This year’s EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival was supposed to run through June 1. I’m feeling particularly disappointed that I didn’t even get to go once this year, as many of you didn’t either, I’m sure. I am really fortunate to be able to hop into my car and drive for just 2.5-ish hours to my happy place without having to fly down. I love knowing that I can do that any time I want to, even though I don’t actually do it as often as I’d like to.
See, I’m just far enough away that it’s not really a feasible day trip for my family. When you add 5+ (depending on traffic) hours to a long day of park touring, that makes it tough, so whenever we come down, we always spend at least one night in a hotel room. I couldn’t possibly tear myself away from any Disney theme park before the nighttime fireworks shows, so there ya go.
On a side note, if you’re like me and thinking about Moving to Orlando one of these days, be sure to stop by and check out our sister site where you’ll find informative articles and videos on many of the towns surrounding the Walt Disney World Resort.
This morning on Twitter, @bioreconstruct shared some new aerial shots where he’s added arrows to show where various displays as a part of the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival have been taken down, due to the COVID-19 closure of the Walt Disney World Resort.
You can clearly see where the gorgeous floral murals have been replaced with grass. The yellow arrows in the photo below show where some of the Outdoor Kitchens remain. The Butterfly Garden tent was located where you see the green arrow and empty flower beds are at the pink arrows. There is an empty bed and a drained pond at the orange arrow.
This next aerial view of EPCOT shows changes on the East side of Future World. The Toy Story topiaries used to be located where the left yellow arrow is. You can see fencing around one kiosk at the yellow arrow on the right. There is also a fence around the restrooms near Test Track and the main gift shop.
This last image provides a closer look at where the Butterfly Garden was located. The circular flower beds inside the monorail loop are now empty as well as the pond.
As we learned this morning, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings has signed off on Universal Orlando Resort’s plans to reopen on June 5th, so it’ll be on its way to Governor Ron DeSantis’s office for his final approval shortly. We should hopefully be finding out next week what the reopening plans are for Walt Disney World.
I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to experience the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival in the Fall, but if I’m being completely honest, I’m more looking forward to the 2021 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts and the 2021 EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival.
How about you? Are you disappointed to have missed out this year? What is your favorite EPCOT Festival? Please tell me in the comments section below.
Senior Editor for the DIS and DCL Fan | Disney Vacation Club Member | Thrilled to have been a '13/'14 Disney Parks Moms Panelist (now planDisney) | Lover of all things Disney; the Magic of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Disney Cruise Line | ºoº
