Does F&G Opening Draw Crowds Like F&W Opening?

[Cosmic Commando]

My friends are going to WDW March 5-9. Flower & Garden opens on the 7th. Is it worth recommending that they go to Epcot before then? Touringplans seems to be ambivalent, but that's just the rides. Does the park itself get really crowded?

 

[shipley731]

I don't think that opening day for F&G will be anything like the opening day of F&W. Since opening day is on a Wednesday, I don't think there will be huge crowds. Most of the special event presentations are on the weekends. F&W usually starts on a Friday. During the day, it's generally not bad, but by about 5:30pm World Showcase gets crazy crowded due to the locals coming in for the festival after they get off work.

That being said, they could always go to EPCOT the day before the festival opens on March 6. Touring plans is calling that day a 1. The topiaries should all be in place by then, your friends just wouldn't be able to walk through any of the other exhibits.

 

[JillC LI]

My friends are going to WDW March 5-9. Flower & Garden opens on the 7th. Is it worth recommending that they go to Epcot before then? Touringplans seems to be ambivalent, but that's just the rides. Does the park itself get really crowded?

We were at EPCOT on opening day of the F&G show in 2011. We arrived at the park a half hour before opening, and I have never seen lines like that at the entrance for people to get in before opening. The park was definitely more crowded than usual for that time of year. We were able to ride what we wanted to early in the day using FPs wisely, but your friends should definitely plan on there being more crowds. That said, the topiaries for the F&G show were amazing to see, and there was a butterfly tent as well for showgoers.