Traveler's Guide to the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival

For 75 days beginning in early March, Disney's Flower & Garden Festival brings a colorful overlay of flowers and an array of special event attractions to EPCOT theme park at Walt Disney World. Currently in its 18th year, the festival is an established tradition that welcomes spring to the Orlando parks.

The Festival Center

The festival center serves as the hub of Flower & Garden Festival special events. A short film takes visitors behind the scenes of the festival for a glimpse of the planning and effort involved in bringing character topiaries to life. Gardening and design experts from around the country present information on a wide range of gardening topics, from water saving gardening to growing fresh vegetables. New for 2011, the television network HGTV is the lead sponsor of the event, and each weekend brings a different HGTV personality to the main presentation stage to speak on subjects like gardening with kids and bringing outdoor style inside.

Flower Power Concerts

Each weekend during the festival, the America Gardens Theatre in the American section of EPCOT's World Showcase hosts the Flower Power concert series. Three performances are held every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening throughout the festival with a different nostalgic act taking the stage each week. The 2011 lineup includes The Guess Who, Chubby Checker, and Davy Jones of the Monkees.

Garden Tours

There are three special tours offered at EPCOT only during the Flower & Garden Festival. The first and most extensive is the Gardens of the World tour. This tour, hosted by a Disney horticulturalist, focuses on the techniques and practices Disney uses to recreate gardens from around the world in EPCOT's World Showcase pavilions. Guests are taken backstage as well as into the World Showcase before it opens to the general public. The tour lasts three to four hours and costs $69 per person in addition to theme park admission for the day.

The other two tours unique to the festival season are included with the price of admission. The first is a perfumes tour, hosted by Guerlain in the France pavilion. This 20 minute tour takes guests around the pavilion to a series of planters that illustrate the different floral and herbal combinations that go into some of the Guerlain scents available for sale in the gift shop. The second is located in the British pavilion, where Twinings tea company sponsors a 20 minute walking tour of tea gardens planted, fittingly, in pots that resemble oversized tea cups. Each cup holds the blend of plants that makes up a signature Twinings variety. Both run at fixed times, with several tours held each afternoon.

Character Topiary

In addition to the festival attractions, special decor and garden displays adorn every area of EPCOT. The most notable of these are the character topiary presentations. This year, the welcome display at the front gate features characters from Disney's Oscar-nominated Toy Story 3. Other popular characters can be found around the park, and the World Showcase is filled with topiaries from stories associated with each country. In France Belle and the Beast are joined by the other residents of the enchanted castle, and in Italy Lady and the Tramp share their romance amongst lush container gardens.

Garden Exhibits

Themed garden exhibits fill in lawns and niches around the park for the duration of the festival. Perhaps most popular is Bambi's Butterfly House, an enclosed butterfly garden complete with hatching houses and hundreds of live butterflies fluttering around the plants that make up their natural habitats. New to the festival last year and continuing for 2011 is the community gardens display in the American pavilion. This area is a tribute to the victory gardens of the past and the community gardens springing up all over the country today, and features primarily food crops grown in an interesting assortment of recycled and repurposed containers.

For the Children

Although the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival offers plenty to interest adults, it is still Walt Disney World and the festival has plenty to offer the kids as well. Three festival specific play areas are located around the park. One occupies a corner of the Pixie Hollow fairy garden area, where for the first time this year Tinkerbell and her friends are available for autographs as part of the festival. Another occupies a scenic spot at the entrance to the World Showcase, and features an unusual play structure sure to appeal to children of all ages.

With something for every age and interest, the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival brings beauty and interest to the Walt Disney World resort, and adds one more reason spring is the perfect time for a Disney World vacation!