Disney kicks off its 17th International Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot

For those mourning the loss of Cypress Gardens from Central Florida's entertainment options, there is a ray of sunshine. It cannot take the place of the year-round theme park completely devoted to flowers and plant life, but this week Disney kicks off its 17th International Flower and Garden Festival at Disney's Epcot Center. If you are unfamiliar with this Disney event, read on for some highlights.

The festival is a 75 day celebration of plants, flowers, and everything outdoors. One of the most fun features offered at this year’s event is the topiary display. Imagine ten feet tall Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy made out of plants and flowers, fishing, roasting marshmallows, and other favorite outdoor activities. They’re really amazing to see. The park features about 70 of these gigantic and caringly constructed topiaries.

Spring begins in the third week of March. It’s a great excuse to get out to Epcot and enjoy the special surroundings while they last. This is the earliest start date of the 17 festivals since they began. Disney hopes that starting earlier will give visitors the chance to make the most of the tips and tricks taught during the festival in their own gardens before planting time is mostly over.

The event also offers educational opportunities, in case you need another excuse to visit. Top horticulturists will be on the premises to give gardening tips. There is even a butterfly garden with hundreds of colorful flying beauties.

Make sure you stay for the "Flower Power" concert series. Each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening, popular music artists of the 1970s and 60s will entertain crowds. It’s the perfect way to unwind after a bustling day on your well-used feet.

Legoland - Another Orlando Vacation Option for Families

Central Florida will soon have another option in theme parks. Legoland is coming! What is Legoland you ask? It takes the concept of one of the most adored children’s toys - Lego’s and makes it into an entire park. That’s right. Soon there will be a whole theme park in Winter Haven, Florida devoted to Lego’s.

You may recall the Lego attraction at Downtown Disney. Well, that’s the general idea, only picture a whole amusement park centered around the theme. There is one such existing park in the United States- in California. There are also a few Legolands in other countries.

This Legoland is going to take over the property formerly used by Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven. Cypress Gardens was home to tens of thousands of plant and flower species. They also held water shows and began adding rides over the past few years in order to attract more visitors. But apparently, their efforts were not enough and the park closed this past September. It will be interesting to see how Merlin Entertainment will redesign the space to house Legoland.

Winter Haven is about an hour’s drive from Orlando, so it’s definitely another possible draw to the Central Florida area while families are on their Orlando vacation. Most children own and like Lego’s, so it’s easy to imagine that families traveling to Orlando to visit Disney, Sea World, or Universal, will make the short trip to Legoland. Many already add Busch Gardens in Tampa to their plans. This just gives one more option.

The park is set to open by late 2011.