The grey, sometimes rainy, and often windy conditions on the opening day of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival certainly made Blooms pop.
The 30th edition of the Walt Disney World Event began Wednesday and featured many trademark attractions, including topiary, flower towers, floating gardens, butterfly gardens, Garden Rocks concerts and outdoor kitchens.
But there is also the newness within the new Communicore Hall with beds, menus and theme parks.
New growth
Soon, Epcot visitors will be able to see the newly designed topiary featuring amazing characters and small from the 2016 animated film “Moana.”
You are your little heihei, the chicken character, Pua, Moana’s pet pig, and your figure is nearby. And then Megatopia’s Maui (voiced in a Dwayne Johnson film) is approaching. Disney tends to proportion these numbers, and Maui will certainly tower above the poultry.
Maui may not be the biggest of this fest ever. Let’s flashback to the big surfing spirits of the old days. But it’s a wide body with a green girth.
There is a lighting effect when daylight fades on Moana paddles and Maui-sized fish hooks.
On other topiary topics, Phineas and FERB numbers have returned to the festival. They are on a bridge and are a showcase of the world. All topiary and garden settings are listed on the Festival Passport.
Remodeling the hall
Communicore Hall, a flexible use space that opened last year, has a new gardening theme for the fest, told by the sizing of the Spike The Bee characters.
Aside from some large plant arrangements, it includes a simple background on how Disney creates hanging baskets, floating gardens, flower towers and topiaries. Scaled models of Elsa, Anna Bo Peep, Figment, Phineas and Ferb are rarely on display.
This version of Communicore is brightly colored floor-to-ceiling, allowing visitors to see yet another spiked hovering. There are also seats and several sofas. There are all kinds of products available in this festival space. It’s a soothing spot with nature-driven songs for the soundtrack. (“Bumblebee’s Flying” fits here, not “Fantasia.”)
The space includes Farmers Feast, an indoor outdoor kitchen. This is the place where you can change twice during the fest. Current options include grilled asparagus, scallops with spring peas risotto and blueberry crumble cake.
Birds’ Land
Orange Birds are once again the dominant figure of flower and garden products, many of which are branded with the 30th anniversary logo.
OBs can find T-shirts, backpacks, mouth ear hats, caps (one reads “peeling happy!” on the bird’s head), drinking containers, spirit jersey items, Christmas ornaments and more in the usual way.
On the first day there was a crazy crowd around a festival trading pin featuring orange birds, figments, Winnie the Pooh and Simba. People lined up outside the doors of the Creations Shop, and by noon on Wednesday the queue was still there.
Are you in the birds? There is also a collection themed about the festival’s “Alice in Wonderland.”
Club Gloves and a new playground
Two new outdoor kitchens are set up side by side this year. Beach Grub and Yacht Grub have an atmosphere inspired by the Yacht Club and Beach Club Resort, the neighbours next to Epcot. The menu includes grilled seafood, grilled cob street corn, coconut water, chips, meat and cheese plates, a trio of sparkling cocktails and smores.
Located in the old Rose Garden, heading to the world’s showcases, these stations are connected by the new Playalong Bay, a large voyage-themed playground with aqua accents. It looks impressive from across the park, in stark contrast to the pavilion of imagination standing in the distance. Playalong Bay explains (wait) Grape Canaveral with signs of direction pointing to port peanut butter as Smucker’s fraud is sponsored.
First meal
On the first day, we checked out some of the recommended or expected groceries. Operating from the Odyssey building, Citrus Blossom had citrus baked bries ($5.50) and lemon tart ($5). The cheese Oregon lemon marmalade was so sticky that I could have flew out of the honey bistro kitchen. The lemon tart was, as the name suggests, very lemon and tartie.
Both dishes were very solid so I wish I had picked up a knife. But they were also big enough to share – another reason for that knife.
Built outside of Communcore Hall, Florida’s fresh counter serves flavourful, soft conch fritters ($6.50). They had a dipped sauce of Key Lime Aioli, as if they weren’t forward enough in Florida.
The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival will be held daily until June 2nd.
Please email dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Bluesky: @themeparksdb. Thread account: @dbevil. X Account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.
