It’s Disney characters! In Moss!: Touring the EPCOT Flower and Garden Fest

Nothing says spring like a giant, sphagnum moss Cinderella, right? That’s what all good Disney Parks fans will tell you, at least.

The EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival is open now through May 16 at Walt Disney World, and the more than 70 Disney character topiaries on display around EPCOT have a starring role.

There’s Captain Hook battling Peter Pan near the United Kingdom Pavilion and Rafiki holding up Simba the lion cub just under the shadow of Spaceship Earth. An event map provides a guide so that you can see them all.

(Look! There’s Thumper! Sneezy! Mrs. Potts!)

All kidding aside, though, the Disney topiaries are truly amazing. It takes months to design each one, build the frame and irrigation system and then plant the material that will need to grow to cover it. Dried flowers, plants and other natural materials are then used to create faces for the characters.

And they are being done in a scale you rarely see: Goofy is 14 feet tall, for heaven’s sake!

%Gallery-88501%When you’ve had your fill of marveling at the topiaries and colorful designs in the flower beds around the theme park, Disney has some other festival programs to fill your day.

You can learn more about the plants that make your cup of afternoon tea during a guided walk through the English Tea Garden, or sniff the flowers used to create Guerlain perfumes in a guided tour of the Fragrance Garden.

The festival’s calendar is beefed up on the weekends, with speakers and programs for gardening enthusiasts.

Disney horticulturists teach classes on planting butterfly gardens, irrigation and container gardening.

And superstar gardeners such as Tom and Joani MacCubbin and Ahmed Hassan fly in to meet their fans.

And if you hate everything green, the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival still might not be a lost cause. There’s still the Flower Power Concert series, which brings in acts from the 60s and 70s for evening concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Starship performs this weekend, and upcoming acts include the Atlanta Rhythm Section and Davy Jones.

The flower and garden festival continues through May 16 at Walt Disney World. Admission to EPCOT is required, but there’s no extra charge for the concerts and most other festival activities.