Epcot 2008 Flower and Garden or “Where oh Where have the Topiaries Gone!!!!

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.

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

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?

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

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.

 Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

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.

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

 Ok thats cool. Down too the end and Donald and Daisy are playing volleyball and Pluto and two macaw parrots are behind them.

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

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.

 Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

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.

 Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

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.

 Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

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.

 Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

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?

 Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

HELLO DID THE TRUCK NOT STOP HERE?

Oh look cups of TEA actually big CUPS of the plants that make up different tea bags.

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008 

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.

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008 

OK WHO TOOK THUMPER AND BAMBI? AGAIN NO TOPIARIES!!!!!!!!!!!

 Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

 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.

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

 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.

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

 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.

Opening Day Flower and Garden 2008

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.


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Comments

10 responses to “Epcot 2008 Flower and Garden or “Where oh Where have the Topiaries Gone!!!!”

  1. NC Belle Avatar
    NC Belle

    I love the pictures and story. I was hoping for more topiaries and well…flowers/gardens.

  2. techdude Avatar
    techdude

    I’m sorry… Three Calibreros? Is that a topiary of guys calibrating things? Maybe it ought to be over in Interventions. 😉

    But seriously – thanks for the writeup Bob. We’re visiting The World next month and really looking forward to seeing Epcot.

  3. klam_chowder Avatar
    klam_chowder

    Thx a mint for the pics and commentary – great to see what the F&G show is about.

    It’s easy to see how some of the topiaries are made, but what about ones like Daisy, Donald and Pluto. Are they made out of bushes too? How do they keep the alive?!

  4. cocowum Avatar
    cocowum

    Thanks for the great pics Bob!!!

    Makes me wish we were there right now! 80 degrees and sunny sounds like heaven!

    When you mentioned Fred and George I thought you were talking about the Weasley twins, from Harry Potter. LOL. 🙂

  5. safetymom Avatar
    safetymom

    There was a lot of stuff missing at this years show. If you have never been you would enjoy it. But I found myself in Future World noticing what wasn’t there anymore.

    It’s a shame they extended the show but cut so much.

  6. alaskanmommy Avatar
    alaskanmommy

    Fantastic Flower and Garden review Bawb! Great pics and comments. Wish I could be there in person but this was the next best thing.

  7. mommyceratops Avatar
    mommyceratops

    Thanks Bob! We loved looking at the pictures!!

    The big fake flowers (Kaleb called them “stupid”) but he loved the Pluto one that was cool!

    Thanks Bawb! Really clockwise? That is so normal?!

  8. aprinceandprincess Avatar
    aprinceandprincess

    Could it be that they still have other displays to put out? We will be in the world April 19th – 21st and am looking forward to checking out the flower and garden show myself.

    Fred & George: Harry Potter was the first thing to pop in my head when Bawb named his “friends” Fred and George.

  9. WebmasterRegina Avatar

    Oh Bawb my sweet, I may pre-date the Bonsai trees, but as I recall, Dianer is a bit older than me. I would be mighty careful with the whole ‘age’ thing if I were you. (Is that the sound of a frying pan making contact with Bawb’s cranium?)

  10. missynole Avatar
    missynole

    Bob, chill honey. You are as irrasible as Donald Duck on a bad day. Relax. It’s the beach.
    It’s a free show, it’s colorful, I can’t wait to see it in May.
    You got your money’s worth…you know you did…did you stop for a refreshment? That might have helped.
    Oh, Bambi and Thumper–road kill on I-4, chasing the horses that left with Dolly Parton. Sorry about that, but I never figured out why you all were so glad they left town.
    Also, Tigger, Pooh, Rabbit-same old same old. Yes, the tea cups could have been more
    colorful, but at least they were different. I wish they had put the old friends in the back garden…but we needed change.
    Loved the Pluto, am a sucker for canines and he is a favorite.
    Your pictures were incredibly good…you have “an eye” and I appreciate your sharing it.
    Thank you for this and all you do.

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