There are a lot of reasons people love EPCOT festivals.
Some guests go for the food booths. Some go for the drinks. Some go for the concerts. And some people go just because EPCOT feels like the only Disney park where you can wander around without needing a strict plan every second.
But if you ask most longtime fans what the Flower & Garden Festival is really about, they’ll tell you the truth.
It’s the topiaries.
Because Disney doesn’t just put a few flowers near the entrance and call it a day. EPCOT becomes a full-on character garden, with massive sculptures built from plants that somehow look more detailed than they have any right to.
And for 2026, Disney is clearly planning to go even bigger.
New details have been released for the 2026 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, and the topiary lineup is already sounding like something fans are going to obsess over. Disney confirmed that there will be more than 60 character topiaries across the park, plus mention-worthy gardens and floral displays placed throughout World Celebration, World Discovery, and World Showcase.
Of course, many of the familiar favorites will return. Guests can still expect to see staples like Mickey and Minnie, plus other classic characters placed around EPCOT in their usual “this is your photo stop now” locations.
But the biggest twist is that Disney isn’t just leaning on nostalgia this year.
It’s bringing in characters that feel like they’re being added for a very specific reason.
One of the most exciting additions is Mike Wazowski and Sulley, which is honestly a perfect fit for the Flower & Garden Festival. If Disney builds Sulley’s topiary the way fans are hoping, it could become one of the most popular displays in the entire park. It’s hard to top a giant fuzzy-looking monster made out of plants.
And then there’s the pair that’s going to be impossible to ignore.
Disney confirmed that Lightning McQueen and Mater are joining the festival’s topiary lineup. That alone is going to draw crowds, because Cars has always been one of those franchises that connects instantly with families. Even guests who aren’t huge Pixar people still recognize Lightning McQueen on sight.
But here’s what makes it feel bigger than just “new topiaries.”
Disney is currently in an era where the parks are shifting fast, and Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom both have massive franchise expansions on the horizon. Pixar has become one of Disney’s strongest theme park engines, and adding characters like these into EPCOT’s spring festival almost feels like Disney is planting the seeds early.
Literally.
Because once guests start seeing these characters pop up in EPCOT year after year, it makes their presence in future park expansions feel even more natural.
And if that’s the direction Disney is heading, then the 2026 Flower & Garden Festival may not just be a seasonal event.
It may be a sneak peek at the next chapter of Walt Disney World.
