Marketplaces at This Year’s Epcot International Food and Wine Festival Are Bigger and Better

When visiting the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival this year, you might notice something different about the locations when you're buying those tasty treats.

Gone are the generic booths from years past. The new locations - called marketplaces, not kiosks - are mini kitchen outlets where chefs can create culinary magic every day. David Buckley, the art director for the festival, is behind much of the redesign.

The new marketplaces have a permanent look about them, and some are in fact permanent. Several marketplaces look like cottages, but all are sturdier and have a theme present in the design. But that theme can be stripped away and a new theme can be added for a different use.

The size of the marketplaces is growing too, thanks in part to Epcot Executive Chef Jens Dahlmann's desire to be able to cook "on site." The original marketplaces were 8 feet by 8 feet, but this year they've grown to 12x16 feet. This increase in size means more equipment can be added inside the building.

There's also an added feature of the newest marketplaces that is wholly weather related - they were built to withstand winds of up to 150 mph. So this means, if there's a hurricane at least you can eat well.

Story by Traci C., Image by Disney Food Blog, Source