My son, Andrew, and I visited the Flower & Garden Festival on its opening day, Wednesday, March 4th. We entered Epcot through the International Gateway entrance at about 11:30. The entire World Showcase had opened at 11:00 so after picking up a festival map we headed to the right towards France.
The first thing we encountered from the map was #60, the France Outdoor Kitchen booth, Fleur de Lys. Here is its posted menu…
We chose two items from here even though all 4 sounded really good…
The first of these was the…
Tarte aux Oignons Caramelises et Chevre (Goat Cheese Tart with Caramelized Onions on a flaky Pastry Crust) – $5.50 ( Rating – 4)
Our Rating Scale: 1 – Practically Inedible (one bite and it goes into the garbage), 2 – Not Very Good (requires a couple of bites in order to determine that you don’t like it), 3 – Okay (worth trying but probably not something I would get again), 4 – Good (enjoyed it and probably would get it again), 5 – Very Good (loved it and would definitely get it again).
Probably because of the onion, this reminded me of the flatbread (with onion, bacon, and creme fraiche) that has been on the Chefs de France (one of the full-service restaurants in Epcot’s France pavilion) menu for years. If they added bacon to this tart it might have reached a level 5 rating for us, but then it would no longer be a meatless option for those looking for meatless options at the festival. Therefore leaving off the bacon gives this dish a more broader appeal. Regarding the abundance of onion in this tart, my son normally doesn’t like/eat onion (and usually picks the onion out of anything that he finds it in) but he ate this tart as is, without any complaints.
For our second choice from the France booth, I was planning to get the Brioche Cake when I got in line to place our order. But then I saw someone walk by me with this beauty…
Eclair Chocolat Framboise (Eclair filled with Raspberry and Chocolate Mousse) – $6.50 (Rating – 5)
Though this was more than twice the price of the dessert tart that I originally planned to get here, it was worth the extra money. We both loved it and it was one of our favorites of the 11 foods we tried from the festival booths. Initially my son frowned when he saw that I had purchased this, as he thought it would be too sweet and heavy to start out our day of eating around the World Showcase booths. However, it turned out to be neither too sweet or too heavy. The combination of the chocolate and raspberry flavors of the mousse was wonderful. I was happy that it wasn’t dark chocolate, as I’m not generally a fan of dark chocolate desserts. Oh, and the sugar-coated fresh raspberries on top were very tasty so be sure not to leave any of them behind.
After finishing our eating in France we looked around and soon found the Topiaries that are located in that area. The first was listed as #19 on the map, Beauty and the Beast…
Also represented in France this year was Remy (#20 on the map), which was probably to promote the Summer 2020 opening of the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride there in Epcot’s France pavilion area.
Next up was another food booth (located between the France and Morocco pavilions), Florida Fresh (#59 on the map). Sadly though it was not open for business. I have seen reviews of the food from this booth from the last couple of days though, so it seems that whatever the problem was on the first day of the festival has been fixed. Anyway, I did take a photo of its menu…
Just past the Morocco pavilion area on the right hand side was the Moroccan festival booth, Taste of Marrakesh (#58 on the map). Here is their menu…
I saw someone walking by with the Fried Cauliflower and it looked very good. Had I been by myself, that’s probably what I would have gotten. However, Andrew doesn’t like cauliflower so we instead got this…
Harissa Chicken Kebab with Dried Fruit Couscous Salad and Cilantro Oil – $8.00 (Rating – 4)
This tasted very much like the Chicken Kebabs dish that I had had at Restaurant Marrakesh (one of the full service restaurants in Epcot’s Morocco pavilion) on my last trip. One difference though is that the restaurant’s version consisted of only chicken breast meat (which is my preference for chicken), while the booth’s chicken seemed like all dark meat (which my son generally prefers). Another difference is the dried fruit couscous side was served cold as a salad at the booth. However, it tasted pretty much the same as the dried fruit couscous served as one of the sides with the Chicken Kebabs inside at the restaurant, only this was cold and I believe it was served warm at the restaurant. Also, because harissa is a North African hot chili pepper paste, I was expecting this to be spicy. However, though it had just a bit of a “kick” to it, neither of us thought it was overly spicy. Also I didn’t taste or see the cilantro oil that was listed in the menu description for this dish. Not a big deal though for me, as the chicken was flavorful enough without it. My one complaint (and the reason it only received a 4) was that at $8 I felt this dish was overpriced. Last year I see that this dish was a little more reasonably priced at $7, and in my opinion was not good enough to warrant the $1 price increase. At $8 this was the most expensive of the 11 food items we tried and is one of the most expensive food items at this year’s festival, with only a few things (like the Italy booth’s $9 ravioli and The Citrus Blossom booth’s $8.25 Lobster Tail) costing more. However, if you are on the Disney Dining plan (which we weren’t this time), all of these would be an excellent use of your snack credits in terms of value.
