Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2014 Taking Shape With Less Than 3 Weeks to Go

February 16, 2014 Denise

Hi everyone!

This is the most exciting year for me, as the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival draws closer. The flower quilt near the Imagination pavilion has been planted, and butterflies and flowers are already seen in the patterns. This is our 7th year covering the Festival! And if this year holds the same as 2013, we could see the first topiaries popping up as early as this week.

Update February 18th: Topiaries are now being added, including a beautiful Snow White topiary (with a face, unlike previous years)

Last year I posted 300 photos from opening day, and wrote up an article with tips for the Festival. I will do the same this year, look for both on March 6th (the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival beings March 5th, 2013). We are really looking forward to the new Kermit and Miss Piggy topiaries!

Over near the Odyssey, the flower quilt hadn’t yet been planted. Flags were in the grass, signifying where the plants would go. And this area also hosts the Mater’s Parts, Plants & Play Garden.

The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is less than 3 weeks away!

This area is being set up in the back of Mouse Gear, with bird houses and bird baths.

A playground takes shape in back of Mouse Gear.

World Showcase was not yet open, so I didn’t walk the full length of it – but the flowers are blooming on the roof in Norway as they do each year. And look at that line for Anna and Elsa! This was before 10:00 a.m., more than an hour before World Showcase was open for the day.

Here is our video of Anna and Elsa at this location:

The Imagination Walkway is getting a Monsters University themed playground, and this area will be known as Mike & Sulley’s Monstrous Garden. Last year, it was themed for Oz the Great and Powerful.

It is really hard to see in most of my photos through the screen, but the playground has a lot of monster theming to it!

Here is last year’s Land of Oz Garden:

Tinker Bell’s Butterfly House has begun construction.

Merchandise that is spring related has begun popping up at Epcot. This isn’t the official Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2014 merchandise, but items we’ve seen in past years.

Victoria Gardens in Canada was closed when I passed by, but I’m looking forward to seeing it in full bloom for the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival!

I don’t often see marching bands in Epcot, but this high school band marched past me in World Showcase (about a half hour or more before World Showcase opened).

Epcot is my favorite Walt Disney World park, and about half of World Showcase is walkable before it officially opens. It looks really beautiful before too many guests enter!

This is the best time to see the France pavilion in the daytime – it’s usually so busy in this location with guests taking photos and lounging by the fountain.