Every spring, Walt Disney World hosts the International Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot. The dates for the event run from early March to mid May. During the event, Epcot is adorned with more than 500,000 plants, trees and shrubs and Disney character topiaries are littered throughout the park.
Throughout the park, you will find Outdoor Kitchens with a variety of spring-inspired dishes. Each kitchen has their own unique stamp for the Garden Passport book (which can be picked up from the Outdoor Kitchen), so you can challenge your family to see how many stamps you can collect during your visit.
On the weekends, you can jam out to the Garden Rocks Concert Series which takes place in the America Gardens Theatre in the World Showcase. Shows are at 5:30, 6:45 and 8:00 PM on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
Disney character topiaries are a popular feature of the festival. Yearly favorites include Cinderella & Prince Charming in France, Peter Pan & Captain Hook in the United Kingdom and Bambi & Friends in Canada.
- Anna and Elsa
Located at World Showcase Plaza - Goofy About Spring
Featuring Goofy, Chip ‘n Dale and friends
Located near the Main Entrance - Miss Piggy & Tour de Fleurs Garden
Located at the Italy Pavilion - Spring Is in the Air!
Featuring Butterfly Topiaries
Located behind Spaceship Earth - Disney•Pixar Buzz Lightyear
Located near Mission Space - Cactus Road Rally
Play area featuring Mater and Lightning McQueen topiaries
Located at the Test Track Walkway - Fantasia
Located at West Future World - Phineas and Ferb
Located at the Odyssey Bridge - Farmer Mickey & Minnie
Located between Future World and World Showcase - Bambi & Friends
Featuring Bambi, Flower and Thumper
Located at the Canada Pavilion - Peter Pan, Captain Hook & Tick Toc Crock
Located at the United Kingdom Pavilion - Aurora & Prince Phillip
Located between the International Gateway and France Pavilion - Beauty and the Beast
Located at the France Pavilion - Disney•Pixar Woody
Located at The American Adventure - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Located at the Germany Pavilion - Lady and the Tramp
Located at the Italy Pavilion - The Lion King
Featuring Mufasa, Pumbaa, Rafiki, Sarabi, Simba and Timon
Located at The Outpost between the Germany and China Pavilion - Cinderella & Prince Charming
Located at the France Pavilion - Year of the Ram
Located at the China Pavilion - Troll
Located at the Norway Pavilion
Every year, they build a playground for the kids to enjoy. I wish that this was a permanent addition to the park, but it is a lot of fun for the kids during the festival. They also have Tinker Bell’s Butterfly House where you can watch them emerge from their chrysalis and flutter around the exhibit.
There are also a number of mini gardens throughout the park including a Shakespeare garden, health garden, dinosaur-plant garden and pepper garden.
There is so much to see and do at the Flower and Garden Festival that you definitely want to devote more than one day of your itinerary to Epcot. You might consider visiting one park in the morning and returning to Epcot in the late afternoon to tackle one area of the park each day.
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