Next we proceeded to the Japan booth, Hanami (#57 on the map), which was located opposite (on the water side) from the Morocco booth. Here is a photo of its menu…
I knew Andrew wouldn’t eat the salmon so I let him choose between the other two dishes. He chose the…
Menchi Katsu Slider (Japanese-style Panko-breaded Beef Patty topped with Tonkatsu Sauce, Mayonnaise, and Pickled Lotus Root – $6.00 (Rating – 4)
The breaded beef patty underneath the bun and sauces didn’t look all that appetizing but ended up being quite tasty, mostly because of the tonkatsu sauce. The slider was a good combination of crunchy (ground) beef patty and soft, slightly sweet bun (similar to a Hawaiian roll). The pretty pink flower-like thing on top was the pickled lotus root. It didn’t have much flavor but it added a touch of color and prettiness to this dish.
While I stood in a short line at the Japan booth to order our slider, my son took a photo of the Dragon Topiary located next to the booth (#18 on the map)…
Moving on to the American pavilion, we skipped the Funnel Cake kiosk (#56 on the map) which is there year-round. For the festival though, in addition to their regular-size funnel cakes they are serving a Mini Funnel Cake topped with Lemon Cheesecake Ice Cream, Blueberries, and Powdered Sugar.
So our next stop was just behind the Funnel Cake kiosk, at the Magnolia Terrace booth. This new booth replaced the festival’s Smokehouse booth that was a big hit for many years. So I was expecting great things from its replacement, which you can see from their menu, serves Southern-style food…
Andrew doesn’t like nuts so both the Pecan Praline and Cake were out if I wanted him to share. He is also not a fan of seafood so the only option for us here was the…
House-made Boudin Two Ways topped with Spicy Mustard – $5.50 (Rating – 2)
Boudin (which I learned is pronounced BOO-DAN, not BOO-DEN) is a Cajun sausage dish that is traditionally made with ground pork, rice, onion, green peppers, and Cajun spices and seasonings. The two ways it is served here is in the form of a crispy fried sausage and rice ball and then two slices of sausage links (traditionally prepared with green peppers, Cajun spices, etc.). Sadly neither of us cared for either of these. The boudin ball was kind of dry and flavorless, while the sliced boudin was too spicy for us. This ended up being our least favorite of the 11 food items we tried at this year’s festival.
A great tip here though is that you can usually find a spot at one of the long picnic-style tables in the American pavilion area to enjoy your food and beverages. Not only can you sit down here but the area is also covered so you don’t have the hot Florida sun beating down on you…it was about 90 degrees on this day, March 4th.
We then skipped the next two places on the map (#54 Block & Hans and #53 Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Co.), both of which are permanent kiosks. For the festival, Block & Hans is serving two versions of Arendelle Aqua Frozen Lemonade, one with alcohol (moonshine) for $13.00 and one without for $5.75. These are in addition to its usual offerings of Mickey-shaped Pretzels (which are really good) and alcoholic beverages (mostly craft beers and ciders). As for the Joffrey’s kiosk located by the American pavilion, they are serving a cocktail called Tropical Breeze during the festival, in addition to their usual offerings…
Here is the list from the Festival booklet which shows the specialty frozen cocktail that is being served during the festival at each of the 4 Joffrey’s locations at Epcot…
Though no prices are listed, I’ve read that each of these cocktails cost $11.99.
Our next stop though was to take a photo of the Lady and the Tramp topiary in Italy (#17 on the map)…
Then it was on to more food, this time from Italy’s Primavera Kitchen (#52 on the map), which has this menu…
I had wanted to get the Ravioli but when I saw that the price was $9.00 (I believe the most expensive food item at this year’s festival) I quickly changed my mind. So for $2.00 less we got the…
La Regina “Margherita” (Rustic Italian Flatbread, Vine-ripened Tomatoes, Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, and Basil – $7.00 (Rating 4)
Having it served in two small slices made it convenient to share between two people. This was pretty good (somewhere between okay and good) but we gave it a rating of 4 so as not to complicate our rating system with 1/2 stars. We both really liked the crispy, thin crust. The toppings were fine. $7 for this small portion-size of meatless pizza was a bit steep though.
