Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival 2013

Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2013 (Photo credit: insidethemagic)

Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2013 (Photo credit: insidethemagic)

Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2013 (Photo credit: insidethemagic)

Epcot’s Flower and Garden festival is one of the best times to visit Epcot. Each spring during the festival they bring out topiary that they’ve spent years growing and grooming into Disney Characters. This year I was only at Epcot at night and my pictures didn't come out that great. So, I've included a few from Inside the Magic that they shared publicly.
 
 

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IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth at Epcot

 
At night Epcot puts on a 12 minute long nightly show called IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.
The show includes music, fireworks, water effects, a massive globe,
 
A 350,000 pound globe comes out over the water.
 
 For those of you wondering if parts of this show can be seen from outside of Epcot, the answer is yes. If you are out in the boardwalk area you will see a lot of the fireworks.
    

Disney World's Electrical Parade at the Magic Kingdom

Electrical Parade at the Magic Kingdom

Tinker Bell

It's been three years since I was lucky enough to see the night time parade at the Magic Kingdom. I don't know when they changed it, but it is a completely new parade from the last one I saw the 2010 Electrical Parade. I was most surprised to see Puff the Magic Dragon.

Capt. Hook and Peter Pan

7 Dwarfs

Puff the Magic Dragon

Tribute to America

Disclosure: I attended a Traveling Mom conference at Walt Disney World and my park tickets were included.

Bring your own food into Disney World

Did you know that you are allowed to bring food into all the Disney Parks. We were unsure about this until we ask someone in the park that worked there.  Here's what you need to know about taking food into Disney.

• Soft sided coolers are allowed in Disney Parks
• Hard sided coolers are allowed in Disney water parks only
• No glass allowed
• There is a Super Wal-Mart and a Super Target near Disney World where you can get whatever you need
• All rooms at Disney have a small fringe, microwave, and coffee maker.

Here are some of the food items we've packed and taken into the Disney parks with us.

Cold Items:Grapes
Yogurt sticks
Cheese sticks
Sodas 

Juice boxes
Lunchables
Premade sandwiches
Fruit cups
Applesauce
Carrots

Room TemperatureCrackers
Fruit and nut mix
Granola bars
Bananas
Apples
Pop tarts
Fruit snacks
Cookies
Goldfish
Pretzels
Chips

Other random items

• Reusable coffee mug filled with coffee
• Drinks mixes – You can refill your water bottles all over any of these parks, but sometimes the water doesn’t taste good.  The water at the Magic Kingdom tastes especially bad.  We refill and then mix in a drink flavor packets and the problem is solved. (Any of the restaurants will give you a glass of water for free.)

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