Nearly every Disney fan has heard of Drinking Around the World, a guest created event for the annual Epcot Food & Wine Festival where they challenge themselves to have a different libation in each of the pavilions of the World Showcase. That event has morphed into Monorail Bar Crawls along Seven Seas Lagoon, and now Disney has found a way to get in on it by creating the “Highway in the Sky Dine Around.” This progressive type dinner event, that includes alcohol, offers guests a five course meal at the three hotels along the Monorail route.
Starting at The Wave in the Contemporary Resort, guests check-in and have a seat before starting the evening off with one of the signature drinks of the event, the Bay Lake Sunset, and a bit of amazing Butternut Squash Soup. As we enjoy our drink and appetizer, we are advised that at each of the locations we will have approximately 30 minutes, and 10 minutes before we depart, we will get a restroom call for anyone that needs to take a break before the Monorail ride to the next stop.
As all 30 of the guests have checked in and had their first course, we head off to our private Monorail car to head to the Polynesian Village Resort for our second course.
At the Poly, we head down to the Trader Sam’s Tiki Terrace for a beautiful view of Seven Seas Lagoon along with a HippopopotaMai-Tie, Golden Beet Salad, and Seared Tuna to start.
A few minutes later, our servers came around to give us Chili Dusted Pork Belly of Pickled Vegetables.
With our second course done, it was back to the Monorail and on to our main course at Citricos in the Grand Floridian.
The main course was the Surf and Turf plate consisting of scallops and short rib that just melted in your mouth. There were also options for two fine wines to enjoy with your meal.
After the main course came a visit to The Garden View Lounge for a glass of the FairyTale sparkling wine and a unique cheese plate that had many new flavors.
At this point in our travels, many of the guests had gotten a chance to spend a few minutes getting to know each other and this small break was a perfect opportunity to spend more time talking with our fellow adventurers along our Dine Around.
Our evening was far from complete as it was time we go full circle and head back to the Contemporary for our dessert and viewing of Holiday Wishes from a private patio.
With our delicious desserts, including a gift box of truffles, in hand we all settled back for a prime view of the Magic Kingdom Fireworks.
As the night came to a close, a general consensus could be heard from all the guests of how perfect this event was. I, admittedly, am not a foodie by any stretch of the imagination but every option presented to us was perfectly prepared and presented and the drinks were plentiful. For the price of $150 per person I was worried that it wouldn’t live up to the price tag, but it was well worth it. The Cast Members were all amazing and as with any progressive dinner we had a hand full that were with us every step of the way and made it look flawless. Even when the Monorail system went down at one point and we were walked out to a boat, it all seemed like it was part of the event because it moved so smoothly.
Of course, no evening would be complete without some fireworks, so here is the finale of Holiday Wishes as seen from the Contemporary Hotel patio.
This special event is available for $150 per person (tax included) and is offered on select Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. For reservations, you can book online or call (407) WDW-DINE or (407) 939-3463.