Take a look at some of the topiaries of Disney characters around Epcot’s World Showcase for Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival 2015.
Click on the photos for larger views.
Archive for Epcot
Sounds Like Summer Concert Series Returns to Epcot June 7-July 25
Summer isn’t summer without great music. As the temperature rises this summer, guests can enjoy sizzling performances from some of the world’s hottest tribute bands when the Sounds Like Summer Concert Series returns to Epcot® at Walt Disney World® Resort June 7-July 25, 2015.
This year’s lineup includes: (Entertainment and times subject to change)
- June 7-13: DSB – A Tribute to Journey
- June 14-20: 2U – A Tribute to U2
- June 21-26: Mike DelGuidice & Big Shot – A Tribute Billy Joel Show
- June 27 – July 4: Don’t Look Back – A Tribute to Boston
- July 5-11: Fire & Ice – A Tribute to Pat Benatar
- July 12-18: Stayin’ Alive – A Tribute to the Bee Gees
- July 19-25: Hotel California – A Salute to the Eagles
Guests can enjoy the Sounds Like Summer concerts at 5:30 6:45 and 8 p.m. daily. Sounds Like Summer is included with Epcot admission.
Photos: Mike & Sulley’s Monsterous Playground at Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival
Take a look at some photos of Mike & Sulley’s Monsterous Playground at Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival.
Photos: Shakespeare Garden at Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival
Take a look at Shakespeare Garden in the UK Pavilion at Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival.
Photos: English Tea Garden at Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival
Take a look at some photos from the English Tea Garden at the UK Pavilion for Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival.
Click on the photos for larger view.
Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival in Full Bloom by Kim Lawton
The 2015 Flower and Garden Festival is in full bloom at EPCOT. It runs from March 4 until May 17 this year. It is one of my favorite times to visit EPCOT, second only to Christmas with all the holiday décor. And it is a very close second! I love all the flowers, topiaries, butterflies and concerts. The addition of the outdoor kitchens only added to the festival atmosphere. The miniature train in Germany is all decked out for the festival as well!
This year there are 21 plus topiaries depicting everything from the Fab Five thru our new Frozen friends. The butterfly house has returned as well as two kid friendly play areas. There are 12 outdoor kitchens this year, the newest is Botanas Botanico offering dishes with a South American flavor. Each fresh kitchen has food and beverage offering with some of the beverages being ‘adult’ in variety and some of the food being vegetarian.
Return guests will notice some things they have seen before, for example Lady and the Tramp are back in the Italian pavilion and Beauty and the Beast and friends are back in the France Pavilion. But there are some changes as well. Sleeping Beauty and her Prince are sitting this festival out as is the Troll topiary in the Norway Pavilion. The concert series has taken on a new name, Garden Rocks concert series. The groups playing each weekend are not the same as the Flower Power set but will have their own following I’m sure. While I will miss the Flower Power groups like Mickey Dolenz or Paul Revere and the Raiders, I understand this change could be for any number of reasons and look forward to hearing groups like ELO and of course The Guess Who.
HGTV is not a sponsor of the event this year. But there are many Festival participants listed in the guide. And many trail gardens with information for planning your own gardens scattered throughout the Park. Another change I noticed is that the festival center in Future World East (located in the old building formally known as Wonders of Life) is only open on weekends. I also noticed that the butterfly garden, renamed Butterflies to Go, doesn’t have fairy houses or the glass sculptures that were on exhibit in the past. There is a prominent exhibit about Monarch Butterflies that is quite interesting and some other hands on spinning type displays with more butterfly information.
The biggest and most exciting change for me this year is that I get to experience the festival throughout its entire run! In the past I have visited at the beginning or near the end but this year being a Florida resident has its perks! I will get to see how things grow and develop. Watch all the concerts if we like. And try all the fresh food offerings, finding my favorites to retry! Look for more pictures and updates during the next few months. And be sure to visit Epcotinspring.com for information about hours, demonstrations and other pertinent information so you can enjoy this year’s Flower and Garden Festival.
