17th Annual Epcot Flower & Garden Festival

I have been attending the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival for about 10 years and it never ceases to amaze me. This year, the festival started earlier than ever on March 3 and we went on March 6. The vibrant colors of the flowers helped it finally feel like spring was arriving in Florida. We were finally emerging from the longest and coldest winter I can remember…in Florida.

At the entrance we were greeted by Donald Duck and his topiary pals set up camp in full floral color to celebrate the Great Outdoors at the Epcot front entrance. The elaborate topiary with a North American theme, live waterfall and pond features Goofy in a fly-fishing misadventure, Daisy Duck roasting marshmallows over a campfire and Pluto in his “pup tent.”
It was nice to have a relaxing day at Epcot with just my hubby. We did a lot of wandering and checked out all of the topiaries that were listed on the guide map! We also rode Soarin’, Journey Into Imagination with Figment and The Seas with Nemo and Friends…but today wasn’t about rides it was about flowers and friends!
We got to meet up with some of my Disney Twitter friends like @mefries, @amandatinney, @zannaland, @loumongello and others. We even got to be a part of Lou Mongello’s live webcast.

There are some great new additions to this year’s festival.

Newly Expanded Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden – Colorful topiaries of Tinker Bell and friends from Walt Disney Pictures’ latest DVD release “Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue” sprinkle pixie dust over this playful, expanded garden for kids. New characters on display with returning fairy favorites are fast-flying, sharp-tongued Vidia and charming Terence, dispenser of pixie dust.

Fawn’s Butterfly House at Pixie Hollow – Formerly known as Minnie’s Magnificent Butterfly House, the butterfly garden this year is part of the Expanded Pixie Hollow and named after fairy Fawn from the popular Tinker Bell films. Hundreds of butterflies flit among the lush foliage, and guests can wander and watch as winged beauties of multiple species light on flowers filled with nectar and as caterpillars emerge from their chrysalis in a special discovery exhibit.

Princess Tiana’s Wedding Bayou – This picturesque garden tucked into a corner of Future World near the Test Track walkway features full-size images of Tiana, Prince Naveen, Mama Odie, Louis the alligator and other animal friends gathered beneath a stand of trees. Disney gardeners created a pond with water lilies nearby, and bright bottles dangle from the trees as in the movie’s bayou scene. Coloring and rubbing stations are set up for children.

First-Ever American Gothic Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse – Topiary experts pull out all the stops to create an American Gothic Mickey and Minnie topiary scene based on the 1930 Grant Wood painting. At World Showcase Plaza.

The Flower Power concerts are back rocking the festival every weekend! Popular bands will rock the open-air America Gardens Theatre every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 5:15, 6:30 and 7:45 p.m. Jose Feliciano kicked off the concert series March 5-7. The rest of the lineup is slated to feature pop favorites like Davy Jones; Chubby Checker & The Wildcats; Tony Orlando; Fran Cosmo, former singer of Boston, David Cassidy and other top acts.

The Epcot Flower & Garden Festival is running through May 16th so if you are visiting Central Florida plan to take a day and enjoy the beautiful flowers.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Disclosure-Disney provided 2 one day park hopper passes and a parking pass so that my husband and I could experience the 17th Annual Epcot Flower & Garden Festival. All opinions in this post are 100% mine.