Also FYI, the Italy booth would not accept Magic Bands for payment. They said it was because they were not Disney owned. I had no other form of payment on me but luckily my son had his credit card in the holder attached to his phone so he got to buy the $7.00 pizza. haha!
Next it was on to Germany to see and photograph their Snow White & Dopey topiaries (# 16 on the map)…
Then we got our last two food items of Round 1 at the food booths from Germany’s Bauernmarkt: Farmer’s Market (# 51 on the map). Here is their menu…
The couple in front of me in line to order here were given a Festival booklet by the cashier and I overheard her telling them something about “after purchasing 4 additional items at other booths besides the potato pancakes they were ordering here (and getting a sticker applied to their booklet) they would get a free item”. I was peeved because at this point I had already purchased 6 items and had not been told anything about this. When it was my turn I placed my order for two items (neither of which were the potato pancakes) from the same cashier and she didn’t mention anything about the possibility of receiving a free item…so I was even more peeved. I grabbed a booklet though and while waiting for them to fill my order I quickly glanced through it and found this…
I hadn’t gotten any of the 5 items listed so was not eligible for the complimentary item and therefore was no longer peeved. But in case you are interested in these items, I read that the current prize (subject to change) for completing the Garden Graze Scavenger Hunt is a Lime Dole Whip served in a commemorative Flower & Garden Festival Glass from the Pineapple Promenade booth…
Ok, back to the Germany booth and the two items we chose there…
The first of these was something I thought Andrew would really like…
Toasted Pretzel Bread topped with Black Forest Ham and Melted Gruyere Cheese – $5.50 (Rating – 3)
The pretzel bread and gruyere cheese provided plenty of salt but the slice of ham put this over the top of my Salty Chart. My son agreed that this was way too salty. Such a pity, since in concept this combination sounded so good.
My other choice from the Germany booth was definitely better…
Warm Cheese Strudel with Mixed Berries – $6.50 (Rating – 5)
This was really good. Equally as good as the eclair from the France booth but for $2.00 less. The warm strudel was a perfect combination of fruit, sweet cream cheese filling, and flaky crust. This was probably my favorite of the 11 festival foods we tried.
As we were eating our pretzel and strudel at about 1:30 we were notified that our Boarding Group #85 for the Star Wars Rise of the Resistance ride at DHS was now able to board so we knew we had at least 1 hour (maybe more) to get back over to DHS to ride it. {More on this later in this trip report} So we ended Round 1 at Germany with the plan of returning to Epcot that evening for Round 2.
On our way around the rest of World Showcase to exit from the park through the International Gateway I stopped to photograph the topiaries that I saw plus some of the Booth menus. I looked for but didn’t see the Simba & Friends topiary (#15 on the map) that was supposed to be in the same area as the Refreshment Outpost (#50 on the map). I did though find the Pandas topiary (#14 on the map) in China…
I missed both of the Norway topiaries, the Troll (#13 on the map) and Anna & Elsa (#12). So the next topiary I saw was in Mexico, The Three Caballeros (#11 on the map)…
I then shifted from the topiaries to taking photos of the booth menus, starting with the one for the Trowel & Trellis booth (hosted by Impossible) located in Showcase Plaza (#42 on the map)…
Then La Isla Fresca (#41 on the map), which was another booth that was not open on the first day of the festival…
I noticed that the Pineapple Promenade (#46 on the map) is serving Dole Whips with Coconut Rum, something I had tried for the first time and loved on my last trip. During the Food & Wine Festival it was served next door at the Refreshment Port. I had hoped to get this again when we returned to Epcot that evening but didn’t make it to the Pineapple Promenade until a few minutes past 9:00 so it was closed (all the booths close down promptly at park closing, 9:00).
The Citrus Blossom booth (#44 on the map) was the next that I passed…
And then in the Canada pavilion area is the Northern Bloom booth (#62 on the map) with this menu…
Then in the last area (United Kingdom) before reaching the International Gateway there were no festival food booths but they do have 3 groups of topiaries. I stopped to photograph the Miss Piggy topiary…
And the Kermit the Frog one (#24 on the map)…
And also the Winnie the Pooh & Friends topiaries (#23 on the map)…
When we returned to Epcot that night at around 8:15 I attempted to take some more topiary photos but it was dark and they were not lighted very well.
