Epcot Flower & Garden Festival
It’s that time again! Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival is well underway! That means flowers, food, & fanfare in the form of topiaries, desserts, and music. Following on the heels of the Festival of the Arts, the Flower & Garden scene has made its way up my list of favorite special events. In fact, my order of favorites has changed in the last couple of years. Starting in last place, Flower & Garden has leap frogged the Food & Wine Festival and is inching dangerously close to being better than the Art Festival. Of course these preferences are subjective, I nether the less would love to show you why you should think more highly of this event!
The scenery around the F&GF (Flower & Garden Festival) is simply better than anything the F&WF (Food & Wine Festival) has to offer. It’s kind of extraordinary to think how fast one festival goes down and another goes up when you take time to notice the sheer amount of detail in the topiaries and flower gardens, but Disney has this down to a science. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to rush through Epcot during this time instead of savoring the charm and fine details the imagineers and horticulture team have put into place. Simply put, it is better than what the F&WF offers in terms of optics. The Art Festival, however, still rules this category easily since it is a festival built on art. There is nothing like watching Trevor Carlton paint one of the Fab 5 live and in person. If you know you know. If you don’t, get to Epcot during the Art Festival.
Peach & honey always go together!
The food is extrodanary. Not that the F&WF selection falls short, there is a focus at the F&G around honey, citrus and flower flavors. Of course there are many “normal” things to be found, but I am a BIG fan of honey, those who are not have the right to be wrong.
The only acceptable substitute is maple syrup and the Canada Pavilion luckily has us covered on that front. I truly do understand the subjectiveness of a “favorite” festival, but in all seriousness the food and drink selection has reached a zenith this year. Though the menu stays mostly the same at many pavilions, there are always a few new surprises spread throughout the park.
I am sucker for dessert and that is largely what I sampled. I also like drinkable desserts, and this is probably why I favor this festival. This is not a generic statement but a true one, each thing I tried was 5/5, and I would order it again. In fact, most of these things I have had in previous years also.
Another reason to favor this festival is that the weather is just right in Florida right now. The sun is out, and while it can get warm if you stay in direct sunlight all day, it is mild compared to the summer and much preferable to the blizzards and freezing temperature sweeping parts of the nation at time of writing. This festival is filled with days of 75 degrees & sunshine. That plays into a good day at Disney more than people think about many times. Even the “hot” days that occasionally hit 80 are lower humidity and feel fantastic.
The crowds are always high at Disney, so when I say there are “lower crowds” take that statement for what it is, something relative to Disney. Outside of spring break and the overly crowded Easter week (avoid these weeks at all cost) the other weeks have a slightly lower crowd, usually. It’s not like September, but hey, it beats July & early August.
This year’s F&GF has been as good as any I have attended as a local and long time fan. For those who follow the entertainment I was surprised to see Don Fielder in the line up. A little more than the usual “famous for a minute” names that come to fill a small outside pavilion. If you never got to see the Eagles, here is chance to see the double neck Gibson guitar player extraordinaire dazzle with more talent than a person should ever have.
Another favorite for my family was the strawberry shortcake. It was good, no regrets; I am personally just a chocolate connoisseur so I preferred the dessert pictures above. It broke up the liquid desserts that we consumed. There are no shortage of fruity desserts at this festival so if you like sweets in that order you will be rejoicing.
With the emphasis on dessert, you may get the idea that there isn’t a lot of “real food” there. I protest. Dessert is real food. But, to be clear, there are many meat, vegan or traditional “side” type dishes for your culinary dinning pleasure. Here is an official link to all the goodies!
Would you like to see EPCOT or need a guide to help you navigate the maze of Disney? Disney World is not as easy to have a great time at as it was five years ago. Things have changed, and though they are getting better again, there are still many “Disney rules” that make spontaneous decisions less than doable. We can help! Go to our about page and click get a quote for free help in the labyrinth of Disney World.
In case you didn't know… Figment is officially coming as a meet & greet character in EPCOT! Soon all of the adoring friends who remember the ORIGINAL Journey into the Imagination ride, will be able to at least voice their nostalgia to the man, or I mean dragon, himself! Here, here to the meet & greet, but we will all rest easier when we see once again a flying monstrosity machine and a nutty professor pedaling it on the ride itself.
