March means a lot of things. Basketball brackets, springtime. And at Walt Disney World, it means the return of the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. And if you've listened to the show before and hope that you have, you know I like to do things a little bit differently. I Last year I created a bracket tournament called the Savory 16 where festival dishes went head to head until only one was crowned the best of the fest. So this year we're doing it again, but this time we're going all in on dessert. From cereal shakes to fruit sushi to funnel cakes and frozen cobblers, we've built the Epcot Flower and garden festival. Sweet 16 dessert brackets. 16 sweet treats, one champion. Let's see what survives. Hello, my friend, and welcome to wwrado, your guide to the Disney parks and experiences around the world. I am Lou Mongello, and this is show number 859. And whether this is your first episode or you've been with me since the very beginning for more than 20 years, welcome home and welcome back. Before we dive in, come and join the community and conversation over in the clubhouse at www.radio.com clubhouse and join me and others for the live show every Wednesday, 7:30 30pm Eastern on Facebook and YouTube. And sign up for a free weekly email newsletter@www.radio.com. subscribe. Connect with me on social I'm Umangello on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. And when you're ready to plan your next Disney trip, visit my friends over@m MouseFanTravel.com for completely free expert vacation planning. But for now, sit back, relax and enjoy this week's episode of the WDW radio show. It's March, and you know what that means. Sure, there is madness happening on the college basketball courts right now. There's also a little bit of madness happening right here at Epcot center, because it is Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival season, which you may or may not know or care, is my favorite festival of the year. I know I say it for every festival, but this one, really. I think this is when Epcot is at its most beautiful. I also think it is. We're going to find out today, possibly the best selection of cuisine of all of the festival. Now, if you listened to our festival review recap last year, you know we had a lot of fun doing something a little bit different. Instead of talking about our favorite dishes from the festival, our top five snack or skip or whatever it might be, we created our own bracket style tournament, the Savory 16, where 16 dishes went head to head but only one could be crowned Best of the Fest. And honestly, it was wonderfully chaotic and delicious. It was delicious chaos. And there were some passionate debates, some surprising upsets and maybe even a few controversial eliminations. And the response from you was incredible. Many of you wrote and you called into the voicemail and commented and saying that you were playing along at home in your car and or when you went to the parks, which of course means we have to do it one more time. But because last year was all about savory and you know that's normally in my lane, I'm not going to say I'm not a sweets guy, but this year we're going to dive into something that I fully admit may be a little outside my comfort zone. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you the Epcot International Flower and garden festival sweet 16. I'm going to say it up front. I might not be a sweets guy, but I think this year the desserts look and sound so good and creative and some maybe even a little bit wonderfully ridiculous that we're going to try something a little bit different this year and go with our sweets again in a bracket style tournament. Which means at some point we are all going to have to defend a dessert. And when I say we, I cannot, will not, should not do this alone. I'm bringing back my friends, our friends from last year. Ladies first, always. She is Lisa Denona Glassner from the Castle Run and Thousand Circles Images portraits thousand circles images.org.com thousandcircles.com I am so

happy to be here today. Lou definitely needed some pinch hitters because he is not an expert in this field of sweets. So I am representing, I think, very well today. I totally agree. Like I always say that the festival that's happening is my favorite festival. However, this is my actual favorite festival. Like you said, the park is at its most beautiful by far. The fact that it's fresh epcot is like represented in the food and the lightness and the goodness of the food. The presentation of the food tends to be beautiful at this festival and it's not quite as overwhelming as food and wine, but a little bit more laden with options than some of the other festivals. So it's that sweet spot for me, too. And that's a perfect segue to the sweet 16.

And another very smart, very opinionated, and very hungry friend to help guide us through the sugar rush. He is Zach Brown from the Zach Brown show, not the band. Zach, welcome back.

Thank you for having me back. You know, you threw up the Lou Sweets bat signal, and I just knew that I had to answer the call. So I am here. I am ready. My taste buds are prepped, and I look forward to what all that the festival has to offer.

And Zach has basically been fasting since I told him we were going to do this coming. You have to come in hungry because 16 sweets, 16 desserts, and I sort of got a little liberal maybe with what a sweet is. It's not necessarily a dessert, per se. I went through the book I haven't tried. I tried a couple of things from the festival this year. I really went through and tried to pick out what looked like some of the best of the classics, but also a lot of new items this year, and they are in our bracket style. Starting off with the literal Sweet 16, we were going to go sort of round by round, bracket by bracket, and we were going to crown ourselves a winner. Do you remember what won the best of the fests last year when we did the savory 16?

No, I remember, like, specific things that I was surprised by liking so much we mentioned, like that beef patty at the Outpost I remember loving. And there was some stuff in Mexico that was great. I don't remember what. What one. Well, maybe Zach does the two that.

That stand out the most in my memory, it was the chips with all

the dip trio and chips and dip. Yeah. Okay.

Because my other one's gonna be the conch fritters, so I couldn't remember which one made it. It's one of those two, right?

Oh, no, I have no idea. I was hoping that you could help me. We should have actually. I should have looked this up before. It might have been the. I can't.

I don't know.

I have to go. I should have gone back.

All of you, push pause right now on your podcast machine and go back and find out. Comment below.

Listen to this first and then you can go back.

All right, so we. We're gonna do something a little bit different this year because in the last year we went around like crazy people and hit all of the booths and came back and recorded. This year, I want to sort of, for the initial Sweet 16 round, I want to Record it as it happens. So we've gotten our first four contestants together, which just fortunately happened to be in the same bracket. And we're going to see who is going to move on to the edible eight. And first we have the cereal shake from Brunchcot, which comes in at $5.29. Going up against a new item this year, which is the hazelnut chocolate flan from. I know it's pronounced Mex. I'm just going to say Mexico. It is a creamy hazelnut chocolate flan with vanilla creme anglaise. These are going up against each other. Something new, something classic. Ladies first. Dip into the cereal shake from Brunchcot. I remember loving this in the past because it just felt like I was drinking Saturday morning.

Yeah, I mean, this is not new to the festival, but it definitely deserved a place on this list. I was surprised by it last year and I guess I had forgotten because I'm surprised by it again because it is sweet and you like, but it's not quite as like overwhelmingly sweet as you expect it to be. I think they call it like the cereal circles or something.

They're loops of fruit. But are not. They are fruit flavored breakfast cereal. It says non alcoholic. Yes. This is a non alcoholic cereal shake with vanilla soft serve.

They are as yet unnamed loops of fruit, if you get our drift. And that is exactly what it tastes like. But it does. It tastes, and I remember saying this last year, like, it tastes like exactly what you just said. It tastes like when you're finished the cereal and you get to drink the milk. And it's like the best part. That's what it tastes like. So the milkshake is that milk. And then of course there's like a sprinkling of said loops of fruit on top. And it just, it hits like it's on a hot day. It's like so, so good.

This is an item that every single year I get time and time again. Not just once per year, but like multiple times. It's always fun to see which color they make it because at different years it's different colors. I think the crunchiness of the loop of fruits on top just make it really great. It's just really good. It's not overly sweet. And like you said, it's. It is Saturday morning in a cup. It's cold, it's creamy, it's delicious.

Yeah. The loops of fruit shake brings all the boys to the yard. It's why I had to go back on the list because it is. It sort of became an Instant classic because I think it's great and accessible and fun for kids. But if you are an adult, quote unquote, of a certain age, this very much hits that sense of wonderful, delicious Saturday morning nostalgia. Now, can it stand up against a newcomer? This year, Mexico continues to deliver year over year, festival over the festival. And this year, every item on the main menu of Jardine de Fiestas is brand new. There's chilaquiles, a calamari taco, and this is the flan de abuela, which is, if my Spanish is correct, it's grandma's flan. It's a creamy hazelnut chocolate flan with vanilla creme anglaise. Dig in. And first of all, nice sized portion, right? Nice, dense. I'm not normally a flan person. I have a little bit of PTSD from. There was a restaurant we used to go to when I was a kid. It was a delicious Spanish restaurant, but the dessert was always flan. And it just was never from a textural perspective. It was never my thing. But I do like me some hazelnut and I do love me some chocolate. And Mexico's reputation precedes itself, so weigh in.

So it's delicious. This is very tough because it's like they're so different. So I'm not going to go right into comparing the two, but they are very different desserts. I will say that, like, I'm not a huge flan person either. Just as something I would choose off a menu. The hazelnut definitely pops and it's not overwhelmed by the chocolate, which I do like. And the texture is nice. It's creamy. Like you said, it's a good portion. You definitely have to like hazelnut to like this because the hazelnut is not shy in this. I'm curious to hear what you have to say.

So I'm going to say something polarizing. Please do not hate me or unfollow me. I am not a hazelnut person.

Remember Zach? Remember when Zach used to come?

I know, I know, I know. But with that being said, like Lisa said, the hazelnut is very forward, but it's still really good. I would eat this. I don't know if I'd. Me personally, I would want a whole one. But the texture is nice. It's not overly sweet. It's. I mean, it does taste like, like a pudding that your grandmother would make. It doesn't feel like it's store bought. It's got that kind of texture. Like if you make jello at your house and with the skin on top. Any digress it's really good. Yeah.

So it's funny you said that because when I put this in my mouth, I had this like insert like this dramatic, cinematic like flashback in my head. It was like a core memory of sitting down in front of the tv, eaten like a cup. The pudding cups, they still make those or they were recalled for some sort of like safety. That's exactly how it felt. That being said, I don't love flan. It's a textural thing. However, this is a little bit more dense. Like, I think flan. Like, watch it wiggle, see it jiggle. This is not as jiggly as normal flan. It's a little bit more dense. I actually love hazelnut. So we can still be friends. I'm wildly surprised how much I really like this. Like, I was like, this is a no brainer. It's going to be my childhood cereal, like cup of cereal milk. But I'm actually going back in for another piece.

Yeah, I did too. I refuse to be the first person to go on this comparison. It's good. It tastes. You're exactly right. It tastes like. I don't remember like what brand they were, but those little pudding cups that were like, they were almost like fluffy in the thing and when you took them out, they kind of held their form and they came in like vanilla and chocolate and I don't know what else. Butterscotch or something. And this is. And if you don't love Nutella because you feel like it's too potent, first of all, maybe we can still be friends because I'm a huge fan of Nutella. But if Nutella is too overwhelming a flavor for you, I would still give this a chance because it's a much milder taste. And again, the hazelnut is much more forward than I expect it to be versus the chocolate. And it's definitely not like it's not jiggling, it's holding its shape.

