Monday, March 21, 2016

Epcot's Egg Hunt & Flower and Garden Festival, 2016

Every year Epcot hosts an "Egg-stravaganza" Easter Egg Hunt around the world showcase, but in the past it's been less of a "hunt" and more of a "so obvious it'd be harder to miss them" kind of deal. Still cute, of course, but very little challenge.

This year, however, was SO MUCH BETTER. So now that the hunt's about to wrap up for the year (you have 'til 3/27, Dizgeeks), let's take a quick tour!

One of the best parts of the Hunt is that it falls during Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival, so you get eye-candy galore in the form of colorful topiaries and flower beds.


Anyone can look for the eggs, of course, but if you want the special map and Easter egg prize, you'll have to shell out (see what I did there?) about $6.

And this time the map was ORANGE! I approve.

You're supposed to put the egg stickers on the map as you find them, but you get your prize whether you complete the map or not. Here's Disney's official photo of your prize choices:
It's nice that they change up the eggs each time. Last year I got Donald:

 And this time we chose Cheshire for John.

More prettiness:
 




Btw, all of today's pics were taken on my iPhone 6. John convinced me to upgrade last year just for this camera, and I gotta say, I'm impressed. I've been leaving my Canon 7D at home more and more!


Now, let's talk eggs!

I knew something had changed with the Egg Hunt at our very first stop in Mexico, when 2 other guests asked for our help finding Chip's hiding spot:


He was tucked waaaay up high, opposite Mexico's main building.

Goofy was more obvious:


But look how far out Donald's egg was from the walkway:

Donald took us an extra few minutes; we kept searching the country pavilions instead of looking out towards the lake.

Germany:

Italy:



The hardest egg to find (by far) was America's. I bet there's a lesson in there somewhere...
Anyway, it took us a SOLID 10-15 minutes of combing every inch of the area before we *finally* overheard someone yell, "there it is!"

In the blinding sunlight, Mickey's dark egg blended into the shadows of those overhanging trees. Well played, Disney. WELL PLAYED.

Another easy find in Japan:

And you could see Pluto from the path while walking into Morocco:


Figment's egg was so high up in Italy, he was mostly a purple blur:

And Ditto for Thumper in the U.K.:

This was another mega-hard one to spot - so John found it first. Even with him describing exactly where to look, it took me a while.

And finally, here's Minnie's egg on another rooftop in Canada:


All in all, I love that the Hunt was more challenging this year, and I hope Disney keeps it up!

Now let's look at a few more pretties from our walk around the world:

(You already saw several of these if you follow me on Instagram. Hint hint.)

Orange poppies = squealy, happy Jen.

After dark all the colorful spot lights turn on, which brings a whole different feel to the topiaries:

 I like the blues on this Cinderella one:


And one last panorama:


Hope you guys enjoyed the tour!

27 comments:

  1. Cool... Nice to see they moved the egg in Italy. We searched for a bit before spotting it over Lady and the Tramp on the stairs there.

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    1. I was just going to comment with this! It took us a hot minute to find it there.

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  2. I LOVE that Perry's egg is there in Germany with my favorite Agent P adventure!!! Really gorgeous pics, Jen. :-)

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  3. I love all the prettiness! I desperately want to go to WDW (I'm a Westcoaster and therefore a DL gal), but ever since I heard they added Baymax to Epcot I've known a trip to the East coast was in order. It would be amazing to see Epcot with all the amazing flowers! I love how when Disney celebrates, they go all out. You should see the DL Diamond Decorations. Ah-mazing.

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  4. Thank you for sharing all your gorgeous photos, Jen! We love "traveling" vicariously to Disney through you!!! The Flower and Garden Show looks like it was amazing! Loved the Cinderella topiary photo!

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  5. so nice that they do stuff like this for the locals...gives you a reason to keep coming.

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  6. I'm very envious of you Cheshire egg (just as I was for Donald)! Thanks for sharing the fun with us!

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  7. Are the "people" eggs in the prize options supposed to be Woody and Jessie? I can't quite tell.

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    1. Yes. Not great, right? I think they should bring Donald & Daisy back. ;)

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    2. Thank you! OMG, I could not for the life of me figure out who those two were supposed to be. I would never have figured it out without your help.

