Disney World Food and Wine Festival
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The Epcot Center at Disney World is dedicated to international culture and technological innovation, and a natural extension from its interest in the global community is the celebration of everything that makes us different. The Holidays around the World event features storytellers speaking about their national traditions, specifically concerning holidays that are celebrated, their significance, and the history behind such holidays. A mass choir and a celebrity speaker are on hand to celebrate Christmas during the event. Without a doubt the tastiest special event at the Epcot Center, though, is the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, an event that celebrates cultural differences through cuisine. Many countries around the world, even those that do not have permanent pavilions at the Epcot Center, are represented by their cuisine at the festival, one that lasts from September 26 to November 9.
As the third-most visited theme-park in the United States and the sixth-most visited theme park in the world, the Epcot Center has long been an important attraction for the United States and has become extremely popular with international tourists because of its celebration of cultures from all around the world. The name of the Epcot Center derives from the acronym EPCOT, which stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Walt Disney planned a utopian society that would exist as the model of human civilization, and his ideal vision of the Epcot Center was as a test bed for city planning and social organization. The city would be built as a circle, with business in the center and the community residing around it, along with the necessary community buildings like schools and recreational complexes. Transportation would be completely public and underground, as to keep people safe. Walt Disney attested that his model city would encompass everything that is special about mankind, and that problems like slums and corruption would not exist because there would not be any mechanisms in place that would allow them to develop.
When Walt Disney died, the company realized that they would not want to be in the position to run an entire town, so the idea was scrapped for the most part. Instead, the Epcot Center was created as a place that would embody the ideals of Walt Disney’s utopian society without actually creating a town in which people could opt to live. Other communities in the United States, such as Celebration, Florida, are modeled around Disney’s original perception of the Epcot Center. The park opened on October 1, 1982, and the opening was very optimistic and cheerful. Disney’s chairman dedicated the Epcot Center to the traditions and values that Walt Disney himself set aside for his planned community. Eventually, the name of the Epcot Center became a mixed-case non-acronym, and it is now referred to as the Epcot Center. In all, the Epcot Center cost about $1.4 billion to make, and construction time was three years. Consisting of 250 acres, the park is twice as large as the Magic Kingdom, and the park was not officially dedicated until a month after the park debuted.
The Epcot Center is divided into pavilions that represent several different aspects of mankind. Future World consists of pavilions that explore innovative aspects of technology. They are: Spaceship Earth, Innoventions, Universe of Energy, Mission: SPACE, Test Track, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Imagination, and The Land. Each pavilion opened initially with a corporate sponsor who paid for everything, a favor which was returned with advertising and a posh VIP area for corporate employees to relax and get away from the park for a while. Several of these pavilions’ sponsors have stopped paying for the pavilion, which makes their future uncertain because of the fact that Disney would rather not pay. The World Showcase is one of the most iconic parts of the theme park, containing eleven pavilions that represent different countries in the world, such as Canada, Morocco, and Norway. Representative shops and restaurants are staffed by citizens of the respective countries, usually college students participating in a special program that allows them to live on the premises.
The Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is an extension of this nod to the international community at the Epcot Center. Beginning and advanced gourmets from all over the world come to the Epcot Center in order to share their culinary traditions with the rest of the global community. This year marks the 13th year that the Epcot International Food and Wine festival has been hosted by the Epcot Center. Marketplaces featuring regional foods, wines, and beers are established, and it is great fun to wander the stalls, trying out different delicacies from many cultures all over the world. It is not very often that you can try a Moroccan dish consisting of roasted lamb alongside a good old-fashioned American hot dog, but the Epcot International Festival makes such occurrences happen. Renowned chefs share their techniques at special programs and demonstrations, which is always a blast to experience. A trip to the festival could net you several exotic recipes with which you can impress your friends and family. Some of the finest cuisine from around the globe is represented at the festival, so if you consider yourself a gourmet, even in passing, you need to make the effort to attend the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.
The sizzling sounds of the Eat to the Beat concert series provide the perfect music to savor your culinary journey through the festival. A stellar line-up of popular music acts make the event one to remember. One of the places you have to check out while you are there is the Festival Welcome Center, where you can attend a book signing by professional chefs, browse the Festival Wine Shop, or check out the Wonders Bar for champagne and wine. The Stockpot shop has fantastic merchandise and souvenirs for you to remember you excellent trip out to the Epcot Center, along with other things to make your journey even more worthwhile. An important purchase is the Festival Cookbook, which will allow you to recreate the delicious taste sensations that you experience at the Epcot Center in your own home. All in all, there is a huge amount of things to do at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, and you should plan to experience it over several days so you can savor every bit of it.
The Epcot Center sprang from Walt Disney’s vision of the perfect society, but his death led the Epcot Center in the direction of embodying his desires without actually requiring the creation and management of an entire city. In this way, the values of peace and international appreciation are certainly present. Whether you come to the Epcot Center for Future World or the World Showcases, you should definitely try to coordinate your visit so that you can indulge in the Epcot International Food and Wine festival. It is an event that is not to be missed, because no other celebration of our global culture, specifically concerning culinary styles and tradition, can be experienced elsewhere on the planet. From September 26 to November 9 is the time to go to have this wonderful experience, so do not miss out!
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