ThemeGo
  • Disney
  • Planning
  • Quizzes
  • International Parks
2K Likes
2K Followers
2K Followers
Subscribe
ThemeGo
ThemeGo
  • Disney
  • Events
  • Theme Parks

Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival 2016

  • March 17, 2016
  • Yariv Padva
Garden at Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival 2016
Epcot is especially beautiful during the International Flower and Garden Festival
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
IMG_6646
Donald, Huey, Dewy and Louie

Epcot is a beautiful park to visit and enjoy, but during the time of the Flower and Garden Festival, it reaches a new level of beauty. It is simply amazing how much the event has to offer in terms of experiences and that’s even without taking into account all of Epcot’s year-round attractions. The stars of the event are the topiaries themed to the famous Disney and Pixar movies and characters, which are just gorgeous to look at and create wonderful photo opportunities and the outdoor kitchens offering cuisines with selections from the different countries around the world such as Morocco, China and others. The best time to visit however is during the ‘Fun Fresh Weekends‘ (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays) as the Festival Center is open with a verity of gardening presentations and that’s where you can meet gardening, horticulture and outdoor specialists and find really nice exclusive merchandize items. In the weekend you can also enjoy a concert with world famous bands. This experience is called Garden Rocks.

I took the time to enjoy the Flower and Garden Festival last weekend and these were the highlights for me.

Festival Center

Festival Center (open on weekends)
Central Florida Bonsai Club
Homegrown Perfection by Danielle Sherry

My recommendation is to make the Festival Center- the first stop of your visit. Pick up Garden Passport and the Times Guide for the day.

The Garden Passport is used collect different stamps at specific locations scattered around the park. The stamps look terrific and I was excitied to discover which stamp I would get for each venue. It was so nice that I kept on looking to complete my Garden Passport (and I did!). The Garden Passport is also very useful to keep track of what you’ve already seen and tried during the event – a nice memorabilia that you can take with you after the event.

Speaking of memorabilia, you can find exclusive merchandize at Garden Gifts. I’m not really a fan of merchandize items, but I loved the selection there. Got one of the Mickey the Farmer pictures for my place (couldn’t resist…).

To get a good idea about the magic behind the event and how these magnificent topriaries are made there is a nice video that plays at the Garden Theater or you can look at the different displays in the gallery at the back of the center. The video was a more enjoyable and faster way for me to learn about the topiaries and they even teach you how you can do some of those things at home.

Some of the presentations at the Festival Center are open and for some of them you will need a reservation card that cast members give away prior to the show (at the location of the show), so I suggest picking up the card before anything else. I attended a presentation called ‘Step Up the Plate with Vegetables‘ with Robert Bowden. As someone who managed to kill ever single plant that he tried to grow- I wouldn’t call myself a gardening enthusiast, however the presentation was just wonderful and very interesting for me. Robert spoke about growing your own food and it was great to understand the importance of that and getting some great tips. In the end everyone got to plant and received a nice flowerpot to get them going with their own yammy vegetable garden! Nice touch!

Topiaries and Play Areas

Ranger Mickey & Friends at Future World East
Lightning McQueen at Cactus Road Rally
Mater at Cactus Road Rally
Minnie Mouse and Pluto at Showcase Plaza
Elsa and Anna at Norway Pavilion
Donald Duck at Music Garden Melodies
Fantasia at Future World West
Fantasia at Future World West
Buzz Lightyear at Future World East

Robert Bowden said it best ‘Every year they say: this is beautiful, this is gorgeous they can’t possibly improve on this, and what do they do? every year it’s better and better’. The 2016 Topiaries are indeed gorgeous. The ones that stood out for me for were the Cars topiaries and the play area called Cactus Rally and Ranger Mickey & Friends. There is another play area called Music Garden Melodies with Mickey and friends. These play areas seem to be a hit with young kids.

Outdoor Kitchens

Watermelon Salad
Urban Farm Eats
Frozen Desert Violet Lemonade
Pineapple Promenade

I’m a fan of Epcot Food & Wine Festival. While the selection at Flower and Garden Festival is not as big, the assortment of cuisine and food selection is wonderful and it looks like there are much more options for vegertarians (and suitably so for a garden and outdoor based event).  My first selection was the Watermelon Salad (with Pickled Onions, B&W Gourmet Farms Baby Arugula, Feta and Balsamic Reduction- hah!) at Urban Farm Eats. The watermelon salad was exquistely fresh and very tasty. A good tip for Urban Farm Eats is to skip their beverages and get the Frozen Desert Violet Lemonade at neighboring Pineapple Promenade. What can I say about this beverage? It looks fantastic, the color is amazing and the taste is very unique and ‘violet-like’. Highly recommended!

Goal Beef Bun at China
Baklava at Morocco

The two other sample offerings which I can heartily recommend are the Gaoli Beef Bun at China Pavilion which was unbelievably tasty and the Baklava at Morocco Pavilion was one of the best Baklavas I’ve ever eaten (and I love Baklavas…).

Gardens – Butterflies on the Go

Butterflies on the Go is a special tent that is home to some beautiful colorful butterflies. I wish I took my professional DSLR camera as these butterflies fly fast and are hard to get close to. It’s a fantastic place to learn and see a variety of glittery butterflies.

