Everything I Ate on the First Day of EPCOT’s 2026 Flower & Garden Festival
The EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival is one of my favorite times to be at Disney World, and honestly, one of the best excuses to eat your way around World Showcase. The park transforms every spring, bringing topiaries on every corner, new outdoor kitchens open with menus that actually change year to year, and the whole vibe shifts into something a little busier and a lot more beautiful. We were there on opening day of the 2026 festival, and naturally, I ate as much as humanly possible and ranked everything so you don't have to guess. Here's my honest take on everything we tried!
🌎 World Showcase 🌎
Mexico - Jardin de Fiestas
Taco de Calamar: Flour tortilla filled with crispy calamari, fried garlic, pasilla aïoli, and chives - $9.00
The flavor of this taco was fantastic, it was just very small (street taco, so that makes sense) and the calamari being so chewy made it difficult to bite.
RANK: 4.5/5
Flower Power Margarita: Dulce Vida Blanco Tequila, Orange-Pineapple Juice, Blackcurrant-Lavender Liqueur, and Empress 1908 Gin with a Rose Petal Flower Salt Rim - $15.00
This margarita was refreshing and delicious, but a little heavy on the alcohol content and not anything to write home about or keep me coming back.
RANK: 4/5
China - Lan Yuan
House-made Cheesy Crab Wontons: Fried wontons filled with cream cheese, celery, and imitation crab stick - $9.75
Yes, these are a pretty basic Chinese snack that you can get anywhere, but these were fantastic! The chili sauce on top added a perfect touch of sweetness to the savory, and they were decently sized.
RANK: 5/5
Sha Cha Beef Bao Bun filled with pan-fried beef, red onion, and jalapeño in Chinese sha cha peanut sauce - $7.75
The flavors were in the right direction and the bao bun was so soft and pillowy, but the meat was really tough & difficult to eat.
RANK: 3.5/5
Canada - Northern Bloom
Seared Scallops with french green beans, marble potatoes, and bacon vinaigrette - $8.19
I was really excited for this snack, but was ultimately let down. The green beans and potatoes were fine despite being few, but the scallops were so overcooked and chewy and I didn’t taste any of the bacon vinaigrette (also 2, very small scallops). I chose this over trying the other festival item, but I wish that I had gotten the beef tips instead.
RANK: 2/5
France - Fleur de Lys
Canard Confit, Sauce Romarin et Champignons, Gâteau de Polenta aux Herbes: Pulled duck confit with rosemary mushroom sauce and herbed polenta corn cake - $9.95
I had high expectations for this and it delivered! The duck was so tender and flavorful with the rosemary mushroom sauce and it felt like a lot of food with the polenta corn cake.
RANK: 5/5
Croissant au Fromage de Chèvre, Herbes et Ail Rôtie: Croissant with Goat Cheese, Herbs, and Roasted Garlic - $8.25
Absolutely fantastic flavors! The croissant was perfectly light and flaky and I thought it had a perfect amount of goat cheese filling. The roasted garlic on top was so nice with the goat cheese.
RANK: 5/5
Beignet Caramélisé, Fourré Crème Vanille, Glacé au Caramel Fleur de Sel: Caramelized beignet filled with vanilla cream and glazed with caramel fleur de sel - $7.95
I had high hopes for this based on the description, but this was absolutely NOT a beignet. It mostly resembled a bomboloni donut - it was VERY dense and too sweet. It definitely needed more salt to balance it out, but my husband and I couldn’t even finish it when sharing.
RANK: 2.5/5
🌐 World Celebration 🌐
Beach Grub
Seafood Bake with shrimp, mussels, clams, andouille sausage, red potatoes, corn on the cob, persillade butter, white wine broth, and grilled sourdough - $8.49
My hopes weren’t super high for a seafood bake at Disney World, but this was amazing! It was a lot of food for the price (2 mussels, 2 clams, 2 shrimp, 2 potatoes, 2 sausages, half of a corn on the cob, and 2 grilled sourdough slices!!), and it tasted like what I’ve had from any beach restaurant.
RANK: 5/5
*Grilled Street Corn on the Cob with savory garlic spread featuring Boursin Dairy-Free Garlic & Fine Herbs Cheese - $5.99
I am a freak for corn - it’s my literal favorite food - and this grilled corn was a massive highlight for me. I watched them grill it and roll it in the boursin cheese and spices. It was giving me flashbacks to the greatest grilled corn in the WORLD, previously at Harambe Fruit Market in Animal Kingdom (may she rest in peace). It was the closest I’ve ever come to tasting that again.
RANK: 5/5
BRUNCHCOT
Shrimp and Grits: Blackened shrimp and cheddar cheese grits with tasso ham gravy, bell peppers, onions, and andouille sausage - $7.79
I didn’t have super high hopes for this, mostly because of the ham gravy being thrown in, but it truly made this fantastic. The grits were creamy and the flavor of the veggies and gravy really brought everything together. The only reason it doesn’t get 5 stars, is because my bowl somehow managed to not have any sausage.
RANK: 4.5/5
French Toast with cinnamon cereal cream and caramel sauce - $5.29
This was surprisingly delicious - the juxtaposition of the soft, sweet cream with the crunchy cereal was perfect. I just found myself wanting a more liquid sauce like syrup as opposed to a drizzle of caramel.
RANK: 4.5/5
The Citrus Blossom
Orange-Sesame Tempura Shrimp with orange-chile sauce - $7.79
I was half and half on these. There were 5 shrimps which felt like a good portion, and the orange-chile sauce was delicious but the tempura was really over bearing and a very plain flavor. The only flavoring was really in the sauce.
RANK: 3/5
Cinnamon Beignets tossed in lemon sugar, lemon glaze, and honey mead blueberry compote - $5.29
Stop calling pastries beignets when they aren’t beignets!!! This is the second festival item this year that they’ve called a beignet when it’s entirely too dense to be anything but a donut. These were literally small, hard, and mostly stale donut bites. The flavors of the lemon glaze, lemon sugar, and blueberry compote were great, but the quality of the donut bite itself was not. This was a pretty big disappointment considering last year’s cinnamon bites were outstanding and they didn’t bring them back.
RANK: 2.5/5
Orange Lemon Smoothie - $5.29
I initially didn’t plan to get this due to it being offered in a $15 souvenir cup that I didn’t care about, but they did offer an option without the souvenir, and it was a hot day so I grabbed it. While it was delicious and refreshing, it definitely just tasted like an orange creamsicle drink and I was expecting more lemon.
RANK: 3/5
Connections Eatery
Garden Glimmer: Empress 1908 Gin, DOLE Pineapple Juice, lemon juice, almond-flavored syrup - $16.50
As a big fan of Empress 1908, I loved the idea of this drink but it was ultimately a let-down. The size for $16.60 was ridiculous, I didn’t taste any of the almond-flavoring, and while very pretty they way it’s present, it absolutely needed to be shaken to mix in the flavors. With the name, I think it would’ve been so fun to have added in edible glitter too!
RANK: 3/5
If you're heading to the 2026 Flower & Garden Festival and want to go in with a plan, I put together a full digital guide that covers everything in one place! The complete snack and drink menus for every outdoor kitchen, the full Garden Rocks concert schedule, a breakdown of all the festival activities including the Garden Graze passport and Spike's Pollen-Nation Exploration scavenger hunt, a complete topiary and garden map, and a food and drink map so you always know exactly where you're standing. It's designed to be pulled up on your phone right in the park. You can grab it below for just $2 — consider it the itinerary you'll actually use.
