I just spent the whole day at the opening of the 2008 Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. I have been looking forward to this day ever since Pete has been giving temperature updates on the podcasts. It may even date back even further, all the way back to the Food and Wine Festival, now that I think about it.
I review my check list for the day.
The cameras and batteries are all charged up.
Kart Kam is charged and ready to go.
800 gillion megabite cards are formated for the onslaught that is known as Picture Day.
Weather forecast is sunny 80 degrees.
Load’em up and move em out. (sounds like I am going on a cattle drive, not a photo shoot but I digress and I am off to Epcot. Ok traffic is horrible today. This is not suppose to happen. Kart Kam must get through to make its rounds, GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s at that point I remember I must take my secret special shortcut that I WILL NEVER TELL ANYONE!!
I finally get to Epcot and it is very busy today. Fast forward to where I am sitting inside the Entrance ready to take Kart Kam for a spin. The plan is to start at the Entrance and go directly to World Showcase for the 11 AM rope drop. Off we go. The Entrance looks pretty good but I notice there is no sign for the Flower and Garden Festival anywhere on the island in front of Space Ship Earth. I thought I overheard someone whispering
“HEY FRED I thought you brought the Flower and Garden sign” Hey GEORGE I thought you were bringing it” Hey Fred do you think they will notice it’s not there?
YES George we noticed!!! Whats up with that? (Disclaimer notice: George and Fred are not real people and in no way are connected with Disney. Call them my imaginary friends I get to bust on to make a point to you.)
So off we go. I have a plan and it involves trying to get as many topiaries in the Kart Kam video on the first pass which will include startiing at the Main Entrance, head down past the fountain in Future World and out to World Showcase making the loop as I like to call it.
Today we will be going clockwise to shoot the video. You ask, WHY BAWB ? Glad you asked. You see I just like going that way in the morning because the sun is not in my eyes as much if I go that way. In the late afternoon I like going counter clockwise for the same reason. I hope to make the full circle in under 32 minutes. I know the Magic Kingdom videos were fast (cheap plug for those videos) but I will try and go a pinch slower around World Showcase so people can see stuff.
Well my first stop is for the topiary behind SpaceShip Earth. I like to see what interesting thing they did this year.(OH it is probably a good Idea to mention that the theme this year is “Fun in the Sun” and they are playing all those Beach Boy type songs.)
OK first stop.
HEY GEORGE or whoever wants to listen. Where is my topiary that is suppose to be here ? No One answers, those guys are probably still figuring out what happened to the sign at the Entrance.
Continuing on we had Stitch in a lfeguard chair just past the Dancing Fountain.
Ok thats cool. Down too the end and Donald and Daisy are playing volleyball and Pluto and two macaw parrots are behind them.
Ok I can forget the one missing back there, these are really impressive.
On the way to Mexico I found the Three Calibreros. Check!
All was going ok till I came to the America pavilion. HELLO DID THE TRUCK NOT ARRIVE WITH ALL THE STUFF FOR THIS AREA? WHAT NO PEAR or APPLE DISPLAY or HOW ABOUT A BEER DISPLAY. BETTER STILL HOW ABOUT ANY DISPLAY MIGHT BE NICE!!!!!!!!!!! AND WHERE IS YOUR TOPIARY?
Last year it was the stupid Flower Power Topiaries. Well they highjacked them and they are located over at Garden Town near Test Track this year.
OK this year NOTHING, NADA, Zilch. WHAT GIVES? I was very disappointed to say the least.
OK no time to waste I am on a time line. Half way around and the clock is ticking. Next up Japan. No topiaries but they do have the Bonsai Trees that I look forward to each year.
Nice job here, I’ll be back later to see if any of them are older than Regina. (I still remember the 7 am Chef Mickey Regina made for the Round table crew.)
Morraco not a topiary in sight, and the planting area was just ok.
Next up the Key to Outdoor living. Can you say LAME.
France always does a nice Job. The fragrance garden is a don’t miss on the list of things to do.
Check out the daily FREE tours. They are interesting.
Off to the UK and another disappointment. WHERE IS Winnie the POOH and EEYORE? How about TIGGER or MARY POPPINS topiaries?
HELLO DID THE TRUCK NOT STOP HERE?
Oh look cups of TEA actually big CUPS of the plants that make up different tea bags.
Not my cup of tea!! BORING!!! Sorry it didn’t do anything for me.! OH MY GOD it just hit me I am sounding like SIMON on American Idiol!!! HELP ME!!!!
Next stop Canada. I know Bambi and Thumper will calm me down out in front of Canada.
OK WHO TOOK THUMPER AND BAMBI? AGAIN NO TOPIARIES!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok the garden was nice as usual. I will give you that.
Now the Peter Pan area over near the SO called ROSE WALK was nice. AND I may be just being GRUMPY now but did we forget the ROSES or are they coming later in the season? They mention early May so I don’t want to upset MOTHER NATURE on this right now. I will just mention in passing there are no SPECTACULAR ROSES yet folks.
Got the Kart Kam video done in the 32 minutes and my first impression is what has happened this year? Here is the link to view the Dis Unplugged Kart Kam Video
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=DISUnplugged&p=r
I will give them credit Future World is pretty good this year. Wait what is this I see. It’s a Flower and Garden Sign of sorts. Located out near the Energy pavilion.
Has George and Fred mislocated the Sign. I have to admit it would have looked really cool over at the entrance. But again I digress. I did find another sign that would have looked good at the entrance behind where Stitch is located.
Please make sure you check out Garden Town this year. It is in the old Wonders of life building. This is where you will find most of the seminars will be run this year.
They have a movie running about how they build topiaries. How fitting!!!
Point of record must be mentioned that a lot of the areas that use to be outside or in Innoventions West are in Garden Town. I applaud them for what they did in Garden Town. Using this area is a very smart idea for the Flower and Garden Festival. It is air conditioned and gives people a bigger area for visitors to listen to guest speakers each day. I only had a little time, but I will be going back soon to check it out. This will be a good area to visit on a rainy or hot day this spring.
OK I still am upset about the missing Topiaries but time will tell how this year stacks up to past years. Right now I give it a 7. Time will tell if I raise the mark.
I spent over 8 hours checking out everything. I want to say HI to Kathy and Zack from Arkansas and also Jennifer who found me over in World Showcase. It was nice chatting with all of you. Kathy and Zack noted that on there Evening Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom 12 AM to 3 AM that it was crazy all night.
That’s it for now. I will be checking out some of the weekly weekend happenings that are taking place this year at the Festival and I will report back.
Leave a Reply