Fun Facts! ‘Frozen’ Topiary, Outdoor Kitchens and More Fresh Trivia for 22nd Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Fifteen floral varieties bring to life an artfully crafted topiary scene from the Disney blockbuster film “Frozen” during the 22nd Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival March 4-May 17, 2015. Thirty million multi-hued blooms, 100-plus whimsical topiaries, nearly 1,000 native butterflies and dozens of new Outdoor Kitchen food and beverage tastes add multi-sensory festival fun to the “Fresh Epcot”-themed Walt Disney World Resort event.
Among this year’s fun festival facts:
- 30 million blooms blanket the park throughout the festival, which runs 75 colorful days.
- Anna and Elsa in full floral splendor appear in a topiary vignette straight from the hit Disney film, “Frozen.” In the World Showcase Plaza scene that’s wired to twinkle by night, Elsa is working her magic to conjure a colorful spring garden. About 15 varieties of flowers are planted, with wintry-cool Arizona Cypress and other silver and white varieties like Gerbera Daisy and Delphinium. Florals including hot pink, red, and orange Gerberas and yellow, blue and yellow Violas, violet Petunias and purple Dianthus blanket the spring transformation. Anna and Elsa topiaries are each about 6-1/2 feet tall and are created with plants that include variegated Ficus, green Ficus and the succulent Sedum Coral Reef. But Elsa will look taller because she’s standing closer to guests than Anna by about 8 feet.
- 11 Outdoor Kitchens include the new Botanas Botànico kitchen and garden featuring sweet and savory food and beverage menu items. More than three dozen brand-new items add tasting fun and variety to the festival. Each marketplace will feature a garden planted with select produce and herbs to represent more than 50 overall beverage choices and more than 30 food items featured.
- The festival’s front-entrance Goofy About Spring topiary scene, inspired by a Walt Disney 1935 short film, “Mickey’s Garden,” includes new Chip and Dale topiaries, plus Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto in a comical gardening scene. More than 15 varieties of flowers, plants, and other garden materials are used to create the scene.
- Mike & Sulley’s Monstrous Garden, a themed playground for children with innovative play systems, is one of the largest festival gardens created at nearly one-third acre. A collection of large, leafy plants including elephant ears, rubber plants, sea grapes, fiddle leaf fig, banana plants and colorful bromeliads and hibiscus create the garden’s “monstrous” ambiance. The garden’s Sulley topiary is one of Disney’s largest, weighing in at 4,300 pounds. About 4,000 small plants fill his 13-foot frame.
- Miss Piggy appears solo as a topiary this year (most divas do) in the Tour de Fleurs garden at Italy. Dozens of additional character topiaries represent the largest collection of Disney character topiary in the world and include Timon and Pumbaa, Cinderella, Belle and Beast, and Phineas and Ferb.
- At least 25 different plants, grasses and mosses of various colors, including pink and red begonias, dusty miller, palm fiber, palm seeds, ficus and lichen, are used to create and define facial and other features of festival character topiaries.
- Nearly 1,000 native butterflies represent up to 10 species at the expansive Butterflies on the Go butterfly house presented by GoGo squeeZ. Among the garden’s two dozen nectar plants are Cape Royal plumbago, passion flower, coral honeysuckle, blazing star, butterfly bush, scarlet milkweed and canna lily.
- 240 extra playground hours add extra festival magic for children and their families with the illuminated garden playgrounds staying open through park closing.
- More than 500,000 plants, trees and shrubs are planted for the festival; 250,000 of those are annual blossoms installed for the festival.
- Festival plants include 60 different species of trees, 47 types of palms, and 48 varieties of bedding plants.
- 150 hands-on gardening demonstrations and seminars will be presented.
- Thirty “flower towers” of several varieties of blooms and plants line Innoventions Plaza.
