WDW Daily News

We’re excited to share an update on the 2017 Candlelight Processional at Epcot®.

Our maestros of Christmas cheer have been working overtime to secure two new celebrity narrators – and two returning favorites for the holiday celebration.

New to this year’s lineup include Matt Bomer (“White Collar,” “The Last Tycoon,”) and Star Wars fan favorite Warwick Davis, who played Wicket the Ewok in “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.”

And returning this year are everyone’s favorite hard-driving Dr. Bailey from “Grey’s Anatomy,” Chandra Wilson – and newly-named Disney Legend Whoopi Goldberg, co-host of ABC’s “The View.”

The Candlelight Processional presents the traditional story of Christmas in truly spectacular fashion – with a celebrity narrator, a 50-piece orchestra and a mass choir.

Newcomers to the celebrity narrator spotlight this year include Daytime Television Legend Pat Sajak and TV star CCH Pounder, who was recently at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park for the grand opening of Pandora – The World of Avatar.

Returning favorites include television, film and stage superstar Neil Patrick Harris, country megastar Trace Adkins and Contemporary Christian music artist Jaci Velasquez.

Here are the narrators confirmed so far:*

• Nov. 24- 26 – To Be Announced
• Nov. 27-28 – Matt Bomer
• Nov. 29 – 30 – To Be Announced
• Dec. 1-3 – Whoopi Goldberg
• Dec. 4-5 – Pat Sajak
• Dec. 6-11 – To Be Announced
• Dec. 12-14 – Warwick Davis
• Dec. 15-17 – Trace Adkins
• Dec. 18-21 – Neil Patrick Harris
• Dec. 22-24 – CCH Pounder
• Dec. 25-27 – Jaci Velasquez
• Dec. 28-30 – Chandra Wilson

The processional is performed three times per night (5 p.m., 6:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.) during the holiday season at the America Gardens Theatre. These packages, available on select nights, include a delicious meal and a guaranteed seat for one of the Candlelight Processional performances. Availability is limited.

As with last year, in addition to lunch and dinner packages, breakfast options are available at some favorite restaurants in and near Epcot again this year like Akershus Royal Banquet Hall and The Garden Grill. Breakfast, lunch and dinner options are also available this year at Captain’s Grille at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort,** with breakfast and dinner options being offered at Trattoria Al Forno at Disney’s BoardWalk.

Candlelight Dining Packages for breakfast start at $35 plus tax per person for adults and $21 plus tax per person for children, ages 3-9. Candlelight Dining Packages for lunch and dinner start at $44 plus tax per person for adults and $15.50 plus tax per person for children, ages 3-9.

Epcot provides an extravaganza of holiday entertainment, merchandise, food, beverages and festivities where your Clients can celebrate throughout the holiday season. Time-honored traditions come alive through the sights and sounds of the countries of World Showcase, and live performances enliven the park throughout the day.

Book Candlelight Processional dining packages via Disneyworld.com/dine or call 407-WDW-DINE (407-939-3463).

*Narrators and entertainment are subject to change without notice. Epcot admission is required and not included in the dining package price.

** (NOTE: Captain’s Grille is currently under refurbishment. Candlelight Packages will be available once it reopens.)

Disney guests can enjoy 90 days of fresh festival fun during the 24^th Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival March 1-May 29, 2017. Thirty million multi-hued blooms, 100-plus whimsical topiaries, nearly 1,000 native butterflies and dozens of new Outdoor Kitchen food and beverage tastes add multi-sensory festival fun to the “Fresh Epcot”-themed Walt Disney World Resort event.

Among this year’s fun festival facts:

• 30 million blooms blanket the park throughout the festival, which runs 90 colorful days and requires two complete crop rotations to keep floral displays fresh and seasonal.

• 15 Outdoor Kitchens (2 more than last year) include the new Northern Bloom and The Berry Basket kitchens and gardens. Bauernmarkt: Farmer’s Market returns at the Germany pavilion and La Isla Fresca returns for a second year. Dozens of new sweet and savory food and beverage menu items add tasting fun and variety to the festival. Each marketplace will feature a garden planted with select produce and herbs to represent more than 70 overall beverage choices and more than 40 food itemsfeatured.

