5 Problems We ALREADY Ran Into at the 2024 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival

The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and the drinks are flowing. That can only mean one thing: the 2024 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival has STARTED!

We’re LIVE at the 2024 EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival!

We’re exploring EVERYTHING there is to see and do during the festival (and eating a LOT of new and returning treats), but this year’s festival isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Don’t be fooled — despite the pretty pictures, we’re already running into a few PROBLEMS on opening day. Let’s talk about it!

We started our day with a clear game plan. Visit food booths, eat some treats, repeat. But pretty early into our day, Disney threw us a curveball. The Florida Fresh food booth was CLOSED! When we asked a Cast Member about the closure, they informed us that the booth would “hopefully be open in the future.”

UPDATE: As of March 1st, the Florida Fresh booth is open!

This was an unexpected TWIST today! The Florida Fresh booth is not currently open. They’re serving up the menu from this booth over at the Odyssey Pavilion for now, so we’re headed there instead! pic.twitter.com/fpMyXherMT

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) February 28, 2024

The good news is that you can still enjoy the Florida Fresh menu elsewhere! For now, you can head to The Odyssey Pavilion to check out the Florida Fresh menu offerings, which include snacks like a Florida Strawberry Shortcake and a Grilled Warm Water Lobster Tail.

Here’s another look at the REAL Florida Fresh booth, which remains closed at this time. We’ll keep our eyes out for updates! (And stay tuned for our full review of the Florida Fresh dishes, too!)

OK, so problem #1 wasn’t a total lost cause. But that wasn’t all! Before we even STARTED digging into our snack list, we paid a visit to the Creations Shop. As you can see, the line to enter the store was LONG!

The Flower & Garden Festival booths don’t open until 11:00, so what does everyone do in the meantime? SHOPPING for festival merch! Let’s go! ?️ pic.twitter.com/24uhwbI803

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) February 28, 2024

We waited for a good chunk of time just to go shopping — yikes! Once we made it inside, Cast Members informed us that a Festival favorite — the Orange Bird Lug bag — comes with some strict restrictions. You can only buy ONE bag per person.

We found the Orange Bird @LugLife bag! The Figment version of these sold FAST on the first day of Festival of the Arts last month, so if you want one of these Orange Bird ones you’ll need to HURRY! ? pic.twitter.com/I5OjS5kqeM

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) February 28, 2024

The problems didn’t end there! We had big plans to sample alllll the special Joffrey’s drinks at the Flower and Garden Festival, but Disney had other ideas. When we stopped by the Joffrey’s location at World Showcase (Near Disney Traders), we attempted to order the Iced Berry Chai drink.

Unfortunately, during our visit, Cast Members informed us that they didn’t have the ingredients to make the Iced Berry Chai. We were told that Joffrey’s might not have the ingredients at all on the first day of the festival. Well, so much for that idea!

Wanna hear something ELSE? Yep, we’re still going. Over at the Northern Bloom food booth, we were pretty excited to try the Seared Scallops. Only there was one problem. Despite the name (and preview photos), we were given a Seared Scallop. Singular. One scallop. That’s it. For $7.75, we were hoping for a little more than, well, this.

Like we said, this festival isn’t perfect, but hey — nothing is! We’re hoping Disney can work out the kinks soon, and we’ll be sure to report any other changes we see throughout the event! In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.