You know, nevermind. The cereal shake comes in at 529. The flan comes in at 6.50. Let's do it right now. The newcomer Flan up against the childhood favorite of the Cereal shake from Brunchcot. What's your vote?

Probably in part because I kind of want to see how far it goes as a classic. I'm gonna go Cereal shake. There were no losers in this round. I am gonna go cereal shake though, because like, it's a classic. It's delicious. I think it's more of like an everybody crowd pleaser. I think my kids would like it more. I know they love it. And, yeah, I think, like, I'm also kind of curious to see, like, how far our cereal shake can go in this battle.

Yeah. And I think something interesting about the difference between these two. I wouldn't necessarily want to share a shake unless I'm with you guys, but, like, that's more of a split it up and kind of everybody take a bite. Where this is a single item, I go with the shake again. My bias against hazelnut, but I really love the not fruit loop shake.

Is it good or bad?

Well, I mean, I'm already outvoted, so we already know what's moving. My vote counts the same as both of yours. I'm. I'm torn. Wow. There's an old song from the 70s singing in my head. Torn between two lovers feeling like a fool. Like, I want to go back and have another taste of the hazelnut flan. I think it's that good. I'm going to go hazelnut flan, but it doesn't matter because two out of three people are moving the cereal shake ahead. But I think that there is no losers. I would come back for either or both of those.

So, yeah, like, definitely don't take the fact that it got outvoted in this round like it was up against. You gotta knock out the champ. Right? Like, and, like, that was a really good piece of fun. And if you're here and that's what you're in the mood for, then you'll like it. You'll absolutely like it. I ate my whole portion.

Definitely did. I think it would be paired really nice with a coffee, you know, because it's not super sweet, but just a

little something or a margarita. And part of what to your point, part of what counted towards my vote is we also just tasted for not these purposes. We tried the chilaquiles and the taco. That is a really nice complimentary dessert. You get the chilaquiles. You get that. Maybe a little margarita. A little. Maybe a spicy margarita. That's a nice day in Mexico right there. Right on the promenade.

Yeah, that chilaquile is slapped. That was so good. The taco was.

You're not trying to be cool. It's so cute.

No, it was great. The taco was really good, too. It's a calamari taco, and it was delicious. I may or may not have had some savories as a palate cleanser before we started this, but, yeah, the taco was fantastic. Those chilaquiles are some of the best things I've had at a festival, and I, like, literally cleaned the plate off. It was delicious, Zach.

You can say it was lit and I'll say it was fresh and we'll all get our.

No, no, I'm still just. I'm hung up on the fact that I missed on this calamari taco. This shows me that I shouldn't get here late next time. But no, I. I would get this. It's. It's the flan that's gone to the gym. It's a little firm, not as wiggly.

Nice. All right, let's move on. We have to go faster, otherwise it can be a six hour show. All right, we're moving on to two new items this year, and we're staying in Brunchcot for one of them. Brunchcot, by the way, again, always delivers. This year they have the avocado toast. New this year is shrimp and grits. And the other new item is French toast with cinnamon cereal cream. Brunch Crot loves their cereal and a caramel sauce that is going up against the cinnamon beignets. From where we're sitting right now is the citrus blossom at the Odyssey. The beignets are tossed in lemon sugar, lemon glaze and honey mead blueberry compote. Let's start off with the French toast. Big portion, big piece of toast. Lots of. They are not cinnamon toast crunch squares on top. They are cinnamon toast crunch square adjacent pieces of cereal. And this time, Zachariah, I'm going to let you go first because you have a mouthful of food. Thank you so much.

That is so good. It is a significant piece of toast. I love everything about French fruit franch, fries franche toast. It's really good. I think it almost tastes like they've got, like, some biscoff going on in that situation. I'm happy right now.

Yeah, it's delicious. It's sweet. Like, it's. It is very, very sweet. I mean, I think four people could happily share this big piece of toast. It's a great portion. How much is this?

This is also $5.29.

Oh, that's a great deal. That's a great deal. It is extremely sweet, but, like, you know, you could eat a quarter of it and go home happy. Certainly. I'm curious to see how it compares against these cinnamon beignets that look like they have, like, a compote with them. That might cut the sweetness a little bit more. It'll be another round with no losers, I'm sure.

So while I give my opinion you can actually start on the beignets so you don't talk with food in your mouth. I have a confession to make. Not just because it's Lent, but because I have a confession to make. I was here on Wednesday. I did my live show here Wednesday night. And I had to try something from the festival. And while I was still live, I got the French toast. And I know you keep saying that this is a very shareable thing. I'm not a sweets guy. I can't believe I ate the whole thing. I do have one. Just a little caveat to put. We bought this a little while ago. We've been sort of sitting here talking for a while. When you get it, it comes out warm and the caramel is warm. And they put that little like that, like creme in. In the middle. I ate. It was the perfect way to end. All I would have needed was a nice little cup of joe. Alongside of that, you could have that for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner liner, or in my case, a late night snack. That hit really hard. Again, $5.29. But we're also going to try the cinnamon beignets. It's interesting. There's cinnamon mayonnaise with lemon sugar, lemon glaze, and the honey mead blueberry compote that you can put, that you can add on top. It comes in a ramekin on the side also at $5.29.

So I'm a little surprised. I expected to like this a little bit more. Again, it's not warm and I don't. It hasn't been sitting for long. So I don't know if that was our fault or, you know, just. Or user's error, but it's not. The compote is lovely and it cuts the sweetness really well. When I eat a beignet, I want it to melt in my mouth. Like it needs to be like fresh out of the fryer or whatever and then just absolutely melt in my mouth. And I would have expected that to be really lovely, especially with the compote to cut the sweetness. That being said, like, it tastes fine, but it's not a beignet to me, this doesn't.

And it's not like a square beignet or a Mickey shaped beignet. It's a little. You get three rectangular. I'm trying to sort of like, they're almost sort of like the size of

a French toast stick.

Yeah. But they're like thicker than a French toast stick.

Like a donut stick that you'd get like Little Debbie or Whatever. So I feel like a compote should be separate from the thing. You should be able to judge the item kind of on its own. Like without the compote, I should be able to. It should be able to stand up. If they did not serve me the compote, I wouldn't enjoy this. I feel it's, it's fine. It's kind of spongy, not that kind of light fluffy that you necessarily get from your typical beignet. I love blueberries. I think that's nice. I'm just not overly impressed. Like, I wouldn't go back and get this again, but I definitely would go back for the toast.

It's wild, man. Like, I'm in love with the French toast. But I was like, oh, this is a little bit of a lighter. It's, you know, it's fluffy and sweet. Kind of like me. But I was like, I sort of like how the lemon and the blueberry complement each other. Those warm again, I'm going to assume that they would have come out warm, would have been better, but I liked it more than I thought I would. That being said, give me your vote. What?

Moves on.

It's the toast. All day long.

I surprised myself. It's, I mean, 100% the toast. I'm much less torn than I was last time. Like, the beignets are fine. They're not beignets to me. They're too dense for a beignet. They don't really melt in your mouth. And like Zach said, like, had it not been served with the compote, like, it would have been the most forgettable thing ever. And a beignet should be good on its own.

Yeah, I did love so I love blueberries, so I love the compote. That being said, I'm not going to be distracted by remembering how I felt the first time I fell in love with that French toast. It still hits again today. This was not a one off thing because I was really hungry on Wednesday night. So by popular by unanimous vote, the French toast is going to move on to the edible eight round. We too need to sort of get up and waddle our way around the promenade because while we may have gotten a quarter, we've done four. It's only a quarter. There's miles to go before we sleep as we make our way around the world. Showcase Promenade. Next, competitors in the bracket of sweet 16 pits, Lan Wan of China versus the refreshment outpost hosted by Coca Cola. As you sort of make the bend, what was supposed to be the African Corner of World Showcase in Lan Wan in China. There is the Tang Hulu, which is a skewer of strawberries and grapes coated in a candied sugar syrup. It's technically new this year. I put a little asterisk next to that because it's sort of. It's a returning favorite because it used to be a skewer of strawberries, but now they've put two grapes instead of two other strawberries. And then in the refreshment outpost. This is not new. I actually think we. I think we ate this last time we were here, but didn't cover it. This is the seasonal fruit parfait with sweet chili sauce and dole whip mango. And this is. It's a very tall. And I'm going to post pictures on Social and in the show notes. It's a very tall, clear cup of mango dhole with the fresh fruit on top, as well as a little bit of sweet chili sauce and Tajin as well. It's a very hot day here in March. Let's start with that. Let's start with the seasonal fruit parfait with sweet chili sauce and dole whip mango. And give me your initial thoughts and impressions. By the way, while you're here, get the Nigerian beef pie with papaya syrup. It's a savory item, but it is. So it's a. It's new this year. They've had beef pies in the past, but I think that is so good. And it's a huge portion that you get for, I think, about $6. So initial thoughts on the seasonal fruit parfait.

I mean, it's delicious. It's mango dole whip with the fruit underneath. I think there's mangoes and strawberries in there. It has a sprinkling of what, I guess I'm not supposed to refer to as Tajin because they don't say it in the book. But if you like that mango and Tajin flavor together, that's what this is. I almost wish, and everyone is different, that they. I almost wish it had a little bit more Tajin in it to cut the sweetness a little bit more. Because I do love tahini.

She will Tajin to taste. She's like. I'm like, you just give me. But she's like, do you want more chili sauce? You want more Tajin? So you. They will sort of season to taste, as it were.

So it is currently animal kingdom hot here in this corner of Epcot. And I am very, very thankful for this. It's delicious. It's not too Spicy, I think I agree with. With Lisa. I would do a little bit more of the spice. The fruit inside gives this nice crunch, but it's got a great texture. Kind of excited to get down to the bottom for all the fruit bits there, but it's fruit on the bottom. It's really good.

The fruit is what makes it. The fruit is such a nice addition.

