Earlier today we were on scene for the first day of this year’s EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival to check out everything there is to see and do. You can check out our replay of our live stream from earlier, and go further down to see the different gardens and topiaries from this year’s Festival.
EPCOT Park Entrance
This year, the floral fun starts outside of the gates, featuring Goofy holding up a birthday cake, along with Spike the Bee, a somewhat obscure character who appeared in a number of 1940’s Donald Duck shorts. Spike has essentially become the mascot for Flower & Garden in recent years.
World Nature
We’ll start off our tour of the park proper in World Nature, where naturally we’ll find many signature gardens of the Festival, including the floating flowers and the floral mural near the Imagination Pavilion, which has received an upgrade this year in celebration of Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary.
Also featured in World Nature are topiaries from Toy Story, Bambi, The Lion King and outside of the Imagination Pavilion, Figment himself!
World Celebration and World Discovery
The rest of the former Future World seems to have a little less going on than in year’s past, at least in the way of topiaries. You do have the Fab 5 (minus Goofy) featured in a display directly in front of the construction in the center of the park, as well as a second 50th anniversary floral mural.
World Showcase
Heading back towards World Showcase, as we enter the promenade we find other characters from the numerous sequences from Fantasia, including the Ostriches, Alligators, and Hippos from “Dance of the Hours,” as well as Sorcerer Mickey and the Brooms from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
United Kingdom
We begin our loop around World Showplace in the United Kingdom pavilion (nothing to be found in Canada…) we find Tinker Bell and a series of small houses, some of our favorite friends from Winnie the Pooh, as well as Captain Hook and Peter Pan, still dueling as they have been for years.
France / Japan / Italy
In the France Pavilion, you can see Remy beckoning towards his new attraction, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, as he stands atop some cheese. Remy in topiary form has actually become a somewhat permanent part of the pavilion, likely remaining in celebration of his new attraction. Elsewhere in the pavilion, you’ll find Belle and the Beast, along with Lumiere and Cogsworth, outside the theater where their sing-along film, as well as the classic Impressions De France, are shown.
The popular Bonsai gardens have returned to the Japan pavilion again, as well as the individual trees.
Over in Italy, we can find an abundance of potted plants with Lady and the Tramp in the central plaza area, while the area near the docks and canals features “Garden Italiano.”
The American Adventure / Germany / China
Pluto, along with Chip and Dale, have taken up residence at The American Adventure this year, just in front of the Magnolia Terrace food booth.
In Germany, we can find Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, along with this year’s surprise addition of Squeaks from The Fox and the Hound. Kermit and Miss Piggy have also traveled to Germany for this year’s Festival, after previously being placed in France, and last year, near the front of World Showcase.
Over in China, we can see the popular panda bear figures have made their return.
Norway / Mexico
Norway sees the return of the popular Troll figure, who is NOT sending us backwards over a waterfall, and those two popular sisters, Anna and Elsa. Interestingly, the Troll and Frozen topiaries actually switched places from where they were located last year.
Jose, Panchito and Donald Duck, better known as The Three Caballeros, appear just outside the Mexico pavilion.
