21st Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Fun Facts

The Epcot Food and Wine Festival is one of my favorite Disney events throughout the year. You get to experience and see so many nice things.  If you are a Disney nerd like me, you like to know all the numbers about Disney. Here are 21 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Fun Facts in honor of it being Disney’s 21st Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.

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.

21st Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Fun Facts

1. Now 62 days long, the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival began in 1996 with the first run of 30 days
2. 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
3. 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.
4. The 21st festival will feature 32 new marketplace dishes and 49 (as of right now) new cocktails, beers, wines, and ciders
5. 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
6. More than 50 wineries and more than 35 breweries from around the world, including local craft beer operations, will be represented at festival marketplaces
7. The new “The Best of Epcot Festivals 2016” cookbook by Pam Brandon and the Disney Chefs features 75 recipes from the global marketplaces. Check out the 2015 Disney World Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Cookbook.
8. 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
9. Guest chefs and Disney chefs numbering 250 will present culinary demonstrations and will cook for festival events
10. 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.
11. Nearly 400 culinary demos, beverage and interactive seminars will take place during the 62-day festival
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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.
15. 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
16. More than 1,200 fireworks will explode each night over World Showcase Lagoon in IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth nighttime spectacular
17. 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
18. More than 225,000,000 festival dishes were served during last year’s 53-day festival.
19. 100,000-plus desserts, including the Hard Soda Floats at Desserts & Champagne Marketplace, are expected to be served
20. 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
21. Annual Passholders who go to the Food and Wine Festival for 3 days will get 1 free Epcot Food and Wine Festival Glass. 

Are you planning to go to the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival?

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