• The festival’s front-entrance Welcome Spring Fun, Food & Flowers topiary maypole scene celebrating a rite of spring with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Daisy and Pluto  is inspired by a vintage Walt Disney short film. More than 30 varieties of flowers, plants, and other garden materials are used to create the scene.

• A brand-new 5-foot-tall Figment topiary of the feisty dragon mascot of the Imagination! Pavilion greets guests from atop a bright yellow floral ball of Joseph’s Coat, brightening the landscape behind Spaceship Earth with purple petal power. A brand-new, next-generation Belle topiary with sculpted facial features will join Beast in France – her yellow ball gown is crafted using Joseph’s Coat and Creeping Jenny plants.
•  Music Garden Melodies with musical note topiaries, a themed playground for children complete with innovative play systems featuring interactive musical gadgets, is one of the largest festival gardens created at nearly one-third acre. The garden includes a collection of plants with features that resemble musical instruments as part of the ambiance.
•  Anna and Elsa in cool floral splendor grace a wintry topiary vignette straight from the hit Disney film, “Frozen” and the Norway pavilion attraction Frozen Ever After. In the scene that’s wired to sparkle by night, Elsa works her magic to conjure a snowy garden filled with flowers of lavendar, white and silver. More than a dozen varieties of flowers evoke the scene and include white Dianthus, Diamond Frost Euphorbia, Dichondra Silver Falls, lavender Pentas, blue Delphinium and white Cleome, Pentas, Alyssum and Nicotiana. Anna and Elsa topiaries are each about 6-1/2 feet tall and are created with plants that include variegated Ficus, green Ficus and the succulent Sedum Coral Reef. But Elsa will look taller because she’s standing closer to guests than Anna by about 8 feet.
• At least 25 different plants, grasses and mosses of various colors, including pink and red begonias, dusty miller, palm fiber, palm seeds, ficus and lichen, are used to create and define facial and other features of festival character topiaries. The topiary team uses about 200 one-pound boxes of hairpins to attach plants and flowers to the topiaries.
•  Nearly 1,000 native butterflies represent up to 10 species at the expansive Butterflies on the Go butterfly house presented by GoGo squeeZ. Among the garden’s two dozen nectar plants are passion flower, coral honeysuckle, lantana, butterfly bush, blue porterweed, scarlet milkweed and canna lily.
•  240 extra playground hours add extra festival magic for children and their families with the illuminated garden playgrounds staying open through park closing.
•  More than 500,000 plants, trees and shrubs are planted for the festival; 250,000 of those are annual blossoms installed for the festival.
•  Festival plants include 60 different species of trees, 47 types of palms, and 48 varieties of bedding plants.
•  78 hands-on gardening demonstrations and seminars will be presented
•  More than forty 8-to-9-foot tall, multi-hued “flower towers” make colorful statements across the festival landscape.
•  More than 200 floating mini-gardens, each three feet in diameter, of multi-hued New Guinea impatiens provide splashes of color on two ponds that border the walkway between Future World and World Showcase.
• Nearly 500 container gardens of flowers, herbs, plants and vegetables in clay pots, barrels and urns enhance the landscape throughout Epcot.
•  400 Walt Disney World horticulturists are needed to install the festival landscape, topiaries and many exhibits; 100 Epcot horticulturists maintain topiaries and other festival displays.
• It takes more than one full year and about 24,000 cast member hours to prepare for the annual festival.
•  The festival’s weekend Garden Rocks Concert Series includes 16 bands known for their Top 40 hits across five decades. This year’s musical hit-makers from the 1960s through 2000s include new-to-the-festival acts Simple Plan, Exposé, Berlin featuring Terri Nunn and Plain White T’s.

Guest information for the 24th Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is available at EpcotInSpring.com or at 407/W-DISNEY. #FreshEpcot

A record 75-day festival overflows with culinary events, celebrity chefs, seminars, musical acts and workshops, during the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Aug. 31-Nov. 13, 2017.

Celebrated for its creative tapas-sized dishes and inspired sips, high-energy entertainment and premium signature dinners and tastings, the festival will sizzle with a more than 35 specialized marketplace – celebrating 35 years of Epcot. Guests can pair wines, beers and ciders with delicious tastings as they stroll World Showcase Promenade and Future World.

