NEWS: Disney Announces Passholder Exclusives for Epcot Flower and Garden Festival

Spring is almost here and with it comes the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival! Disney has announced some annual passholder exclusives along with some other merchandise news. Catch all the details below.

Here are all the details from Disney cast member Jennifer Fickely-Baker:

The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival will return to the park March 4, and with it, eye-catching floral displays, photo-worthy topiaries and much more.

The festival will also feature exclusive Annual Passholder offerings you won’t want to miss, including:

• Passholder-Exclusive Magnets – Passholders can receive two new complimentary magnets at this year’s festival. The “Donald Duck with Spike the Bee” magnet will be available March 4-April 19, while “Orange Bird” will make his magnet debut April 20-June 1. Both magnets will be available at Mouse Gear.
• Passholder-Exclusive Merchandise – Be on the lookout for Passholder-exclusives, including tees and pins. Also check out the new Orange Bird and Donald and Spike collections. Passholders can also take advantage of their 20% discount on merchandise.
• Discounted Garden Rocks Concert Series Packages – The America Gardens Theatre will play host to performances by fan-favorite bands and musicians – including 20 new artists this year! Passholders can get a 10% discount on dining packages, which is the most seamless way to experience the concert series.
• Discounted Tours – Delightful tours can be unearthed throughout the festival. Passholders get a 15% discount on the Behind the Seeds and Garden of World tours.

This year, Outdoor Kitchens will feature the season’s freshest flavors. Returning favorites include Flavor Full Kitchen, sponsored by AdventHealth; Trowel & Trellis, where all of the dishes are plant-based creations; and the favorite Orange Bird Sipper! New for this year, a Spike the Bee Sipper (inspired by the Disney character who first appeared in Disney short films in the 1940s) will also be available at The Honey Bee-stro and will contain the popular Honey-Peach Freeze. Both specialty sippers will be available while supplies last.

Spike the Bee will also be hiding among his favorite flowers throughout World Showcase as a part of Spike’s Pollen-Nation Exploration Scavenger Hunt. Maps can be purchased at Mouse Gear, World Traveler and select Festival Markets. Don’t forget Passholders can use their 20% merchandise discount.

One Donald Duck magnet and one Orange Bird magnet per Passholder. Available while supplies last. Must visit Mouse Gear and must present your valid annual pass and photo ID to receive the magnets. Not responsible for any lost, stolen or damaged magnets. 

RELATED ARTICLE: 9 Things We Love About the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival at Disney World

by D.W. Noonan

Epcot now hosts four fabulous festivals every year drawing countless visitors to celebrate those seasons with special programming. Many events and activities return to Epcot every year, but festival planners also like to create new things for visitors to enjoy. This spring, the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, runs from March 4 to June 1. There are a lot of things about the Flower and Garden Festival, but the following nine tops the list.

9 – The Weather

While the days in Florida generally range from warm to hot all year long, the springtime days perfectly fall in the middle with temperatures averaging in the mid-70s to low 80s. During the festival, you’re not likely to suffer from relentless heat beating down upon you or cool breezes giving you the shivers. Also, Florida’s dry season occurs from March to May, meaning that during the festival, you’ll usually find clear skies, low humidity, and not much precipitation. These nearly perfect days enhance your experience of the blossoming flowers of Epcot. Any summer guest at Walt Disney World has certainly endured sweltering humidity and heavy thunderstorms that drive them indoors, but we love the fact that we can avoid them during the Flower and Garden Festival.

8 – The Floral Variety

The diversity of flowers that Disney horticulturalists display during the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival is mind staggering. Disney achieves this through intensive preparation that requires more than a year of work and around 24,000 cast members. The stunning colors draw a multitude of pollen-carrying insects, melodious songbirds, and photo-snapping humans to the festival. Be sure to bring a quality camera to capture the spectacular images that you’re not likely to find elsewhere.

7 – The Fragrances

Naturally, the great floral variety will produce the most pleasant aromas you’ll ever smell. Delight your olfactory senses with fragrances from over 30 million blooms as you stroll through lively gardens, linger among the flower towers, and visit purple martin and butterfly habitats. The experience draws you closer to nature and helps you to appreciate all the tools that flowers employ to attract insects to carry their pollen. Festival attendees love the freshness of nature’s perfume, and you’ll be sure to enjoy it, as well.

6 – The Gardening Tips

There are many gardens to explore throughout both Future World, Showcase Plaza, and World Showcase. Here you’ll find gardening tips on the various signs throughout the gardens. Use what you learn to plant your first garden or to improve your current gardening skills.

5 – The Play Gardens

The 2019 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival hosted two play gardens for the little ones to explore including a play area with Toy Story 4 theming featuring Bo Peep! We’re excited to see what 2020 brings.

4 – Kid-Friendly Learning

The festival not only provides lots of educational opportunities for adults but also for kids. Butterflies on the Go is an exhibit that allows children to encounter a multitude of butterflies, learn about their life cycles, and maybe even witness one or more emerging from a cocoon. Also, kids can learn about migratory purple martins by visiting their habitat. Other educational presentations geared to the children are provided by the National Park Foundation, the National Park Service, National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, and the Disney Conservation Fund. The festival serves as the perfect occasion for kids to learn even while having fun at Epcot.

3 – The Character Topiaries

By far, we find the topiaries created for the Flower and Garden Festival to be nothing short of amazing. Disney’s horticulturalists become plant sculptors as they transform shrubbery into three-dimensional depictions of popular Disney movie characters. The staple characters appear all over the place, but the festival planners also add new characters and motifs each year. You’ll see everything from Anna and Elsa to Winnie the Pooh, so make sure you snap lots of photos of these incredible topiaries to add to your vacation albums and scrapbooks.

2 – Outdoor Kitchens

Disney vacationers love Epcot for its variety of cuisine and libations. During the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, the diversity of food and drink increases with the installment of booths around the World Showcase. These Outdoor Kitchens feature garden-fresh inspired food and craft brews, ciders, and wines from the nations and regions represented. These creative recipes extend beyond the already delicious cuisine at each pavilion, so you’re bound to find something new. The Outdoor Kitchens serve as reason enough to love the festival, especially for foodies.

1 – The Concerts

We love music, and Walt Disney World pulls out all the stops with their Garden Rocks Concert Series to give us what we want. Located at the America Gardens Theatre, the concert series showcases popular musical acts from the past every weekend. Clap, stomp, or dance to the beats of groups like the Air Supply, Starship, Rick Springfield, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears, to name a few. No matter what weekend you visit during the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, you’ll be sure to find a rockin’ concert to enjoy.