Does it make it healthy? Does it make it healthy?

It's got a great beat, and you can dance to it. I am surprised how much I dig this. We said the same thing, I think, last year, which is why I wanted to put it in the literal Sweet 16 this year. It's really, really good. And it comes in at $6.99, so I think it's also for what you get. I think you get a lot of value for your dollar.

Yeah, this is a huge portion for $6.99. And, like, on a hot day, this is, like, the perfect, perfect thing. And you could share this with, you know, I could come here with, you know, my two kids, and, like, we could eat this between the three of us and be very happy. And the cold with the fruit on the bottom adding a little bit of texture. Like I said, I would add a little bit more Tajin, but it sounds like they'll just do that on request.

I just got a little bit of, like, in the back of the throat. That's nice. And Zach shaking his head like, no, I'm not sharing this with anybody.

Yeah, Lisa's gonna be much nicer than I am. If I wasn't here with you guys, I'd be doing this whole thing by myself. And it's a walkable food. I know that's kind of frowned upon in certain cultures, but this isn't one of them, so I'm very thankful to have this. It's good. It's really, like you said, the fruit is what makes it.

And what's wild is we keep going back as the other people are talking, we keep going back to eat more, even though those strawberries are sitting here with a candied sugar syrup, which might be starting to melt in the sun. So let's move on to the Tanghulu, which it's very Instagramable. I'm sure you've probably seen it on your feed, and for good reason. This was really, I think, a popular one in the past. Although the grapes are a nice addition, it's also something fun, too. I know. You know, especially for kids and adults to eat. She's rolling her eyes already. She just waved me off. Like, I'm still eating. She's had. Are you having a moment or a seizure? Yes. Here, Zach, go ahead.

I'm kind of scared because it's on a post pokey stick, and it looks great.

Ooh, it's like a candy apple at the fair.

Have you not had this before? No. So I will.

Wait, hold this. I need to.

I was so sad the couple of years that they did not bring this back. The grapes are supposedly new. I don't remember if it's never had grapes before. Obviously, they. But the strawberries are a classic. And I will literally make a trip to epcot during flower and garden specifically for this. Like, it's so good. And Zach's right. It's like a candy apple texture, but instead of it being a hard apple on the inside, it's a soft strawberry, and there's like a very generous, like, crispy layer of the sugar that's coating it. And it's a festival favorite for me and always has been.

It has a almost like hometown, festival type feel food in terms of what it is. You also sort of hear that it's covered in sugar syrup, and you think that it's going to be wildly sweet, and it's not at all. It's almost a really nice balance of the organic sweetness of the fruit with a little bit of the sugar on top.

Yeah, I agree. It's not too sweet. And the. The candy around it is so thin. It's not like a really hard piece that you're trying to break through. It's almost like a glaze. It's crunchy, but that's really nice. The strawberry on the inside is very soft. I don't want to say mushy, but it's like. It's. It's a. It's a really good strawberry. The grapes are nice, and you kind of get the balance of the more tart of the green grape and the sweeter of the.

Of the strawberry.

I like that balance.

All right, so now make your. Make your choice. Oh, me.

Oh, this is hard. I don't want to be first. I mean, my heart says this dole whip, but I really, like. I'm loving the. I can get a dole whip all the time, you know? So I think as far as festival goes and a reason to come.

I like the skewer, but can you get a dole whip in this flavor with the fruit and the tajin and the chili? I mean, that's fine. You do what you think is right.

I'm gonna go ahead. I'M just, I'm not gonna let anybody tell me it one way or the other. I'm just gonna pick the skewer and I live with that decision.

Yeah. So the dole whip is delicious. It definitely gets points for, like, delicious on a hot day. But in all honesty, as delicious as this is and as good as the cold is, if given the choice between this and an extremely ripe mango sprinkled in Tajin, I would take the extremely ripe mangoes sprinkled in Tajin. The strawberries tinged me are just, they are classic epcot flower and garden festival. Like, the tartness and the softness of the strawberry coated in this extremely thin layer of sugar is so, so good. I grew up in a household where, like, my mother sprinkled sugar unnecessarily on everything when she was giving it to me. And so, like, when I was served, like, cut up strawberries in my childhood, they always had a thin sprinkling of like sugar crunch on them. And it just brings me back to that. But, like, in a more elevated way. Cause it's obviously melted down and dipped. The grapes are a nice addition. I have no hate for the mango and Tajin dole whip, and I'm sure we will get it again during this festival. But, like, there's no way the skewer isn't taking this for me.

I'm surprised that I think I have like a very clear. The strawberries and the grapes are delicious. I would love to almost have it like a little bowl of those.

Yeah.

On a nice, like, hot day, sitting in the shade. But they're not cold. And I love the hate to use the word like, it's a very overused word. But there is something very refreshing about that. And I love, love, love. If it wasn't for the fruit, I don't know if it would have won. But I think for value, for size, for shareability, for the fruit, for that little bit of heat and sweet and spicy and the fruit parfait, the seasonal fruit parfait with the mango dole whip is a clear winner and is going to move on in this round. She's still eating it.

I chose the skewer and I'm sitting here eating the parfait. So, like, apparently there's no losers here.

I've given my vote, but as I'm looking, I feel like, am I allowed to change my vote? Because I'm just watching, going, I do want to go back. Okay, there's my thing. I would go back to the dole whip. I don't know If I'd go back to the thing, now that I'm thinking about it, so. All right, sweep the leg.

Okay. And I'm at peace with that. If we want to go with, you know, the strawberries will be my favorite forever. But, like, this is new. This is a little newer. It's. And also what you brought up about Mexico being sort of like the whole menu draws you in. Like the Nigerian meat pie. Is that what it's called that you. Yeah, the Nigerian beef pie with papaya syrup that we got, like, as another sort of palate cleanser from the Outpost as well, is so good. So, again, like, if you're just going to a specific booth and wanting to get, like, everything and have a good meal, like, that's a. That's a solid one. So if we want to go mango, I'm good to go mango.

If we're taking all that into consideration, like, the totality of the booth, like, if you're 50, 50. The refreshment outpost, I think, blows it away because. And look, I love China. I love Chinese food. And there's. They have cheesy crab wontons, the chacha beef bao bun, the pan fried vegetable dumplings, and the Tanghulu, as well as a bubble tea and a number of different drinks. But I think Refreshment Outpost may be sort of the hidden gem. In the corner, you've got the beef pie, the fruit parfait. Or you could just get tangerine or dole whip mango in a waffle cone, which. Right. Which is nice. But there's also an ice cream float. You can get tangerine soft serve and Barq's red cream soda. Zach's mouth is agape. There's also a hopped, a honeysuckle hopped wheat ale, a spicy watermelon hard cider, which would probably also be very nice, too. A number of other drinks. There's also an alcoholic passion fruit dragon slush with four 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Hs at the end, which means it's super slushy, I guess. But I think the Refreshment Outpost overall, I think is a really, really nice option.

The deeper I get into this parfait, the better it is. Like, there's also a little bit of salt in it, I think. I don't know. I don't think it's just the tajin. There's like a little saltiness in it. That's like cutting the sweet. Yeah, it's. The more I eat of this thing, which I am continuing to do, the better it is. Yeah. I'm Good to flip it to the mango. Absolutely.

Just keep in mind that there's still 10 more items that we have to get through. So you do what you think is right. The seasonal fruit parfait was. When we were. When the committee was making up the bracket, it almost did not make the cut. I'm very happy that it did.

You're welcome.

Well, no, I had the waffle cone mango in there, and she's like, no, I want to have the parfait. So I had. That was my least.

That was good.

I liked that.

All right, we need to keep. We need to keep moving and eating forward. So we have made our way to the next stop on the promenade and the next leg of our bracket, where we are pitting two European nations head to head. Mano a mano. Italy versus Germany. A new versus a returning classic. At the barn market in the farmer's market in Germany, we are going to once again try the. I think it's a returning favorite, the warm cheese strudel with berry compote. And this year, the Primavera kitchen. Everything on the food menu is brand new. There is an enchilada de pasta, which is a sort of a penne pasta served chill with apples and raisins and scallions and honey lemon dressing. And there's, I think, and they've had this in the past, an arancini, which is. It's basically a rice ball. It's a risotto rice ball with a beef ragu, peas, parmesan, and tomato sauce. I love arancini. Italy traditionally has not always been a huge fan favorite. And as someone who grew up Italian, I mean, I'm still Italian, but grew up in an Italian family in the Northeast. Sometimes, you know, it's been a little tough for the Primavera kitchen to hit. But what is new this year is also a raspberry swirl cheesecake with ricotta cheese, raspberries, and a sweet whipped cream. Let's start off at the barn market in Germany with the warm cheese strudel with the berry compote. And then let's see if Italy would deliver from desserts. And I'm gonna have to come back and try the savories as well. So starting in Germany, Lisa, eh, How do you really feel? Just don't mit.

I mean, it's fine. Like, we all know what that means when I say it.

If you're new here. When Lisa says it's fine, it's not a good sign. It does not mean that she necessarily loves, which is, listen, you know, you can't hit a grand slam every time.

My heart hurts right now because so many other desserts have been eliminated that were so much better than what I just ate. And, like, we'll see how Italy is. I agree. Italy doesn't usually wow me, so I'm sort of braced for that as well. I'm not expecting this to be, like, my best round, but, no, I didn't even have that much to say about it. Like, the cheese is kind of just there. The compote isn't particularly. Particularly sweet or particularly tart. It's just kind of there. The texture isn't giving me much.

We got it. It's fine. It's fine.

I'm trying not to, like, have nothing to say other than meh.

I mean, is a killer.

How much was this? Just out of curiosity, because in the. Tend to be very expensive.

No, this is Germany. That's coming from Germany.

No, no.

I'm just saying for comparison's sake against whatever.

That's only 4.99, though.

I mean. Okay, that's all right. To its credit, it's not terribly expensive.

It's fine.

Okay. So my German Jewish heritage dictates that I'm.

What?

Yeah, you heard me. It is.

Your last name is Brown.

