LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Eight Grammy-winning acts join 10 other stellar hit-makers to bring a rocking mix of classic tunes to Walt Disney World Resort during the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Sept. 26-Nov. 9.
From rock to jazz, funk to pop, 10 new Eat to the Beat! acts and eight returning bands take their turn on the America Gardens Theatre stage during concerts at 5:15, 6:30 and 7:45 p.m. daily. The lineup (subject to change) includes:

Sept. 26-27 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (NEW) “You & Me & The Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)”
Sept. 28-30 Sheena Easton (2 Grammys) “Morning Train (Nine to Five)”
Oct. 1-4 Starship starring Mickey Thomas “We Built This City”
Oct. 5-7 En Vogue (NEW) “Hold On”
Oct. 8-9 Jonny Lang (NEW, 1 Grammy) “Lie to Me”
Oct. 10-12 Peabo Bryson (NEW, 2 Grammys) “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again”
Oct. 13-14 Sister Hazel (NEW) “All for You”
Oct. 15-16 David Sanborn (6 Grammys) “Lesley Ann”
Oct. 17-18 Jon Secada (2 Grammys) “Just Another Day”
Oct. 19-21 Spyro Gyra (NEW) “Morning Dance”
Oct. 22-23 Otis Day & the Knights “Shout”
Oct. 24-26 Exposé “Point of No Return”
Oct. 27-28 Kool & The Gang (1 Grammy) “Celebration”
Oct. 29-30 Boyz II Men (NEW, 4 Grammys) “End of the Road”
Oct. 31-Nov. 2 Atlanta Rhythm Section (NEW) “So Into You”
Nov. 3-5 David Cassidy “I Think I Love You”
Nov. 6-7 Night Ranger (NEW) “Sister Christian”
Nov. 8-9 Los Lobos (NEW, 3 Grammys) “La Bamba”

There’s additional entertainment throughout World Showcase, where performers from many countries weave music, dance, acrobatics and other acts into the festivities. A sampling of the entertainment slated for the event includes:

• High-energy Celtic music of Off Kilter (Canada)
• The Arabic rhythms of Mo’Rockin (Morocco)
• Voices of Liberty (American Adventure rotunda)
• Rhythms and harmonies of internationally acclaimed Mariachi Cobre (Mexico)

The laser and musical fireworks spectacle, “IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth,” wraps each festival evening in style.

The two-room suites offer a king bedroom for the adults and two twin-sized beds in the children’s portion of the suite. Access to the children’s room is through the adult’s room.

Wonderfully colored in the style of Seuss Landings at Islands of Adventure, the suites are decorated with well-known characters such as the Cat in the Hat, Horton and the Grinch.

Loews Hotels also have specially themed kids’ suites accommodations at the other Universal Orlando resort hotels, with the Royal Pacific having Jurassic Park themed rooms and the Hard Rock hotel continuing the musical theme in it’s kids’ suites.

Loews operates three hotels in the Universal Orlando resorts, including the 750-room Portofino Bay Hotel, the 650-room Hard Rock Hotel and the 1,000-room Royal Pacific Resort.

The two-room suites offer a king bedroom for the adults and two twin-sized beds in the children’s portion of the suite. Access to the children’s room is through the adult’s room.

Wonderfully colored in the style of Seuss Landings at Islands of Adventure, the suites are decorated with well-known characters such as the Cat in the Hat, Horton and the Grinch.

Loews Hotels also have specially themed kids’ suites accommodations at the other Universal Orlando resort hotels, with the Royal Pacific having Jurassic Park themed rooms and the Hard Rock hotel continuing the musical theme in it’s kids’ suites.

Loews operates three hotels in the Universal Orlando resorts, including the 750-room Portofino Bay Hotel, the 650-room Hard Rock Hotel and the 1,000-room Royal Pacific Resort.

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Help Storm from the X-Men in her battle against evil Magneto on this “tea-cup” style ride.

Attraction Facts

Attraction Type: Seated Ride
Location: Marvel Super-Hero Island, Islands of Adventure
Best Time to Visit: Any Time
Ride Length: 2 Minutes

Ride Information

Storm Force Accelatron is a faster version of the tea-cups ride at the Magic Kingdom. You control how fast the pods spin by rotating the large disc in the centre.

The setting for the ride is a large gold-coloured dome built to house Professor Xavier’s power generator. Your task it to help the X-Men super hero Storm in her batte battle the evil Magneto as she harnesses the powers of nature in the whirling and spinning power generator!

Basically Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant chain, but still serves good value food (I don’t remember it being any more expensive than Pizza Hut for instance). They serve the standard pizza’s and pasta as well as a wide range of meat and chicken dishes.

The best part…. The complimentary garlic breadsticks and salad.

Good food, good value.

Basically, it’s an all in buffet affair. You walk through the door, pick up a plate and work your way down a long counter filled with all sorts of salads. You pay the cashier at the end for the full buffet (it was about $8 + extra for the drinks) so was really good value. At this point you go and get a seat and eat your salad.

Aside from salads, you can go and pick-and-choose from everything else they have available. This included fresh made soup and pasta, a bread counter (for garlic bread and pizza focaccia bread). For dessert they also had freshly made muffins and a machine that served soft serve ice-cream.

I personally love going to buffets with the kids, because not only can they choose they’re own food, it keeps them occupied for a while as well.

All in all, it was pretty good value at Sweet Tomatoes, food was OK and it made a nice change.

Firstly, arrive early. To get to the Magic Kingdom you first have to park the car and then take either a mono-rail or boat to the actual park. Aim to get to the gates twenty minutes before official opening to give you a head start.

If you’re visiting with young children I’d suggest you head straight for Fantasyland. Here you will find many rides for the under-fives including Dumbo the Flying Elephant and Winnie the Pooh.

Fantasyland is probably going to be less of a draw for the teens in your party. They’re more likely to be interested in Space Mountain in Tomorrowland or the Thunder Mountain Railroad over in Frontierland. Both these rides are on opposite sides of the park. So my suggestion would be to grab a fastpass for one of the rides and head over and ride the other while you are waiting.

Better still, have a plan of which rides you want to go on and prioritise these in order of your personal preference. If you have two rides you want to go on and one isn’t a fastpass, make sure you get a fastpass for the other and queue for the non-fastpass ride. The chances are you’ll be ready to use the fastpass after you’ve been on the fastpass ride.

Most of the refurb at Magic Kingdom generally takes place just after New Year. This usually involves a ride or two being closed for a period of a month or so. I’d suggest checking the official Disney site before you visit to see if any of the rides are affected.

Attraction Type: Seated Ride

Location: Seuss Landing, Islands of Adventure

Best Time to Visit: Any Time

Ride Length: 2 Minutes

Attraction Facts

The ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish’ ride is taken directly from the title of one of the most popular Dr Seuss books. You take control of a two or three seater fish using the controls to move up and down. The trick is to avoid the water that is squirted by the fish around the edge. The music to the ride is great and will get you singing-a-long.