Saturday, February 20, 2010

Fast Facts about the 17th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival


LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Thirty million blooms, half a million plants, 60 tons of topiary and 600 butterflies add up to a wonderful world of theme park color at the 17th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, March 3-May 16 at Walt Disney World Resort. Among this year’s fun festival facts:


30 million blooms blanket the park throughout the festival, which runs 75 colorful days.
More than 100 topiaries displayed throughout the park add up to 60 tons of plant materials.
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More than 70 Disney character topiaries represent the largest collection of Disney character topiary in the world and include classic film stars like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Cinderella and Tinker Bell.
At 14 feet tall, Goofy is the tallest character topiary ever created.
600 native butterflies, more than ever before, represent up to 10 species at Fawn’s Butterfly House, a gazebo-type screened enclosure filled with lush plants where guests can view the colorful butterflies. Among the garden’s two dozen nectar plants are Cape Royal plumbago, passion flower, coral honeysuckle, blazing star, butterfly bush, scarlet milkweed and canna lily.
                        More than 500,000 plants, trees and shrubs are planted for the festival; 250,000
            of those are annual blossoms installed for the festival.
Festival plants include 60 different species of trees, 47 types of palms, and 48 varieties of bedding plants.
At least 25 different plants, grasses and mosses of various colors, including pink and red begonias, dusty miller, palm fiber, palm seeds, ficus and lichen, are used to create and define features of the festival topiaries. More color has been added to the topiaries than in any previous topiary presentation.
More than 15 floral, herbal and spice ingredients of 10 popular perfumes are revealed in the Fragrance Garden presented by Guerlain at the France pavilion. Guests can sniff the enduring fragrance Shalimar to discover botanical notes that include lemon, Arabian jasmine and vanilla. Some components of nine other Guerlain fragrances include mimosa, magnolia, rose, nutmeg and vetivergrass. 
198 hands-on gardening demonstrations and seminars will be presented.
Forty-four “flower towers” of impatiens line Innoventions Plaza.
120 floating mini-gardens, each three feet in diameter, of multi-hued impatiens provide splashes of color on two ponds that border the walkway between Future World and World Showcase. 
700 container gardens of flowers, herbs, plants and vegetables in clay pots, barrels and urns enhance the landscape throughout Epcot.
600 Walt Disney World horticulturists are needed to install the festival landscape, topiaries and many exhibits; 100 Epcot horticulturists maintain topiaries and other festival displays.
It takes more than one full year and about 24,000 cast member hours to prepare for the annual festival.
The festival’s weekend Flower Power concert series includes 11 artists and groups with 126 Top 40 hits, including 16 No. 1 songs. This year’s musical hit-makers from the 1960s and '70s include Jose Feliciano, Paul Revere & The Raiders, David Cassidy, Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, Tony Orlando, Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone, Ricky Nelson Remembered Featuring the Nelsons, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Fran Cosmo, Davy Jones, and Chubby Checker & The Wildcats.

Guest information for the 17thannual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is available at www.disneyworld.com/flower or call 1-407-W-DISNEY.

1 comments: until now.

Sarah Nicole + February 20, 2010 at 2:01 PM (#) :

I worked at the Flower & Garden Festival in 2006. It was great!

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