PHOTOS & VIDEOS: The NEW Groot Topiary Debuts in EPCOT — And it Plays Music!
One of the arguably best parts of the EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival is all the festive topiaries!
Pluto, Mickey, and Minnie topiaries
The Flower & Garden Festival kicks off on February 28th and we’ve been keeping you updated on all the returning topiaries around the park. This year there are a few new topiaries expected to arrive, and we just came across one of them for the first time today!
Groot Topiary
The new Groot topiary has officially arrived! You can find him not far from Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in the World Discovery neighborhood.
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Groot is in his younger form, holding a cassette tape labeled as “Green-House Mix Vol. 1.”
Groot topiary
When we first arrived at the topiary, it was playing a song! The cassette tape actually moves, and we heard “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone.
Groot topiary
We stuck around for a bit to hear if any other songs would play, and the cassette tape moved periodically in the interim. You can see it moving in our video below!
The brand new Groot topiary has arrived in World Discovery for the 2024 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival 🌸🌷🌼
Groot is holding a Green-House Mix Vol. 1 cassette that actually plays music and spins 🎶 #epcot #flowerandgarden #groot pic.twitter.com/5rkrSdf2hN
— MickeyBlog.com (@MickeyBlog_) February 26, 2024
We didn’t hear another song for around 40 minutes, when “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes played at 9:40AM.
We heard Escape (The Piña Colada Song) playing from the Groot topiary! #guardiansofthegalaxy #flowerandgarden #groottopiary #epcot pic.twitter.com/pYzrta21Zu
— MickeyBlog.com (@MickeyBlog_) February 26, 2024
We were able to confirm with Cast Members that there are multiple songs, but we don’t know which songs or how many there are in total.
Groot topiary
At 10AM, “I Want You Back” by the Jackson Five played, followed by “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra at 10:20AM.
Note that these songs (so far) can be found on the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 mixtapes.
Groot topiary
Our guess is that music generally plays approximately every 20 minutes, although we heard music at 9AM, 9:40AM, and then 10AM, so your mileage may vary.
Groot topiary
Near Groot’s feet was also this little guy, which appears to be a kind of futuristic version of Spike the Bee.
Blue bee
It’s blue and yellow and it looks like its abdomen may light up after dark!
Blue bee
UPDATE 2/29/24: Just a few days later, we observed that Groot’s cassette tape seemed to be having issues spinning, and a Cast Member let us know that occasionally there have been some issues with the music playing, too.
Hopefully, it’s a quick fix for Disney, but just keep this in mind if you stop by to check it out!
We are back in Epcot to enjoy another day of Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival!
We are noticing that Groots Topiary is having trouble with the tape spinning today???🤔
Hopefully it’s a quick fix because we love this Topiary! pic.twitter.com/EXTa3HCmzA
— MickeyBlog.com (@MickeyBlog_) February 29, 2024
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