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

by Leigh Caldwell on

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.

Disney ends free ticket program after 1 million volunteers sign up

by Leigh Caldwell on

Disney Parks announced Tuesday that the company’s goal of recruiting 1 million people to donate their time and get a 1-day ticket to Disney in return has been reached, and the “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” promotion is ending.

Those participating in the program signed up to volunteer through the nationwide HandsOn Network. Although volunteer registration has ended, those who completed their volunteer activity still have until Dec. 15 to use their free park ticket at Walt Disney World or Disneyland.

In 2009, Disney distributed 1.2 million free tickets to anyone who went to one of their U.S. theme parks on his or her birthday. That’s about 100,000 per month. The volunteer promotion was getting 100,000 participants per week this year.

At a media event last month at Walt Disney World, Disney officials admitted they were “overwhelmed” by this response.

No word yet on what will happen to the daily “pre-parade” in the Magic Kingdom that is designed to celebrate the promotion. It was the first new use of the Muppets at Walt Disney World in several years, and I hope that the promotion’s end doesn’t relegate Miss Piggy back to her dressing room.%Gallery-86600%

Before you go, be sure to check out Episode 4 of Gadling’s Travel Talk TV, which features good and bad pilots, Holi, and a sofa in an aquarium!

Get tips on visiting Disney with a special needs child at Mouse-Aid

by Katie Hammel on

Disneyland and Disney World are supposed to be the happiest places on Earth. Every child wants to go to this place of wonder and excitement, and special needs children are no exception. But for parents of these children, the thought of organizing a trip may seem like a far too difficult task. That’s where the Mouse-Aid website comes in.

The website is not affiliated with Disney, but it is designed to help parents of children with special needs negotiate the obstacles to taking their kids on a Disney vacation. There are tips for travel, packing, get around the parks, dining and choosing a room, and what issues parents of special needs kids should consider The special needs covered range from physical and mental disabilities to ADHD and terminal illness.

For many parents, the most helpful part of the site might be the forums. Here parents can discuss the issues important for their children, like which rides might scare kids frightened of the dark. They can also find support in parents dealing with similar issues as themselves. As the aunt of a special needs child, I’ve seen how just knowing that there are other parents who understand your situation can be a big help in and of itself. If you are the parent of a child with special needs, and you are planning a trip to a Disney theme park, it might be worth checking out the Mouse-Aid site.

Hundreds stranded by malfunctioning monorail at Disney World

by Katie Hammel on

Disney World is supposed to be the “happiest place on earth”, but for about 300 people who were trapped on the monorail when three trains broke down early Sunday morning, it was probably anything but.

The system suffered a power outage brought on by a failed hard drive around 1am on Sunday. The Magic Kingdom had been open late, and the trains were carrying the last of the park’s visitors back to parking lots and other resorts. Three of the trains were not in stations at the time of the outage, so passengers had to wait for almost three hours in hot train cars until help arrived.

Firefighters used ladders to get the stranded riders down. While a spokeswoman for Disney World apologized to the guests who got stuck, it seems the incident was a minor one. No injuries were reported in the shut down and trains were back up and running by the time the park opened on Sunday morning.

I’m sure sitting in a hot monorail car for three hours is no fun, but there are worse places to get stranded in Disney World. Who hasn’t had a nightmare about breaking down on the Small World ride and being force to listen to that song over…and over…and over again? At least the stranded passengers can be thankful that wasn’t their fate.

[via Chicago Tribune]

Disney offers free park admission to volunteers

by Katie Hammel on

Volunteer one day of your time next year, and you could receive a free day of admission at a Walt Disney theme park in return. The Disney company has announced that one million people who volunteer with the HandsOn Network can get into any Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, or into Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, for free in 2010 through the “Give a Day, Get a Disney” promotion.

The HandsOn Network works with 70,000 agencies across the country, including Habitat for Humanity and local food banks and churches. After volunteers gets their service verified with the agency, they get a voucher for free admission. The work must be done in 2010 and the voucher needs to be used by December 15 of that year. Volunteers must be 18 or older to sign up, but kids ages 6-17 who complete volunteer work with their parents can also get into the park free.

Those who have multi-day annual passes can use their free-day voucher for up to six FASTPASS tickets that will get them to the front of the line for certain rides. Only residents of the US, Canada and Puerto Rico are eligible to redeem the free admission vouchers.

This isn’t the only deal Disney has offered recently. All of the US Disney parks offered visitors free admission on their birthday this year, and many Disney resorts offered “stay two nights, get a third free” promotions as well.