You may be familiar with the various festivals that EPCOT puts on throughout the year.
EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival
These festivals include the Festival of the Holidays, Festival of the Arts, Food & Wine Festival, and the Flower & Garden Festival. So far this year, in 2024, we got to experience the Festival of the Arts from January 12th through February 19th, 2024, and shortly after the Flower & Garden festival began. The Flower & Garden Festival is currently underway and running until May 27th. However, the run time of this spring festival is considerably shorter than it was in 2023, and we have a sneaking suspicion that we might know why.
This year the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival is running from February 28th through May 27th. But those dates are way earlier than the 2023 dates for the same festival. In 2023, the festival began in March and ran until early July. We were very curious about why Disney would make such a major shift in the festival’s dates, not only starting and ending earlier but also shortening it to only 90 days.
Topiary at the 2024 Flower & Garden Festival
A recent announcement from Disney, however, has us guessing the answer. CommuniCore Hall and CommuniCore Plaza have been under construction for some time now. Disney announced these two new spaces as part of the EPCOT transformation. They are intended to be festival, entertainment, and relaxation locations, among other things. There will be a new Mickey and Minnie meet-and-greet location, concerts, a mural of past and present EPCOT attractions, a demonstration kitchen, a mixology bar, an exhibition gallery space, and so much more.
CommuniCore Concept Art ©Disney
Disney had shared that the two new locations would open sometime this year, but recently they announced an official opening date! CommuniCore Plaza and CommuniCore Hall will open on June 10th! What we find interesting is that the Flower & Garden Festival will be ending only a couple of weeks before these major festival locations will be opening. We also noticed that the summer festival (and perhaps our favorite festival), the 2024 Food & Wine Festival, still does not have dates.
CommuniCore Plaza Construction — Mid-March 2024
Is it possible that the Flower & Garden Festival was moved earlier and cut shorter so that the very first festival to ever use these spaces will be the very popular Food & Wine Festival? This is our theory, but Disney has yet to confirm it. Last year, the Food & Wine Festival ran from July 27 through November 18, 2023, but perhaps it will be starting sooner than that in 2024.
You can peek at the mural if you look closely!
For now, we don’t know for sure why the Flower & Garden Festival was moved and shortened, or when the Food & Wine Festival will begin. But we do know that we can look forward to experiencing these two new spaces in EPCOT after June 10th!
Until then, keep following DFB for more Disney news!
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DFB's Guide to the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival details everything you need to know to maximize your time, budget, and stomach space! Know what's worth it and what to skip with our full-photo menus of each booth, complete with DFB's Best of the Fest.
It includes all the must-have information for navigating this one of the most BEAUTIFUL festivals at Disney World, including:
- 🌸 Booth & food photos, maps, and crawls with DFB's exclusive recommendations!
- 🐝 The COMPLETE schedule of events (so you don't have to go hunting for all the dates!)
- 🌳 All the details on special events, topiaries, festival exclusive merchandise, and more!
Why do you think the Flower & Garden Festival got cut short? Give us your theories in the comments!
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Maybe the festival is shortened because those later dates are expected to be too hot.