It’s time! The 2024 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival is now open, and we bet you’re wondering how bad the crowds were on opening day!

The 2024 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival kicked off February 28th and runs through May 27th this year. The Festival began on a Wednesday, which could make the crowds a bit better than a Festival that may start on a Friday (when more guests may have already arrived for their weekend trips). But that doesn’t mean EPCOT won’t get busy. So join us now for an honest look at the crowds so you know what to expect.

We started our morning bright and early at EPCOT to see what the Festival had to offer! When we got to the entrance, crowds were already lined up. As expected, it wasn’t the worst festival crowds at the entrance that we’ve seen, possibly because it was on a Wednesday.

When we got into the park, we saw a VERY long line at Creations Shop. Those Lug bags are very popular this year, and people were ready to grab the festival merchandise. The line to go into the store was about 20 minutes for us when we got in it, but we guess that it got to around 45 minutes.

What do day 1 merch lines look like on a festival day? A lot like this!

We’re on our way to Creations Shop to see everything new to this year’s Flower & Garden Festival! pic.twitter.com/DeSenGrhHQ

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) February 28, 2024

EPCOT opened at 9AM ET to all guests, but at 8:30AM to Disney World hotel guests with the Early Theme Park Entry perk. While that 30 minutes into the park won’t necessarily help you get a head start on the food booths (many of these don’t open until World Showcase opens, around 11AM), it CAN help you get early access to some great photo opportunities in the park and (perhaps more importantly) the merchandise.

We’re anticipating that the Lug festival bags will sell out quickly, but hopefully, Disney has lots in storage to keep refilling the stands throughout the day like they did with the Festival of the Arts this year. For the Flower and Garden Festival, the Orange Bird Lug bags are limited to one per person!

There are also new Loungefly backpacks and ears that are limited to two per person and Annual Passholder t-shirts are limited to one persone.

It should be noted, that we were at EPCOT well before the Festival food booths (the main stars of the show) opened. We expect crowds could get MUCH worse as the day goes on, so here’s our pro tip for conquering some of the crowds: GO EARLY! Getting in early and taking advantage of that Early Theme Park Entry time (if you qualify) could be key to helping you enjoy some of EPCOT with lower crowds.

While Early Theme Park Entry or even just rope-dropping the Park won’t get you access to everything, you can walk around the open areas, see the Festival topiaries that you have access to, and potentially even grab some Festival merchandise with lower crowds.

Want to make sure you’ve got the perfect look for the Flower & Garden Festival? Pick up our DFB-exclusive Flower & Garden Festival shirt right now!

You can grab the shirt in a regular or v-neck design, pick up a sweatshirt or long-sleeve tee with the same design, and/or grab our DFB Flower & Garden Festival Guide to make sure you’ve got EVERYTHING you need! See full details about our Festival Guide below!

Will you be visiting the Flower & Garden Festival? Let us know in the comments!

The post You Don’t Wanna See the LONG LINE We’ve Already Waited In at the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival 🫣 first appeared on the disney food blog.