Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival – 2017 Coverage and Reviews

by John Commentary, Epcot, Events, Featured

From March 1 to May 29 this year, Epcot is hosting my favorite festival: the Flower & Garden Festival. Below is a collection of some my favorite coverage of this year’s event. Elyssa and I plan to be done there in April to see some of this stuff first hand, but–for now–we’ll point you to some other sources to show you what is going on.

Outdoor Kitchens

Over the years, Flower & Garden has expanded its “Outdoor Kitchens” (i.e., Flower & Garden’s answer to Food & Wine’s country kiosks.) You can tell Disney is really serious about these kitchens, since it released a special, scratch-and-sniff, wrist band gift card for people to use at them.

As with Food & Wine, the best coverage of the individual items available at these these Kitchens comes from Josh over at easyWDW. Here are the link to his various reviews: (the NEW indicator means a new Kitchen this year, not a new review from Josh)

If you’re more concerned about just the new items for this year’s Festival, than TouringPlans has a post covering just those and Tom from WDW News Today has his list of the top 7 new dishes.

For more food coverage, Tessa Koten at TouringPlans has a list of her favorite items (which she labels as “family friendly”, though I don’t understand what about those items makes them such), and Robert Niles, over at Theme Park Insider has a brief write-up of some of the items he sampled.

Topiaries

Even though there is a growing emphasis on the Outdoor Kitchens, the original draw of the Flower & Garden Festival (and what really makes it special for me) is the wide array of topiaries that Disney puts out . As you would imagine, there is a lot of photography.

Cory Disbrow has some coverage in his signature style at the end of this post and

WDW Magic has a whole photo gallery.

Josh over at easyWDW has a walk around Future World as well a detailed look at the Festival Center (which is only open from 10am to 5pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). The only “issue” with Josh’s review is that it might be comprehensive enough for you to just skip the Festival Center all together.

Other Media

If you’re someone who prefers to listen to your Flower & Garden coverage, then Lou has got you covered over at WDW Radio. On the other hand, if you’re someone who wants to watch some video coverage, then check out these videos from the DIS covering overall highlights:

and the more general “exploring” of the Festival:

The Disney Food Blog also has a video covering (you guessed it) the food:

Finishing Up

If, after all that, you still need coverage of the Flower & Garden Festival, then Tom Bricker has an overview post with some more photography over at Disney Tourist Blog, as does JeniLynn Knopp over at Inside the Magic. Finally, Denise at Mouse Steps has a list of 13 tips to help you enjoy your time there and a review of one of the new “Tea Tours” that’s available in the England pavilion.

That’s it for coverage this year! Enjoy the festival!

Still my Role Model (even if he's not there) — Still my Role Model (even if he’s not there)

Last One to Leave, Turn Off the (Osborne) Lights

by John Events, Holidays, The Studios

The End of the Osborne Lights

On Wednesday night, the Osborne Lights faded to black for the last time. Thankfully, a lot of our favorite Disney blogs were there to cover the event (and give people like me–who couldn’t be there in person–a chance to see what the Lights were like in their final moments):

Mouse Steps had an excellent photo post, including a video of the show’s final moments:

WDW Magic had a photo post and an epic 10 angle video of “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” and the last moments of the show before it went dark:

WDW News Today had a nice written recap and video of the final moments:

TouringPlans had a recap of the last night and a video of their own:

And with that, we say goodbye to the Osborne Lights. As I’ve said before, I’m sad they’re going away, and I hope they come back (in some form) some day.

News Nuggets from Around Walt Disney World

by John Events, Holidays, Magic Kingdom, The Studios

I also like my corn dog nuggets with a side of beignets. — I sometimes prefer my corn dog nuggets with a side of beignets.

Since there has been a lot of news coming out of Disney World recently, it seemed like the appropriate time to debut Rope Drop [dot] Net’s “News Nuggets” feature (inspired by one of Elyssa’s favorite Disney Food items: the corn dog nuggets from Casey’s Corner). As you would expect, these are small, bite-sized “nuggets” of news that you may find ~~delicious~~ useful.

