Top 5 Things To See at the 2018 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival

Spring means it is time for my very favorite festival of the year in Disney World – the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival!  The event runs from February 28 to May 28 and takes place all over Epcot.  When you arrive at the park, be sure to pick up this year’s Festival Passport.

Here are my top 5 things to see and do at this year’s festival:

Outdoor Kitchens

First things first, let’s talk about the food!  You will find outdoor kitchens all over the World Showcase featuring spring’s freshest eats and drinks.  One of my family’s number one ways to spend an afternoon at Disney is eating our way around the world.  We stop at most locations and each try a bite of everything we can.

Topiaries & Gardens

Tied with the outdoor kitchens for my favorite part of the festival are the dozens of world-renowned, Disney-themed topiaries that you will find all over the park.  They are so beautiful that at one time I doubted that they were even real :-)  In addition to the topiaries, you will find breathtaking flower beds, Bonsai trees, butterfly gardens, plots of plant life and wildlife habitats all over the park.

Garden Rocks Concert Series

Throughout the festival, you can wrap up your Disney day listening to fun, throwback tunes in at the America Gardens Theatre!  There are usually three concerts each night, 5:30 PM, 6:45 PM and 8:00 PM, and admission is included in the price of your park ticket.  If you aren’t doing a dining package for reserved seating, you will want to arrive early.  A few I was most excited about this year are the Village People, Don Felder, Rick Springfield, and Survivor.  You can find the schedule here.

Events and Tours

There are a few new events and tours in place just for the festival.  You can take a walking tour of the festival with a Disney Horticulturist or do a guided English tea garden tour ending with tea and scones!  These do have an additional fee and advance reservations are required.

Kid’s Activities

My kids LOVE to do these seasonal activities.  It breaks up the time a little in walking around the World Showcase.  From February 28 through May 28, you can participate in a  scavenger hunt starring Spike, the bzzzz-iest honey bee at Walt Disney World Resort. Then, from March 16 to April 1, the popular Egg-stravaganza Easter egg scavenger hunt is back all around World Showcase.  For both of these activities, you will need to purchase a map at Port of Entry.  When you finish the hunt, you return to Port of Entry for a prize!  (Insider Tip: Go ahead and get your prize when you pick up your map to avoid having to return later in the day.)

Interactive Play Areas

One last thing of note for the littlest travelers are the incredible play gardens!  These whimsical areas are made just for kids and are great places to let them stretch their legs and run off some energy.

With that, I positively cannot wait to get back down to Epcot to see more of this year’s festival.  The kitchens were not even open yet on my last visit and my mouth is already watering for violet lemonade!

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