{"id":37567,"date":"2015-03-02T13:00:41","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T18:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/?p=37567"},"modified":"2022-05-04T20:28:56","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T00:28:56","slug":"2015-epcot-international-flower-garden-festival-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/2015-epcot-international-flower-garden-festival-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"flower<\/a><\/p>\n

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year to visit Epcot\u2014this is in large part due to their annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.<\/a> In my opinion, this is when Epcot is the most gorgeous. Not only is the park filled with beautiful character topiaries, but we are greeted with warm (but not too hot) Florida temperature. This year\u2019s Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival runs from March 4th<\/sup>-May 17th<\/sup>, 2015 and all of the festivities are included with your park admission. Here are some of the highlights of the 2015 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.<\/p>\n

\"epcot<\/a>
\nCharacter Topiaries<\/span><\/p>\n

Epcot is brimming with beautiful character topiaries during the Flower & Garden festival. While most of the characters around World Showcase return in a similar form each year, there are always a few new additions to the topiaries. For instance, last year\u2019s new topiaries were Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, to promote the release of Muppets Most Wanted<\/em>. This year\u2019s new additions will include none other than Anna and Elsa from Frozen.<\/em> Each year, a new topiary display is also create at the entrance to Epcot, in front of Spaceship Earth.<\/p>\n

\"plutophoto\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"muppets\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"pooh\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"cinderella\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Some<\/a>
Some of my favorite Flower & Garden Festival character topiaries over the years<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

New Gardens<\/p>\n

This year, ten new mini-gardens will be added to the festival. Each one is themed to tell a story. There will also be a southwest garden showcasing dessert landscapes.<\/p>\n

Outdoor Kitchens<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to the popularity of Epcot\u2019s International Food & Wine Festival, the Flower & Garden festival added their Outdoor Kitchens<\/a> to the World Showcase in 2013. These Outdoor Kitchens feature fantastic dishes and delicious beverages inspired by seasonal and farm-fresh foods.<\/p>\n

Just like the Food & Wine Festival, these Outdoor Kitchens are in the form of kiosks located around World Showcase and they serve small-plated food and beverage options. The booths appearing at this year\u2019s Flower & Garden Festival include: Botanas Botanico (new), Urban Farm Eats, Pineapple Promenade, Fleur de Lys, Taste of Marrakesh, Hanami, The Smokehouse: Barbeques and Brews, Primavera Kitchen, Lotus House, Jardin de Fiestas, and Florida Fresh. Many favorite dishes will be returning this year, such as Dole Pineapple Soft Serve, Frushi (my favorite), and the \u201cPiggylicious\u201d bacon cupcake. Expect to pay about $3-$10 per food or beverage item. Oh and be sure to grab a passport at the Festival Welcome Center so you can check off all the yummy things you try!<\/p>\n

\"Frushi<\/a>
Frushi from the Hanami kiosk in Japan is one of my favorite Flower & Garden dishes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Garden Rocks Concert Series<\/span><\/p>\n

Also included with admission to the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is the Garden Rocks Concert Series<\/a>. (Guests may remember this concert series was previously called the Flower Power Concert Series.) These performances take place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 5:30, 6:45 and 8:00PM at the American Gardens Theatre. This year\u2019s acts include:<\/p>\n

Gin Blossoms: March 6th<\/sup>-8th<\/sup><\/p>\n

Pablo Cruise: March 13th<\/sup>-15th<\/sup><\/p>\n

En Vogue: March 20th<\/sup>-22nd<\/sup><\/p>\n

STARSHIP starring Mickey Thomas: March 27th<\/sup>-29th<\/sup><\/p>\n

The Orchestra starring former members of ELO: April 3rd<\/sup>-5th<\/sup><\/p>\n

Village People: April 10th<\/sup>-12th<\/sup><\/p>\n

Jon Secada: April 17th<\/sup>-19th<\/sup><\/p>\n

The Guess Who: April 24th<\/sup>-26th<\/sup><\/p>\n

Taylor Dayne: May 1st<\/sup>-3rd<\/sup><\/p>\n

Little River Band: May 8th<\/sup>-10th<\/sup><\/p>\n

Herman\u2019s Hermits starring Peter Noone: May 15th<\/sup>-17th<\/sup><\/p>\n

Flower and Garden Festival Seminars<\/span><\/p>\n

Another nice perk of the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival are the seminars that guests can participate in. These free events take place on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and they take place in the Festival Center. It’s a great way to learn great gardening tips from Disney Cast Members.<\/p>\n

Butterfly Garden and Kids Play Gardens<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Flower & Garden Festival also welcomes the return of the butterfly garden, where you get the chance to see butterflies up close and personal. This is a great experience for both kids and adults. I love visiting the butterfly garden each year.<\/p>\n

\"Bambi<\/a>
Bambi themed topiary inside last year’s butterfly garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, kids can enjoy the Flower & Garden Festival too with the inclusion of themed play gardens and hands-on activities. This year\u2019s two themed play areas will be themed to Monsters, Inc. <\/em>and Cars. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"monstersphoto<\/a><\/p>\n

What parts of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival are you most looking forward to? <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year to visit Epcot\u2014this is in large part due to their annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. In my opinion, this is when Epcot is the most gorgeous. Not only is the park filled with beautiful character topiaries, but we are greeted with warm (but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":37584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1688,1695,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wdw-dining","category-theme-parks","category-walt-disney-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37567"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84604,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37567\/revisions\/84604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}