I’m sure it’s going to take me weeks to completely recap this epic event. There was just so much going on last night and so much that we learned.

To start, here’s the design scheme for 2013 …

The event’s guests were told they could arrive at 6:00 PM in order to pick up their wristbands (tickets) and table assignments, and I showed up a little before that only to find that a pretty long line had already begun to grow. It was clear that everybody was excited to see Food & Wine’s 2013 “kick-off”.

My guest for the evening arrived shortly thereafter …

As it turned out, Rick Howard – President and Owner of Kingdom Magic Vacations and the host of the Travel with Rick video podcast – and I were really excited about our seat assignment. Our thanks go out to Cate of Tables in Wonderland. She sat us with Chef Marianne Hunnel (formerly executive chef of Spoodles, wife of Chef Scott Hunnel of Victoria & Albert’s fame, and lead organizer of the entire Food & Wine festival)!

Also at our table were the event’s emcee, Pam Smith, representatives of A.J. Wolfe’s Disney Food Blog and the Orlando Sentinel, as well as Deb Wills and several other members of the AllEars.net team. What a table, indeed! And, what an opportunity for a fledgling blog like All in WDW! Thanks, again, Cate! You rock!

So, what “tid-bits” did we pick up?

First, the full menu is not yet ready for disclosure. We can expect that in a week or so.

Ireland will return this year. I had speculated that Scotland might replace Ireland this year.

Dole Whip will attend this year’s festival. Let me pause a minute as you “whoop” and “holler” your way into an excited frenzy. It will be an orange-flavor Dole Whip topped with a cream liqueur. The goal? Make it taste like a Creamsicle!

Linda Bean will not be participating in the festival this year, but we will be able to find a lobster roll – presumably at the Hops & Barley marketplace. The recipe will be different from last year.

Although it was served at the preview event last night, Florida’s Watermelon Salad will not be on the festival’s menu this year.

The Florida Grass-Fed Beef Sliders are made from Wagyu Kobe Beef.

The Terra marketplace will be serving a red blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon called The Vegan Vine. It is the filtering technique that makes it vegan, and it was very good. It was created by retired NBA superstar John Salley.

And, finally, despite my skepticism, the South Korean Kimchi Dog rocks!

If you didn’t see all the food pictures last night … experience the “delicious-ness”!

The chocolate cheesecake was the best of the bunch, in my opinion. Oh, there’s so much more to come, my friends!

REMEMBER! Join me via USTREAM as I participate in the Travel with Rick LIVE video-cast TOMORROW night! Here’s the schedule:

7:00 – 7:30: Pre-Show

7:30 – 9:00: ”Travel with Rick” Begins

If we’re not right on schedule at 7:00, please be patient. We’ll be there sometime between then and 7:30, I’m sure.

After attending the event last night, Rick, the group, and I will have SO much to talk about!