EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival Everything You Need to Know
The EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival is an annual event held in the spring. The festival celebrates springtime with all of the sights, sounds, and tastes of the colorful season! The festival typically begins at the end of February and runs through the end of May each year. Find out everything you need to know about the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival in this post.
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This festival focuses on gardening, hence the name, and there are special exhibits, food, and entertainment that are centered around springtime and gardening. The park is bursting at the seams with beautiful, colorful flowers and topiaries designed just for the event. This may be the most beautiful time of year to visit the park.
Does it Cost Extra to Attend?
Admission to the Flower and Garden Festival is included with your park admission, there is no additional cost associated.
There are however some additional activities (scavenger hunts) that cost a little extra ($9.99). (read more about these below).
Some of the highlights of the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival are detailed below including the topiaries, gardens, outdoor kitchen, Garden Graze Food Stroll, Garden Rocks Concert Series, Scavenger hunts, and of course all the great Festival Merchandise!
EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival Topiaries
There are topiaries around the park during the Flower and Garden Festival that are shaped to look like your favorite Disney characters, and there are nearly 100 locations throughout the park.
It can take as long as a year for the topiaries to be completed so as soon as the current year’s festival is over, the gardeners begin work on new ones for the next year’s festival. See all of the 2024 Flower and Garden Topiaries in this post.
Photos of the Topiaries from the 2024 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival
See all of the EPCOT Topiaries from this year’s Flower and Garden Festival, Read the post here.
Epcot Global Gardens
Epcot always has beautiful flowers and shrubs throughout the park no matter when you visit. As you might expect, one of the highlights of the Flower and Garden festival is the many Global Gardens arranged around the park.
Each year EPCOT curates nearly 20 Global Gardens for guests to enjoy throughout the park as part of the festival. These include the English tea garden, spice garden, bamboo garden, floating garden, gnome garden, miniature garden, and many more beautiful gardens you can enjoy throughout the park.
See all of the gardens at EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. Click here to read the post
Global Gardens the Flower and Garden Festival:
- Festival Blooms
- Community Garden
- Connections Conservatory Garden
- Blossoms of Fragrance (Presented by Scentsy)
- PB&J Garden (Presented by Smucker’s Uncrustables)
- The Honey Bee-stro Garden (Presented by National Honey Bread)
- Floating Gardens
- Butterfly Landing (Presented by AdventHealth)
- Bold Bromeliads
- English Tea Gardens (Presented by Twinnings)
- Shakespeare Garden
- Topiary Heritage Garden
- Bouquet Garden
- Spice Garden
- Kokedama Garden
- Shishi-odoshi
- Bonsai Collection
- Garden Italiano
- Gnome Garden
- China Penjing Garden
- Bamboo Garden
- Tropical Rainforest Garden
- Extraordinary Orchids
- Desert Garden
- Songbird Meadow (Presented by Wild Birds Unlimited)
- Camp Get Out ‘N’ Play (Presented by OFF)
- Prehistoric Plants
Outdoor Kitchens
The outdoor kitchens at EPCOT are a big part of any festival, and during the Flower and Garden Festival, the food is all about fresh spring flavors! This light and seasonal food with an emphasis on fresh ingredients is a welcome change after the heartier, warmer meals of winter.
If you would like to know more about the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival food for this year you can see the menus and kitchens here.
Garden Graze Food Stroll
The Garden Graze food stroll at EPCOT encourages you to try delicious food around the park. If you try at least five of them and get the back page of your festival passport marked with a stamp you will be rewarded with an exclusive specialty treat.
You can collect your stamps at any time during the Flower and Garden festival, they don’t have to be collected on a single visit. You can even have one snack more than once and they will still give you an additional stamp, so if you really love Avocado Toast (like me!) you can get it 5 times if you want and get a stamp each time!
Garden Rocks Concert Series
During the festival, there are nightly concerts at the American Gardens Theater. The EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival concerts feature a wide range of performers throughout the festival. There are three concerts every evening at 5:30 pm, 6:45 pm, and 8:00 pm.
There are no additional fees to attend the concerts however, seating is first come first served unless you have a Garden Rocks dining package. You can see who will perform each evening during this year’s festival here.
Garden Rocks Dining Packages
The Garden Rocks dining packages let you enjoy a meal at one of several participating restaurants and then have reserved seating for the Garden Rocks concert that same day. There are eight participating restaurants at EPCOT, you can learn more about them and their pricing here.
*Quick tip* The Regal Eagle Dining Package is the most affordable option (and delicious food!)
Flower and Garden Festival Scavenger Hunts
If you have attended one of EPCOT festivals before you may already know that they frequently include scavenger hunts as part of the festivities. During the Flower and Garden Festival, there are two scavenger hunts.
To participate in the scavenger hunts you need to purchase a map and stickers for them. The maps cost $9.99 each and you can buy them at select merchandise locations while supplies last.
Spike’s Pollination Exploration
Spike’s Pollination Exploration runs through the entire festival. It’s a fun scavenger for the whole family. While you walk through the Flower and Garden Festival be on the lookout for Spike the Bee in each of the gardens that you find listed on your map. Once you find him you can add the corresponding sticker to the map.
Once you have collected your stickers you can pick up a special surprise at Creations Shop, World Traveler, and Disney Traders.
You don’t have to finish the challenge in one day. If you plan on returning to the Flower and Garden Festival you can bring your map back and finish another day.
Eggstravaganza scavenger hunt
This Eggstravaganza scavenger hunt is only available for a only few weeks around Easter. As you walk around EPCOT you can spot 12 different fun character decorated eggs. Mark each one on your card with the appropriate sticker and collect your prize when you are done!
* Prizes can actually be picked up when you purchase your Scavenger Hunt card, you don’t have to wait until your done. (I usually do this so I don’t forget to pick up my prize at the end of the day!
When you complete the map (you don’t have to finish it in a single day) take it to Disney Traders, World Traveler, or Creations Shop for a special prize.
EPCOT Flower and Garden Merchandise
I only took a little time looking around at the Flower and Garden Merchandise but I found some really cute items featuring the star of the festival, Orange Bird. They seem to have plenty of merch options at this festival.
Is the Flower and Garden Festival the best Festival at EPCOT?
There is no bad time to visit EPCOT, but Spring may be the most colorful and beautiful time to go. There are always lots of gorgeous flowers around the park, but with the additional gardens they install for the festival, it is truly amazing. It ranks pretty high in my list of top EPCOT festivals, it is by far the most beautiful and the food offerings are always bright and fresh. I enjoyed it more than Food and Wine and Festival of the Arts this year (2024) but The International Festival of the Holidays might win for the best fest at EPCOT — or maybe it is tied with Flower and Garden.
Even if I have a favorite festival you may like another even more, so be sure to read my other EPCOT festival guides here to see which festival might be right for you and your family.
Have you attended the Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT before? Do you plan to? If so, what was your favorite part or what are you most looking forward to?
