The 2023 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival will run from March 1 to July 5, 2023 at Walt Disney World. This information covers data in regards to the spring occasion, all the things new, our ideas & tips, live performance schedule, what to anticipate from crowds, and the best way to maximize your time & cash. (Updated February 2, 2023.)
This yr’s Epcot Flower & Garden Festival is tied for the longest ever with final yr, at 125 days. It begins and ends at some point sooner than final yr, for these conserving rating at dwelling. We’ve already spent a number of weekdays and weekends at Epcot in the course of the springtime occasion, consuming our manner across the park, admiring the colourful shows, perusing the seller cubicles–and updating this information accordingly.
While we predict the topiaries and delightful floral shows are the spotlight of the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, many individuals go for the meals. For numerous Walt Disney World guests, it’s primarily a spring model of the favored Food & Wine Festival. If you’re extra involved with delicacies, refer as a substitute to our Epcot Flower & Garden Festival Food Reviews, Photos & Booth Menus. As the title suggests, that’s complete protection of the culinary facet of the occasion, significantly what to eat and keep away from…
Even although it’s solely a month away, Walt Disney World nonetheless hasn’t revealed many particulars in regards to the 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival. We do know a bit in regards to the floral arrangements, with a brand new Princess Tiana topiary gracing the American Adventure. EPCOT will even function favorites comparable to Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs; Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook and Tick Tock Croc; Figment; Anna and Elsa; and extra.
New Encanto topiaries will likely be one spotlight of the 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival. For the primary time, topiaries of Mirabel, Antonio, Isabela and Luisa from Encanto will make a grand look on the competition. Located close to the principle entrance, these new topiaries are positive to be a must-do photograph second to mark your go to.
Walt Disney World has additionally introduced that greater than 15 Outdoor Kitchens will supply specialty menus of delicious delicacies and drinks on the 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival. Most notably, the Citrus Blossom (aka “Orange Bird Eats”) will transfer to a brand new location within the Odyssey, changing Figment’s Inspiration Station.
If you’re primarily involved with the Outdoor Kitchens, now we have handy evaluations for every of the meals cubicles from this previous yr:
As the parentheticals recommend, the highest 3 cubicles above are one of the best of the competition. We’d extremely advocate prioritizing these Outdoor Kitchens, and people evaluations, when planning what you’re going to eat and drink on the 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival.
To make issues simpler, that trio of Outdoor Kitchens is all situated conveniently close to each other in the direction of the entrance of the park. While many of the meals cubicles are in World Showcase, these choices are way more hit and miss than EPCOT Sunshine Griddle, Farmers Feast, and Honey Bee-stro.
One huge factor you want to know is that Epcot’s Future World is a veritable development zone proper now. Entire sections of the entrance of the park are closed for reimagining, and there are numerous eyesores. Fortunately, virtually all the regular topiaries and flower beds are again, together with the centerpiece mosaic flower quilt between Future World and World Showcase. This has made the entrance of the park look loads higher, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a ache to navigate.
If you’re on the lookout for technique to effectively expertise for navigating the parks amidst all of those adjustments, make sure to seek the advice of our Itineraries & Touring Plans for Walt Disney World. Those have been up to date with all the newest adjustments (like Genie+ and Lightning Lanes) plus the most recent additions, like Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Harmonious, and Disney Enchantment. As quickly as Guardians of the Galaxy – Cosmic Rewind opens, we’ll add it, too.
Here’s what else we all know primarily based upon our previous experiences on the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival…
Epcot Flower & Garden Festival: Info & Tips
We go to Epcot for Flower & Garden Festival annually, and this information relies upon experiences attending the occasion yearly over the course of the final decade-plus. Every yr, the spotlight of Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival is the topiaries and superb backyard shows. These make Epcot pop with shade and wonder, and are an exquisite enhancement to Epcot.
There’s no extra cost to see flowers and topiaries which might be organized all through Epcot, nevertheless it must be famous that nearly all the things apart from the meals is included in regular Epcot admission. Most of the occasion is a “plussing” of Epcot at no extra cost, and that is a part of why we extremely advocate it.
For foodies, the Outdoor Kitchen meals cubicles are one other extremely standard component of Flower & Garden Festival. These make the spring occasion like a mini Food & Wine Festival, which is Epcot’s hottest competition of the yr.
