My favorite Walt Disney World event is quickly approaching–รย the 18th annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival presented by Chase is running from Sept. 27-Nov. 11, 2013.รย 2013. The 46-day festival, the longest to date, will be serving upรย authentic cuisine from six continents as well asรย wine, beer and inventive new cocktails.
I know I’m counting down the days — what about you!?
In the meantime, here are some fun facts about the 18th annual event:
- More than 300 national and international wines
- A record 46 days long, the festival began in 1996 with a first run of 30 days
- More than 220 food-and-beverage menu items, each tapas-sized portion or drink priced $3-$8
- 100-plus celebrity chefs and 160 Walt Disney World chefs
- More than 300 wine and beer seminars take place during the 46-day festival
- More than 1,200 fireworks exploding each night over World Showcase Lagoon in รขโฌลIllumiNations: Reflections of Earthรขโฌย
- 138 Eat to the Beat! concerts performed; 6 bands appearing for the first time at this yearรขโฌโขs festival
- The festivalรขโฌโขs Ocean Spray Cranberry Bog is refilled three times during the course of the 46-day event,รย using a total of 910,000 cranberries or more than 3,000 pounds of the sweet-tart fruit
- 1.5 million sumptuous samplings throughout the festival
- 300,000 wine servings รขโฌโ if laid end-to-end the number of wine glasses used would reach from Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista to the Disney Cruise Line terminal at Port Canaveral, Fla.
- 360,000 beer servings, enough to fill the aquariums 5 times over at Rainforest Cafรยฉ at Disneyรขโฌโขs Animal Kingdom
- 100,000 dessert servings including the dessert trio of Cherry Pistachio Mousse, Orange Cupcake and Hazelnut Cheesecake.
- More than 500 pounds of watermelon is expected to be tasted at the รขโฌล3Dรขโฌย Disneyรขโฌโขs Dessert Discovery parties
- More than 80,000 servings dished up of the most popular savory item at the 2012 international marketplaces: the รขโฌลLe Cellierรขโฌย Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce from Canada