- 225 floating mini-gardens, each three feet in diameter, of multi-hued impatiens provide splashes of color on two ponds that border the walkway between Future World and World Showcase.
- 700 container gardens of flowers, herbs, plants and vegetables in clay pots, barrels and urns enhance the landscape throughout Epcot.
- 400 Walt Disney World horticulturists are needed to install the festival landscape, topiaries and many exhibits; 100 Epcot horticulturists maintain topiaries and other festival displays.
- It takes more than one full year and about 24,000 cast member hours to prepare for the annual festival.
- The festival’s new weekend Garden Rocks Concert Series includes 11 artists and groups known for their Top 40 hits across four decades. This year’s musical hit-makers from the 1960s through 1990s include new-to-the-festival acts Pablo Cruise, Little River Band, Gin Blossoms, En Vogue, Jon Secada and Taylor Dayne. Returning are Village People, The Orchestra starring former members of ELO, STARSHIP starring Mickey Thomas and Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone.
Guest information for the 22nd annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is available at EpcotInSpring.com or at 407/W-DISNEY.
Epcot: Innoventions West changes in works, Disney says
The Innoventions West attraction at Epcot will be undergoing changes this spring, Walt Disney World has confirmed.
Garden Rocks Concert Series to Jam Across Decades During Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival March 4-May 17, 2015
Eleven pop bands with hits spanning several decades will play the Garden Rocks Concert Series at the 22nd Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival March 4-May 17, 2015. The Garden Rocks Concert Series debuts in 2015 to span a broader range of decades and popular artists.
Pablo Cruise and Little River Band will rock Epcot audiences for the first time. Jon Secada, Taylor Dayne and En Vogue, fan favorites who’ve played the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, will make their Flower & Garden Festival debuts. And 1990s chart toppers Gin Blossoms, also new to this spring festival, kick off the concert series March 6-8.
Guests can dance each festival weekend to classic tunes at the park’s America Gardens Theatre. An eclectic mix of festival fan favorites includes the Village People, who debuted at the festival in 2013 and, with a nod to the 1960s, Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone will rock the house May 15-17.
Performances are at America Gardens Theatre at 5:30, 6:45 and 8:00 p.m. every Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival and are included with Epcot admission. Here is this year’s lineup (subject to change without notice):
March 6-8: Gin Blossoms “Hey Jealousy” (New to this festival)
March 13-15: NEW! Pablo Cruise “Love Will Find a Way”
March 20-22: En Vogue “Free Your Mind” (New to this festival)
March 27-29: Starship “We Built This City”
April 3-5: The Orchestra starring former members of ELO “Evil Woman”
April 10-12: Village People “Y.M.C.A.”
April 17-19: Jon Secada “Just Another Day” (New to this festival)
April 24-26: The Guess Who “These Eyes”
May 1-3: Taylor Dayne “Tell It to My Heart” (New to this festival)
May 8-10: NEW! Little River Band “Reminiscing”
May 15-17: Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am”
Garden Rocks Concert Series To Debut at Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
A new concert series is among one of the many things your Clients will encounter as the 22nd Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival: A Spring Tradition returns to Walt Disney World® Resort March 4-May 17, 2015.
The new Garden Rocks™ Concert Series features 11 pop acts, including En Vogue, Little River Band, Jon Secada, Pablo Cruise and Taylor Dayne. Performances are at America Gardens Theatre at 5:30, 6:45 and 8 p.m. ever Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the festival. Check out this year’s lineup (subject to change without notice):
March 6-8: Gin Blossoms
March 13-15: Pablo Cruise
March 20-22: En Vogue
March 27-29: Starship
April 3-5: The Orchestra starring former members of ELO
April 10-12: Village People
April 17-19: Jon Secada
April 24-26: The Guess Who
May 1-3: Taylor Dayne
May 8-10: Little River Band
May 15-17: Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone
