Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival 2017 – beautiful flowers and amazing food! You MUST make a trip to Walt Disney World to check out the festival! SO fun!
We decided to extend our Florida trip a few days and drive down to Disney World! It was during the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. I had never been to that festival, so I was SUPER excited to finally get to check it out. The flowers are AMAZING!! I wouldn’t expect anything less from Disney. The food was delicious! The setup was extremely similar to the Food & Wine Festival that we go to in the Fall.
Keep reading to see all the beautiful flowers, fun festival food, some of our standard Disney food favorites and where we stayed. I am already counting down the days until our next Disney trip! It is less than 30 days away!!!! Woohoo!!!
The Flowers
Lady & The Tramp near Italy
Pandas in China
Dragon in China
Gnome in Norway
Elsa and Anna in Norway
The Three Caballeros in Mexico
At the entrance to the World Showcase
Phineas and Ferb on the walk to the World Showcase
Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie
Bambi, Thumper and Flower (the skunk)
Pooh Bear near Canada
Piglet and Eeyore
Rabbit
Tigger
Tinker Bell in England
Fantasia
At the main entrance to Epcot
Beauty and The Beast in France
Woody in America
The Lion King
The Food
Primeavera Kitchen in Italy
Meatball Parmigiana: Hand-made Beef and Veal Meatballs, Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella, Parmigiana, Fresh Basil
For mass produced meatballs, these were incredible. The tomato sauce was YUM!
The Smokehouse in America
Pulled Pork with Coleslaw
Hanami in Japan
Beef Teriyaki Udon: Thin-sliced Beef, Onions and Noodles tossed on the grill with Soy and Ginger
We loved these noodles – we ate them twice!
Ahi Tuna Poke Sesame Ginger
Chicken Legs loved it!
Florida Fresh
Key Lime Tart with Meringue
Isn’t it pretty?!?! It tasted just as good as it looked!
Shrimp and Stone-ground Grits with Andouille Sausage, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Cilantro
Surprisingly good!
Carne Asada with Black Bean Cake and Cilantro Lime Sour Cream
La Isla Fresca
FlanCocho: Vanilla Caramel Custard with Chocolate Coffee Cake
If you like flan, this is some of the best!
Northern Bloom (near Canada)
Seared Scallops with French Green Beans, Butter Potatoes, Brown Butter Vinaigrette and Apple-wood Smoked Bacon
Beef Tenderloin Tips, Mushroom Bordelaise Sauce, Whipped Potatoes with Garden Vegetables
This was probably the best thing we ate from the festival offerings.
It isn’t very pretty, but it was very, very delicious!
Disney Food Favorites
Nine Dragons in China has become a fast favorite of ours.
We absolutely LOVE the steam buns.
This trip we got the pork belly…
and the General Tso Chicken buns.
THE BEST!!!
We also shared some Lo Mein.
SO good!
Nine Dragons takes reservations, but we’ve never needed one. We’ve always just walked up and sat down.
Cookies & Cream Funnel Cake from the Funnel Cake Stand in America.
Funnel cake topped with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and crushed Oreos.
GET ONE!!!
We spend a lot of time in the bar at the Rose & Crown in Epcot.
We usually eat standing up at the bar.
Chicken Legs LOVES their Scotch Eggs.
We also always split a fried banger and chips.
The sausage is dipped in the fish batter and fried – SO stinking GOOD!
Via Napoli is another absolute favorite!
We usually make a reservation, but this time we just walked up and waited about 20 minutes for a table.
We always start with the Arancini – fried risotto balls.
We split the small pizza with sausage and pepperoni.
One of my all-time favorite pizzas!
Don’t miss the Caramel and Chocolate Mickey Rice Krispie Treat in Germany.
You also MUST get a bag of caramel popcorn.
TO-DIE-FOR!
I was worried that my beloved Butterfinger Cupcake would be lost after Starring Rolls in Hollywood Studios closed.
BUT not to worry! It is now at the Trolley Car Cafe (Starbucks) right near the entrance to Hollywood Studios.
Chocolate Cupcake stuffed with Fudge, topped with Buttercream, dipped in chocolate and coated in Butterfingers. HEAVEN!!!
I had to snag one of these super fun chocolate dipped Mickey krispie treats!!!
Our last meal was a quick slice of pizza from the Pizza Window on the Boardwalk.
It was surprisingly good! I’ll definitely grab a slice on our next trip.
We stayed at the Walt Disney World Swan again on this trip.
We got a beautiful room!
We had a great view of The Dolphin hotel.
We are staying at The Dolphin on our trip next month.
I’ll report back how it compares to The Swan.
The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is starting at the end of August.
If you’ve never been, you really should check it out!
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We were there the same time as you, but sadly didn't make it over to Epcot (it's hard traveling with a 4yo and an infant!). I'll definitely make a point of hitting it up next time. We stayed at the Dolphin and enjoyed it!
This was my first year at the festival.Loved it!