Annual Passholders can collect complimentary buttons at Epcot during the 2017 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.
Buttons featuring Remy from Ratatouille will be distributed to Annual Passholders at the Festival Center in Future World when guests present their valid pass.
The 2017 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival kicks-off August 31st, 2017.
Expanding for a longer-than-ever 75-day run, the 22nd Epcot International Food & Wine Festivalreturns to Walt Disney World Resort from August 31 to November 13, 2017. The Disney Parks Merchandise team has developed more than 75 items celebrating the many ways guests can sip and taste their way throughout Epcot.
“Each year we look forward to designing artwork for [Epcot International Food & Wine Festival],” explained Creative Manager Doug Strayer. “The art includes nods to Epcot’s 35th Anniversary on October 1, and beloved characters like Figment and Remy. As cast members, we love this event as much as our guests. It’s fun for us to see guests at Epcot wearing the artwork we created.”
Disney Creative Group artists Richard Terpstra, Susan Foy, Dave Holbrook, and Brian Blackmore contributed to this year’s assortment. Their artwork was compiled into a style guide which merchandise product developers referenced when creating apparel, pins, home décor, accessories and more.
Fans of Figment will be delighted to find several new items featuring the lovable purple dragon. Doug said the 1980s-looking Figment artwork was inspired by a classic Epcot attraction.
“During the design phase, we kept referencing the Kitchen Kabaret attraction once located in The Land Pavilion. That food-themed show included the song ‘Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit,’ which we couldn’t get out of our heads [laughs]. We liked the show’s art style, so we combined it with a stylized Chef Figment. It’s a fun way to salute the heritage of Epcot.”
Another nod to Epcot’s heritage is found within the Passport collection. Look carefully to see stamps containing World Showcase marketing artwork from 1982.
The Brews Around the World collection returns this year with new designs by Susan Foy. Look for the artwork on apparel and drinkware, including a new stainless steel growler and baseball cap with a bottle opener.
For the first time, Disney is introducing an “Eat to the Beat” concert T-shirt with a World Showcase-inspired guitar graphic.
Dooney & Bourke handbags with Figment and World Showcase graphics will also be released during the event. Annual Passholders will also find a specially designed Dooney & Bourke handbag along with several other Passholder Exclusive products such as pins, salt and pepper shakers, and accessories.
Finally, guests can help Remy as he ventures around Epcot to collect the ingredients for his signature dish with Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak scavenger hunt. This year, guests will have 15 spots to look for Remy in World Showcase and Future World.
Look for these items at the Festival Center located adjacent to Mission: SPACE, and at select merchandise locations throughout Epcot. Select items will also be offered on Shop Disney Parks app and the online store.
Only 3 months remain until the 2017 Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. This year’s festival will have 35 unique different food kiosks and vendors in honor of Epcot’s 35th anniversary on October 1st. Also this year, the event will run a total of 75 day, which is the longest it has ever been!
Here are some pics of a few of the bites that will be there to to satisy your taste buds…
Pictured above is the charcuterie in a cone from the Spain Marketplace, which is perfect for strolling and tasting.
There’s also the spicy Korma Chicken with cucumber-tomato salad, almonds, cashews and warm naan bread from the India Marketplace.
These 2 items are just a sample of the offerings you can expect to find at this year’s festival and includes much, much more such as crispy chicken with griddled cornbread and red-eye gravy, and the pistachio cardamom cake with a dollop of chocolate coconut mousse pictured above.
The 22nd Annual Epcot International Food and Wine Festival starts Aug. 31st and will be running until November 13th, 2017.
Part of this year’s Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is a scavenger hunt featuring Remy from Disney-PIXAR’s Ratatouille. The offering was introduced last year during the event as something new for children to do as their parents ate and drank their way around the world, so I figured why not record a couple of full grown adults trying to complete something meant for children. Here’s what happened…
Check out the full Epcot map just released for the 2015 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.
Click the images to open an even bigger version.
Puerto Rico’s presence was expanded this year at the 2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival bringing not only many different flavors from the island to guests at Epcot, but also a bit of heritage and a look at the history of Puerto Rico. In a recent article published by Puerto Rican newspaper, Metro, details were divulged of the partnership that they’ve created with Disney. The island of Puerto Rico has signed a 3 year contract to bring the flavors of the island to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, as well as the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival beginning in 2015 and running through 2016. For the Food and Wine 2015 display, they’ve already begun working on a design based on “El Yunque“, the second tallest mountain on the island and the only Tropical Rain Forest located within the United States National Forest System.
Old San Juan in Puerto Rico (the inspiration of the 2014 booth design)
Various different companies from Puerto Rico including CC1, Yaucono, Club Caribbean, and Pan American Grain have invested over $700,000 to bring Puerto Rico to the Epcot festivals.
Also mentioned in the article is that Disney and Puerto Rico are currently in talks to bring a permanent addition of Puerto Rico to Epcot’s World Showcase. The addition of Puerto Rico to World Showcase would reportedly cost over $100 million that would be split over the course of 10 years (2017 – 2027) through a contract between Disney and the private companies involved.
We’ve seen in the past many attempts to add a new country to World Showcase, and all of them since Norway in 1988 have never made it off of the drawing board. A few years ago, a similar story about Brazil was posted on this very site. Of course, there is always the possibility that a Puerto Rico pavilion would never end up being built at Epcot, but the possibility is still there if the proper corporations actually come through on funding the project.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro in San Juan, Puerto Rico
As the resident WDWNT Puerto Rican, I would be very excited to see my home island as a World Showcase pavilion. The heritage and architecture of Puerto Rico would make for a fantastic pavilion. For those familiar with Puerto Rico, El Morro would be an excellent choice to represent the Old San Juan area of the island in the pavilion.
What are your thoughts if Puerto Rico were to join the other countries at Epcot? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