I know. It's on my mama's side anyway. And I just feel like I'm making my nana sad by saying that. This really thrill me. It's kind of dry. There's not a whole lot going on. For as colorful as it is, I just wanted more out of it. I love a cheese pastry, and this has got the flakiness to it. But I would say if this is what you're looking for, I would say skip this and go to Joffrey's. You're going to get a bigger one and better coffee. I know I'm mentioning coffee a lot. I'm not getting paid for this. I just. I'm all about was. Fine. I'm after having that, I'm eagerly looking forward to what Italy has to offer, and I think it. It might be an easy take on their side.

All right, why don't you try the raspberry swirl cheesecake? I just had my bite of the strudel. It's.

It's fine.

I'm not going to say it's fine. It's. It has a great. Like, the flavor is very nice, but it's not. I'm not wowed by it. And maybe it's a safe strudel. Like, it's not super sweet. As I look at the Menu for Germany, I think I'd be more excited about the potato pancakes and the toasted pretzel bread with black forest ham and melted cheese. I would go there before I would get the strudel with berry compote. That being said, I'm going to nervously try the raspberry swirl cheesecake and hope that Italy can finally deliver on the promise of. I'm watching the facial gestures of the two of you. Good. The raspberry swirl cheesecake from Italy.

It's very light. It's very fluffy, whipped. You know, when you think of a cheesecake, I think of, like, a really dense, thick, heavy dessert. This is very light. It's creamy. I like it much better than the representative from Germany. Again, it's fine. But out of these two, I like that one. That one. It's nice.

Yeah. I mean, I agree completely. It's light. It has the ricotta in it, which is nice. The raspberry cuts the sweetness a little bit. It's solid. I mean, to be fair, it's 8,000 degrees outside and we're eating, you know, strudel and cheesecake. And that's probably why I don't gravitate to Germany and Italy at these festivals generally, and why they don't tend to be favorites for me this time of year, because they're just heavier foods to eat this time of year. That said, you know, between the two, you know, not to. Not to give away the end, but between the two, I mean, I think the cheesecake is the easy win, even though I've had better things today that weren't winners.

I overheard Zach say something about a Joffrey's coffee, and all I kept thinking about is, if I was to have a cup of coffee, which would I pair one of these with? Because I think a coffee would make the strudel better. I think the coffee would also make the cheesecake better.

It would almost. I mean, tangentially, it's almost kind of like an affogato situation. If I had, like, just a dark shot of espresso, I'm pointing to the Italy pavilion. I know they're with me. Unless that's where you want to go next. And I'm all for it, but I would go to Joffrey's, get that, come get this. And then I think that would really be the move.

So the cheesecake is the winner here for me, out of the two, again, I think if it also, contextually, if it was not 500 degrees outside, they would both taste better. It's just one of those very warm Mondays in Epcot. It's no junior's cheesecake. If you're from the Northeast, you're from the New York, New Jersey area. You know what I'm talking about. But I think it's a very serviceable cheesecake. It's better. It's way better than I expected it to be, honestly. Because in the past, traditionally, the Italy desserts have not really hit very well. But I think we're all in. Am I correct?

Yeah.

Italy is going to move forward. Bing. Done.

Yeah, absolutely. And for what it's worth, I just ran over and checked. It's 550, so, you know, versus the $5 for the strudel. It's a small portion, but obviously it's cheesecake. So it's rich. But Italy tends to run very high, cost wise. And I think the two savory dishes look like they were about $7.50, which is better than usual, I think, for Italy. And then this is 5.50, which is reasonable. I mean, it's small, but it's rich.

You know who you just made very happy? No, not my grandma, who's looking down, going, what? You moved ahead. The cheesecake. The parfait from the Outpost just got very excited because they're going up against the cheesecake in the next round, so they're already shooting threes.

I will offer my advance congratulations to the parfait.

All right, we need to keep on moving. We still have, I think, eight more to go. We're at sort of the halfway point. Let's keep going. So we have now made our way to the center of the world Showcase promenade, where we have a battle, USA versus Japan, both of which I love for different reasons, culinary and otherwise. But it is going to be the frushi in Japan going head to head, toe to toe with the funnel cake, not from Magnolia Terrace, but from the funnel cake stand at the American Adventure. The banana Foster funnel cake is new this year. It has funnel cake with banana chocolate chip ice cream, powdered sugar topped with whipped cream, rum caramel sauce, and a banana cinnamon sugar dusting. The frushi is not new, but it looks a little bit different this year. It's strawberry, pineapple and honeydew wrapped in coconut rice and soy wrapped paper, served with a coconut cream sauce and toasted coconut. I don't need to go into detail about my love of Japan and all the reasons why frushi has always been something that I felt was a great entry point. It's something fun for kids. It's an entry point for adults to be like, oh, look, I don't like fish, but I'm having sushi. But I think year over year, the frushi has always gotten a little bit better. So let's start with the returning favorite of the frushi, mainly because you both are hovering your chopsticks over the frushi, which makes me think you want to try it first. So dig in. And Japan, I think, just for me, has always been a favorite. This year, they've got the ramen cup, which is a cold ramen noodle salad in a cup with fresh vegetables. Grilled chicken with a yuzu, soy vinaigrette, chili oil. Always so, so good. It's fun, too. You get it in a cup, you shake it up, and it's a chilled, cool, very refreshing meal. And the Japanese curry bread. And I love curry bread in Japan. This is new. It's a crispy fried bread with a vegetable curry inside. I liked the. I want to come back and try it again. I like the flavor. I really love the texture. I just would have wished there was a little bit more curry inside. But ladies first. Give me an impression of the frushi, of which you get four large cut roll pieces. Four. Wait for $7.50.

Yeah. So it's pricey. I will say first that it's kind of hilarious, like, to look at Japan versus America. It's like such a, like, caricature because the frushi is like this dainty little four pieces of sushi, and the American funnel cake is like a mountain on a plate of dessert, which speaks for itself. But what you were saying about the frushi is actually very true. So I used to be kind of a frushi hater. I mean, not a hater. Like, it was fun and silly, but it was just like, right? Rice and fruit with some whipped cream on top. And they've recently, I think last year, too, they leveled it up. If you've ever had that Thai dessert that's like, sticky, warm rice with fresh mango and coconut milk on top, it's reminiscent of that. Now, it's not mango. It's like pineapple and strawberry and melon, but it's that same sort of, like, drizzle of sweet, like, condensed coconut milk on top, which adds a whole new level to what it is. It. It tastes a lot like. If you like that Thai dessert, if you've had that before, you will like this. It's not quite there because it's not like the warm mountain of rice with fresh mango, but it's that same exact vibe of, like, sticky rice and fresh fruit and coconut milk. And then the wrapper that it's wrapped in is. That coconut wrapper is very light and lovely. So at $7.50 for four rolls, I will say it's a pricier item for what you're getting. But I do think it's lovely, and I love that they've leveled it up so much in recent years.

While we're waiting to hear Zach figure out how to dig into that big pile of Murica right there. There's forks there because it is. It is a. It is a mountainous. And again, I'm gonna have photos on my Instagram, in the clubhouse, and on the WW site, but there's a big portion. Zach, give me your thoughts on the frushi.

All right, so you ready for this?

Nope.

Well, this is my first time having frushi. It's delicious. I. Not as a hater, but I guess as a person. I walked past and I thought, well, I'm an adult. I don't need to fake. This is real sushi. I want real sushi. And now that I've had this, I'm like, this is really good. This is a great little dessert. It's a. It's an amouj bouche, as you would say, of all the different flavors you get wrapped around. I really like the sweet rice. It's nice. Like Lisa said, it kind of has this reminiscent of the Thai dessert. I like this a lot. Like, honestly, if I just had a bunch of that rice with the sweet cream, I'd be very content. It kind of reminds me of something you'd almost get at the Polynesian with kind of like the coconut rice, which I really, really dig. Very tainable. It's Instagramable, and it's delectable.

So this is one of the few items that I tried on the opening day of the festival. I normally just skip the frushi. Like, I don't need, like, the filler again. It's. It's. I've had it before. I think the frushi is delicious. I think it's the best one they've had. Like, I would come back and order it again and eat it all by myself. And I think it is that coconut cream sauce on top. That's just the right amount of the sweetness on top of the crunch of the strawberry and the pineapple and the honeydew. I love it, and I have no problem spending $7.50 on that, like, over and over again. And now we're gonna have to battle out to see who's gonna get that fourth piece out of the three of us. In the meantime, you are going back into your big pile of. It's like a screaming bald eagle over there. What do you. It does. It looks like a big eagle's nest. What do you think of the banana foster funnel? You must like it, because this is, like, your fourth forkful, too.

I mean, it's a funnel cake. Like, it's good. You know, it's gluttony on a plate. Like, it is a mountain. Like, we used to go to, like, the beach and the, you know, the Mideast and northeast and, like, get, like, the funnel cake on the boardwalk. And, like, that's what this is. It just also happens to have a mountain of banana chocolate chip ice cream on top and caramel. I mean, it's tough not to like it because it is. It's just like, he doesn't want a plate.

Why. Why you keep doing it to me, so that's so good. Again, I grew up in the Northeast. There was always some sort of, like, Our lady of insert name here. Feast or Italian festival going on, some church parking lot or whatever. And funnel cake was always, like, the thing. It was like the thing that you got at. Got at the end of the night. And by the time you got out of your mom and dad's car, like, your pant legs were covered with powdered sugar. This is a little bit different. It's like a little bit of a thinner funnel cake. There's a lot to it here. This is a really, really big portion. It comes in at, like, $12ish, but like you said, a family of seven could easily eat this. I'm not trying to beat the joke to death about not being a sweet guy, but while there's all these different sweet elements to this, like, I like this. This is a sort of nice finish to a meal.

I like it a lot. I'm a big fan of chocolate banana. I think it's really tasty. I forgot that there were chocolate chips in this, so that was a nice little surprise on the inside. It's just. It's so hard to eat. Like, I feel like you don't seem

to be having any.

No, no, no. But I just feel like in front of people, I look awful. Like, just like, just this ravenous animal shredding at this thing. And I like it a lot. It's very delicious. Would get again, but I would want to definitely share it. I don't think I want. Would want the whole thing.

So now which one do you pick? Is it frushi or is it the banana foster Marica funnel cake?