Aside from the snacking and rocking, the occasion gives Walt Disney World visitors the flexibility to get pleasure from expert-designed flower and backyard shows, Disney character topiaries, playgrounds, and extra. Here’s what else you possibly can count on…
In phrases of fundamental data in regards to the horticulture on show at Epcot throughout Flower & Garden Festival, let’s begin by hitting you with some fact-bombs. First, it takes a full yr and 400 Walt Disney World horticulturists to organize for the 90-day Flower and Garden Festival.
The end result of these efforts are 30-million blooms, 240 floating flower planters, 700 gardens, practically 100 Disney character topiaries, 30 flower towers, and one lovely butterfly tapestry of flowers all culminate in an extremely vibrant time of yr for Epcot.
Some of you might be in all probability considering, “okay, but I loathe gardening and I much prefer barren concrete to vibrant flowers.” Well, if that’s the case, I can’t advocate visiting Epcot in the course of the International Flower and Garden Festival. However, in case your views on flowers and gardening aren’t fairly that excessive, it’s a good time to go to.
I groan when Sarah activates HGTV (simply what number of episodes of a present about adorning a home to resell it could actually one particular person watch?!) and I’ve been identified to (unintentionally, I swear!) run over parts of our personal backyard with the lawnmower, however I nonetheless love visiting throughout Flower & Garden Festival.
It bears repeating: throughout Flower & Garden Festival, Epcot is beautiful, smells nice, and there are numerous distinctive issues to {photograph}. Much just like the Behind the Seeds at Epcot Tour (which I extremely advocate), the basic substance of the shows at Flower & Garden Festival doesn’t attraction to me, however the general “feel” and ambiance of the Festival does attraction to me. It’s a very enjoyable time to be at Epcot.
While we advocate visiting in the course of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, nevertheless it’s not one thing round which you need to plan a visit. The excellent news is that there are a number of low-crowd, nice-weather intervals of time throughout Flower & Garden Festival’s run, and concentrating on these is a good suggestion. Consult our 2023 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars & When to Visit so you possibly can plan accordingly.
Here’s a rundown of all the things you possibly can expertise in the course of the 2023 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival…
Outdoor Kitchens – These are primarily Food & Wine Festival kiosks providing meals and drinks.
See the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival Outdoor Kitchen Lineup for a full rundown of all the brand new & returning meals cubicles for this yr’s occasion, plus the placement of every Outdoor Kitchen.
If you’ve by no means attended Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival, it’s value noting that grazing from these kiosks will price you significantly greater than consuming an precise meal. So for those who’re wanting to save cash, steer clear of these kiosks.
If you’re seeking to have a good time and are prepared to spend a bit of cash (we simply spend $40-60 in a day at Food & Wine Festival kiosks), you need to be capable of spend a day simply wandering these kiosks.
Special Gardens & Exhibits -There will likely be 20 totally different backyard areas all throughout EPCOT, together with floating gardens on the waters of Future World, a bamboo backyard in China, a tropical rainforest backyard in Mexico and the English Tea Garden by Twinings within the United Kingdom, the place you may as well take a Self-Guided Tea Tour. At Outdoor Escapes, you possibly can unwind in refreshing areas that present you simply how straightforward it’s to create an out of doors escape for household and pals
Goodness Garden Butterfly House – The Butterfly House returns this yr, combining butterflies and fairy topiaries. This butterfly home is at all times actually cool, as butterflies fly all over and even land on visitors. We advocate spending about 10-Quarter-hour in right here to observe the butterflies and take pictures.
Beacons of Magic on Spaceship Earth – An addition for the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is a Pocahontas phase in the course of the Beacons of Magic on Spaceship Earth. (Read & see extra about this World’s Most Magical Celebration addition in Beacons of Magic at Epcot: Walt Disney World’s fiftieth Anniversary Highlight!)
Per Disney, an orchestral model of the Academy-Award successful track “Colors of the Wind” was chosen “for its message of intrinsic value and respect for beauty of nature and living things – with visual flourishes that evoke the musical scene from the film with techniques entirely original for Spaceship Earth.”
Character Topiaries – Throughout World Showcase and Future World, there are dozens of topiaries impressed by Disney movies. The spotlight for final yr was a fundamental entrance topiary show that includes Goofy and a fiftieth birthday cake for the World’s Most Magical Celebration. With that occasion ending, it’s doubtless the 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival will function an all-new centerpiece topiary.
Other character topiaries will embody Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Remy, Anna & Elsa, Lady & the Tramp, Figment, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on the Germany pavilion, Lumiere and Cogsworth within the France pavilion, and extra.