Celebrity and Disney chefs will present culinary demonstrations, and beverage experts will host daily wine tastings and seminars (additional charges apply), ABC’s “The Chew” returns to Epcot to tape a week’s worth of shows Oct. 4-6.

This year’s festival will also spotlight inspired dishes geared towards kids and offer scavenger hunts and culinary demos designed for the whole family.

Some 32 musical acts are set to perform during the popular Eat to the Beat concerts with returning fan favorites Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Air Supply and 38 Special, plus newcomers The Hooters, 10,000 Maniacs and Kenny G. Guests can call 407/WDW-FEST (939-3378) or visit epcotfoodfestival.com for information and updates about booking premium culinary programs, dinners and tasting events such as the popular Party for the Senses.

The 22nd Epcot® International Food & Wine Festival is expanding for a longer-than-ever 75-day run (Aug. 31-Nov. 13, 2017). This year’s festival will feature (35) amazing food and wine Marketplaces to celebrate 35 years of Epcot. The event will be part of the park’s 35th anniversary day on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017 and feature several new experiences. Here are a few favorites:

New Acts for 2017 “Eat to the Beat” Concert Series will amp things up this year. Eleven new-to-the-festival bands, including Kenny G., Squeeze and 10,000 Maniacs, join 21 fan-favorite musical acts for a diverse lineup of pop hit makers to rock America Gardens Theatre stage throughout the festival’s 75-day run.  Other new acts to appear are: The Hooters, Baha Men, Lauren Alaina, Mark Wills, American Authors, Devon Allman, Postmodern Jukebox and Blue October. Concerts take place at 5:30, 6:45 and 8 p.m. daily and are included in Epcot admission .  The lineup is subject to change and included in Epcot admission.

Festival-goers can also enjoy Eat to the Beat Dining Packages at 15 popular Epcot restaurants, guaranteeing a breakfast, lunch or dinner reservation and confirmed seating at a same-day Eat to the Beat concert. You can book reservations at EpcotFoodFestival.com.

New Marketplaces are coming to the Festival – and India and Spain marketplaces will return for an encore. Our global marketplaces will extend into Future World to offer brand-new taste sensations.

ABC’s “The Chew” is returning to tape five festival shows that will air Oct. 9-13. With Spaceship Earth as the backdrop, the Emmy Award-winning show hosts will again delight a live audience with on-stage cooking and stories of their Disney adventures plus segments from across Walt Disney World® Resort.

Popular TV chefs and culinary icons will entertain at Festival Center demonstrations. Those same stars of the kitchen will create new dishes for premium events such as Party for the Senses grand tastings with new concepts and themes. You can book premium events at  EpcotFoodFestival.com, or by calling 407-939-3378.

“Mix It, Make It, Celebrate It!” hands-on workshops are also returning with fresh opportunities for you to interact with visiting chefs, bakers, mixologists and other pros.

 

Walt Disney World Resort guests are invited to join the fun when the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival turns 22 from Aug. 31-Nov. 13, 2017.  On Oct. 1, Epcot will celebrate its 35^th anniversary, and this year’s festival will feature, for the first time, 35 global dine-around marketplaces. Guests will discover delicious ethnic and specialty cuisine, refreshing new beverages and more concerts and musical acts than ever.

The record 75-day festival at Disney’s Epcot theme park will include five 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 third year and will again showcase dishes inspired by “The Chew” show hosts. The festival is believed to be the largest food and wine event of its kind in the world.

Here are some fun facts about the 22^nd festival celebration.

