I recently had a chance to check out for the first time the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. The festival is from March 5- May 18, 2014. With the recent addition of food booths last year there has been a renewed interest in the festival. I was particularly excited to see the character topiaries as they seemed to be done even more impressively than in past years. Plus I am a huge fan of Dole Whips and I had try the one with rum on top. In addition to the outdoor kitchens, topiaries, butterfly house, concerts and gorgeous flowers there are also play areas.

This year there were three themed playscapes; Monster’s University, Mater Parts Plants & Play, and Backyard Play Garden. My party had four children under the age of seven so we checked out all of the play places. The most popular and largest of the play areas was the Monsters University one. It was also on the path from Future World into World Showcase via way of Canada and was partially covered. The first play area we visited was the Mater’s Parts, Plants & Play, located near Test Track and it is also where we got our Garden Passports. These passports you could get stamped at the various outdoor kitchens (food booths) and the play areas.   We also visited the Backyard Play Garden which is located in World Showcase between Morocco and France.
We also skipped a full lunch so that we could try some snacks from the outdoor kitchens. First we stopped that the Florida Fresh booth to try the watermelon passion fruit slush, it was a clear winner with my four year old. Next I tried the pulled pig slider with coleslaw from the Smokehouse, again it was delicious, if a bit messy.

As we continued on exploring the World Showcase and playing Agent P’s World Showcase adventure and checking out topiaries, we really enjoyed taking our time and soaking it all in. Our final stop for the outdoor kitchens was the Pineapple Promenade, for a regular dole whip for my daughter and a dole whip with rum for me and my sister to share. If you haven’t been to the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot it comes highly recommended by me. I found this day to be relaxing and fun and full of trying new things. If you are going before May 18^th, check it out or consider a trip next year around spring break!