EPCOT's 2027 Festival of the Arts Gains a Week and Flower and Garden Loses One, Leaving 129 Spring Festival Days Either Way

Disney published its 2027 spring calendar for Walt Disney World this morning, and the two EPCOT festivals that anchor the season both moved. The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts runs January 15 through March 1, and the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival runs March 10 through May 31.

Disney called out one of those changes. In its spring offers roundup it wrote that the Festival of the Arts had been extended "an extra week," which is accurate: the 2026 edition ran January 16 to February 23, or 39 days, and the 2027 edition runs 46.

None of Disney's three posts note that Flower and Garden went the other way by exactly the same amount. The 2026 festival ran March 4 to June 1, a 90 day run. The 2027 festival runs 83 days.

Add the two together and the spring festival season lands in precisely the same place both years: 129 days of festival at EPCOT in 2026, and 129 days in 2027. The week came off the front of Flower and Garden, which now opens March 10 instead of March 4, and went onto the back of Festival of the Arts, which now runs through March 1 instead of February 23. The eight day gap between the two festivals is identical in both years, which is what makes this a slide rather than a stretch. May is untouched.

What is confirmed so far: Festival of the Arts returns presented by the Disney Lorcana Trading Card Game, with the DISNEY ON BROADWAY Concert Series at the America Gardens Theatre, more than 20 Food Studios, the Ink & Find Scavenger Hunt, the Collection Quest and the Illumineer's Lounge. Flower and Garden brings back the Garden Rocks Concert Series, the Outdoor Kitchens and the character topiaries. Disney has not yet released either festival's performer lineup, Foodie Guide or dining package booking dates, and says all of those are coming later.

Four offers opened for booking today

Alongside the dates, Disney opened booking on its 2027 vacation offers. There are four, and they do not share a single set of terms: one is a fixed four night package that runs three months longer than the rest, one requires a stay of five nights or longer, and the other two differ mainly in who qualifies.

The package offer saves up to $250 per night on select four night, four day room and ticket packages with the Disney Resorts Collection, on select nights January 3 through July 28, 2027. The three room only discounts are shorter: up to 25% off select rooms for the general public, up to 30% for eligible Disney Visa Cardmembers on stays of five nights or longer with January and February weekend discounts, and up to 35% for Walt Disney World Annual Passholders. All three of those run select nights January 3 through April 29, 2027.

April 29 is the date worth writing down, because it falls inside Flower and Garden rather than after it. The festival opens March 10 and closes May 31. The room discount windows reach 51 days into the festival and then stop, leaving April 30 and the entire month of May, 32 days, outside every room only offer Disney announced today. Disney also qualifies all three as select nights within those windows, so the real coverage is thinner than 51 days. The room and ticket package does reach into that stretch, but it applies only to select four night, four day packages and bundles tickets, so it is not a like for like substitute for a discounted room.

The offers page went up behind a waiting room

Disney's special offers page was not simply live when booking opened. Checked at 8:15 a.m. Eastern, disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/ was returning a redirect into a Queue-it virtual waiting room, under a queue named for the 2027 offers. The queue was configured and named in advance, which means Disney planned for a rush rather than reacting to one. It is worth knowing before you sit down to book, because a waiting room is easy to mistake for a broken page.

What Disney has not said: every discount is quoted as "up to," and the announcement itself carries no starting rates and no resort by resort breakdown. Disney points to DisneyWorld.com/Offers for availability, excluded dates and full terms. Which resorts sit at the top of the 35% Passholder tier is what decides whether that headline number is reachable on any given trip, and Disney has not said.

What this means if you are planning

If you want a festival trip on a discounted room, the calendar now argues for the front half of spring. January and February give you Festival of the Arts with all three room discounts inside their window, subject to select nights Disney has not published. March and April give you Flower and Garden with those discounts still in play. May gives you Flower and Garden with the room offers gone.

The caveat: these are the offers Disney announced today, not the only ones that will exist. Disney has added and extended spring offers in past years, and separate bounceback offers go out to guests already staying on property, so a May room discount is not ruled out. It is just not part of today's announcement.

Source: Disney Parks Blog, plus its separate posts on the 2027 Festival of the Arts and 2027 Flower and Garden Festival.