• Now 75 days long, the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival began in 1996 with a first run of 30 days
• At the 2017 festival, 35 global marketplaces will include five new marketplaces to help celebrate 35 years of Epcot –they include Active Eats, Coastal Eats, Flavors from Fire and Light Lab, all expanding into the park’s Future World area. The Almond Orchard, hosted by Blue Diamond Almond Breeze, is the fifth new marketplace located along the World Showcase promenade
• 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 Oct. 4-6 against a backdrop of the park’s iconic Spaceship Earth
• The 22^nd festival will feature 39 new marketplace dishes and 65 new cocktails, beers, wines and ciders
• This year, more than 50 domestic and international wines will be offered at global marketplaces
• More than 50 wineries and more than 35 breweries from around the world, including local craft beer operations, will be represented at festival marketplaces
• The new “Disney Food and Wine Festivals Coast to Coast Cookbook” by Pam Brandon and the Disney Chefs features 50 irresistible recipes, 26 recipes from the Epcot festival global marketplaces and 24 from Disney’s California Adventure
• 5 Party for the Senses grand tastings will take place at World Showplace during the festival run. In all, the festival will feature 177 premium events ranging from Signature Dinners and Food & Wine Pairings to “What’s Cookin’ With” and additional festival events in World Showcase pavilions and Walt Disney World resorts
• Guest chefs and Disney chefs numbering 197 will present culinary demonstrations and will cook for festival events
• Celebrity chefs and visiting culinarians from 11 countries and 23 U.S. states will participate in the festival at culinary demos, book signings, and special tasting events and dinners
• 379 culinary demos, beverage and interactive seminars will take place during the 75-day festival. That’s equal to more than 6,360 hours of scheduled seminars at the Festival Center. These include the fun-filled Mix It, Make It, Celebrate It! interactive events, plus more
• 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 15 Remy statuettes hidden throughout World Showcase and the global marketplaces.  Guests can purchase their map and stickers at select merchandise locations, then take their completed maps to Disney Traders at the entrance to World Showcase or World Traveler at International Gateway to choose a new surprise, compliments of Chef Remy
• 225 Eat to the Beat concerts will be performed;11 musical acts will appear for the first time at this year’s festival featuring entertainment ranging from rock and soul to funk and blues
• The Festival Passport (previously called the Marketplace Discovery Passport) was introduced in 2010 for the 15^th annual festival; today, the complimentary passport will feature pages with all 35 festival marketplaces and other outdoor food and beverage locations with special festival offerings such as Refreshment Cool Post, Fife & Drum Tavern and Refreshment Port
• More than 1,200 fireworks will explode each night over World Showcase Lagoon in IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth nightime spectacular
• 100,000-plus desserts, including Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Toasted Macadamia Nuts (new at Hawaii) and Sweet Olive Oil Cake with Powdered Sugar and Lemon Curd (new at Spain), are expected to be served
• 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 dozens of food and beverage stations and, in 2017, confirmed seating for all guests plus new and different themed entertainment and surprises for each event

Starting Aug. 13, 2017, Walt Disney World® Resort will relaunch Mission: SPACE with a brand new experience and an enhanced version of the “classic” attraction.

• If guests think they’ve got “the right stuff,” they can take on the Orange Mission for a truly intense experience that lets them feel the force of an actual space launch en route to Mars. On this mission, they’ll dodge meteoroids, slingshot around the moon and attempt a precision landing on the Red Planet’s alien surface. This “mission” has been enhanced with new, HD video to make it even clearer.
• Or, guests can embark on the more family-friendly Green Mission – a new mission that takes them on an exciting orbit around Earth. On this amazing new adventure, they’ll take in sites like the Hawaiian Islands, Italy’s “boot” and the Northern Lights—as seen from space, of course—before finally landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. No matter which mission guests choose, it’ll be a journey that’s totally out of this world.

In addition to all the “mission” updates, our partners at Walt Disney Imagineering have also made this attraction MORE family-friendly. Younger astronauts can now ride – the height restriction will be changed for the Green Mission side with the addition of new X-2 booster seats allowing children 40-44” to ride.

From culinary demos to brunches, seminars and the fabulous Party for the Senses, it’s time to book ahead for the special ticketed events at Epcot® International Food & Wine Festival at Walt Disney World® Resort.

Expanding to 75 days, the festival runs Aug. 31-Nov. 13, 2017. Popular series like the “Mix It, Make It, Celebrate It!” hands-on workshops are back, plus daily culinary demos and beverage seminars and cheese seminars on select Saturdays in the Festival Center. And extra-special dining and pairing events are happening at a number of Epcot World Showcase restaurants.

Party for the Senses grand tasting event is back on select Saturdays, an extravaganza of food, drink and entertainment that’s a real delight. More intimate premium events happen in the Disney resorts, like the Grand Floridian Brunch With a Twist and Culinary Adventures with a Master Chef at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

Call 407-939-3378 for more details!

