.jpg)
While some of us are still shivering in the cold, being blown about by frosty winds, or sighing glumly at the piles of snow in our yard, spring is in full swing in Orlando. Yup, it’s that time again; Wednesday is the kickoff of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.
I have multiple family members that for whom coming to see fanciful hedges trimmed to resemble and adorned with flowers to represent multi-color Disney characters would be enough of a reason to visit Epcot this spring. The living rainbows sure to be on display at Bambi’s Magnificent Butterfly Garden are another draw all to themselves.
Anyone in attendance at Epcot between March 2 and May 15 will be assured of these sights. If you’re planning a trip there within the next few weeks, consider at least spending park of your visit to the festival on a weekend. A regular Epcot admission affords you not only a visit amongst the Disney horticulture during the week, but also gets you into any of the special events being held for the festival on the weekend.
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival see the Garden Towers packed with expert horticulturists and celebrity guests there to give tips on creating the ideal garden. In a nod to the “international” part of the festival’s title, other events will include public demonstrations of gardening techniques used around the world.
A Disney event wouldn’t be that without celebrity appearances. In keeping with the festival’s theme, several luminaries from HGTV will attend the festival every weekend between 12 and 3 p.m. to give panels on their various areas of expertise.
These guests include Genevieve Gorder, Brian Patrick Flynn, Ahmed Hassan, Patti Moreno, Michele Beschen, and more. They’ll cover topics such as “Life, Love, and Landscaping,” “Gardening with Kids: Fun Seed Starting Projects,” “When Nature Calls: Creative, Back-to-Basics Style for All Things Natural and Decorative,” and “Mobile Gardens.”
Every weekend night at the festival expect to kick back and relax to some groovy tunes. The “Flower Power Concert Series” might be stretching the festival’s theme a little bit, but if the Epcot food festival includes concerts, it makes just as much sense for the garden festival to do so as well.
If you’re into the 1960s and 70s flower power music theme, be sure to park yourself at the America Gardens Theatre (beside the American Adventure Pavilion) every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night of the festival. Each weekend’s musical guest will appear three times every night, at 5:15, 6:30, and 7:45 p.m.
The Guess Who, Davy Jones, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Jose Feliciano, Starship starring Mickey Thomas, and other acts from the aforementioned era will rock Epcot every weekend of the festival. I’m assuming that the three different show times are in place to maximize the amount of people able to see the concerts; the bands will probably give the same performance three times each night, rather than three different performances.
As mentioned above, all it takes to get into any event of the Flower & Garden Festival is Epcot admission. But space for some of the events is limited so if there’s someone you really want to see, make sure to get there early. The official Epcot website has the full details on all scheduled appearances.
Related Articles:
Kid Stuff at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival
*(This image by Jeff Kern is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