I went ahead though and took a photo of the topiary at the front entrance to the park (#1 on the map)…
Then as we made our way through the walkway on the left side we walked behind the new Mouse Gear store. There was a sign posted there for the complimentary magnets for the Annual Passholders who visited the festival. I could see that there wasn’t really a line so it only took a minute to enter the store, have my annual pass scanned by a Castmember and show my photo ID. I was then given this magnet…
This Donald Duck with Spike the Bee Magnet is available to Annual Passholders from March 4 through April 19, 2020 or while supplies last. Then an Orange Bird Magnet is available for the remainder of the festival (or while supplies last).
Then on our way to Mexico we took an air conditioned shortcut through the Odyssey building (where the Epcot Experience is shown, #66 on the map) and noticed there were tables and chairs set up in part of the building. We decided that that would be a good place to bring our food in order to photograph it in the light rather than outside in the dark. With only about 1/2 hour before park closing and wanting to cover at least two more booths we decided to split up and meet back at the Odyssey building with our chosen items.
Andrew went to the nearby Mexico booth, Jardin de Fiestas, (#48 on the map) but I forgot to tell him to take a photo of their menu. Here is a photo of it from the Disney Food Blog…
He got two things from the booth…
The beverage is their Mango Mexican Lucky Margarita: Spicy Ancho Verde Liqueur, 100% Agave Tequila Blanco, Mango-Passion Fruit Puree, Lime Juice, and Applejack and Ginger Cordial served with a Tajin Chili-Lime Salt Rim – $11.75 (Rating – 4)
I really liked this and would give it a 5 but Andrew thought it was a bit too spicy and gave it only 3 so our average rating for this margarita is a 4.
Then the food item that he chose from the Mexico booth was the…
Quesadilla al Pastor: Flour Tortilla filled with Monterey Jack Cheese and Pork Pastor topped with Grilled Pineapple, Salsa Verde, Red Onion, and Cilantro – $7.50 (Rating – 4)
This was good but not quite as flavorful as we had expected.
When Andrew went to the Mexico booth I ventured further around the left side of World Showcase to the China booth, Lotus House (#49 on the map). Here is their menu…
At 8:30 they only had one cash register open and the line was pretty long (probably the longest food booth line of the day). With the booths closing at 9:00 I figured this would be the last one that I would have time to visit so I decided to get two items here…
The first of these was the…
Bon Bon Chicken Skewer with Sesame and Peanut Sauce – $6.50 (Rating – 5)
I really enjoyed this, especially the peanut sauce. It was even better than the chicken skewer served at the Morocco booth and is $1.50 less. This was another of my favorites.
We were also happy with the other China dish that I chose…
House-made Crab and Cream Cheese Wontons – $6.00 (Rating – 4)
These were good but for $2.00 each they could have had a little more crab in the filling.
And that concluded our visit to the food booths on the first day (and evening) of the Flower & Garden Festival. It started well in France and ended well with items from Mexico and China.
As we were walking out of the park (exiting through the International Gateway again) during the Epcot Forever nighttime show, we saw that all of the booths were closed. But I did stop to take a few more topiary photos, like this one in Showcase Plaza of Donald & Daisy Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie (Donald’s nephews) in the background (#10 on the map)…
And the last one taken that evening was of Peter Pan and Captain Hook, which were located on the water side of the United Kingdom area (#21 on the map).
In the background we could see the fireworks from the Epcot Forever show…
I also wanted to include a few topiary photos that I took the day before the official start of the Flower & Garden Festival. The first of these was of the Ostriches from Fantasia (#6 on the map)…
We saw these (and Sorcerer Mickey) in Future World West (#6 on the map) when we were on our way to The Land Pavilion to ride Soarin’. I thought I would get back there again either that day or the next to take a picture of Sorcerer Mickey but I never did.
And last but not least is my favorite group of topiaries, which are also located in Future World West but closer to The Land (#7 on the map). Here there are 3 beautiful Butterflies…
So overall I was very impressed with the Flower & Garden Festival, which I hadn’t attended since 2014. Though there are fewer booths than at the Food & Wine Festival held each year in the fall, I believe the quality of the F & G offerings are as good as and maybe even a little better than those I’ve had at the F & W festival. While I still plan to attend the Food & Wine Festival this year, in the future years I might consider alternating between the two festivals or taking two shorter trips and attending both festivals.
Taste of Disney 