Greetings from EPCOT on the final day of February, as we usher out the month, the previous festival, and apparently wintertime as a whole. We’re only a few days away from the start of Taste of EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, so naturally the preparations for that have ramped up. Meanwhile, World Showcase Lagoon continues to fill up with more barges for Harmonious, making for an interest time of transition for the storied park.
First thing, we’re scoping out the new flag poles which which installed on Friday — sadly, the flags for the countries of World Showcase have not yet been hung.
At Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, crews are taking the day off, and the progress we observed yesterday is where the project has been left today.
It’s a similar story for Innoventions East, where significant progress has been made on refreshing the location for Mouse Gear, but not much was added today.
Innoventions West demolition has kicked into gear as of late, and the portion of structural framing which remains is on borrowed time, unlikely to last through the end of March.
While Innoventions West has demolition, World Showcase Lagoon has had many (questionable) additions. After the centerpiece ring barge was added yesterday, the third section of the huge central structure was added, bringing with it two more arms for the centerpiece.
The first set of arms was put into place Friday, ahead of the ring structure being joined to it.
Out near the Imagination Pavilion, Winnie the Pooh is anxiously waiting for the butterflies to arrive so he can catch them.
Inside the pavilion, the variety of Figment merchandise has become unusually narrow, especially when it comes to apparel.
On the outskirts of the former Innoventions Plaza, the purple martins were out and about enjoying the warmth today.
Nearby, flowers are planted and ready to welcome signage for the Taste of EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival. This planter is home to displays for all of the festivals throughout the year.
For no particular reason, we decided to explore the Canada Pavilion a little more today. The pavilion has a beautiful waterfall and some of the best gardens of World Showcase.
The JAMMitors also perform, at least for the time being, in the Canada Pavilion on the Mill Stage.
In International Gateway, this single butterfly topiary welcomes guests with World Showcase Lagoon in the background.
In our case, we were heading out to hitch a ride on the Skyliner and check out the France Pavilion expansion. Little has changed since the walls were moved back into the expansion, though.
Back in the park, we caught Mickey & Friends World Tour rolling through between France and the U.K.
In the Morocco Pavilion, a slight change has been made to some of the new offerings from the food cart found deep within the area, with the chick peas and nuts & dates now being served in plastic containers instead of in baggies.
The restrooms in the area, however, have not seen any progression or development since being walled off.
Unusually for a weekend day, Garden House within the Japan Pavilion was closed today.
The koi fish were energetic as usual, with or without Garden House being open.
Finally, we rounded out our day back at the front of the park alongside Spaceship Earth, which is awaiting the addition of a new light show to coincide with Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration.
That’ll do it for our trip to EPCOT today. Be sure to stay tuned to WDWNT.com all week long for all of our reviews, photos, and details from the debut of the 2021 Taste of EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival!