Spring has sprung at Epcot! The International Flower & Garden festival is back, running from March 6th through June 3rd!
These first few photos of the festival are from the first day – Wednesday, March 6th. I tried out some new offerings as well as ordering returning favorites. Locals and vacationers flocked to Epcot, making it a busy day to try and capture everything!
I’ll be updating this as I re-visit the festival over the next few months, trying new dishes and discovering more festival features! Be sure to check back!
Flower & Garden Festival Topiaries
I don’t know about you, but when I think of Flower & Garden, I think of the Disney character topiaries. Long before Disney introduced the Outdoor Kitchens, this was what everyone came to see!
These magical topiaries are maintained year-round only to be seen for a few weeks. I’ve listed out all the main topiary in the festival. I’ve got photos of many of them for you and will add more soon.
Main Entrance:
Future World East:
- Daisy Duck, Near Spaceship Earth
- Stitch, Near Mission: SPACE
- Disney-Pixar’s Buzz Lightyear, Woody and (NEW!) Bo Peep and her Sheep from Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 4, Near Test Track
- Disney-Pixar’s Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater, Near Innoventions
Future World West:
- Figment, Near the Goodness Garden Butterfly House
Showcase Plaza:
- Pluto and Goofy
- Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse with Heart Topiaries
- Donald Duck, Chip ‘n Dale, Huey, Dewey and Louie
World Showcase:
- The Three Caballeros, Mexico
- Anna and Elsa, Norway
- Troll, Norway
- Pandas, China
- Bromeliad Dragon, China
- Simba and Friends, Outpost
- Snow White and Dopey, Germany
- Lady and the Tramp, Italy
- Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, The American Adventure
- Beauty and the Beast, France
- Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, France
- Peter Pan and Captain Hook, United Kingdom
- Winnie the Pooh and Friends, United Kingdom
- Bambi and Friends, Canada
Flower & Garden Festival Outdoor Kitchens
The real surprise of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is the great food. As I’ve stated before, I’ll update this section as I journey through the Outdoor Kitchen menus each visit. For now, here’s what I tried! To see more of what we’ve tried thus far, check out our “Blooming Soon” Flower & Garden preview article.
Making our way around the World Showcase counter-clockwise, we made our first stop at Trowel & Trellis. This Outdoor Kitchen made its festival debut this year, and is sponsored by Impossible Foods. The menu is completely plant-based – a welcome addition for vegans! Two of the menu items are also gluten-free.
Next stop, China!
Both of these were okay. They satisfy a craving, but nothing special from your typical Chinese food fare.
Now, one of my favorite pavilions… Japan!
Back in Future World…
Festival Merchandise
As originally mentioned in our Flower & Garden preview, this year’s festival merchandise falls into three spotlight collections; Mickey’s Garden Shed, Minnie’s Garden Party and Violet Lemonade!
Anything catch your eye? This festival was far too expansive for me to capture it all in one day. Can’t want to return and sure even more with you soon!
Join us at Walt Disney World in October!
The MiceChat Walt Disney World Invasion is a chance for you to meet with your fellow Disney nerds in Orlando. This year we’ll have events at Mickey’s Halloween Party, Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival, Star Wars Land, Universal’s Halloween Horror nights, and lots of meals and meet-ups in between. Then we’ll head off on a Royal Caribbean cruise on the largest ship at sea!!! Join us for all or part of these amazing activities. Contact our Fairy Godmother now and let her know you are interested in more information: MiceChat@FairyGodmotherTravel.
You must be logged in to post a comment.