Flower power: Epcot in full bloom

At the Epcot International Flower and Garden Show, landscapers fashioned Disney characters into topiaries.

By Deborah Bowen

If you don’t recall the last time you literally stopped to smell the roses, there’s a whole botanical wonderland waiting at the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. These aren’t your garden, ahem, variety topiaries, unless you, too, were planning to prune Cinderella and her prince from your backyard shrubs.

On display through May 20, the event has also bloomed into a force for environmental awareness. While you’re buying gardening tools and outdoor décor, pick up ideas for outdoor projects and introduce youngsters to concepts like conservation, recycling and composting. You’ll have a captive audience once your little one sees the “tow-piary” of Mater from Disney Pixar’s “Cars 2” in World Showcase, or while a butterfly perches on a nose in Bambi’s butterfly garden.

At the Land Pavilion’s Living with the Land exhibit in Future World, look for 9-pound lemons in a working aquaculture and catch the eco flick, “The Circle of Life,” starring favorites from Disney’s “The Lion King.”

When the family gets hungry, it’s all about farm-to-table fare. Dine on organic sustainable dishes – served family-style – at The Garden Grill, and feel extra good that all ingredients grew in gardens and greenhouses at Epcot and Disney.

Finish your foray into Mother Nature with Soarin, a simulated hang-glider ride over the many topographies of California, with some recognizable landmarks thrown in for context (the Golden Gate Bridge and Disneyland). Filmed with specialized technology that projects onto curved screens, the scenery pops to life with a glorious, evocative score by composer Jerry Goldsmith.

And you thought you’d be stuck in a nursery all day …

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Deborah Bowen is a member of the 2012 Walt Disney World Moms Panel.

Panelists havereceived/will receive a Walt Disney World Resort, Disney Cruise Line, Adventures by Disney, Disneyland Resort or Disney Vacation Club vacation for panelist and up to three family members and/or park tickets for their participation on the Walt Disney World® Moms Panel. The views expressed in the Panel are those of the panelists, who are independent contractors. These views are not intended to reflect the opinions of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online, its affiliates, its management, its agents or its employees and have not been reviewed or approved by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online prior to posting.

Tagged: Family time, Florida