A Toddler’s Guide to The International Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot
Epcot is celebrating 30 years of the International Flower & Garden Festival this year. A fan favorite, this festival boasts beautiful gardens and topiaries, specialty drinks and snacks, musical performances, festival merchandise, and so much more! Visit Epcot any time between March 5th and June 2nd to experience everything that this festival has to offer. The International Flower & Garden Festival is included with in the cost of a valid theme park admission ticket.
As you first enter the park, be sure to pick up a Festival Passport that will give you a great overview of what to expect during your visit. It’s always the first thing we do when attending a Festival in Epcot!
As soon as you open the booklet, check out the list of experiences deemed “Fun for Kids of All Ages”. My little ones loved Spike’s scavenger hunt!
Topiaries and Gardens are listed with a brief description of their locations throughout the park. This is super helpful for families with little ones. You can quickly scan the list and look for any of your Tots favorite characters. Try to plan your day in such a way that you can catch all the topiaries on your little one’s must see list!
The merchandise never disappoints, and this year was no different. We didn’t have the opportunity to take an in-depth look at the merch on our first trip to the festival, but as we walked by some of the stores there were definitely a few things that caught my eye we’ll need to take a second look at.
The last thing I wanted to mention from the Festival Passport is the Garden Graze. Purchase any combination of 5 menu items (menu pictured below) and collect a matching stamp. Once you have all 5 stamps, bring your Passport back to Pineapple Promenade for a free Festival Treat! We happened to go on a Saturday during the first weekend of the Festival. As a result, the lines for all of the food were really long; much longer than our little ones would have waited. Just something to keep in mind when planning your trip!
Now that we have a pretty good overview of what the Festival is and some of the offerings, let’s explore what my two boys, ages 4 and 18 months enjoyed the most. This includes some details of our experience with Spike’s Pollen–Nation Exploration scavenger hunt!
Topiaries and Gardens
The topiaries are the big show stopper in my mind, and they have always been my favorite part of this Festival. I was so excited to be able to share that experience with my two little ones this year as well. Disney has taken storytelling to a whole new level, and brought some of our favorite Disney characters to life in a truly creative way. They were somehow able to capture the most intricate of details using these beautiful and vibrant flowers. From the Princesses to Mickey and Pals, your little ones are sure to enjoy finding every single one of these topiaries located throughout the park. Check out some of our favorites below:
Spike’s Pollen–Nation Exploration Scavenger Hunt
Bee on the lookout for Spike as he makes his way around to some of the gorgeous flowers found in World Showcase. Explore the beautiful gardens and each time you find Spike, place a sticker of the corresponding flower he’s near on your map. Once you’ve collected all the stickers, return your map for a special prize!
Here’s how to play. Purchase your map at one of the participating merchandise locations. (We purchased ours at Port of Entry, which is located just before the entrance to World Showcase). The map costs $9.99 plus applicable taxes. On the front, you will see the names of the gardens as well as a simplified map of Epcot with the corresponding country the garden is located in. There are labels on each of the gardens, but some might take some extra looking. Cast Members are always willing to help point you in the right direction if you get stuck! Once you find Spike, place the corresponding flower sticker on your map. Once complete, bring your map back to one of the redemption locations including Disney Traders, Creations Shop or World Travelers and you’ll receive a prize!
There is quite a bit of walking involved with this scavenger hunt, as it takes you all around World Showcase. We got a late start to our day, and about halfway through decided that we would come back another day to finish. My 4 year old really enjoyed it and was very excited to look for Spike and place the stickers on the map. My 18 month old didn’t understand what we were doing but still enjoys walking around the park. #Tot Tip: completing the scavenger hunt is a great way to also see a lot of the topiaries and would be a great way for you to try some of the food on the Garden Graze along the way too!
Final Thoughts
We love Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival. My husband and I have been going for years, and it was so fun to bring the kids with us this time too. We decided to make a leisurely afternoon out of our trip and got a late start. Our only objective was to begin working on Spike’s Pollen-Nation Exploration scavenger hunt and we got about halfway before it was time to head home! We definitely plan to go back again to finish our scavenger hunt, see more of the topiaries we missed and check out even more that the Festival has to offer. There’s something for everyone and I highly recommend making this a part of your trip!