Dateline Disney: September/October 2011 - Part 4 - Food & Wine Festival Serving Up Menu of New Experiences

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Exotic island tastes. Craft beers. Cranberries. Tips for dressing up the home décor for holiday entertaining.

These are just a sampling of what’s new at the 16th Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, opening Sept. 30 and continuing for 45 days, through Nov. 13, 2011, at Walt Disney World Resort. The one-of-a-kind festival serves up international cuisine, culture and entertainment from six continents, with more than 25 international marketplaces featuring tapas-sized portions paired with beer, wine and inventive cocktails.

And some of what’s new for 2011 involves the marketplaces:


A Hawaii marketplace will cook up Kalua pork sliders and tuna poke with seaweed salad and lotus root chips to team with a refreshing Seven Tiki Mai Tai or a Kona Longboard or Pipeline beer.

A Caribbean Islands marketplace will serve ropa vieja with rice and jerk-spiced chicken with mango salsa. A beverage menu featuring a frozen Dragon Berry Colada and frozen Rock Coconut Mojito is sure to conjure steel-drum fantasies.

A Portugal marketplace will have a Wine Bar that offers best sips to pair with calamari salad with olives and smoked paprika.

A craft beers marketplace will serve up eight select brews for sampling.

Beyond the marketplaces, a couple of the festival’s new features of note are:

HGTV Personalities – Guests can learn from HGTV celebrity designers during 30-minute seminars on festival weekends. There will be tips to create the ultimate entertainment room, tips on how to become an excellent host, tips on holiday table setting, herb and vegetable gardening, and kitchen/dining room designs. Sessions are Friday and Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

Cranberry Bog – Recreating the beauty of the cranberry harvest, the new area will tell the story behind the rich agricultural heritage, the harvesting process and the history of the cranberry, a true native North American fruit.

The festival requires Epcot admission, and some experiences during the festival require advance reservations.

More information is available here