Epcot ®
Epcot ® is near all the Downtown Disney Resort hotels in Kissimmee, FL. At Epcot, you can indulge your family's inquisitive side, sample sumptuous international cuisine and discover just about everything there is to know about the people, places, cultures and technology that make up our amazing world. Choose the Downtown Disney Resort hotels to be closest to Epcot!
Nemo and Friends
There's a brand-new attraction making waves at Epcot ®. The Seas with Nemo & Friends has you coming face-to-face and fin-to-fin with an entire school of characters from Disney Pixar's smash hit Finding Nemo. When you choose one of the Downtown Disney resorts near Epcot, you will be close to all the underwater adventures of Nemo and friends! As you board, you encounter "clamobiles" and join Marlin and Dory on their search for the elusive clown fish.
You'll see dozens of "jellies," a toothy anglerfish, and even an old friend, Bruce the shark. Then thrill to an incredible grand finale, where Nemo and all his friends appear to actually swim alongside the real-life creatures of the coral reef. Nemo's been found…in a great new Epcot ® attraction!
Epcot Flower and Garden Festival
March 19 - June 1, 2008
The festival features such returning activities as the Great American Gardeners lecture series, the Flower Power Concert Series and Disney Gardening at Home presentations, as well as many floral displays and dozens of the topiaries that at one time could be seen all over Walt Disney World ® Resort.
Up to 70 topiaries, including Lady and the Tramp and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, are installed across park grounds for the festival. Festival landscaping includes 30 million blooms, 300,000 bedding plants and 750 container gardens of flowers, herbs, plants and vegetables in clay pots, barrels and urns. Sweeping Future World flower beds, planted on the shores of East and West Lakes, in the shape of nautical flags representing letters (Alpha, Bravo Charlie, etc.) that spell a message to be decoded by guests. At least 25 different plants, grasses and mosses of various colors are used to create and define features of the festival topiaries, including pink and red begonias, dusty miller, palm fiber, palm seeds, ficus and lichen.
Here's a rundown on what's going on at the Festival in 2008:
Great American Gardeners series
Many expert gardeners from past years return for the popular series of seminars at this year's Festival. The sessions run at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the festival as some of the most respected gardeners and nature experts in the country reveal tips and entertaining stories at the Garden Town festival center in the Wonders of Life pavilion.
Child-focused events and features include Peter Pan's Neverland Garden, Minnie's Magnificent Butterfly Garden, Pluto's Play Zone, Growing Future Gardeners, Garden Town Kid Fun Fair and special events created as parts of specific themed weekends during the festival, including Garden Parties during the Party in the Garden Weekend and different themed craft activities each weekend at the Rose Walk.
Flower Power Concert Series
This series features artists popular back in the "Flower Power" days of the 1960s and 1970s. The exception to this would be Nelson, but they make up for that by playing the hits of their father, Ricky Nelson, who was of that period. New to the lineup this year are Jay Black (of Jay and the Americans), The Happenings, The Ventures, The Searchers and The Cowsills. Concerts take place three times nightly at the America Gardens Theatre, at 5:45, 7:00 and 8:15 p.m.
Note that, as always, entertainment is subject to change without notice.
Themed weekends provide special opportunities
Each weekend of the festival has its own themes and special events just for that weekend:
- Premiere Weekend, March 21-23
- Characters in Bloom Weekend, March 28-30
- Art in the Garden Weekend, April 4-6
- Wellness Weekend, April 11-13
- Green Weekend, April 18-20
- I Dig Bugs Weekend, April 25-27
- Florida Farmers Market Weekend, May 2-4
- Coming Up Roses Weekend, May 9-11
- Garden Party Weekend, May 16-18
- Outdoor Living Weekend, May 23-26
- Festival Farewell Weekend, May 30-June 1
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