If I wasn't already excited enough about my impending trip to Walt Disney World in September, the  start of the 2018 Epcot Food and Wine Festival today has just about tipped me over the edge. Not only is Epcot my favourite park within Disney World, but (as we have already established here) food is also one of my favourite parts of a Disney holiday. You can get so much more than just your typical theme park fare of a greasy burger and chips and the variety of tastes and cuisines available to you is pretty much doubled during Food and Wine. 

Last summer I was able to experience some of what the festival had to offer on the very last day of my Cultural Exchange Program, which happened to be its first day (and ended up being in a video about Food and Wine for the Disney Parks Blog!). Having to leave at midday to catch my flight home meant I could only taste a tiny amount of what was on offer and being 20 I couldn't try any of the amazing sounding alcoholic options on the menus. This year however, we have planned in 3 full days in Epcot and have strategically scheduled our dining reservations around how much we already know we are going to be eating in World Showcase throughout the day. I will also be 21 this time and will definitely be taking advantage of finally being able to drink in America. 

When the menus were released last month, I immediately started going through them all looking for all the things I wanted to try last year but didn't have the time and any new additions that tickled my fancy. So without further ado, here are the things I'm most looking forward to trying at the 2018 Epcot Food and Wine Festival:

Belgium
- Beer-braised beef with smoked gouda mashed potatoes 
- Chilled coffee with Godiva chocolate liqueur

Having never been before properly I'm not really sure if this is a large wishlist or not but honestly I think I was being rather tame seeing as there is so much to choose from! Hopefully I'll be able to have a try of everything here and being on the dining plan I will be strategically saving up my snack credits to use on the more expensive food items to try and get as much value for money as possible.

Thanks for reading!

Amy xxx

I am currently in the middle of my exams and unfortunately blogging has had to take a backseat for a while. Every so often I get an idea for a post and then I think about all of the revision I need to be doing and that idea has to get put on hold for a while. Even though I only have 2 exams this year, my second one is on the very last day of exam season, meaning I still have a whole 2 weeks to go before freedom. Whilst I don't have much time to write blog posts these days, one of the things getting me through my revision is planning for Disney World this summer (I check in to housing 4 weeks today!!). The American Disney Store website has a whole section of merchandise from the Disney parks so the other day I spent much longer than I should have done scrolling through every single section to see if there was anything on there that I wanted to find in the parks when I'm out there. And there definitely was. So here is my (very condensed) Disney World merchandise wishlist, of things that I don't want to come home without. 

1. An Alex and Ani bracelet - I don't own an Alex and Ani bracelet currently but I really like them and would love to get one when I'm there. I'm not entirely sure which one I want at the moment, but I do really love this Tinkerbell one which says "believing is just the beginning" 

2. The WDW 'four parks' jumper - I tried to get the Disneyland Paris version of this when I went in April but it is incredibly popular and was sold out everywhere. Hopefully I'll have more luck finding this one as I've had my eye on it for quite a long time!

3. The teacup tsum tsum - I don't have a giant tsum tsum collection but I do own quite a few and I know I will definitely be buying more than just one when I'm in Orlando. I mostly just buy ones that I think look cute and this one definitely fits that criteria! I also really like that it is a Disney parks exclusive one, and one that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else.

4. A pillow pet - Like the bracelet, I don't know which pillow pet I want, I just know I want one! They look super cute and comfy and it will be great for soaking up all my tears on the plane home (I'm only partly joking). Also from what I've seen from vlogs and blogs, have you really done a Disney college program if you didn't buy a pillow pet?!

5. This Inside Out pin set - Like with tsum tsums, I wouldn't call myself a pin collector but I have a reasonable amount at home, mostly of characters from my favourite films or ones that I thought looked cute. I will definitely end up with more than just these pins, but these ones stuck out to me on the website. For Halloween last year, me and my family dressed up as the emotions from Inside Out; I was Joy and my mum was Sadness. As she's going to be out in Florida for her birthday I thought it would be nice to buy this set so I can have the Joy pin and she can have the Sadness pin as part of her birthday present.

6. This Marie MagicBand - I'm staying in a Disney resort before checking in for my program so I'll get a free MagicBand then, but Marie from The Aristocats is my favourite Disney character so I have a feeling I won't be able to resist buying this one as well!

The parks merchandise on the website is only a fraction of what will actually be in Disney World so these things definitely won't be the only things I buy (I think I might need to take an extra empty case just so I can fit in all the mugs I'm sure I'll end up buying). I already know that there are some other things that I've seen in vlogs and Instagrams that weren't on the website that I will be keeping an eye out for. You can look forward to a very large haul post when I get back in September (but I don't want to think about that just now). 

Thanks for reading!

Amy xxx