The Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival has plenty for Walt Disney World guests to see and do, but each year two big draws keep them coming back. As its name implies, the event is famous for its gorgeous gardens, as well as a crop of creative topiaries that steps up the level of detail every year, and it also has outdoor kitchens that showcase the chefs’ artistry with dishes to appease any palate.
Disney ups the garden art ante
While you’ll see topiaries returning year after year, the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival adds some new touches each time around. This year, the big news is Belle, posing with Beast at the French pavilion in World Showcase. Her features are uncannily lifelike, underscoring just how far Disney topiary art has come over the years. Compare her to the older topiaries from Fantasia that you’ll find on the way to the Imagination pavilion in Future World and you’ll gain a new admiration for the art. Keep an eye out for unofficial festival mascot Figment, too.
You’ll find him between Spaceship Earth and the Fountain of Nations.
Continually changing gardens
The Epcot gardens also shine during the festival. The park has lovely landscaping all year ‘round, but things really start blooming at event time, which runs all the way until May 29 this year. The rainbow of flowers pops all around the park, and it changes as the cool spring weather warms up progressively in the march to summer. To learn more about the gardening aspect of the festival, check out the video below.
More Disney dining
Food is a newer addition to the festival, but it’s always so popular that the offerings keep expanding. You’ll find a variety of outdoor kitchens all around Epcot, each with its own theme and special food and drink offerings.
If you’d like to learn more about this year’s noshes, check out the video below.
If you visit Walt Disney World during the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, grab your passport when you arrive so you have a guide map to the food, topiaries, and other event offerings. The festival runs throughout the week, but if you visit between Friday and Monday, look for seminars and concerts to round out your experience over the long weekend.