LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- A flower-festooned pirate ship will drop anchor and Disney princess topiaries will color the landscape at the 14th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival April 5-June 3 at Walt Disney World Resort. Previously a seven-week event, the popular festival expands to 60 days this year and offers more floral fantasy and gardening fun than ever before.

The first-ever pirate ship topiary will feature Peter Pan and his nemesis, Captain Hook, plus Tinker Bell -- all as intricately designed topiaries. Pirate Mickey Mouse and Princess Minnie Mouse, plus Cinderella and Prince Charming, Belle and her Beast from "Beauty and the Beast," and other popular characters make topiary appearances throughout the park. A towering Pirate Goofy, with Donald Duck and Pluto, offers Disney gardeners a chance to reach new topiary heights.

In all, there will be more than 70 topiaries -- plus 30 million blooms, artfully designed floral beds, expertly crafted bonsai trees and lush rose gardens -- gracing the 300 acres of Future World and World Showcase. For the first time in the festival's history, Disney's horticultural team will plant two crop rotations during the fest, producing "the biggest opening show ever" and allowing for a more brilliant floral display for the festival's duration, according to Disney horticultural manager Eric Darden.

Beyond the dazzling displays of bursting blooms, the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is known by gardening aficionados for its celebrity guest speakers, hands-on seminars and innovative planting demonstrations and exhibits such as the new Art of Outdoor Living garden next to the Morocco pavilion.

Each evening, Flower Power concerts will rock the park with live entertainment from top acts of the 1960s and '70s. This year's scheduled acts include The Guess Who, Davy Jones, Jose Feliciano, Petula Clark, The Box Tops and other crowd pleasers. Flower Power concerts strike a lively, nostalgic chord daily at America Gardens Theatre at 5:45, 7 and 8:15 p.m. and are included with regular Epcot admission. Here's the lineup (entertainment subject to change without notice):

April 4-9............Paul Revere and the Raiders ("Good Thing")
April 10-14........Tony Orlando in Concert ("Tie a Yellow Ribbon")
April 15-18........The Buckinghams ("Kind of a Drag")
April 19-21........The Turtles featuring Flo and Eddie ("Happy Together")
April 22-24........The Box Tops ("The Letter")
April 25-28........The Tokens ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight")
April 29-May 1..Peter & Gordon ("A World Without Love")
May 2-3.............Jose Feliciano ("Light My Fire")
May 4-5.............Petula Clark ("Downtown")
May 6-10..........Nelson featuring the songs of Ricky Nelson ("Love and Affection")
May 11-15........Davy Jones ("Daydream Believer")
May 16-19........B.J. Thomas ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head")
May 20-22........Grass Roots featuring Rob Grill ("Midnight Confessions")
May 23-25........The Guess Who ("American Woman")
May 26..............The S.O.S. Band ("Take Your Time")
May 27-30.........Gary Puckett ("Over You")
May 31-June 3...Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone ("Henry the 8th")

30 MILLION BLOOMS - Future World and World Showcase are palettes of brilliant color with more
than 30 million blooms during the annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival at Walt Disney
World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. In bloom for the festival are elaborate topiaries, gardening
seminars, demonstrations, the Flower Power concert series, themed weekends and children's activities
that include exploring a butterfly conservatory.

GROWING FUTURE GARDENERS – Disney horticulturist Debbie Mola Mickler checks plants
at the Growing Future Gardeners exhibit at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival at Walt
Disney World Resort. At the exhibit, families can learn how to grow herbs for pizza and salsa gardens,
and kids can see carnivorous plants like the Venus fly trap in action. 

(Press release and images above Copyright Disney)

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