Skip to main content

21st Epcot International Food & Wine Festival by the numbers


62 Days of Delicious Fun To Celebrate  21 Festival Years at Walt Disney World Resort 

Walt Disney World Resort guests are invited to join the fun when the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival presented by Chase turns 21 from Sept. 14-Nov. 14, 2016. The longer-than-ever party will feature global and specialty cuisine, refreshing new beverages and three live concerts nightly.

The 62-day festival at Disney’s Epcot theme park will showcase 30 global marketplaces including four new Future World marketplaces featuring fresh culinary concepts to pair with select wines, beers, cocktails and other beverages. ABC’s Emmy Award-winning lifestyle series, “The Chew,” will broadcast from the festival for the second year and will participate in one of the new Future World festival marketplaces, The Chew Collective. The festival is believed to be the largest food and wine event of its kind in the world.

Here are some fun numerical facts about the 21st festival celebration:
  • Now 62 days long, the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival began in 1996 with a first run of 30 days
  • At the 2016 festival, 30 global marketplaces will include new offerings like The Chew Collective in Future World’s Next Eats festival area and Islands of the Caribbean along the World Showcase Promenade
  • Producers of ABC’s “The Chew” will tape 5 episodes of the show before 5 festival guest audiences numbering in the hundreds for each show
  • The 21st festival will feature 32 new marketplace dishes and 49 (as of right now) new cocktails, beers, wines and ciders
  • In 1998, 200 domestic and international wines were poured at the festival. This year, at marketplaces and premium events, more than 300 domestic and international wines will be offered
  • More than 50 wineries and more than 35 breweries from around the world, including local craft beer operations, will be represented at festival marketplaces
  • The new “The Best of Epcot Festivals 2016” cookbook by Pam Brandon and the Disney Chefs features 75 recipes from the global marketplaces
  • 3 Rockin’ Burger Block Parties and 6 Party for the Senses grand tastings will take place at World Showplace during the festival run. In all, the festival will feature 204 premium events ranging from Signature Dinners and Food & Wine Pairings to Beverage Boot Camps and Festival Events in World Showcase pavilions
  • Guest chefs and Disney chefs numbering 250 will present culinary demonstrations and will cook for festival events
  • Celebrity chefs and visiting culinarians from 10 countries and 26 U.S. states will participate in the festival at culinary demos, book signings, and special tasting events and dinners.
  • Nearly 400 culinary demos, beverage and interactive seminars will take place during the 62-day festival
  • During Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak festival scavenger hunt, guests can help Remy scour the park for the ingredients to make his signature dish, ratatouille. Along the way, they’ll find 12 Remy statuettes hidden in each of 11 countries of the World Showcase and at the African Outpost location. Guests can redeem the 12 stickers they’ve collected for one of 6 special pins at Select merchandise locations
  • More than 375 hours of scheduled seminars will take place at the Festival Center for the 62 days of the festival.  These include culinary demos and beverage seminars, the new Mix It, Make It, Celebrate It! interactive events, plus more
  • 186 Eat to the Beat concerts will be performed; 8 musical acts will appear for the first time at this year’s festival featuring entertainment ranging from rock and soul to funk and blues
  • The Festival Passport (previously called the Marketplace Discovery Passport) was introduced in 2010 for the 15th annual festival; today, the free passport will feature pages with all 30 festival marketplaces
  • More than 1,200 fireworks will explode each night over World Showcase Lagoon in IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth nightime spectacular
  • Chase is the festival’s presenting sponsor for the 5th year; its Chase Lounge at the American Adventure Pavilion is open exclusively to Chase cardholders and offers an inviting place to relax and recharge
  • More than 225,000,000 festival dishes were served during last year’s 53-day festival
  • 100,000-plus desserts, including the Hard Soda Floats at Desserts & Champagne Marketplace, are expected to be served
  • In 1997, during the festival’s second year, festival planners introduced the first Grand Tasting culinary extravaganza; in 2002, the event was renamed and moved to World Showplace as Party for the Senses, now featuring up to 50 food and beverage stations and, in 2016, new and different themed entertainment for each event


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PIXAR Place Expansion Coming Soon??

I'm going against everything I believe in when it comes to rumors, specifically DISNEY rumors, but I find this one way too juicy (and likely accurate) to pass up. According to a few reputable WDW fan websites, it seems that the Studio Backlot Tour is poised to close down at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We know that since Oaken's Trading Post and Frozen Funland are moving out of the Soundstage 1 area, work should soon begin on the rumored (and much needed) third track for Toy Story Mania.  Why close the Backlot Tour? It appears that area is destined to be home to a rather extensive PIXAR Place expansion. According to WDW News Today, we will likely see smaller, flat-rides developed for Toy Story Playland at Disneyland Resort in Paris and Toy Story Land at Hong Kong Disneyland including RC Racer, Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin, and the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop. Attractions in this area don't take us much real estate as these rides would require, so WDW News Today specula...

The Art of Topiary Gardening from Walt Disney World Resort

Topiary gardening, the art of fashioning living plan into ornamental shapes, has been practiced for centuries. Found throughout the gardens of the Walt Disney World Resort are hundreds of topiary figures, ranging from traditional hedges and sheared trees to fanciful shapes and a whole menagerie of "chlorophyll" Disney characters. Types of Topiary Four different types of topiary at the Walt Disney World resort have developed out of our desire to put on an award-winning horticultural show. Free-form topiary and standard form topiary require your imagination and some sharp shears - the other two utilize a frame specially suited to their needs. A lightweight frame is used for shrub topiary, while sphagnum topiary require a much stronger frame specially designed to support the weight of the figure. Standard Form Topiary The world standard is used to describe a plant that is grown to a designated height and then encouraged to bush or form a "head" at t...

Disney's Animal Kingdom Entertainment Changes

T here have been several entertainment changes taking place at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park in preparation for spring break. Those changes include DiVine meeting Guests in the Oasis area and Viva Gaia returning to the park. - Tam Tam Drummers of Harambe March 25-27: Earlier show-times in the day: 8:45 a.m., 9:15 a.m., 9:45 a.m., 10:15 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. - Burudika March 25-27: Later show-times in the day: 4:20 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. - Viva Gaia Street Band! March 24 - April 6: Returning to Discovery Island. Set times are: 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. - DJ Anaan Beginning March 31: Schedule ending at 7 p.m. - DiVine (DON'T MISS!!) March 11-13 and March 24 - April 6: Meet-and-greet location change to Oasis.