18th Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival to be hosted by HGTV

This year’s Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival will be hosted by HGTV, and will run from March 2 through May 15, featuring appearances by HGTV designers and experts. Every weekend of the festival (Friday – Sunday) will feature guest appearances by popular celebrity experts at the Festival Center presented by HGTV, located next to Mission: Space in Future World.

The Festival Center will feature daily seminars, demonstrations, discussions and Q&A sessions. The HGTV Designers’ Stage presentations are dedicated to gardening and design topics, while the Greenhouse Stage will feature expert tips and secrets that guests can use in their own gardens. Planting Pointers will feature experts from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, who will offer gardening tips and ideas, as well.

HGTV will also present a new and improved Bambi’s Butterfly House, which is now twice the size it was previously and houses hundreds of native butterflies, as well as several character topiaries inspired by the Disney film.

In addition, numerous other Disney character topiaries and displays will be on display, including characters from Toy Story 3 and Cars 2. The Toy Story display will feature heroes Woody and Buzz Lightyear facing off against the villainous Lotso in the Future World front-entrance garden, and will mark the first time that any Toy Story characters have been featured at the Festival. Cars characters Mater and Lightning McQueen will also be represented in their own display at the World Showcase plaza. In total, there will be over 100 expertly crafted topiaries at the Festival this year.

Some other new displays and attractions include: the Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden, where Disney fairies will pose for pictures and sign autographs; Rapunzel’s Tower in the Tangled Magical Garden, where guests can meet and pose with Rapunzel from the Disney film, Tangled; a Sustainable Beauty Garden; and Disney Gardening at Home presentations.

Flower Power concerts will also be available every weekend at the open-air America Gardens Theater, and will feature popular songs from the 1960s through ’90s, with performances by Jose Feliciano, Davy Jones, Chubby Checker & the Wildcats, Melissa Manchester, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr., and many more.  Here’s the schedule:

March 4-6 – Jose Feliciano
March 11-13 – The Guess Who
March 18-20 – Chubby Checker & The Wildcats
March 25-27 – Melissa Manchester
April 1-3 – Starship starring Mickey Thomas
April 8-10 – Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.
April 15-17 – Juice Newton
April 22-24 – Ricky Nelson Remembered featuring The Nelsons
April 29-30, May 1 – Paul Revere & The Raiders
May 6-8 – Davy Jones
May 13-15 – Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone

The Festival, including all features and presentations, is included with daily Epcot admission. For more information, go to the Epcot website here.

The HGTV celebrities participating are:

Genevieve Gorder, HGTV Design Star and Dear Genevieve (Mar 4-6)
The Art of Sculpting Space

Lisa LaPorta, Designed to Sell (March 11-13)
Design It Yourself: Easy-to-follow Tips for Designing Your Favorite Rooms

Kim Myles, Myles of Style (March 18-20)
The 5 DIY Secrets That Can Transform Any Space

Brian Patrick Flynn, Design Happens, HGTV.com  (March 25-27)
Mobile Gardens

Taniya Nayak, Designed to Sell and Destination Design (April 1-3)
Adding Value to Your Home Without Breaking the Bank

Ahmed Hassan, Yard Crashers (April 8-10)
Life, Love and Landscaping

Patti Moreno, Garden Girl, HGTV.com  (April 15-17)
Gardening with Kids: Fun Seed Starting Projects

Michele Beschen, B. Original (April 22-24)
When Nature Calls: Creative, Back-to-Basics Style for All Things Natural and Decorative

John Gidding, Curb Appeal: The Block (April 29-May 1)
The Design Process: Curb Appeal Projects from Concept to Construction

Frank Fontana, Design on a Dime (May 6-8)
Beautiful on a Budget: High Style, Low-Cost Secrets to Bringing Indoor Styling Outside

Vern Yip, HGTV Design Star (May 13 -15)
Top Design Trends Made Affordable and Accessible