For us, the topiaries must be the spotlight of Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival, however they very often disappoint. The topiaries are recycled from yr to yr and season to season (you possibly can see among the very same topiaries in several places at Christmas…now we have pictures of them from about 10 years in the past they usually look the identical) and are sometimes shoe-horned in locations they actually don’t belong.
It could be good to have new topiaries annually, particularly since within the late Nineteen Eighties and early Nineteen Nineties, new topiaries frequently appeared when there wasn’t even a particular occasion (as mirrored in one among our favourite Walt Disney World books, Gardens of the Walt Disney World Resort). Still, there are some new topiaries annually, and it’s nice to see them added to boost the park.
Concerts – The 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival will function reside music from the Nineteen Sixties, Seventies, and past due to the return of the Garden Rocks Concert Series. Famous artists rock the America Gardens Theatre in World Showcase each Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday at 5:30 p.m., 6:45 p.m., and eight p.m. every night.
Walt Disney World has launched extra particulars about this, which we cowl in Garden Rocks Concerts at 2023 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival: Dates, Lineup & Dining Packages. That options the total lineup, plus pricing and eligible eating places for the eating bundle–and why we do NOT advocate paying for that bundle.
Unlike Candlelight Processional, now we have by no means discovered the eating packages to be crucial for another Epcot concert events. However, if the easiest seats are a should so you possibly can actually respect the rad hairstyles sported by A Flock of Seagulls, the eating bundle will assist you to there. Just don’t really feel like you want to purchase it with a purpose to get a spot, as a result of there’s normally loads of seating for walk-ups.
Expect to listen to reside music each night on the 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival. In addition to the Garden Rocks Concert Series, native Orlando bands step into the highlight Tuesday by means of Thursday, performing within the America Gardens Theatre.
There will even be different acts all through World Showcase, together with Mariachi Cobre, the Jammin’ Gardeners, and extra.
Other Stuff – Other reveals embody the Festival Center (within the former Odyssey pavilion), that includes merchandise, one of many Outdoor Kitchens, and different actions.
One of the cooler elements of the Flower & Garden Festival is that you may go to a number of instances and have a completely totally different expertise every time. This isn’t solely as a result of the presenters and bands change, however as a result of midway by means of the competition, Disney gardeners take away the blossoms that thrive in early-spring to plant a brand new crop of flowers that flourish in late-spring’s hotter temperatures.
This is nice for these visitors visiting in the course of the concluding weeks of the Festival, as they don’t have to fret about seeing a bunch of wilted flowers. It’s lovely in the course of the Festival’s whole run.
Although there are recent choices annually, typically not a ton differs from yr to yr. The identical character topiaries are used yr in and yr out (with a number of exceptions), and many of the new content material consists of thinly veiled promotional items for upcoming Disney movies.
Personally, we predict it might be good to see investments in altering the topiary designs that haven’t modified within the final 10 years or so, however for those who’re a first-timer, these will clearly nonetheless be recent to you.
The Outdoor Kitchens are one other spotlight, and whereas these are an apparent try to capitalize on the colossal success of the Food & Wine Festival, so what? Food & Wine Festival is extremely standard with visitors, so why not incorporate components of it into different instances of the yr?
The finest issues Disney does are mutually helpful for it and visitors. We love the meals cubicles at Food & Wine Festival, so we predict these are a stable addition to the Flower & Garden Festival. If you disagree with us, you possibly can merely ignore the meals cubicles. No hurt, no foul.
Overall, Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival is a very beautiful occasion. There’s a good quantity to do on the Flower & Garden Festival, and one thing that may attraction to everybody. It’s our third favourite time of yr to go to Epcot, after the Festival of Holidays and newer Festival of the Arts (however forward of Food & Wine Festival).
Whether you’re a primary time visitor or a seasoned veteran of Walt Disney World, visiting throughout Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival is numerous enjoyable. Epcot is at its most lovely throughout Flower & Garden Festival, and you’ll get pleasure from a lot of what’s provided in the course of the occasion with out spending something additional. Epcot smells and appears great, and there are numerous distinctive choices, shows, and photographic alternatives.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about inns on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To get monetary savings on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips put up takes a singular take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to start out is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for all the things you want to know!
Your Thoughts
Have you ever been to Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival? What do you suppose are the highlights? Are favourite meals, demonstrations, or different elements of the occasion? Do you agree or disagree with our recommendation for the occasion? Are you contemplating attending the 2023 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival? Any questions we might help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!