If you can believe it, with my love of Walt Disney World, I've never been to the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival. With my first time experience came a lot of questions that I'm sure you, too, dear reader, have if you're visiting for the first time.
So, without further ado, here is our newcomer's guide to the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival.
What is the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival?
The Flower & Garden Festival at EPCOT is a lot flower, a lot garden, with a side of tasty cuisine. It comes around every spring, and this year it runs from March 4 to June 1, 2026.
As a newbie to this festival, I really didn't understand the scale or depth of the gardens, topiaries, and designs that would be all around EPCOT. For a first-time visit, it was a little overwhelming to try to get my bearings while making sure we didn't miss out on anything fun.
So let's start with some of the basics.
Key information to know about the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival:
- Bring sunscreen, a hat, and sunglasses. Florida spring sunshine is strong.
- Festival food booths are cashless. Bring a credit card or contactless payment.
- Festival gift cards are available and make an easy way to go cashless.
- Outdoor Kitchen hours are limited on weekdays, and expanded on weekends.
- Booths open later than park opening.
- Pick up a Flower & Garden Festival Passport.
- Grab a park map to help plan your route.
- Look for hidden gardens and topiaries throughout EPCOT.
- There are more than 40 gardens and topiaries around the park.
- Use the QR code inside the festival passport to see the full festival map.
Want to know what topiaries to see and where they are located? Our annual Flower and Garden Festival Guide has the complete list!
Bring lots of sunscreen. This is truly a must because the Florida spring season is still brutally hot, especially when you are spending hours walking around EPCOT. I would also suggest bringing a hat of some kind and sunglasses. While the festival is full of colorful gardens and shaded pathways, much of your time will still be spent outdoors, so a little sun protection goes a long way.
Another helpful thing to know before you arrive is that all food stands for the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival are cashless. Make sure you bring a working credit card or some form of contactless payment. They also offer cute festival-themed gift cards you can purchase and load with money as a simple way to go cashless while enjoying the festival.
It is also worth noting that the festival food stands have limited hours. The Outdoor Kitchens are open Tuesday through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Friday through Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Since EPCOT opens at 9 a.m. every day, this means the festival food booths will not be open right when the park opens.
To help get your bearings, pick up a Flower & Garden Festival Passport when you enter the park. This handy booklet shows you all of the food options around EPCOT and can be found near the entrance of the park or at any of the festival food stands. It is also smart to grab a park map and plan your park routes accordingly.
Maps are available right at the entrance of the park or inside most stores. There are so many topiaries and gardens throughout EPCOT that it is very easy to miss some that are tucked away.
EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival Food
Now, this festival has so many food options, you wouldn't be able to even try half of them in one park day! This is where I would recommend walking a lap around the park to check out the stands before you decide to start snacking. Seeing other guests walk around with certain items also piqued my interest in items I wouldn't have typically tried.
In order to experience the most from the festival bites, I recommend the “pick and share” method. During our visit, my boyfriend and I shared every food item that we ordered, so that we wouldn't get full and only be able to try a few items.
For this festival, we decided to forego a sit-down meal and continue feasting on the best festival food, which also allowed us to try more throughout the day. Just think of it as constant light snacking!
Early in the day, the BRUNCHCOT stand was so busy the line wrapped around into the walkway. If you want to hit the BRUNCHCOT Stand, I recommend waiting until later in the afternoon. They serve their items all day.
We also enjoyed every adult beverage that we tried, which we didn't expect. Two of our favorite drinks were the First Emperor from Lan Yuan in China, and the Citrus Slushy from La Isla Fresca between the France and Morocco pavilions.
Wanna try something viral?
While not related to the Flower & Garden Festival, the Violet Sake is a viral drink that can be found in the Japan Pavilion year-round at the Garden House outdoor stand.
Recently, the stand was revamped, and THREE new Sake cocktails were added to the menu. I love the Violet Sake, which is a flowery tasting drink with desert pear syrup, lime juice, and Sake, so naturally, we had to try one of the new drinks to see how they compared. We opted for the Haru Pink cocktail, which features watermelon and lemon flavors.
It tasted exactly like a watermelon Jolly Rancher, and there was virtually no taste of alcohol. In my opinion, the Violet Sake has now moved to second place; Haru Pink is THAT good.
Flower & Garden Festival Fun
There are lots of cool festival locations with entertainment, experiences, and two fun activities that you can do for a special treat or prize once you complete the tasks!
Butterfly Landing:
Butterfly Landing can be found near the Imagination! Pavilion. We were able to observe many species of colorful butterflies and learned how to support their habitat.
Note: Butterfly Landing closes at dusk every day.
Garden Graze:
This fun “extra” can be found at the back of the festival passport. There is no extra cost to participate, but you do have to pay for the dishes. We had so much fun just being at the festival for the first time we didn't embark on this mission, but it's good to know you don't have to complete it in one visit. You can hang onto your passport and bring it back if you visit the Flower and Garden Festival multiple times this year.
Collect stamps after trying any of the following five plant-based menu items:
- Poke Bowl or Coconut Panna Cotta at Nectar
- Grilled Street Corn on the Cob at Beach Grub
- Coconut-Chocolate Flan Bizcocho at La Isla Fesca
- Potato Pancakes at Bauernmarket: Farmer's Market
- Seasonal Fruit Parfait at Refreshment Outpost
- Lumpia or Lemon Tart at The Citrus Blossom
- Avocado Toast at BUNCHCOT
Once you order your item, be sure to collect your stamp from the stand. Once you fill out the entire stamp page in the back of the passport, you can redeem your prize. What's the prize, you may ask? A FREE Pineapple Promenade Festival Treat.
Egggstravaganza Easter Egg Hunt:
This limited-time Easter egg hunt is great, adorable fun, but it does cost an additional $11.99 if you want to participate.
We didn't opt for purchasing the hunt map, but it was so fun to look for cute character easter eggs. From Judy Hopps to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, this little hunt is EGGstra adorable!
You don't HAVE to finish the entire hunt to claim your prize, but what fun is that?! If you don't finish, you can still redeem the pamphlet for your cute character Easter egg prize featuring Chip, Dale, Thumper, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, and the White Rabbit.
However you decide to experience this year's EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, we hope our newcomers' guide will help you and your partner have an even more magical day!
