Disney World’s magical menu just got a spooky update. Summer hasn’t quite cooled off yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dive into some festive fall food — especially at the Happiest Place on Earth.
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WORLD SHOWCASE TO FEATURE NEW AND RETURNING MUSICAL ACTS DURING THE EPCOT INTERNATIONAL FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL
The delicious bites available in the record 35 Marketplaces at the 22nd Epcot International Food & Wine Festival aren’t the only treats guests will find at the park this fall! They’ve also got an exciting lineup of live entertainment planned. In addition to the “Eat to the Beat” Concert Series, featuring 11 new artists, guests will also want to look for authentic performers throughout World Showcase, with some new acts and returning favorites.
Suroît – New to Epcot, this renowned band hails from Canada’s Magdalen Islands in eastern Quebec. For four decades, their infectious sound has embraced influences from Cajun, Celtic, bluegrass and rock music. Join Suroît on the Mill Stage at the Canada pavilion, Aug. 31 – Oct. 1, 2017.
Margret Almer & The Bavarian Band – World-famous yodeler Margret Almer makes an encore appearance at Epcot this fall. She’ll be performing with The Bavarian Band at the Germany pavilion, beginning Aug. 31 and continuing through the holiday season.
Musique Aramenco – Another returning favorite takes the stage at the Morocco pavilion Sept. 1-Dec.30, 2017 Musique Aramenco presents a fusion of traditional and modern Moroccan music.
Bodh’aktan – Back by popular demand, Bodh’aktan mixes Quebecois, folk and polka to make fantastic rock and dance music. After rocking stages across Quebec, the United States and Europe, this incredibly popular, kilted band is returning for an Epcot encore at the Canada pavilion Oct. 2 – 22, 2017.
Raffy – This musical quartet makes their Epcot debut Oct. 23-Nov. 26, 2017 on the Mill Stage. Raffy’s infectious energy has been embraced across Canada through a live tour, appearances on television and radio airplay of their first hit single.
This fall, guests have lots of reasons to head out to World Showcase for all the singing, dancing, sipping and dining during the 22nd Epcot International Food & Wine Festival!
Is Disney’s Hollywood Studios Getting A New Name?
Let’s be real. Since The Great Movie Ride closed earlier this month, and other parts of the park closing up for remodeling or expansion, the Hollywood Studios name seems outdated.
MATT BOMER, WARWICK DAVIS, CHANDRA WILSON, WHOOPI GOLDBERG ADDED TO LIST OF CANDLELIGHT NARRATORS
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.”
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.)
Mt Disney Experience App Update Now Available
A new version of the My Disney Experience app just launched with new features that further enhance the Guest experience by offering added convenience and flexibility for guests on the go.
When guests stay at a Disney Resort hotel, they can now use the app to keep track of their Disney dining plan and see their remaining dining plan meals and snacks right from their mobile device. Plus, they can also keep track of purchases charged to your Disney Resort hotel account.
This recent update to My Disney Experience builds on recently introduced features, including Mobile Order and Online Check-In, to provide guests with more choices in how they wish to spend their time and manage personal preferences during their Walt Disney World® Resort vacation.
MY DISNEY EXPERIENCE’S MOBILE ORDER FEATURE EXPANDS TO 15 LOCATIONS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT
Now, it’s easier than ever to personalize your Walt Disney World® Resort experience through the My Disney Experience app. My Disney Experience continues to add new features – including the new Mobile Order and Online Mobile Check-in at Disney Resort hotels – while still helping guests plan their vacation experience and make changes on the go through helpful tools like FastPass+, Disney PhotoPass and more.
With the great feedback from Guests about how easy and convenient it is to use Mobile Order, we’re pleased to share that the Mobile Order service is now available at 15 locations throughout Walt Disney World theme parks and at Disney Springs®. The new service saves guests time when ordering meals at quick-service restaurants by allowing them to order on demand, pay in advance and skip the line, and not have mealtime interfere with time spent enjoying all of the other attractions and experiences throughout the resort. Check our this video for a closer look.
Magic Kingdom® Park:
Columbia Harbour House
Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café
Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe
Pinocchio Village Haus
Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant*
Epcot®:
Electric Umbrella
Liberty Inn
Disney’s Hollywood Studios®:
ABC Commissary
Backlot Express
PizzeRizzo
Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park:
Flame Tree Barbecue
Pizzafari
Restaurantosaurus
Satu’li Canteen
Disney Springs®:
D-Luxe Burger
*Location operates seasonally.