So while maybe short of the whipped cream on top, which I think is, like, just excessive. Beyond excessive. Like, I like all of the elements of the funnel cake. Like, you know, Disney Cruise line banana ice cream day. I'm always a very excited person, you know, but give me, like, a plain, old, fresh, freshly fried funnel cake sprinkled with powdered sugar, still warm on the boardwalk at the beach, like, all day long over, like, a mountain of ice. Ice cream and whipped cream on top. Like, it tastes good, but it's just too much. It's like five different desserts in one. And while, you know, obviously we're all, like, dipping our forks into it a few times and it's delicious. Like, it's just too much going on. Like, it's for me, like, the frushi all day long. And Zach, like, I'm kind of happy that you've never had it before, because old fruci, which was just, like, rice with fruit and whipped cream on top, was not this. Like, this is a very elevated version of what they used to serve. And I love it. Like, I love what they've been doing with the frushi lately. So it's frushi for me.

I guess good things come to those that. Wait, I'm gonna go with frushi. It's just like Lisa said, all the elements of the funnel cake is lovely or are lovely. Excuse me. But it's just. It's a whole lot. It's kind of an ordeal. It's a big event. And the frushi is just easy. Again, like, kind of other things that I've mentioned. It's very. It's a walkable food that I could just kind of pop and go. Had we not all been sharing and being lovely and delicate, I would not use chopsticks and just popped in with my fingers. So my vote is frushi.

It is a clean sweep. It was a. This was pretty simple for me. As much as I like the funnel cake again, I sort of also touched on the childhood nostalgia. I do. I just think the fushi is so very well leveled up. It's super accessible. Again, it's also a nice complement. You get the frushi and the curry bread and the ramen cup. And then whether you either get the strawberry lemonade with the popping strawberry boba non alcoholic, or the plum wine or the sakura sake or the lavender lemonade, which is a constant fan favorite here, I think Japan once again wins like 5.5 out of 5 for Japan. And frushi is moving on to the edible eight. As we move on down the promenade to see and eat what's next. Who's going to eat the last piece of frushi?

You have it because you've never had it.

God, you have it even though you're with a fork. Who brought him? So as we start to round the litterland proverbial corner, we hit La Isla Fresca, which is located between France and Morocco, which is going to go head to head with maybe a little surprise entry. Joffre's Coffee and Tea Company. At La Ilafresca, there's a coconut chocolate flan bisocho. For somebody who doesn't like flan, there's two flan entries in this year's Sweet 16. It is a chocolate cake with coconut custard and passion fruit caramel. And then Joffrey's comes in and I think just because I've heard so much about it and I've never had it before, it is a Dubai Chocolate frozen cappuccino. Dubai Chocolate is like the like sun dried tomato of 2026. Like it came out of nowhere and all of a sudden every place had Dubai Chocolate. This is a frozen cappuccino with pistachio syrup topped with whipped cream and dark chocolate sauce. It doesn't sound like a coffee, it sounds more like a dessert, which is why it made it to the sweet 16. I think we should start, however with the flan, which by the way looks very different than the one that we had from, I don't know, it was hours ago. Wherever we had the other, the flan from Mexico. This is a little bit more of a shorter, wider flan. Again, I'll have photos everywhere. It's very pretty though. So get your spoon or your forks and dig right in again. Chocolate cake, coconut custard and a passion fruit caramel. And it's sort of bathing in this little, almost like a sweet syrup on the bottom.

Is it orange?

It's not orange.

Passion fruit.

Passion fruit.

Passion fruit.

Oh, already. So things do start to suffer a bit toward the end when you've had 10 other desserts. But that being said, I think this is a personal preference thing. I'm not a huge like rich chocolate lover type person. And also this is more of a sort of jiggly traditional flan which, like you, Lou, I think I'm usually not partial to. It's. You're going to laugh at me. It's Fine. It's fine. I think like the coconut doesn't know quite what to do with itself against the chocolate. The texture I'm not loving. And also I didn't even have any of it. But there's like a kind of like a harder piece of chocolate across the top that I just skipped entirely.

This is.

This one is not for me.

I think you did yourself a service by skipping the chocolate on top. It's a dark chocolate, which I typically enjoy. When she started to say that it's jiggly and traditional like you, Lou and I went, wait, please finish that sentence. Because if not, this should be hateful. I love a pudding. This is not a pudding. It's just interesting. I wanted to like it when you said about the coconut. I love coconut custard. Like that makes me happy. I'm just not digging this. And I. I'm a big fan of Joffrey's frozen cappuccino dream thing. So I'm already kind of.

You've already. You've made your. Yeah, you made your choice pretty quickly. So this one was interesting to me because I love coconut and I don't. But I don't love flan. So I didn't know how I was going to feel about it. But it's also served on this short, semi dense chocolate cake. So as I was eating it, I was like, it's okay. But then I was sort of left with the flavor I was hoping with. It tasted like a Mounds bar. Like just sort of sitting.

Don't.

Don't shake your head at me, Zach Brown. It tastes like. But that being said, it's probably not something and it's personal preference just because again, this goes back to my preference or lack thereof of the flavor and the texture of flan. That being said, this could be someone's favorite. Every look stitch is great. There is somebody who's like, bring back some stitches. Supersonic celebration. Because it was my kids favorite. I respect that. I'm sure somebody loves. It's just if it's not our thing, it's just not our thing. Take a sip of the Dubai chocolate frozen cappuccino. I don't even know what Dubai chocolate is and why it's a thing.

I know it has to do with pistachio. I love cappuccino. I love pistachio. Do they go together? We're about to find out.

They do. I will tell you. I mean, I haven't had this, but I do know that because there's also this new trend. You see it at Starbucks. You see it at Dunkin even. There's a lot of pistachio coffees.

Oh, I like that. I like that a lot. So it's. It's those two things. It's Joffrey's cappuccino dream. If you've had it before, this tastes like that, but with pistachio, you hit it on the head. It's like when you go to Starbucks and get their pistachio latte or whatever. It's just the frozen, more kind of blended version of that. It's good. I would get this again.

It's very. Look, we're comparing a dessert with a coffee that sort of is disguising itself as a dessert or a dessert disguising itself as a coffee. But I think. Are we all in agreement?

Yeah. This flan has devolved past fine in its aftertaste. Like, I am not a fan. It's somebody's favorite. It's not mine. The drink. I mean, if you like a Starbucks sweet coffee drink, you know, this is for you. One of my very favorite drinks on the Destiny. The cruise that we were just on at Merida's was a pistachio coffee. I loved it. And it kind of is a little bit reminiscent of that, but much, much sweeter, of course. Yeah. I mean, I don't know that I drink the whole thing. It's pretty darn sweet, but it's tasty. And it certainly outperforms the flan.

Yeah, I'm all about it. I like this a lot.

Yeah, I do, too. And the. The Dubai chocolate, I think came in at. I think it was 5.99, 6.99 somewhere around there.

I was worried about the crunchy bits, but I realized it's ice.

And I do like the dark chocolate sauce, too. So, yeah, the. The Dubai chocolate frozen cappuccino. Clear winner. Moving on, as we're coming down to our last few of the sweet 16. And then the tough decisions have to be made. Okay, we are down. You've been troopers, by the way. It's been hot. It's been. It has been a. A walk around the promenade. But we are down to our final. Not the final four, but our final four of this round of Sweet 16. And we are going to start at Beach Grub, which is located in between Imagination and World Showcase with the new orange cream bar. Thank you. This is the flight of the bumblebee in the background. It's got a vanilla bean orange mousse covered in a chocolate shell with. With marshmallow meringue. And that is going up against the frozen peach cobbler from the Honey Bistro, which I've really come to love over the last few years with. It's a frozen peach cobbler has. It's non alcoholic, although you can get it with alcohol, which blueberry vodka and streusel on top. So let's start off with the orange cream bar, which is new, which looks like if the ice cream man was coming by your house, you would get that. But it's sort of dipped in this marshmallow meringue on top. So I think we're all friends and family here. Just take a bite and. It looks. You had a little. Too bad we're not doing video. I had a nice little marshmallow pull there at the very end. And then give me your thoughts.

It's very messy, so it reminds me. It's better than I thought it would. It's actually very good. It reminds me of either, you know, when you get like an orange rind, like a. Like a candied orange rind dipped in dark chocolate, or those like at Christmas time, those like oranges that you break apart that are like chocolatey orange. It's that flavor but like the consistency of it. What's on the. Is it like a mousse or something? It's. It's. Yeah. So it's a vanilla bean orange mousse on the inside. So it's. It's actually not. I don't think it's cold like ice cream. It's like a mousse that's. It's on a popcorn. So you expect it to be a popsicle, but it's not frozen. It's like a mousse on the inside. So it's like those things that I've described, but like a much lighter version of it. And actually it's silly to say that marshmallow cuts the sweetness, but I think the marshmallow cuts the sweetness. Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot more than I expected to. That's delicious.

I agree. I was expecting full on dreamsicle, but the chocolate gives it a whole other flavor that I wasn't anticipating just on by looking at it. It's nice. And also I was. It was like, like this is going to be an ice cream thing. It's gonna be really cold, like whatever, but it's soft in the middle.

I don't.

I don't know if I would call it a mousse, but it's. It's really good. I gotta go back for a second.

It's hard to identify what this is, right? It's. It looks like it's gonna be one thing and sort of it, it surprises you because it's not frozen. It's not that same type of ice cream bar. It's sort of positioned in that shape. It does remind me of like the holidays and those chocolate covered oranges. But obviously texturally very, very different. This is going to go up against. However, let's bring on the challenger. This goes up against the frozen peach cobbler from the Honey Bistro with streusel, which is sort of like part drink, part like frozen ice cream. But the streusel on top, I think is really what makes this one. This is a returning favorite.

First thought, it's really nice. I mean it is a drink, so it's a little bit different. It's like a pizza.

I think it's more drinky now because I had to walk in the 112 degree heat to get us here together. It definitely comes frozen. Almost more ice creamish than drinkish.

Again, it's very light. It's very like creamy peachy. It's cold obviously, which is nice today. And it does have the little bit of crumble of streusel on top to give it a little bit more of an interesting texture. It's lovely. I think these are both lovely.

