Disney World Shortens 2027 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival: Dates & Details

Walt Disney World has revealed dates and details for the 2027 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, including later start and earlier end, plus a sneak peek at what’s new & returning. We have all of that, plus commentary about WDW’s decision to condense the popular springtime special event.

As basic background, the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival has been getting shorter over the last few years. Or rather, reverting to its historic norm. In the post-reopening, pent-up demand era, Walt Disney World increased the duration of both Flower & Garden and Food & Wine, by around a month each, effectively bridging the gap between the two. The events in 2022-2023 peaked at 125 days each, beginning in early March and ending after the Fourth of July.

Since then, the events have been scaled back. This year’s EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival ran from March 4th through June 1st. These dates were completely consistent with the previous two years, just adjusted for day of week differences. While shorter than 2021 to 2023, the more recent events were consistent with historical precedent up until 2020.

Consequently, this previously led us to (incorrectly) predict “with about 75% certainty” that the 2027 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival would start on March 3, 2027 and conclude on May 31, 2027. That prediction proved inaccurate, due to Walt Disney World extending the 2027 EPCOT Festival of the Arts by one week.

Walt Disney World giveth, and taketh away. As a direct result of the 2027 EPCOT Festival of the Arts running until the start of March, the front end of the 2027 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival has been delayed by one week. This is week-plus gap between the events is necessary to change over the decorations, food booths, etc., and prepare for the next festival.

Consequently, the 2027 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival will run from March 10, 2027 through May 31, 2027. From our perspective, this is a completely fair tradeoff.

If you only care about Flower & Garden for whatever reason, you might feel differently, but it’s become increasingly obvious in the last few years that Festival of the Arts isn’t long enough, and Flower & Garden is a tad too long.

This rebalancing is a great move taking only that into account, before even touching upon whether late February is too early to for some of the plants given the cold snaps and winter weather in recent years. It’s very well possible that the Walt Disney World Horticulture team advocated for the delayed start, and Festival of the Arts running longer is the result of that (not vice-versa). Or perhaps it’s a mix of both, with this scheduling shift solving two different problems.

As for why the 2027 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival simply can’t run longer to “make up” for the lost week in early March, we assume that’s due to the start of Cool Kids’ Summer or Monstrous Summer or whatever next year’s marketing campaign ends up being. As intimated above, interest in Flower & Garden starts to fizzle out by May, anyway, so shortening the event might help sustain its popularity until closer to the end.

Anyway, here’s what else Walt Disney World has revealed for the 2027 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival…

Topiaries, Gardens & Exhibits

One of the most beloved traditions of the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival is the chance to experience the park in full bloom. Discover topiaries inspired by Disney characters, vibrant gardens, and thoughtfully designed floral displays that add color, charm, and breathtaking backdrops.

More than 200,000 bedding plants are added to the gardens of EPCOT for the Flower & Garden Festival, including an additional 60,000 bedding plants that create the iconic floral designs that make up the World Celebration East & West Lakes. Plus more than 60 topiaries, featuring a delightful array of Disney characters as well as other figures and whimsical items, will fill the park.

Disney Horticulture and Walt Disney Imagineering work together to design, build and grow topiary displays. Starting over a year before the event, this process began with artists developing sketches, Imagineers designing 3D models, skilled welders molding frames, and horticulture specialists choosing plant materials.

There are usually a few changes each year in terms of topiaries, with a handful of popular new characters added, along with a deep cut or two (Phineas & Ferb returned two years ago, for example). The big addition is a new main entrance display, which usually highlights a popular summer movie (Toy Story 5 this year).

There’s no great, obvious candidate for the 2027 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival. Gatto is in that release window, but it’s an original film and Walt Disney World often doesn’t “gamble” on those. So perhaps we’ll see something like Zootopia, Inside Out, or even Frozen. Never too early to start promoting the third film in that franchise!

Garden Rocks Concert Series

Be sure to put on your dancing shoes and warm up your vocal cords because the Garden Rocks Concert Series in America Gardens Theatre will have you moving and grooving. The 2027 lineup will feature an unforgettable mix of chart-topping artists and Orlando’s blossoming local talent.

Admission to see your favorite act is included with EPCOT park entry, and seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. For those seeking guaranteed seating, dining packages will be offered, allowing you to enjoy a meal at select EPCOT restaurants before the show.

Stay tuned for a full list of performers and reservation dates for the Garden Rocks Dining Package coming at a later date. For reference, last year’s Garden Rocks Concert Series lineup was released on January 21, 2026. Advance Dining Reservations opened starting on February 5, 2026 through the My Disney Experience app or the official Walt Disney World website. Similar timelines are likely for the 2027 Garden Rocks Concert Series.

2027 Outdoor Kitchens

One highlight of the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival is the fan-favorite Outdoor Kitchens. For a lot of Walt Disney World visitors, Flower & Garden is essentially a prettier, springtime version of the popular Food & Wine Festival.

Although this was never really in doubt, Walt Disney World has confirmed that these will return in 2027. The Outdoor Kitchens are a massive revenue generator; Disney would sooner eliminate the plants from Flower & Garden than they would the food booths.

With returning favorites and brand-new dishes, there’s something for every palate. For a look at new eats and returning hits, stay tuned for the full menus coming on a later date. There are typically around two-dozen Outdoor Kitchens that offer specialty menus of savory snacks, sweet treats and drinks at the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival.

CommuniCore Hall?

The final wildcard for the 2027 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival is CommuniCore Hall. In 2026, CommuniCore Hall was once again put to decent use, with a larger-than-life gallery that showcased how Disney’s Horticulture team brings topiaries, flower towers and more to the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival. Nearby, EPCOT Farmers Feast was moved inside CommuniCore Hall.

However, this all closed in mid-to-late May in order to be transformed into GoofyCore Hall ahead of Cool Kids’ Summer. Our expectation is that something like this happens again during the 2027 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival, as that’s the pattern that Walt Disney World has established.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of Walt Disney World starting the 2027 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival a week later than normal? Is this a reasonable trade for a longer Festival of the Arts? Would you like to see the event extended into summer, or think it’s already sufficiently long? Looking forward to the new and returning topiaries? Any predictions about what the front entrance featured film will be? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Opinions on anything else covered here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!