Be sure to visit Epcot® soon and revisit Universe of Energy one more time. Because on August 13, this ride through a primeval world will go extinct.

During the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts presentation at D23 Expo 2017, several exciting updates from Epcot® were announced, including a peek at a new Space restaurantand two attractions coming to the park: a “Guardians of the Galaxy”-inspired attraction being added to Future World and a “Ratatouille”-inspired attraction being planned for the France pavilion in World Showcase. Today, we have more on how we’re enhancing an existing experience at the park.

Walt Disney Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald announced that Disney is creating a new film for the China pavilion at Epcot that’ll feature the splendor and majesty of that amazing country – and they’re doing it with some new technology.

Taking a cue from Walt Disney, who pioneered many different storytelling and motion picture innovations, we’ve developed a next-generation digital camera system, much as we did for Soarin’. Our teams are going to be taking this immersive camera system on the road first to film a brand new seamless Circle-Vision show for the China pavilion.

ABC’s Emmy Award-winning lifestyle series, “The Chew,” returns to Walt Disney World Resort this fall to broadcast five shows from the 22nd Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.  “The Chew” shows, to record October 4-6 against the park’s iconic Spaceship Earth backdrop, will air on the ABC Television Network, October 9-13, 2017, at 1 p.m. EDT, 12 p.m. PDT (check local listings).

The dynamic, Emmy Award-winning co-hosts, who delighted audiences last year with stories of their Disney adventures as they whipped up delectable dishes and drinks, will share tasty new recipes and a bounty of festival surprises with their Epcot audiences.  Throughout the festival’s unprecedented 75-day culinary celebration, which runs August 31-November 13, 2017, “The Chew” also will feature segments highlighting food and beverages from “around the world” of Walt Disney World Resort and its four theme parks and Disney Springs.

Today also kicks off “The Chew’s” Magical Culinary Adventure Sweepstakes presented by Hidden Valley Ranch.  The winner gets a vacation for four to see a “Chew” taping at Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. To learn more, visit www.TheChew.com.

“It’s our favorite week of the year,” raved Gordon Elliott, executive producer of “The Chew.”

“The hosts enjoy the excitement of the park along with their fans, and for a few days everyone is on holiday–with amazing food!”

Delicious dishes inspired by “The Chew” also will be featured throughout the festival in the themed global marketplace, “Earth Eats, Hosted by The Chew.” Park guests will be able to savor these menu stars: Grilled Beef Skewer with Romaine, Apricots and Feta Cheese; Ricotta and Zucchini Ravioli with Rustic Tomato Sauce and a sweet finish: Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Mousse with Caramel Drizzle.

Epcot vice president Melissa Valiquette said she and the entire festival team are delighted to welcome back “The Chew” hosts, producers and crew for their third year of on-site production.

“’The Chew’s’ production adds another level of excitement and fun to our iconic fall food and wine festival,” Valiquette said. “It’s magical to see our Epcot stage light up as the show’s celebrated hosts cook, dish and entertain each live audience of festival guests.”

At the Festival Center, guests can watch screenings of “The Chew” show highlights, cooking and entertaining tips. Instructions on how to obtain show taping tickets will be announced at a later date.

“The Chew” celebrates life through food – from cooking and home entertaining to exploring food trends and bringing original ideas to holiday events. The show’s award-winning dream team of culinary and lifestyle experts dish up useful, creative solutions for busy viewers who want to make cooking and home entertaining easy, affordable, and always fun. “The Chew” has spawned five cookbooks, and the sixth, “The Chew Quick & Easy: Stress-Free Recipes for Every Occasion,” will be published September 26, 2017. “The Chew” airs on ABC Monday through Friday at 1 p.m. EDT, noon CDT. For details, visit www.TheChew.com.

Produced by Gordon Elliott’s Chew Productions for the ABC Television Network, “The Chew” is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC’s selected HDTV format, with stereo sound.

Epcot International Food & Wine Festival celebrates 22 delicious festival years featuring the returning partnership with “The Chew” plus a lineup of delicious new food and beverage menu items, global marketplaces, premium experiences and entertainment.  For updates about festival events and premium experiences, visit epcotfoodfestival throughout the summer.