Yeah, I like the crumbles. I think that's. Without it, it would just kind of be just uninteresting. But by having the, you know, pie crust, cobbler crumbles, it feels like something that you would make at home on like a Sunday afternoon in the summer. It's really good. I would kind of hope for maybe like, maybe some chunks of peaches or something just to have that. But other than that, it's really good.

Yeah. The pie crust sort of crumbles, like you said, is really what makes it. Yeah. Which one moves forward for you?

So again, they're both lovely and it kind of just depends what you're in the mood for. But like, just for like overall inventiveness and like interesting flavor and just something that deserves, I think to go forward. I'm very like, I'm super like very happily surprised by the orange cream bar. I was expecting something completely different. I was braced for chocolate. Cause we've had a lot of sugar today and I'm just kind of past that point. But that was lovely. And I think that they're both really, really nice. I would get either of them again, but I think that orange cream bar deserves to go forward.

I agree. It surprised me in a Pleasant way. You know, between the two things, I think there's a lot more going on with the bar than there is the shake or whatever this thing is. I just think the flavor profile and the different things and I like the meringue. It's not like they just put like jet puff on there. Like, they definitely made this. And it's, you know, it's like Lisa said, it's not the sweet that you're expecting.

It was good.

I like that.

So I admittedly, I'm not a big marshmallow guy. I'm not a big orange cream guy, so. And we also need to be fair to all of these. We are at the end of a very long, very filling, very, very, very sweet day. It's not just the desserts, it's the company as well. All that being said, I am going to sort of go not against. My vote would be cast for the frozen peach cobbler. Like, if I came back, I would get frozen peach cobbler all day over that. Again, it's just a personal preference. I have a feeling that the orange cream bar over at Beach Grub is going to do very, very well and be very popular with a lot of guests. And both yacht and beach Grub usually have a lot of good things. There's a seafood bake at Beach Grub along with the sweet grilled street corn on the cob. And they also have a strawberry basil lemonade. So this is sort of a nice accompaniment to that. I do have to just give quick credit. We loved it last time we didn't get anything from Yat Grub, but man, that trio of dips and chips is. If I wasn't so full, I would be. I'd be going back for more. All right, so the, the cream bar is going to move ahead to the edible eight and we are down to the last two. And that is going to be where we're sitting inside of Communicore Hall. There is the blueberry crumble cake from Farmer's Feast has a blueberry lemon zest soft serve and blueberry compote. You guys can start digging into that and that is going to go up against a new pavilion and a new entry, obviously, the coconut panna cotta with a cherry gele and matcha crumb topped with a citrus coulis, plant based meringue and flower confetti. Again, the crumble cake is a returning favorite from the feast from last year. I love, love blueberry, so I'm really looking forward to this one.

But Zach, it's really good the blueberry ice cream I could have on its own and be very happy. The bar on its own, I would be very happy. So to get them both. And what did they come in? It's like less than $5, I think $4.79.

This is the value.

I was just gonna say, out of everything we've had, I think this is so far the greatest value because you're getting two desserts in one. And both of them could stand on their own and make me very happy. The fact that they're giving me both, I am a really.

And be super. It is really happy, guys. It is the least expensive item we've tried all day. And from portion size too, maybe the most shareable. Yes.

Yeah, it's a really, really nice portion size. We've had a lot of compotes today. This compote, they did not all come out of the same tub because this is so much better. I mean, not that any of the other ones weren't good, but this one, like just the blueberry is so flavor forward in it. It's really, really wonderful. There's, you know, the ice cream in it and then the lemon zest, I think cuts the sweetness just the right amount. The texture is really, really nice, but it just packs like such a fruit like punch of blueberry. It's like the best blueberry pie. It's just. It's really, really good.

I think sometimes a lot of places you'll go to, they do the whole blueberry lemon thing and you take a bite and the lemon is so in your face. This balances it really nicely. I know this sounds very highfalutin or whatever, but it's genuinely a really nice mix of flavors that you can taste everything individually. It's delicious.

So start off, take a, take a taste of the coconut panna cotta. Because I will say of all of the berries, blue may be my favorite. I love blueberry pie. I love a good blueberry cheesecake. I love a God. Remember, like the boathouse had that incredible blueberry crumble. Like dessert, I like just blueberry. This is fantastic. Like you said individually and then collectively, it's really, really well done. It's not overly sweet. It's super shareable. That coconut panna cotta is going to have. It's got a long way to go right out of the gate for me to beat what even at the end of a long day. This one's really, really strong for me. Now, I will say first, the coconut panna cotta is served in this sort of like Tall, almost like a shot glass. It looks like a little terrarium. It's beautiful. Like, presentation wise, it may be the prettiest of all the items that we've had today so far.

And away. It's the prettiest. Like, and it's, it's, it's prettier also than that. We didn't get it today because it's a return thing and it's sort of more just instagramable than anything. That little terrarium that they, they have elsewhere. But this, it's like a. It's like a stemless champagne flute that has like the sort of light colored panna cotta and the layer of the cherry jelly. There's like a matcha crumble on top and there's actual little edible flowers sort of sprinkled across the top. And there's a little. There's also a little citrus cookie that's stuck in it that I'm not getting much citrus from, but it is pretty easily far and away the prettiest thing that we've had today. It's good. I mean, if it wasn't, well, I wouldn't say much at this point, but if it wasn't up against the blueberry, I think it would stand a lot stronger. It's lovely. The cherry is. The cherry is. If you like a tart cherry, you'll really, really like this. I think in the matcha, it's interesting. It adds like an interesting, not earthy, but almost earthy, like texture and flavor to it. But Lou, you try it.

Here, take.

Thank you. I think it's good. I think the matcha gets a little lost in the cherry because the cherry is so strong. It's good. The little cookie, the citrus cookie that you give you almost kind of reminds me. Do you remember those lemon cookies you'd get at McDonald's? It kind of reminds me of that a little, but. But not as strong in flavor. I agree with Lisa in that this is delicious. It's beautiful. It just feels like it so belongs to this festival. But going up against what that bowl over there with all the blueberries holds, and for that price, it's hard to stand up against. It's almost unfair for these to be paired right away. It's still good. I encourage you to come get it at the festival. You won't be disappointed. It's beautiful and it's delicious and I'm really happy that I got to enjoy it.

So I think you're right. These are two very, very different desserts. I think it's beautiful. It's very subtle and there is an earthiness, obviously to the matcha. Again, my love of berries definitely swings more towards the blue than the cherry side. I do think this would again, over at nectar, which is over by the land. The food items are a tuna poke bowl and then there is a plant based poke bowl. I think this would be a nice compliment probably to the poke bowl. And I think it's very deliberate in terms of. I mean, clearly there's a lot of thought and art and science to pairing the dessert items with the food items with the beverage items. There's also a frozen island escape there that has peach and mango. It's a smoothie with a frozen mini fruit pop inside. So I think these are sort of almost meant to sort of be enjoyed together. But if you had to choose the blueberry, I think I'd know where this is going. The coconut panna cotta at $5.79 or the blueberry crumble cake at Farmer's Feast for $4.79. Your vote would be blueberry all day.

Yeah, I mean, I'm sad to say it, like, if you're just looking for a really good tasting dessert, that's great. Bang for your buck. Blueberry all day long. If you want, like a gorgeous picture of a very light dessert that and like you said, like anything, like this pile of blueberry crumb cake would completely overpower a poke bowl. Like, you couldn't eat them together. So if you're getting a poke bowl and you want a little something sweet to go with it for the evening, and it's beautiful. It's the perfect thing. You know, it's very. It's almost unfair to compare the two, but, like, bang for your buck and taste alone, like, the cake wins out.

The blueberry, the cobbler, and this really is the portion of the day where dreams come true and are crushed at the same time. We've made it down to the edible eight. We now need to pare ourselves down to the flavor 4. I'm just going to give you the bracket matchups and you tell me which is your vote to move forward. I'll start. Ladies first. We're just going to go top down. The blueberry crumble cake. Recency bias versus the frushi from Japan.

Oh, these make me sad.

That's part of the fun.

I know, but, like, I mean, you have to go with your heart, right? It's the blueberry for me, I think is the winner.

Why do you hate Japan?

I love Japan. That's why this breaks My heart, the ferushi is delicious. I think it reminds me of one of my favorite desserts in the world that like Thai sticky rice with mango and coconut milk. But, you know, for $7.50 for four little pieces versus that mountain of blueberry cobbler that's absolutely delicious and you could share with two or three people, you know, and just sheer taste alone, I think the blueberry wins out. But with a firm nod to Frusci. New frushi, not old frushi.

Sounds to me like Lisa doesn't love Japan. I'm just saying. Go ahead.

Oh, goodness. Send your emails too. No, I think on its own, flavor wise, the blueberry holds against the frushi, blueberry against the frushi. But then you also have quantity and you have price. This is an incredible flavor value and diversity because you have like the crumble cake and ice cream. It's an and so that is my vote, 100%. I see that one going far.

Yeah. I mean, again, and for blueberry to be so strong as literally the last thing that we tasted too, I think speaks volume. Like, we're so full, we've had so much and, you know, our palates are sort of been inundated with so many different sweets for it to still remain so strong, I think it speaks volume. All credit to frushi again, really, I think being leveled up over past years. But I'm going to have to go with you and move blueberry to the flavor 4. We have an inter familial battle coming up next because in the edible eight, the cereal shake from brunchcot is going up against its new little baby brother, the French toast, also from Brunchcot. Which of the two. The french toast with a fruit cereal shake moves forward. Ladies first.

Oh, this is tough. Again, with a firm nod to the beloved cereal shake, which is so lovely and shareable and like family friendly and all the things the French toast is, it's new, it's an incredible value. It's a huge amount of food. You know, it's not a beverage which has it going for it. For me, it's very, very sweet. I wouldn't necessarily myself eat the whole thing, but if I was here with a couple of other people or one other person and had it to share, I think that's the winner for me. The French toast.

Okay, so I'm genuine. I'm really struggling here, but if I was to step out of familiarity and knowing the fruit loop shake over and over and over, I'm thinking about, like, if I was here with, like, my family and having these two items. I think the French toast, the one that I would like, go to my mom, be like, you have to try this.

Like, this is so good.