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    3. I thought they were supposed to be Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

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  8. So pretty! I'm headed to DisneyWorld for my first trip at the beginning of April, and I can't wait--especially after seeing pics like this!

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  9. Thanks for all the tips on where to find the eggs - I know some people who are going this week and have been talking about the egg search for weeks! Love the topiary and flower pics.

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  10. Love it -- I desparately want to check this out some year. Did they do anything Easter-themed with the laser light show, too? Or was it the same?

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    1. No, the only time Illuminations changes (that I know of) is around Christmas, and I think also for New Year's Eve.

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  11. Gorgeous pictures - I've only been to DW once and it was magical. I always enjoy reading about the different events you guys are able to attend. Thank you for sharing!

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  12. We circled America for 15 minutes, went back to shop in the shop in Japan, searched for 10 more minutes, took a break with Voices of Liberty, and finally gave up and had to ask not 1 but 2 different CMs for clues when we'd spent another 10 minutes looking- Mickey was HARD! I loved the egg hunt this year though, it was much more difficult than years past! I just wish they'd had a Figment egg to go along with the Figment F&G theme.

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  13. If you're using your iPhone 6 more for photos, definitely try AutoStitch for your panorama shots. It's AMAZING. It is SO much easier than the included panorama option they have, and the pictures turn out phenomenal. I wear it out!

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  14. Jen, thanks to you and John for bringing a bit of Disney to your blog! Your pictures of F&G (I want to go one year!) are gorgeous!

    I have loved Disney movies since I was a child and finally made it to the parks in my late 20's. When I walked through the gates for the first time, I was four years old again and so excited that I cried! Disney allows me to forget the outside world, be as silly as I want to be when every other day I have to be an adult, and just enjoy the magic of childhood. Your excitement and enthusiasm as a Disnerd makes me miss it even more, and I can't wait to return next year!

    I hope this time I will be able to meet up with you and John in the parks instead of chickening out like I did last time. I know. I know. You're a human just like me, but you're... well, you're JEN of EPBOT!! And you're married to JOHN, hubby of JEN! And I'm a big ol' fan who got cold feet after tweeting you to see if you were going to be in the parks... but next time I will do it!!

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  15. SOOOO pretty!

    Do you have to turn your map and stickers in when you collect your egg at the end of the hunt, or do they just mark or stamp the map somehow so you can keep it?

    No wild bunnies around this year? I went back to look at last year's post again, but it was two years ago that you got the Donald egg. You missed last year's hunt?! NoooOooooo! *sniffle*

    Nice pics with that iPhone! Thanks so much for the photo tour!

    Hope you guys have a great Easter!

    KW

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    1. They only stamp the back of your map, so yes, we get to keep them!

      And dude, I couldn't believe my last Egg Hunt post was from 2 yrs ago... um... what happened to 2015?? LOL, time flies when you're documenting events on the internet...

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  16. I love when you post Disney pictures! One day I'll finally get to go and see all of it in person. One day.

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  17. I can't believe those were all iPhone pics...I was *certain* that first one was HDR till I read that line. Incredible.

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  18. Fantastic pictures, Jen! Thank you so much for sharing! One of these days I'll make it to Epcot. It's on my bucket list.

    Monday was DH's birthday and he wanted to go to DL. We hadn't been there together since 2008, so our hunt was to find all the changes. ;) I wish I had seen this post before we went; I saw people with the orange papers, but had no idea what they were for. Oh well, I snooze; I lose. At least I got to go on the Matterhorn (Kermit flail!). It's been closed during all the Grad Nights I've chaperoned.

    Thanks again for sharing your talent for photography!
    -Zippy

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  19. Thanks for sharing the answers! I've been to F&G a few times this spring, and found some, but not all the eggs (though I also blame getting distracted by the lovely flowers and food booths...).

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  20. Thanks for sharing the answers! I've been to F&G a few times this spring, and found some, but not all the eggs (though I also blame getting distracted by the lovely flowers and food booths...).

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  21. Jen I just love your pics of fun events, especially Disney! I'm in a tiny town in Wyoming with no big spectacles or entertainment, and it was lovely to see beautiful flowers blooming in bright colors while it was SNOWING outside here! Thanks for the virtual tours.

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