Top Attractions at Epcot Flower Festival 2012

It’s a sure sign of spring or at least a sign of our annual spring break trip out of the cold and into the magic.  It’s The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.  Every year since 1993, Epcot has “Sprung to Life” for this annual special event.  2012 marks the 19^th annual festival and every year since there are more and more activities, special events, special themed weekends, and even more reasons to visit Walt Disney World Epcot. Don’t get me wrong.  Epcot is a beautiful destination any time of year, but during Flower and Garden Festival it just gets that Disney plus.  If you arrive via Monorail, the scene is unbelievable.   The festival blooms in Future World East and West Lake create a blanket of color that can be a perfect background for just about anything. The festival is 75 days long, running from March 7 until May 20, 2012, and features over 100 character topiaries, live music, and shows/programs by many of HGTV’s on-air and nationally recognized designers.

The Disney topiaries include more than 75 Disney characters. The Flower Power Concert Series features performers from the 60s and 70s every weekend. You will find exhibits, displays and merchandise stand all around the park.

The center hub of activities is the “Festival Center” located between Ellen’s Energy Adventure and Mission Space.  Or, if you remember EPCOT Center, it’s the Wonders of Life Pavilion between

Universe of Energy and Horizons.  Regardless, just getting into the old Wonders of Life to look around is sort of neat.  In

prior years, you could “look behind the curtain” and see the queue area for Body Wars.  This year there was a more “permanent” temporary wall.

Since the building has been used for both Flower and Garden and the annual Food & Wine Festival every fall, it may have found a new purpose in life, if only for 6 months out of the year.

The old food court location was being used this year.  In prior years, it was just merchandise and a lonely counter with covered menus.  It’s nice to see it being used.

The Festival Center features the Designers Stage, Greenhouse Stage, Planting Pointers, HGTV Theater, Ask an Expert and is the “home” for the Special Themed Weekends.

The Designers Stage features different HGTV Personalities every weekend from John Gilding of Curb Appeal to Brandon Johnson of My Yard Goes Disney – Check the schedule.  The Greenhouse Stage features garden experts from Disney and local universities with presentations ranging from Topiary in Miniature to The Edible Landscape.

And of course, the Festival Center merchandise location has just about every item you could find throughout the park.   The Festival Center is open daily 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (so it closes before the rest of Future World.   (Keep that in mind if you are visiting).

Flower and Garden also feature exhibits and attractions specifically to the kids.  Find Tinker Bell and her friends in the “Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden”, and visit “Bambi’s Butterfly House”.  Check out the “Toy Story Alphabet Garden” and take a quick climb on the “Backyard Play Garden”.As I mentioned earlier, the topiaries are everywhere.  It’s a great way to spend a day finding them all and filling up the memory card on your camera.  Of course, the attention to detail follows you around World Showcase as you discover character topiaries in their country of origin.   Winnie the Pooh in the United Kingdom, Beauty and the Beast in France, Lady and the Tramp in Italy…It just keeps going…But make sure you end up in “The American Adventure” at the end of the day.  The Flower Power Concert Series at the American Garden Theatre features a different performer from the 1960s and 1970s every weekend.   When I visited, it was Starship starring Mickey Thomas (I have some of it in the video).   Oh yes, and did I mention there are merchandise locations….  Everywhere!!!

I started SamsDisneyDiary Episode #11 by saying “timing is everything”, and that is so true.  If you are planning a visit to Walt

Disney World in late May here is something to think about.  The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival typically runs through late May (this year until May 20, 2012).  Over at Hollywood Studios, another special event (“Star Wars Weekends”) usually starts in mid May (this year May 18).   So, if your timing is right, you can catch Flower and Garden and Star Wars Weekend on the same trip.   Now that’s timing!!!    I’d

love to hear from someone that was able to do both on the same weekend…  Catch Micky Dolenz (Monkees Lead Singer) over at Flower Power, and catch Hyper-Space Hoopla on the same weekend…How great would that be??!!!

For More and the Flower and Garden 2020 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival Top 20, Jammin Gardeners 2019, Flower and Garden  2018  Night Ranger, Behind the Scenes  2017 , Epcot  Flower and Garden Festival 2015, Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2012, Garden Rocks: Jon Anderson of YES (2019), Food and Wine Festival 2013