I think that's my vote. I'm so torn. I'm thankful that in real life I don't have to choose, but for the sake of this, I think I'm gonna go French toast.

You know, some people will argue there's no such thing as love at first sight. However, the French toast took a little piece of my heart the first time we met. And then today, it reaffirmed that love that we share. I do have the same nostalgic sentiment and affinity for the fruit cereal shake, but French toast, as I expected the first time I tried it. You are moving on to the flavor 4.

I just only want to try it now. Warm, like, actually as.

And hungry. Like, coming back warm and hungry and as Walt intended and not being so warm outside. I think this second half of the edible 8 is going to be very, very interesting. Quickly tell me. We have the orange cream bar, which we just had, versus the Dubai chocolate frozen cappuccino from Joffrey's.

They're so radically different.

Again, it's part of the fun.

Fun, difficult, whatever. I would. I think because we're here at the festival, I'm going to go with the bar because I can essentially get that shake, drink coffee, whatever, any other time of the year. Not the pistachio thing.

I get it.

But this is very, very unique. That's redundant. It's unique to this festival. It's got a lot going on. It's much better than I anticipated. I enjoy. I'm go with the creamsicle. I'm surprising myself not picking a coffee.

This doesn't seem fair because you either tie break or you get just voted out every time.

Would you like me to go next?

Yes, you go next. You go next. Because it's no fun if every time your vote doesn't count.

Yeah, I guess it might. Well, I want to be as objective as I can because I think I enjoyed the Dubai chocolate frozen cappuccino more than I did the orange cream bar. But I honestly think that the orange cream bar. Again, we are judging the best of the fest. I think the orange cream bar is a better, more interesting and unique option. So I'm going to go with the

orange cream bar, and I'm going to wholeheartedly agree. So that's. It sweeps that the Dubai. I mean, it's fine. I'm not a huge Like, Frappuccino person. Anyway, it's just, like, a big cup of sugar for me, and I'm not a huge chocolate person, so it's an easier bet for me. And the orange cream bar was one of the biggest surprises to me, especially this late in the game when I'm, like, so sugared out. Like, it was so different than what I expected. I was kind of dreading biting into it, to be perfectly honest. And I was very pleasantly surprised. The Dubai drink, I mean, it was good, but it's not that different from, like, what I could get at Starbucks. So orange cream bar all the way.

The orange cream bar moves on. And to fill out the final flavor 4. Remember how I said that when one decision was made, another participant was probably cheering? And that's because the raspberry swirl cheesecake from Italy is going to go up against the seasonal fruit parfait with sweet chili sauce and mango dole whip from the refreshment outpost. Do I even need to pull the committee?

I'm opening the envelope, and the envelope says parfait.

I think of John Mulaney asking question, do you want to have a great, productive day or do you want to lay on the floor moaning? I'm definitely. I mean, it is the parfait all the way.

Yeah. I think there's no. I think when I had the parfait, I was like, wow, kids, you're going to go places.

You.

You are a strong, strong contender. Even not being a new item again, I. I'll give Italy credit where it's due, because I think Italy has struggled for a long time. I think it was better than things that we've had from Italy in the past, but it does not. Move on to the flavor four, where the blueberry crumble cake is going to go up against the French toast and the aforementioned parfait is going to go up against the orange cream bar. Not necessarily. I think a lot of people are just tearing up their brackets right now because this is not the final four that they have selected. Blueberry crumble cake versus the French toast.

I mean, for me, it's the blueberry crumble cake. It's like, I like a fruit dessert, and it's. Everything about it was good. And one thing that Zach said that, like, stuck out at me is that, like, sometimes when you have a blueberry lemon dessert, the lemon overpowers. I wouldn't even know lemon was in this if I hadn't read the description. But. But it's there because it's cutting the sweetness just right. But it just adds a little bit of tartness to the blueberry bang for your buck. Like all the things. French toast is a good bang for your buck, too. And it was good. And I know you loved it, and I did, too. It was really good. But for me, between the two, it's the blueberry.

This is really difficult because I think these are probably my two favorite items of the day. But I'm gonna say the thing that is going to push one over the head over the other for me, and I'm gonna go with the blueberry. And here's why. Surprising myself genuinely. It's, again, the diversity. The price is fantastic. I'm getting an ice cream and the blueberry crumble. Both delicious on their own. If you think about last year, the things that moved forward, it was the items that we got a lot more out of.

It was the chips.

It was the. The thing with the plantains and the rice and all the. They had so many things going on in one bowl. Back to the bowl for me, it's the ice cream. It's the blueberry crumble. I'm so sorry. French toast. I will still get a second round of that some other day. But that. I think I'm going to keep going back to it while we're sitting here.

It's really good. You know, I have never sort of exercised my veto power before. Not that I think I have any. You know, the officials are going to the instant replay because this one's tight. This one's tight. And to your point, my vote doesn't count now unless I just completely usurp. You know, I should have gone second.

Sorry.

But I. When I first tried the French toast on Wednesday, when I tried it again today even, oh, that had been sitting for a little while. Like, man, this French toast is strong. Like, I think this French toast makes it to the tastiest, too. No sweat. My money. And if I was to fill out my bracket ahead of time, I would have put the French toast as the best of the best. It's new. It's only 50 cents more than the blueberry crumble cake. $4.79 versus 5.5, which I think is a fantastic value. I think it's unique. I think it's fun. I think it fills that gap of the Saturday morning sit in front of the TV with your cereal and your French toast and your syrup and. But. But I also respect your votes, and I can be swayed to agree.

I do think that what just happened is going to make for a very interesting final round.

I Don't think so. I don't think. I don't think so. I think. I think. I think there was a very strong contender, so. All right, Blueberry is going to move forward. And now we've got the orange Creamsicle.

I think the. I think the final result is about to be very surprising.

Let's see the Creamsicle, which. How does the Creamsicle make a flavor for? I have zero idea.

It was. It was all how they were paired.

It's totally the seating. I think next year, another committee will have to come in and rearrange the seatings, but it is the orange Creamsicle versus the parfait from the Outpost. If I'll go. You know what? I haven't gone first yet. It's. It's not even close. The parfait. It's. By the second half. By the first half being over. It was a rout. It was as if their top, their starting five just didn't even show up. I agree.

It's the thing that I enjoyed, and there are very few things that we've had today that I was like, I would eat that whole thing now, even knowing that we have all the things to do. It was delicious. It was cool. And especially in that hot moment, I really liked it. It was delicious. And the variety of flavors you get with the sweet, the spicy, the kind of smokiness of the syrup or whatever was about it.

Yeah, it was simple and complex all at the same time.

It was perfect. It was cold on a hot day. It had the heat, it had the salt, it had the fresh fruit on the bottom. Who doesn't love a mango dole whip? Like, this was what I meant. I was almost glad that the French toast got eliminated for you, because we all loved it. We all agree it's, like, top two or three in the whole thing. But, like, you know, I am at peace with this because my favorite historical dessert at Flower and Garden, dare I say any Epcot festival as a dessert is the sugared strawberries and the parfait. Beat out the sugared strawberries. They're just the thing I crave. They're not, like, objectively the best or most interested, but, like, for me.

But you voted for the parfait.

I was swayed in that one. I was swayed in that. And you were right. And you were right because I was using my past bias. And objectively, the parfait, for all the reasons I just described, was the better dessert. It was. But I was very sad that my sugared strawberries got knocked out in the the first round. And now to see the parfait, like carry it through to the end. Like, I'm at peace. I'm at peace with the final. Like, I'm shocked, shocked at what just happened and I'm just gonna throw out there.

The Vegas oddsmakers are just a reeling at this point.

The parfait may or may not have been on the original list. If you recall, when we were sitting going through this and we added it because originally I think.

Right. Originally I had just those soft serve in the waffle cone because I saw like, oh, there's a choice of tangerine and mango. And you're like, no, no, you should swap out the parfait. Well, now that puts us with the parfait versus the blueberry crumble cake in the battle of the tastiest two. How should we. How do you want to go? I don't know how either of you are going to vote. Zach has got his finger on his nose. He doesn't want to go first.

Parfait 10. 10% without question.

It's a lot of percentage. I know what's gonna happen here.

I know exactly.

You go second.

No. Because he's gonna say blueberry and then I have to be the deciding vote.

Am I gonna say blueberry?

I don't know. Are you?

You have to. So he has to make the decision.

No. Be fair. Go with. Go with what you really feel. I'm gonna say blueberries.

It's so good.

What they can't see is that I've been like strategically just taking little chips and pieces away.

It literally looks like soup at this point. It looks like the giant celestial in the middle of a purple ocean just sticking his little hand out and you're still. You're not. There's gonna be no nothing left behind.

No shame.

So interesting that the final two are both fruit based items. The blueberry versus the fruit parfait. They're healthy. They are both healthy. By our definition. They both include like whole pieces of whole fruit. Which I think is lovely parents. It's also nice for right. So you can feel like you're eating something somewhat healthy. Ish. I'm stalling for time because I can easily be swayed one over the other. It almost depends on like what mood are you in.

They have to a lot of them angsty.

No. But like, do you want something just like cool and refreshing and 84 degrees degrees out.

Which one are you gathered?

Well, look, it's not going to be 84 degrees again until next February because summer is here. Clearly. But there's some. But that blueberry is so comfortable and comforting. It just. It brings up different emotions. Stop staring at me. You guys are freaking me out, man.

I like that you took the glasses off for emphasis. Not that they can see it.

I'm struggling because I thought I had a clear winner and I don't. And I am. I'm back and forth.

This is why I'm kind of glad the French toast got knocked out because I know how much you loved it and we all loved it, but now you're having to make a more difficult choice. And I think this is way more interesting.

French toast. We keep referring to it like it's like this long lost cousin.

We all loved it.

They're great.

They're great.

I almost wish we would have brought somebody else. Just like in the on deck circle, like all sitting in the back, like, oh, you need to be the tie breaking vote. But I guess that's what I need.

I think an odd number is where you're going to.

I think. Yeah, I know. I think this is where.

Gosh.

Neither are new. Also interesting. I feel I'm clearly thinking Aladdin. I almost feel like the blueberry feels more like flower and garden. Ish. But I also think that the refreshment outpost is probably so wildly overlooked. And I bet guests should.

