Exotic cocktails will pair like a tropical daydream with fresh new tastes from more than one island paradise at the 16th Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Sept. 30-Nov. 13, 2011, at Walt Disney World Resort. The one-of-a-kind 45-day 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 new cocktails

Marketplace tasting menus offer variety and adventure for guests on a mission to tantalize their taste buds during a scenic stroll around the 40-acre World Showcase Lagoon. The adventure can take them to the festival’s first Hawaii marketplace, which 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 new 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.

With a swing across the Atlantic, guests will be transported to the new Portugal marketplace, where the Portugal Wine Bar will offer best sips to pair with calamari salad with olives and smoked paprika. The Scandinavia marketplace will return after a hiatus with a fresh new Xante Sunshine cocktail made from Xante pear and cognac liquer. And the Canada marketplace will introduce a sweet treat: apple ice wine.

Disney and celebrity chefs will team with winemakers and brew masters from around the world to get the party started Sept. 30. During the six-week festival, guests will discover.

• Three new tasting marketplaces — Hawaii, Caribbean Islands and Portugal — plus new menu offerings at popular returning marketplaces
• Celebrity chef appearances starring top culinarians like Jeff Henderson, Cat Cora, Alan Wong, Gale Gand, Suvir Saran, Jamie Deen, Rock Harper, Celina Tio, Robert Irvine, Andrew Zimmern, Buddy Valastro, Warren Brown, Art Smith, Keegan Gerhard and more.
• First-ever HGTV home entertaining seminars each Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
• The Cranberry Bog display by Craisins telling the story behind the venerable cranberry’s rich agricultural heritage.
• Daily wine seminars, bottle signings, author events and culinary demonstrations at the Festival Welcome Center.

Festival guests can make a day of circumnavigating the World Showcase Promenade, grazing and sipping as they go. Tapas-sized portions of regional specialties run $3 to $8 each, and recommended wines, cocktails and beers make perfect pairings at each marketplace. For quicker marketplace visits, guests can purchase a festival-themed mini-Disney Gift Card that can be worn on a wristband and loaded and reloaded at several park locations.

Live daily entertainment showcases many cultures with music, acrobatics and improv performances along the promenade. Evening Eat to the Beat! concerts at America Gardens Theatre feature acts from many musical genres. Appearing for the first time on the Eat to the Beat! stage are The Pointer Sisters, The Orchestra starring former members of ELO and Gin Blossoms. Fan favorite Taylor Dayne kicks off the festival Sept. 30-Oct. 2, and crowd pleaser Big Bad Voodoo Daddy wraps the event Nov. 11-13.

The festival attracts a diverse audience — from wine connoisseurs and epicures to novices wishing to boost their culinary IQs. Special culinary programs showcase a lineup of renowned winemakers, guest chefs and speakers participating in elegant dinners, luncheons, seminars and wine schools.

Taken for the Official Disney Blog, Disney has just set the schedule for the “Eat to the Beat” Concert Series at the 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. It’s an impressive lineup that includes several Grammy-winning artists and seven new acts, including Sugar Ray, Rick Springfield, Air Supply and Howard Jones.

The concerts, which are included with Epcot admission, will be at the America Gardens Theatre stage beginning September 30th. Performances will be nightly at 5:15 p.m. 6:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. This year’s schedule (subject to change) includes:

• 9/30-10/2 — Taylor Dayne, “Tell It to My Heart”
• 10/3-10/5 — 38 Special, “Hold on Loosely ”
• 10/6-10/7 — Jon Secada, “Just Another Day”
• 10/8-10/9 — Roger Hodgson formerly of Supertramp, “Give A Little Bit”
• 10/10-10/12 — Billy Ocean, “Caribbean Queen”
• 10/13-10/16 — Starship starring Mickey Thomas, “We Built This City”
• 10/17-10/19 — Sugar Ray, “Fly”
• 10/20-10/21 — The Orchestra starring former members of ELO - NEW!
• 10/22-10/23 — Howard Jones, “No One Is To Blame”
• 12/24–10/26 — Boyz II Men, “End of the Road”
• 12/27–10/28 — Gin Blossoms - NEW!”
• 10/29-10/30 — Sister Hazel, “All For You”
• 10/31-11/1 — Hanson, “MMMBop”
• 11/2-11/3 — The Pointer Sisters - NEW!
• 11/4-11/6 — Night Ranger, “Sister Christian”
• 11/7-11/8 — Air Supply, “Lost in Love”
• 11/9-11/10 — Richard Marx, “Right Here Waiting”
• 11/11-11/13 — Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, “Go Daddy-O”

• The Festival Welcome Center, with a Wine Bar, Authentic Taste Seminars, Authors Without Borders weekend conversations and more.
• More than 270 chefs including Disney chefs and culinary stars from across the country conducting culinary demonstrations and hosting dinners and tasting events.
• A complimentary Marketplace Discovery Passport to be stamped at each international marketplace visited for the perfect scrapbook souvenir.
• Popular returning events that include First Bites Opening Reception on Sept. 29; Kitchen Memories (formerly Celebrating Family and Friends in the Kitchen); Mixology Seminar; and “3D” Disney Dessert Discovery.
• The weekly Party for the Senses grand tasting event beginning Oct. 8 and with a new Saturday evening time of 7:30-10 p.m. featuring tempting bites from eminent chefs, more than 50 wines and beers and live entertainment presented by Cirque du Soleil..

Festival guests can enjoy fresh Epcot experiences including the latest Future World high-tech fun at Innoventions and the celebrated return of “Captain EO,” the classic musical 3-D production starring Michael Jackson in a rare big-screen performance. In World Showcase, new and recently updated restaurants welcome guests at the Italy, Japan, Mexico and China pavilions.

Sept 30 through Nov. 11, 2011

Download the Festival Guide Map 2011