Before we get to the actual nuggets, I do want to point out that Josh at easyWDW has started posting his 2015 Epcot Food & Wine Festival “booth by booth” reviews of all of this year’s food and drink options. (As I’ve mentioned before, I always start my Food & Wine Festival planning with Josh’s reviews. They are top notch.) You can already find Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 on his site, and I would imagine the rest of the booths will be up shortly.

Now, with that out of the way, it’s time for the nuggets:

Flying Fish Cafe to be closed for lengthy “reimagining” starting on January 31, 2016,. Though Elyssa and I have never eaten there, we do have reservations for a trip in November. We kind of want to see what this place looks like before they change it up.
There will be an early “sneak peak” of the Osborne Lights from November 1–5. If the lights are already up (and close to functioning?) it seems to make sense to extend their last “performance” as much as possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if the lights stay up a little later in January, either. (If you want an even earlier preview of this year’s lights, you can check out this post from Denise at Mouse Steps.)
New BBQ Menu at Tortuga Tavern. Coming from North Carolina, I doubt I’m going to get my BBQ at Disney World. That said, when is Tortuga Tavern even open?
Duffy’s (Girl?)Friend, ShellieMae, is Coming to Disney World. This is something that Elyssa has been waiting for since ShellieMae was announced in 2010. I have a feeling that you’re going to see ShellieMae and Fenway in some of those “couples” costumes on Elyssa’s Instagram before too long.
Mulch, Sweat and Shears had their last Disney World performance this past weekend. I never was a huge “Mulch” fan, but, based on the outcry online, it seems like they will be missed.
New “special event venue” at The Studios to host “Club Disney”, starting on December 4. Eventually, the Sunset Showcase (Theater) will be home to things like the Frozen Sing-a-long (if it comes back next year.) For now, though, it’s going to host Club Disney, “[y]ou can join Mickey and the gang and take to the dance floor in this electric club environment, where a DJ Club Host spins the perfect playlist mix of your favorite Radio Disney Top 40 songs.” Though my initial reaction is that Elyssa and I won’t get a lot of use out of this, I would imagine that we’d at least check it out. (Though I can’t imagine it’ll top the \#INCREDIBLESSuperDanceParty. I mean, the Incredibles party has “hashtag” as part of the name.)

That’s all the news for now. If you want more to read about Disney World, I suggest taking a look at the interview we posted yesterday with Casey Liss. It has gotten some really good responses so far, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

Early Reviews of Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar

by John Dining, Disney Springs

As you may have heard on Twitter yesterday, Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar is now open at Downtown Disney (or “Disney Springs” if you’re reading this after September 29, 2015.) As is usually the case when a new place to grab food or drink opens, there have been a ton of new reviews posted.

The most thorough review of the bar, so far, comes courtesy of Dani (last name withheld) at TouringPlans. Her review features a good mix of photos, a description of the arrival experience (texting people that they can return is so much nicer than a pager-based system), and a nice rundown of the food and drinks she tried:

The calamari flatbread [$14.99] is a perfect choice for calamari fans. The harissa spread gives a nice Mediterranean flavor. This is a great option to share. The Air Pirate’s Pretzels ($8.99) were also a surprise hit. The caraway seeds add depth to the flavor, the beer cheese is way-too-good , though the mustard may be too strong for some palates.

(For people liked me who have no idea what “harissa” is, it’s “a Tunisian hot chili pepper paste the main ingredients of which are roasted red peppers, serrano peppers and other hot chili peppers and spices and herbs”.)

Josh from easyWDW also had an excellent write-up on the bar, that was full of his usual snark:

Lisa ordered the $10.25 Reggie’s Revenge: Florida Cane ‘Orlando Orange’ Vodka, Midori Melon Liqueur, White Cranberry Juice, and fresh Lime Juice. Ordinarily, you want to avoid just about anything originating in Florida, perhaps with the exception of this week’s episode of Cops, but Florida Cane does a good job with their vodkas. (emphasis added)

As you would expect from an easyWDW review, the article is full of good pictures (including some artsy titled ones) and good, practical advice about what you might want to actually order. (I admit I was pleased that he also seemed to enjoy the calamari flatbread, since I have been intrigued by that option since the menu was first posted. Also, his running joke about the name of the bar is fantastic.)

If you’re looking for more photos from the bar, then Denise at MouseSteps has a post with about a 100 of them. WDW Magic has also nice, concise, review, if you still want more coverage.