The only form of payment currently accepted through Mobile Order is credit card, but we’re working on adding more payment options soon. Anyone with special dietary restrictions, or those who want to use discounts or redeem dining plan entitlements must place their order with a cashier.
What’s the best news? We plan to continue expanding the service to even more locations across Walt Disney World Resort throughout the year.
Terralina Crafted Italian Will Bring Authentic Italian Flavors to Disney Springs This Fall
Terralina Crafted Italian, a new dining experience curated by James Beard Award-winning Chef Tony Mantuano, will open this fall at Disney Springs. The new restaurant, which will replace the space at The Landing previously occupied by Portobello Country Italian Trattoria, is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar makeover inspired by Italy’s Lake District.
Set on the shores of Lake Buena Vista, Terralina’s sweeping waterfront views and dining will provide guests with a tranquil escape to another part of the world. Just as in an Italian home, the kitchen will serve as the hearth and perfect centerpiece for guests to gather around in the restaurant. Each dining room will include eclectic decor made up of found art and pieces that share the stories of moments worth celebrating. A newly installed veranda bar outside the main entrance will serve as the perfect welcome mat for guests to relax and sip on craft cocktails, muddled with herbs similar to those grown in a garden located right outside the restaurant.
Terralina’s menu will feature authentic, Italian cuisine cooked in Chef Tony’s signature olive oil, imported directly from Italy. The restaurant’s wood-burning oven will fire up a selection of artisanal, hand-tossed pizzas and fresh vegetable dishes. Fan favorites from Portobello Country Italian Trattoria such as the antipasti platter and signature pasta dishes will remain on the menu alongside new additions such as mussels and pork chops.
“At Levy Restaurants, we are committed to providing guests with exquisite food, impeccable service and unforgettable experiences,” said Andy Lansing, President and CEO of Levy Restaurants. “We are excited to welcome guests into Terralina Crafted Italian this fall to savor one of life’s simplest pleasures: sharing a great meal with great company.”
“It’s been an honor to lead the concept and vision for Terralina Crafted Italian,” said Tony Mantuano, James Beard award winning chef. “We wanted to create a dining experience that would transport guests to the shores of Italy. Focusing on the hearth of the kitchen, dishes will embody the passion and flare of the flames. Executive Chef Justin Plank and I cannot wait for guests to come in and have a taste of Italy.”
Construction is expected to be complete this fall. Terralina will be open for lunch and dinner.
Photo – Rare Solar Eclipse Makes Way Across Walt Disney World
The first total solar eclipse visible across the U.S. for the first time in almost a century is seen in its partial state Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, over the iconic Spaceship Earth at Epcot, located at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Matt Stroshane, photographer)
Fun Facts! Fresh Trivia for 24th Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Disney guests can enjoy 90 days of fresh festival fun during the 24th 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
Reservations Open for Fantasmic! Dessert & VIP Viewing Experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
There’s a sweet new way for you to take in the spectacular sights and sounds of Fantasmic! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios®—the new Fantasmic! Dessert & VIP Viewing Experience package.
As you check-in for this event, you will pick up a delicious snack box, which features a mix of sweet and savory items, at the Fantasmic! theater prior to show time. A special light-up credential will allow Fantasmic! Dessert & VIP Viewing Experience Guests to enter the special reserved viewing area.
The adult box features chocolate-covered strawberries, cheesecake, a chocolate cupcake, apple crisp, California trail mix and cheese and crackers. Kids will enjoy chocolate pudding with crushed chocolate cookies and gummy worms, confetti popcorn, grapes and a vanilla cake bite which features the star of Fantasmic! — Sorcerer Mickey. You will also receive a bottle of water and a specialty alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage in a light-up keepsake Fantasmic! cup.
The Fantasmic! Dessert & VIP Viewing Experience is another great offering from the Enchanting Extras Collection, which allows you to enhance your Walt Disney World® Resort vacation. The cost is $39 for adults and $19 for children ages 3-9. Book today by visiting DisneyWorld.com/dining or by calling 407-WDW-DINE.
