couple of days. Have a great weekend all!

magic kingdom

be our guest magic kingdom

epcot

ratatouille

chefs de france

epcot flower festival

butterfly

epcot

fbf cocktail party

magic kingdom fireworks