2013 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival {Dates & Facts}

My favorite Walt Disney World event is quickly approaching– the 18th annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival presented by Chase is running from Sept. 27-Nov. 11, 2013. 2013. The 46-day festival, the longest to date, will be serving up authentic cuisine from six continents as well as 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 “IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth”
• 138 Eat to the Beat! concerts performed; 6 bands appearing for the first time at this year’s festival
• The festival’s Ocean Spray Cranberry Bog is refilled three times during the course of the 46-day event,  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 — 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 Café at Disney’s 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 “3D” Disney’s Dessert Discovery parties
• More than 80,000 servings dished up of the most popular savory item at the 2012 international marketplaces: the “Le Cellier” Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce from Canada