Disney4me Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 The EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival is right around the corner! It’s almost time! The festival will run from March 5th until June 2nd, and there is so much to see and do. EPCOT has already started transforming for the festival, as topiaries, flowers, and the Butterfly Garden have already started to pop up! Plus, this festival will be full of exclusive merchandise, entertainment, and, of course, our favorite part: food! This year’s festival menus just dropped, and if you ever wondered what it takes to curate 180 menu items for the festival kitchens spread throughout the park, we have the answer! We had the opportunity to chat with Chelsea Florig, Food & Beverage Project Manager, Amanda Lauder, Chef de Cuisine Pastry, and Daniel Sicilia, Executive Chef. All three of these Cast Members play a vital role in creating the menus that you will get to try when the festival returns this year! Flower and Garden Festival 2023 EPCOT is home to four different festivals throughout the year. The new year starts with Festival of the Arts, followed by Flower and Garden, Food and Wine, and ending with Festival of the Holidays. That is four festivals that chefs must juggle throughout the year. Chef Daniel shared that since Flower and Garden is a bit longer (compared to Festival of the Arts and Holidays), they have a lot more to plan for when it comes to the guest experience. He shared that they start coming up with menu ideas a year out. Flower and Garden 2024 Chef Amanda told us that they use a whiteboard where they kind of just throw ideas up there to see what sticks. Tons of ideas get suggested, but unfortunately, not all of them end up debuting on a menu. The good news is that they tend to let menu items sit and simmer on the whiteboard, so even if a dish does not make it on the menu for the current festival, there is a good chance it could make its debut at a festival years later. Bauernmarkt Full Spread 2024 So why not include all their ideas in the festival? Well, each booth tells a cohesive story. According to Chef Amanda, they first start with the theming on the kiosk and then make their way down to see what fits. She said it is kind of like throwing spaghetti at the wall and that Chelsea helps keep them on task. Honey-glazed Cauliflower from 2024 Many of us just see the outdoor kitchens pop up, but they are placed strategically based on their surroundings. They pay attention to the theming in an area. For example, The Honey Bee-Stro booth has a whole themed area around it to really immerse you in the festival. Welcome to The Honey Bee-stro 2023 Two new booths are making their debut this year near the walkway between the World Showcase and Imagination! Pavilion. These booths are the Yacht and Beach Grub. Sound familiar? That is because they are paying homage to two EPCOT area resorts: the Yacht and Beach Club! Their location is important, as if you were to follow that walkway towards the Canada Pavillion, you would end up at Inernational Gateway, where you can find both resorts! ©Disney || Yacht Grub While the location of the booths is important, is is also essential to curate a menu that is cohesive with the theming, as well as flavors that go together. Chef Amanda said that she is always walking around with a fork or spoon while they are testing menu items; she is always tasting. Chelsea said that they look at their portfolio to see what dishes complement each other to help tell the story of the whole booth. While they like adding new menu items, they are well aware that certain items are untouchable because guests love them so much. They also want to make sure guests are able to try new flavors. Chef Daniel shared that the Liquid Nitro Honey-Mascarpone Cheesecake is a guest favorite that he does not see going away anytime soon They emphasized that they listen to guests and care about what we think. Chef Daniel shared that they start listening to guest feedback on the very first day of the festival and continue to note people’s thoughts and opinions throughout. Social media plays a vital role in listening to feedback, and Chelsea let us know that they have teams that go through the data of what people are saying online. It just goes to show that your opinion matters, and Disney does care about curating a festival that has dishes that they know guests will love. Flower and Garden 2025 We loved getting a behind-the-scenes look at all the work that goes into creating all the yummy dishes at EPCOT’s Flower and Garden Festival, and we are so excited to try them all next week! So make sure to stick around with us here at the Disney Food Blog to see all of our reviews of the 2025 Flower and Garden Festival! CONFIRMED: Everything Returning to the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival in 2025 While we wait for the 2025 Flower and Garden Festival to start, check out everything we ate at last year’s festival! MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR FESTIVAL DAYS 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! GET YOUR GUIDE NOW Click HERE for All of the Latest News and Details About the Flower & Garden Festival! Will you be attending this year’s Flower and Garden Festival? Let us know in the comments! Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney World to attend a media interview with Cast Members who worked on this year’s EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJThe post 3 Disney Cast Members Reveal SECRETS Behind the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival first appeared on the disney food blog.View the full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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