Tours- English Tea Garden Tour 

During the time of the Flower & Garden Festival you can learn about the history and art of tea blending at the English Tea Garden (United Kingdom Pavilion) and more specifically about Twinings tea blends. It’s a nice tour and the Tea garden is just beautiful and looks like it came straight from a fairy tale book, which kind of makes sense since you can meet with Alice in Wonderland next door! This is just one of three tours available for you to experience at the Festival.

and last, but not least-

Garden Rocks Concert Series at America Gardens Theatre

One of the things that’s nice and special about visiting the Flower and Garden in the weekend is the Garden Rocks Concert Series playing at America Gardens Theatre. A perfect way to end your day with by relaxing and enjoying the music of these wonderful bands and musicians, in my case – The Orchestra starring former members of ELO! They were great, the theatre was packed and the crowd was really enjoying the show and sang along!

Visiting the Flower and Garden Festival

It was a blast visiting the Flower and Garden Festival. Even if you’re just the casual gardening person, the presentations are super interesting, you can get lots of nice photos of these beautiful topiaries and try wonderful uique food! I think it’s one of the best events at Epcot and if you’re thinking about going to the theme park this is probably one of the best times as the park looks absolutely amazing. Can Disney ever top this? Can’t wait to find out next year!!

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Related Topics
  • 2016
  • disney
  • epcot
  • Flower and Garden Festival
  • Outdoor Kitchens
  • Topiaries
Yariv Padva

Theme park enthusiast, world traveler, film and animation buff

Previous Article
  • Events
  • LEGOLAND
  • LEGOLAND Florida
  • Theme Parks

Everything IS awesome with LEGO Movie 4D Weekends in LEGOLAND Florida

  • February 19, 2016
  • Yariv Padva
View Post
Next Article
  • Disney
  • International Parks
  • Opinion Pieces
  • Theme Parks

Exclusive interview with Marty Sklar

  • April 11, 2016
  • Yariv Padva
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • California's Great America
  • christmas
  • Events
  • Opinion Pieces

Top 5 Experiences in WinterFest at California’s Great America

  • Yariv Padva
  • December 1, 2017
View Post
  • Attractions
  • Events
  • Opinion Pieces
  • Theme Parks

ThemeGo’s Top 5 Picks for IAAPA Attractions Expo 2017

  • Yariv Padva
  • November 24, 2017
View Post
  • Disney
  • Disneyland
  • Events
  • Halloween
  • Theme Parks

Top 5 Halloween 2017 Experiences at Disneyland Resort

  • Yariv Padva
  • October 16, 2017
View Post
  • Events
  • LEGOLAND
  • LEGOLAND Florida
  • Opinion Pieces
  • Star Wars
  • Theme Parks
  • Travelling with Kids

Top 5 LEGO Star Wars Days experiences at LEGOLAND Florida

  • Yariv Padva
  • May 10, 2017
View Post
  • Events
  • Opinion Pieces
  • SeaWorld
  • Theme Parks

Seven Seas Food Festival Celebrates Latin Beats & Eats at SeaWorld Orlando

  • Yariv Padva
  • May 1, 2017
View Post
  • Busch Gardens
  • Events
  • Opinion Pieces
  • Theme Parks

Busch Gardens Food&Wine Festival 2017

  • Yariv Padva
  • April 4, 2017
View Post
  • California's Great America
  • Events
  • Roller coasters

Patriot opens at California’s Great America

  • Yariv Padva
  • April 1, 2017
View Post
  • Events
  • Opinion Pieces
  • Theme Parks
  • Universal Studios

Adventures at Universal: Mardi Gras 2017

  • Yariv Padva
  • March 22, 2017

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Posts
  • Top 5 Experiences in WinterFest at California’s Great America
  • ThemeGo’s Top 5 Picks for IAAPA Attractions Expo 2017
  • Top 5 Halloween 2017 Experiences at Disneyland Resort
  • Top 5 LEGO Star Wars Days experiences at LEGOLAND Florida
  • Seven Seas Food Festival Celebrates Latin Beats & Eats at SeaWorld Orlando
Recent Comments
  • Mr. pride and joy on Top 5 Extreme Rides in a Disney Park
  • Mr. pride and joy on New Star Wars add-on to Disneyland
  • Mr. pride and joy on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter around the World – Part I
  • Mr. pride and joy on Disney Rides on the Big Screen
Archives
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
Categories
  • Attractions
  • Busch Gardens
  • California's Great America
  • christmas
  • Disney
  • Disneyland
  • Entertainment Complexes
  • Events
  • Halloween
  • Harry Potter
  • Hotels & Condos
  • I-Drive 360
  • International Parks
  • Kennedy Space Center
  • LEGOLAND
  • LEGOLAND Florida
  • Movies
  • Opinion Pieces
  • Planning
  • Quizzes
  • Ripley Entertainment
  • Roller coasters
  • SeaWorld
  • Star Wars
  • Theme Parks
  • Travelling with Kids
  • Uncategorized
  • Universal Studios
Meta
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
ThemeGo
  • Disney
  • Planning
  • Quizzes
  • International Parks
The Happiest Theme Parks Reviews on Earth

Input your search keywords and press Enter.