Originally Posted By TDLFAN Hi folks... went to EPCOT and strolled around looking at this year's Flower fest efforts. This is of course one of the best times to visit EPCOT as the displays can be quite beautiful and the parks just explodes in color and extra magic. Of course.. after all these years, the local guest in me just goes there out of curiosity, to see how the same old topiaries have been re-arranged, but regardless... there is always something that impresses me enough to concider the efforts by horticulture a huge success. Of course, maybe we should not give WDW's horticulture all the credit, as many corporations are here as well as sponsors and I would assume, they also send personnel to re-dress EPCOT into a blooming wonderland. The effort and amount of work do not go unnoticed by me. It's always a great job in the end. This year..we have the (killed to the core) Pirate theme throughout, beginning with an impressive scene out of Peter Pan. Of course, doesn't hurt that film's DVD was released several weeks ago...so let's sell! sell! sell! that concept, shall we? Ooops! Coincidentally, Peter fights Pirates, so d'uh! let's sell! sell! sell! that theme as well since ubber management at Disney think Pirates are cool and here to stay for eternity! ..Plus we have a new POTC movie coming up as well... Hmm... Pirate loves wenches, don't they.. and what better representation of wenches than those beautiful Disney Princesses... so let's sell! sell! sell! that concept so the little girls in every family visiting EPCOT feels like she had the time of her life as well. ...and so goes the Flower Festival this year. I guess the point I am trying to make is... I would love for Disney to go about face and actually presented (or rewarded) us with a Flower Fest experience that is not meant to be a subtle selling point for every other freaking product the company is trying to push on us from it's other divisions! Enough of that Disney, PLEASE!!!! Furthermore... let's keep this festival "in the house", meaning... drop the many companies that are here paying the bill with the sole intention of selling!! selling!! selling!! their products to Disney guests, on Disney territory. I don't recall attraction sponsorships being as "in your face" as these festival sponsors are!!! Really!! Also... a sore point for me: The entrance music loop. The soundtrack from Peter Pan and POTC is wonderful, but with when you intermix it with Depp's movie soundtrack and play it in front of Spaceship Earth... it just sounds jarring to the core! Someone needs to pull the plug on this loop and return the normal one. Now.. While the efforts in gardening are impressive indeed, for those of us locals...the fun is in recognizing the stuff from years ago. Example, the Mickey and gang pirate topiaries at World Showcase entrance were the same ones they used during the "100 yrs of Magic" festival in 2001, only redressed as pirates.. and so on, so on... I did find this year to be a bit repetitive and lacking.. Repetitive, because we have seen the same the same Cinderella and butterfly garden and Tink playground before in the same spots if I recall.. Lacking because, in previous years, there have been new and more varied displays around World Showcase pavillions, and this year, I hardly noticed much happening there. One exception... CHINA. This year China is featuring the entire Chinese Zodiac in a most interesting way. The zodiac animals are done with such items such as beans, corn leaves and other materials. The end result was stunning and highly entertaining. So STOP and check it out if you go. Mexico features a Three Caballeros topiary which I didn't get to see in the daytime. too bad. In fact, I noticed this year, the flower displays are poorly lit at night. Even with an open lense and flash, I could not capture much of them on digital film. Therefore most dark photos came out dark! All in all... the Flower Festival is worth visiting and fun. But I suggest you go in the first few weeks of it as these displays tent to loose a lot of color and texture after the first couple of weeks... Below is a link to my photos.. and as an added bonus, I am also showing you the final results of the newly refurbished Lotus Blossom Cafe in the China Pavillion. I think you will like the results, even though they dropped the ball with the style of chairs and tables they put in there. Enjoy the photos... <a href="http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4334673&a=32506142&f" target="_blank">http://albums.photo.epson.com/ j/AlbumIndex?u=4334673&a=32506142&f</a>
Originally Posted By Tiggirl Thanks TDLFAN! I can't wait to see these for myself in a few weeks. I was so excited to learn our trip happened during the festival. ~Beth
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Good for you Beth! And maybe, the sleeping tourist will still be there snoring his head off..
