Springtime is in the air and it’s time for one of my absolute favorite festivals at Epcot, the Flower and Garden Festival for 2022! Featuring an abundance of character topiaries with bright luscious flowers everywhere, this festival highlights the essence of springtime full force. Let’s take a look into my first experiences for the festival this year, shall we?
I get off work Friday morning at 6 AM and meet the family at home already dressed and ready to load up the car. I grab a quick shower and make a cup of coffee and next thing you know we are Orlando bound! We make killer time getting to the resort in less than 3 1/2 hours and that’s including our mandatory Buccee’s pit stop in Daytona. Any guy with common sense who just worked all night would grab a nap on the way down, but this guy was singing Disney songs with the kids and anticipating a weekend of fun, sleep was not high priority!!
We get checked in at Pop Century and load all our stuff into the room. I snagged us a room in the 50’s area at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, giving us ease of access to Epcot for festival time!! We were a few hours ahead of the in-laws, so we opted to head to the pool and soak in some relaxing resort time. The kids head to the pool with no oblige and I easily find myself a cold beer and an empty chair near an umbrella. After an hour or two, we head to the room and get showered up for our night at Disney Springs!
We hop on a bus to head to “The Springs” and slide into the Lego Store to let the kids spend their hard-earned money. After leaving with bags as big as they are we continue on and make a visit by the pin trading hut for some new pins and a hand washing stop turned into a shopping spree at Basin.
It was now time for dinner at Trail’s End at Fort Wilderness, so we hop another bus leaving Disney Springs to get us there. This was my first experience for dinner at Trail’s End, so I was very excited! Starting with salad and bread service like always, we quickly work through that and before you know it the meats arrive to the table. Roasted chicken, pulled pork, and brisket make the lineup for meats and are accompanied by grilled corn on the cob, fresh green beans, and roasted fingerling potatoes. If that isn’t enough to satisfy you, they really put a nail in the coffin with a trio of mason jar parfaits including banana pudding, candied apple cheesecake, and chocolate madness!! Trust me I was useless after dessert. A solid offering and it’s all you care to enjoy!! And take all this into consideration for less than $30 per person after a passholder discount, Trail’s End is a great value for dinner!! It was now time for the struggle of food coma, so we make our way back to Pop Century after grabbing a bus at Magic Kingdom.
Photo Credit_ Justin Giglio WDWNT
Saturday morning rolls around and it’s time to get some festival in our lives!! I take an early morning walk along Hourglass Lake with coffee in hand to get the kids some milk for their breakfast. We get all situated and ready so we make our way to the Skyliner around 8_30. Getting into International Gateway at Epcot, I just take a brief moment to let it all soak in. I was finally back to my favorite place on Earth.
Getting into World Showcase, we begin to admire all the beautiful flowers and character topiaries placed along our route. They truly are a work of art, and I can’t wait to see them fatten up as the festival makes its way into the summer months!! We make our way towards The Land Pavilion so everyone can ride Soarin’ and Living With the Land and then make a stop at Bambi’s Butterfly Garden. Of course I stopped by the Imagination Center to visit my boy Figment!! After a quick visit with everyone’s favorite dragon, we managed to do a couple of meet and greets with Joy and Vanellopee von Schweetz inside the Imagination Pavilion. It was now time to go hit World Showcase and check out all the festival booths!!
First stop we make is the Citrus Blossom and let me just say it outshined the rest of the entire day. Orange Bird Smoothies, wine slushes, and a beer flight were all tried and completely adored!!
Moving on, we stop by the Pineapple Promenade for yes, another beer flight (big shocker) which did not disappoint! My father in-law also enjoyed an adult version of a Dole Whip at this booth. Absolutely incredible!!
Photo Credit_ Disney Food Blog
A must stop Breanna and I decided on was the Bauernmarkt at the Germany Pavilion for the mixed Berry streusel and the smoked ham and Gruyère pretzel roll. We snag ole of each and I opt for a raspberry radler pairing and let me say the streusel took the cake for best dessert of the day! Honorable mention goes to the raspberry radler as Breanna not being a beer drinker spoke very well of how flavorful and refreshing it was.
It was getting close to lunch time and the kids wanted pizza so we made our way towards the pizza window at via Napoli for a couple of slices and a coke. I get their food and they start munching away so I make my way to the Primavera Kitchen for some fresh sausage and garden vegetable ravioli and some raspberry bombloni, paired with a light crisp Peroni Pilsner which is a “can’t go wrong” combo!
It was a great time at this point to backtrack and try to walk off everything we had consumed throughout the day. So we doubled back and circled World Showcase Lagoon and somehow I took it upon myself to grab a poutine and a Labatt Light on the way to the Skyliner(I know, complete fat ass moment for me). All the while, Breanna opted to pick up a Lavender Martini while I was getting poutine from the Refreshment Port. The kids wanted to try the Turning Red Panda-Ade from the Canada booth as well which turned out to be a delicious little drink. Coconut milk and pomegranate juice is a sure to please hit!
Overall, it was a fantastic day for enjoying the 2022 Flower & Garden Festival, you couldn’t have asked for more picture-perfect weather. The next few months we have a lot of great ventures coming so you’ll hear from us more and more so be ready!! We are all truly enjoying doing this and we really hope someone gets something from the information we provide. Until next time, God bless, don’t waste a single day, and get out there and make some memories!! Cheers
Ryan
“Life is short, smile while you still have teeth.”