It occurred to me the other day that when I was editing pictures from when my MIL was in town that I haven’t done an “Orlando Fun” post in forever! If this isn’t your cuppa tea, I totally understand and feelings won’t be hurt if you decide to click the little “x” right now. BUT for those of you that love to take peeks into other people’s lives, or are just planning (or daydreaming) about taking a trip to the most magical place on Earth and need your fill of Mr. Mouse’s goodness, then step right up folks… We’re heading to Epcot!
I absolutely adore Epcot. It’s probably my favorite park on Disney property, and one of the best times of year to go in my opinion, is during the Flower and Garden Festival, which runs from early March- mid May!
All over the park you’ll see huge and incredibly lifelike topiaries of your favorite Disney characters during this time of year. They are in every nook and cranny and there’s SO MANY, that chances are you won’t even get to see them all! I would love to be a fly on the wall when the artists are making these, wouldn’t you?!
Bambi, Thumper, and Flower were some of my favorite characters growing up and still are, even in topiary form 🙂
The funny thing about Epcot is at first glance of the map you don’t think there’s that many rides. Sure you have the thrill seekers rides like Fast Track and Mission Space, and then Soarin which is a little more tame, but what else? I had no idea there was rides INSIDE some of the countries, and I’ve been to Epcot quite a few times! My mother-in-law was all excited about these boat rides inside of Mexico and Norway in particular, and me and my husband just looked at each other like “Whaaaa?! There’s ride’s in there”
Sure is! The boat ride inside of Mexico was my daughter’s favorite! It was super similar to “It’s a Small World” in the Magic Kingdom, so if you love that ride, you’ll love this one too. 🙂
And then of course there’s the Finding Nemo ride, which is always a hit! We love how after the ride is over you walk out into a big aquarium, with tons of fish tanks everywhere!
My personal favorite ride this time around was the Living With The Land ride. I can’t believe I’ve never been on it before now but if you love gardening, specifically edible things, than you HAVE TO check it out!
Not going to lie…It took every ounce of my being not to jump out of the moving tram and smuggle some Disney swiss chard into my bag…Look at those colors! Hello luva!
The super cool thing about going to Epcot during the Flower and Garden Festival though is the gardening showcases and special events they have going on. I love walking around and admiring all of the different types of gardens and the structures that have been built specifically for the event because it inspires you to create unique gardens in your own backyard!
Zoe was particularly touched by this setup this year! My little “Dr.Doolittle” loves feeding our neighborhood wildlife, which explains why we spend more money on wild bird seed than anyone really should 😉 We actually installed a small pond in our garden this year because of our love for feeding the birds! We decided to give them a place to get a drink and bathe too….why not? 😉 Having a variety of wildlife friendly plants, feeders and fresh flowing water has definitely livened our yard up this spring too. We have more nests being built than ever before in our shrubs and trees, which is so cool to watch!
Oh, and I’ll be posting about the pond soon, just finishing up a few details on that!
And then, no flower and garden anything is complete without the most beautiful things ever…butterflies.
The tented butterfly garden was spectacular! I think we could have spent all day in there, and my daughter is now OBSESSED with the idea of creating our own tented butterfly sanctuary in the backyard…Anyone have any DIY suggestions for that?! 😉
Lucky little cocoons. What a sweet setup they have!
The food was great (local and fresh), the weather was great, and the park was crowded since it was spring break that week, but it was so much fun and completely inspiring! Pictures just don’t do that place justice during the Flower and Garden Festival. It’s one of those things that you have to experience for yourself!
I hope you enjoyed coming along with us 🙂
I’d love to hear your favorite things about the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival! That way next year, I’ll be able to check out your suggestions since it’s impossible to see it all in one day!
Talk to you soon friends, take care!
XO
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