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 They can add the Rufus the snoring bear sound effects in a speaker near him!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Shameless plug.. reminder I have posted albumm in all Disney parks section (except DLR)..if the event you are interested to know what's currently happening in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo parks... Go there or be square.
Originally Posted By AuroraRose thanks for the photos, i love the f & G festival, it reminds me of the days when disney had topiarys everywhere--all the time, and not just for a month or so out of the year. ~michelle
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I miss those days too. One of the magical experiences for me was to see the topiaries along the monorail route before going thru the Contemporary. It was a special hint of wonders to come. And, what has becomes of that area now? A weedpatch! ...since the aborted the construction of the Mediterranean Hotel after clearing the land for it.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 What Med Hotel? What ever happened to the India hotel that was suppose to be where GF is now?
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>What Med Hotel?<< the one planned for WDW since like.. 1968? The one that was supposed to be on the monorail bean by Seven Seas Lagoon between TTC and Contemporary? Not sure there was supposed to be an "indian" hotel, but I know the Asian Hotel was supposed to go where the overpriced Grand FL now is.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Asian? Hadn't heard that, we were told by people at the Poly, that it would be India, I figured looking at the Taj Mahal would be great. The GF is beautiful, but not worldly or as striking as an India or Asian would be.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN You got me all confused now.. I would have to dig in my mother's closet for those souvenir and books we bought at WDW in 1972 and find out.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Persian. Asian. Venetian. Those were other three originals put off for Phase II.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Thanks for escorting us on another wonderful tour, TDLFAN! I'm glad to get the overview of the Flower Fest. FWIW, I don't think it's my "thing." (Though I am very into horticulture.) Topiary just doesn't get it for me. I've over the novelty that a shrub can be hacked into a shape, or that vines will grow around a wire form. And there's something unsettling about seeing Mickey and Minnie with green faces. Makes me want to reach for the remote. I did like the Bambi scene, though. For the life of me, I can't think why Disney management would value the opinion of tourists more than fanatics. Unless maybe it's that tourists outnumber fanatics by about 750,000 to 1. Paul Revere and The Raiders! Wow! I saw them at Six Flags Over Something 30 years ago! I wonder if they've been doing the theme park circuit continuously since then. What's an electronic menu? Thank you again, TDLFAN. You're very generous with us.
Originally Posted By MPierce Thanks for the great pictures TDLFAN. I agree the table, and chairs do not fit in with a Chinese theme.
Originally Posted By dsmgms Thanks for the update. We're planning on going in two weeks and look forward to seeing the sites again this year. I also agree about the entrance music missing. We've been there for other events in the past and definitely felt like it fit wasn't there with the regular loop. Does anyone know who the music was performed by or if it's available anywhere?
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> Asian? Hadn't heard that, we were told by people at the Poly, that it would be India, I figured looking at the Taj Mahal would be great. << >> Persian. Asian. Venetian. Those were other three originals put off for Phase II. << As stated, the Asian would have been where the GF is now. The Mediterranean would have been between the Contemp and the TTC as TDLFAN says. That's been overplanted with trees and grass for now. The Persian would have been where the Pluto Parking lot is now. Directly to the north and east of Space Mountain, and actually on the shore of Discovery Lake, instead of the Seven Seas Lagoon like the others. On top of that, the monorail would have left the Contemporary to the north, and instead of turning to the west in front of MK like it does now, it would have first gone north to the Persian. From there it would have looped back to the west THROUGH Tomorrowland, to exit towards the front of MK. Alas, the Persian and this monorail loop never happened. I'm assuming the Persian is the "Indian" theme resort you are thinking of. Complete with minarette architecture.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Thanks, guess that's it, would have been cool to drive up to the Taj though.