It's been for a couple years now. We had some amazing stuff there last year when we were doing the savory. That surprised us. That beef patty there yesterday. And that Nigerian. I forget what it was called. The Nigerian beef.

The Nigerian beef pie with the papaya syrup.

Delicious, Delicious.

I'm pulling up the menu from.

I would be interested to see, like, we've talked about these other places where kind of like holistically, if you looked at the menu, the pairings. Because that beef pie or whatever it

was was so, so good.

If it wasn't all the way over there, I would go get another one. Over here you've got the scallop and the grilled asparagus.

To be fair, there's the early bloom, which runs till April 5. And then there's a springtime menu, which changes. There's the heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella grilled beef strip loin. And then the blueberry crumble cake goes away and is replaced with the peach cobbler, cinnamon gelato and streusel topping. So it is officially a limited time offer. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I have made my decision.

We're just gonna go to the washroom.

Seasonal fruit parfait. I Just. I'm wildly surprised that that is my vote. But I just think for flavor, for value, pairing it with the beef pocket pie and even some of the other items at the Refreshment Outpost. The ice cream, I want to go back and get the ice cream float with the tangerine soft serve and the red cream soda. I've never even heard of any of those words before. I'm not a big drinker, but a spicy watermelon hard cider, that does sound interesting. And that beef pie was, was fantastic. So all you. I. I thought you were going to be like, oh, it's a limited time offer. He's going to, like, move this one forward. I'm gonna go. The Refreshment Outpost. You're the little engine that could. I'm so proud of you. I know.

I'm so happy for it. And you know what, too, like what you just read. The second round of offerings from this location at Communicore. The farmer's feast, I'm really excited for. So we get the, like you just said, the heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, which I love. The grilled beef strip lemon loin I'm super excited for. And I love a good peach cobbler. So I think I'm, you know, this had a great showing today, and I'm super excited for, like, round two of what this location has.

I also. Something else that contributed to it, too is the fact that you can get the parfait with the sweet chili sauce with the tajin with the dole mango, but you can also get it just soft serve in a waffle cone. The mango or the tangerine. I think that sort of plays into the decision, too. The other beverages, the Nigerian beef pie, the fact that it is in that little tucked away corner, Africa never got its pavilion. This is your time to shine. Stand up, take a bow. You are crowned the best of the fest. The seasoned fruit parfait with sweet chili sauce and dole whip mango top.

I'm so happy. This was exciting. This is exciting. Plus, they'll do the tajin to taste, so they'll. They'll. It's.

And if you don't want the chili sauce. Right.

Yeah. If you don't want it at all, you don't have to get any. If you want it super heavy, which, you know, I would have liked a little bit more of it, they'll do that. So, yeah, they can. It's one of the few things that they can really sort of customize on the spot for you.

If you'd have told me when I woke up this morning that I'd spend this amount of time hyping up a dole whip. I would have told you you're nuts. But this is the funniest thing because it is that good. It is delicious. We have no losers here because we got to try them all. And I am really looking forward to what comes next to Farmer's Feast. I will be back. I will be hungry. I'm so thankful to have been here with you guys. This is great. Everyone listening. Come to the festival.

Try the food. Yeah. And look, you know, like the NCAA tournament, there's a lot of deserving teams that just don't make it. They're in. They're in the sec. They're in tough brackets. They're in tough divisions. They can't move forward. There's injuries. There's all kinds of things going on. There's a lot of really good, sweet and clearly savory things which we didn't really touch on at this year's festival. It's why we talk about it being our favorite. This sort of evidences the fact there is something here for everyone. Our winner might not be your winner. I absolutely want to hear from you. Whether you did your own bracket tournament or just, you know, trying your own top five, what for you is your Best of the fest at this year's Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. You can let me know. Let us know and be part of the conversation and community a number of different ways. One I'd like to hear from you. I'll play it on the air, be part of the show. Call the voicemail. 407-900-933-9140-7900. WW1 call from the festival. Let me hear you while you're doing your own little mini review by yourself. Bring the whole family, mom, dad, grandma and the kids. It doesn't matter. Or come over to the clubhouse at www.comclubhouse. we will put or start a thread there about our favorites from this year's festival. Then when you're done with all that, please go and visit my friends. Not at their houses because it's weird, but where they live and share and make their own magic online. Shameless. Plug time. Go.

You can find me in two places. You can find me at thousandcircles. Com where you can sign up for an email every morning, where you get a little daily dose of Disney photographer and storytelling direct into your inbox every morning. If you are a Rundisney fan or are just interested in rewriting a life that calls to you in the backdrop of Disney as your location. You can find me@thecastlerun.com Gosh, it's like

following Queen at Live Aid. You can listen to my podcast on your favorite podcast machine, the Zac Brown Show. Meet old friends, one story at a time. A wide variety of people, interests and topics. Lots of passion. I hope you come check it out. You can follow me on Instagram Zack Brown and yeah, lots of cool stuff there.

I will share all of these out on in the show notes@www.radio.com and again, I'd love to hear from you. Thank you both for trekking around Epcot center with me today. Thank you. Listening at home, in the car, at the gym, on the treadmill, while you're making dinner wherever it is. Hopefully you are not listening, hungry and love for you to join me again when we do this again at the very next festival. I know you're tired, I know you're sweet, I know you're famished. But if we could just snap our fingers, you could have any item from the festival delivered to this beautiful table right here in Communicore Hall. What would it be?

Go Conch fritters, Nigerian beef pie trio

and chips and dip. If we get all through. Yeah, I'm not sharing, but how cool would that be if we could make. I said there. Do you remember? You guys didn't. There was a time, I think it was food and wine. There was a hard ticket event and you would go to this like special enclosed area on the promenade and they would literally bring you food from the different marketplaces.

Does anybody have Josh tomorrow's number?

Well, you know what else I could go for? And we remembered it was what won last year, the Jamaican jerk chicken from the Isla Fresco. The Isla Fresco.

I'm tempted. I am so I was tempted to waddle over and get this trio and chips and dip.

I kind of need something to cut the sweetness like I need a little savory.

I mean, I'll hold the table if you want to go and not it. That's going to do it for this week's show. Thank you again, truly, since sincerely for listening for your time and being part of this community. I never take that lightly. If this brought you a little bit of magic, maybe a little bit of hunger, please share it with someone who can use a little bit of Disney in their day. Come be part of the community and conversation over in the clubhouse. Join me this and every Wednesday night and don't forget to leave a voicemail 407-900-9391 and connect with me on Social at Lou Mongello. Quick note. You might have noticed I skipped the trivia contest this week to give you a little bit more time to enter and keep the focus on all of the incredible festival food. Also, I'm going to be heading to Disneyland Paris this week for a sneak peek at Disney Adventure World this Friday and I'll be sharing live updates while I'm there over on my Instagram at Lumangelo. So please be sure to connect and follow along before I wrap up. Quick note. If you are a creator, a podcaster or entrepreneur and you've ever actually wondered how to monetize what you're building, I'm hosting a live Virtual Momentum Monetization workshop on Friday, March 20th from 9am to 12:30pm where I will walk you through the framework that I've used to build my business over the past 20 years. I'm going to teach you the full monetization blueprint, help you build your own roadmap and we're also going to have a live Q and A so you can ask and get your questions answered. I'm limiting it to just 25 people and there are only four seats left. If you want to learn more, visit lumangella.com monetize and don't forget that if you're looking for a speaker for your event, conference or business, Also visit Lou mongello.com find out how I can share lessons from the Disney Parks on customer service and experience and leadership and how you can apply those to your business as well. Most importantly, thank you again. Don't forget to be kind, choose the good set and be an example for others. Have an amazing day and even better tomorrow. So until next time, see ya.

Hi, this is Angelique and I am calling in regards to episode 857. About the top 10 things that are no longer at Walt Disney that you miss and one of my all time favorites, I don't consider it an attraction was Ice Station Cool. It was over by the Coca Cola Building from 1998 to 2005 and an Epcot area featured. It featured an arctic themed freezing cold entrance tunnel that would take you into the Coca Cola sewer, but when you entered into it it was like an ice cave and it had a snow cat and some frozen neanderthals and had real snow falling and it was just a nice refreshing area to go in the parks to get to the Coca Cola store. And one addition if you can count an attraction it's not really an attraction, but you made it. One was the sum of all drills in the Innoventions area of Epcot. Our kids would love going into that and making, designing their own roller coaster for free and then getting in a contraption to actually ride out what they had invented. And that was something that we miss dearly to this day. Thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Hey, Lou, this is Rich from Westfield, New Jersey. I just wanted you to know I really love the latest episode 857, the Top 10 Extinct Walt Disney Experiences with Tim Foster. It was great to have him back as well. For my two cents. The one thing from the episode that struck me and stuck with me was the theme of what you were saying, the tangible and communal side of Disney experiences. For my part, the old Main Street Cinema and the shop that was in it that sold Disney movies is what I really lament. I remember going to Disneyland for the first time on my own in California, that spiritual experience. And I bought the Love Bug on DVD there in their video shop. And I still have it all of these years later. I don't have a lot of DVDs left, but that's so special to me that I took that home and there's the artwork, the case, the extras. You know, in those days when you bought a movie and you brought it home with you, it was something you could really just cherish and build a collection around. So it's not like today where you have these movies endlessly streaming in the background on a smart tv. You had to go out of your way to get it to pop it in. And that's kind of the physical connection that I miss, like with movies, my connection to the movies. Kind of like having a record collection. Two other quickies. There was a wood carving and leather personalization kiosk near the Frontierland Trading Post. I missed that and honorable mention at Epcot. I don't think they brought them back, but for many years I used to buy boxes of the Maple Leaf Cookies. And one time we showed up on one of our every two year trips and they said they stopped selling them, so I'd hope they bring those back. They're like my favorite thing in the world and that's my favorite pavilion. So anyway, I'm babbling. Really, really loved the episode. Felt motivated to call and thank you for bringing up those quainter, smaller, tactile experiences, because that's the stuff that I still opined for and I miss. So thanks to Lou and to Timmy for doing a great job with another great episode.

See you soon. Well, it sounds pretty good. In fact, that's just the right spirit.