Epcot Flower and Garden Festival Activities – Cars 2 Race Around World Showcase, Tea Garden Tour
Last month I shared nearly 500 photos from the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival that encompassed both Future World and World Showcase. Since then, we’ve been exploring some of the activities that the Festival has to offer, here are just a few!
Each of these events is free with paid admission to Epcot during the Festival!
This past weekend, a friend pointed us in the direction to pick up booklets for the Cars 2 Race around World Showcase. Actually, you can pick up the booklets in any of the countries included, but it was easier to get ours from the cast member at this location near the Cars 2 topiary at the front of World Showcase. Once you have your booklet, you pick up stamps at the following locations: United Kingdom, France, Italy, United States, Japan – and the first location in the photo will give a Brazil stamp. The booklet also has some nice puzzles and word finds. It’s a great souvenir! We also just put up a video of the Cars 2 Lightning McQueen topiary.
* One friend of mine was told that this activity was just for kids, but we did it with no problem – as did many of our adult friends.
This week we also took the English Tea Garden Tour at the United Kingdom pavilion – I’ve been wanting to do this for years, but the timing to get tickets never seemed to work out. I was able to get our tickets just an hour before the 4pm tour – it was wonderful! We learned a lot about tea (including that the Camellia sinensis plant is the base for all teas), and we even received a two tea bag samples at the end of the tour. Hold on to your tickets – you will trade them at the end of the tour for the samples.
We had an hour to walk around, here is a kids activity for Go Go Squeez. I first knew it as Pom Potes in France, where the brand (Materne) is from.
William and Kate royal merchandise at the United Kingdom Pavilion:
The tea tour was about a half hour long – we learned about the various types of teas, I didn’t know until now that herbal tea included no tea leaves (and is decaffeinated). We were told that the Tea Caddy is the largest purveyor of Twining’s Tea in North America – but they gave us a 20% off coupon for the Twinings USA site, which is much less expensive. We already cold brew our regular tea, but it will be nice to try this one that is created for that purpose.
Flower Power concerts are one of my favorite parts of the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival! This past weekend we went to two shows featuring Starship with Mickey Thomas. This is the only group that currently plays both the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival and the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, and we always make time to see them. Not only is the band terrific (Mickey Thomas sounds the same as he always has), but they mix up the sets each time.
The last activity I’ll mention is one we’ve participated in often – the hands-on Seminars from Gardening Experts at the Festival Center. There is always something to take home, we left with the start of a pineapple plant (in a planter) this time. I am just not sure that I will have enough of a green thumb to give the plant the 2 years it needs to create a pineapple! It really is a lot of fun, it’s not as often for adults that we get to do fun projects (like we did in grade school!)
This time we received some Werthers candy too:
This year, the seminars are held every day at 11am and 2pm. We get there an hour early to ensure a spot (at least so far it’s always been enough time!) 30 guests can be accomodated at each seminar on weekdays, and 74 on weekends. HGVT has built a new set for the hosts – some guests like it better, some don’t (it’s harder to talk with friends in the new setup), but it looks nice and professional and it’s easier to see the host.
Last week, we learned about edible plants. We were given the pot and the pineapple plant as our project. In past seminars, we’ve taken home a wide variety of items – including herbs, pots we painted, and acrylic coasters we added dried flowers to. And it really is a fun event to do with friends, we had a group of 10 or 12 this past week! Oh – and everyone who participates gets an Epcot Flower and Garden Festival reusable bag!
These are just a few things you can do while enjoying the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival! This years Festival runs between March 2nd and May 15th.