Special Report: Food & Wine Festival Merch

Hey there Disney Fans!

This post is a little different because the Special Report is on Food and Wine Festival Merch.

© Disney

So, here's the deal: Normally, I only talk about Disney merch that is available online. That way, if you read about it here, you can go right out and order it, regardless of where you live. However, most Disney fans, whether they have ever attended or not, do know about the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, and a lot of us try to make it for at least part of the festivities.

What it is: The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is an event that goes from September 14th - November 14th this year. The event includes marketplace booths with tasting-size portions of foods to try from all over the world (prices vary widely and sometimes dining plans are accepted), culinary demonstrations, hosted meals, meet and greets, workshops, and a variety of other food and wine based activities. If you want more info about this year's festival, I would really encourage you to check out one of my FAVORITE blogs: Disney Food Blog. They have tons of info about the actual food and experience.

I'm featuring it here because, although the focus is on food and wine, there is also quite a bit of merch that is exclusive to this event, including a Food & Wine exclusive Dooney & Burke pattern. Check out this year's merch at the Disney Parks Blog website.

Who it's for: the event itself is mostly geared towards adults, as is the merch, but this is Disney, so there is generally at least something for everyone in the family.

What it Costs: Prices vary widely, but there's generally something for every budget. As I said, this stuff is festival-exclusive so, you have to figure in a trip to Epcot or bribing a friend who is making the trip as a part of your total cost.

How to Get it: Assuming you ARE going to the festival, most of this stuff is available at the Festival Event Center in Epcot, but you will also find some of it spread around the park. You really will not find it in any of the other Parks or in Disney Springs (to my knowledge), so if you see something you like on an EPCOT day, get it then. You will probably not see it again elsewhere.

My Thoughts: I LOVE the Food & Wine merch. I feel like it's such a fun event and I love that they release specific, exclusive merch that will always remind you of your time there. I also really like that they do things like change up the logo and the D&B pattern each year so you can collect commemorative things from every year you go. I really like this year's Figment logo and I am generally just REALLY excited.

Sadly, my visit will not be until the end of the festival. I wish it were earlier so I could post pictures for ya'll. I'll probably still do a recap post after the festival, but at that point, eBay will be the only hope for finding any of these things. I do encourage everyone to head over to Steven Miller's post on the Disney Parks Blog though because they have quite a few sample pictures to give you an idea of what is available this year.

What do you think? Will you be going to F&W? Have you been before? Have you never heard of it? Let me know in the comments!