Entertainment
2017 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival – March 1 to May 29
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Celebrating 24 years when it kicked off March 1, 2017, the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival jump-started spring with blooms aplenty and gardens of edibles including toothsome morsels from the new Northern Bloom and The Berry Basket Outdoor Kitchens. A new, next-generation Belle topiary from “Beauty and the Beast” will debut in the France Pavilion, and a redesigned “Cars” play garden will introduce a colorful new character topiary sure to capture children’s imaginations.
The 90-day festival, open March 1-May 29, will feature an irresistible array of new gardens and character topiaries, popular entertainers and tasty food and drink offerings:
Outdoor Kitchens at Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. Courtesy of Walt Disney World
- Fresh, farm-market food and beverage flavors will debut at the new Northern Bloom and The Berry Basket Outdoor Kitchens that will join 13 returning Outdoor Kitchens. Delectable chef-inspired bites from Northern Bloom include seared scallops with french green beans and butter potatoes with brown-butter vinaigrette and Applewood smoked bacon. A maple popcorn shake for sipping can become an adult libation with the addition of some Crown Royal Maple Whiskey. At The Berry Basket, the lamb chop with quinoa salad and blackberry gastrique can pair with the new Founders Raubeaus Pure Raspberry Ale.
Topiary Tour at Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. Courtesy of Walt Disney World
- The new generation of princess topiaries (Snow White (above), Anna and Elsa – the first to be designed and created with topiary facial features) will welcome a brand-new Belle topiary as fans remember her from the Oscar-winning Disney film, “Beauty and the Beast.” Located outside the France Pavilion with the Beast topiary, Belle will come to life with sculpted facial features and her yellow ball gown created with golden blooming Joseph’s Coat and Creeping Jenny plants.
- Another festival first will be a 6-foot-tall topiary of “Figment,” the feisty dragon mascot of the park’s Imagination! Pavilion, perched atop a 5-foot-diameter ball fashioned from yellow Joseph’s Coat.
- This year’s Epcot front-entrance topiary garden, “Welcome Spring Fun, Food and Flowers,” inspired by a vintage Walt Disney short film, will spring to life with a floral-festooned maypole featuring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Daisy and Pluto.
Garden Rocks Concert Series at Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. Courtesy of Walt Disney World
The popular Garden Rocks concert series will expand to four days each week, with three concerts each Friday through Monday presenting pop musicians that span multiple genres over five decades. New acts this year: Simple Plan, Exposé and Berlin featuring Terri Nunn. Festival favorite Jon Secada kicked off the series March 3 and 4, and Dennis DeYoung featuring the music of STYX wrapped the long weekend March 5-6.
Garden Rocks Concerts Dining Packages at Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. Courtesy of Walt Disney World
New Garden Rocks Dining Packages will be available on select days at several Epcot restaurants. Guests can book packages at 407-WDW-DINE.
- Redesigned interactive play gardens will include the new “Cars”-themed Road to Florida 500 garden introducing the new “Cruz” character topiary from the June 2017 release of Disney•Pixar’s “Cars 3.” Music Garden Melodies play area will return with a new garden design, musical note topiary elements and climbing nets.
- During the first festival week, the Festival Center opened Wednesday, March 1 and each day through Sunday, March 5 with an entertaining mix of gardening seminars and DIY workshops. Throughout the rest of the festival, the center will be open each Friday through Sunday.
One of the popular Outdoor Kitchen gardens, Urban Farm Eats, will return with savory bites, sweet treats and ideas for planting produce that can inspire growing numbers of guests who want to learn to grow their own edibles.
“A lot of people, including young children, are serious foodies now, and they have lots of questions about gardening,” says Eric Darden, festival horticulture manager. “We’re getting more and more people in their 20s and 30s asking, ‘How can I grow this?’ I think we’ll be creating more gardeners because people can see what’s possible.”
The 2017 festival forecast will be sunny with colorful floral bursts by day and a nighttime landscape aglow with twinkling lights:
Frozen Ever After at Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. Courtesy of Walt Disney World
- Anna and Elsa topiaries will return to the Norway Pavilion festival landscape in celebration of the park’s new Frozen Ever After. Nearly 100 festival topiaries in all will include up to 70 character creations such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Lady and the Tramp, Simba, Timon and Tinker Bell.
- Topiaries of Donald Duck and nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie will share Future World space with Chip ‘n’ Dale for a “Fresh Epcot” selfie and family photo opportunity.
- Guests can plan on special appearances related to Earth Day and other spring activities including: March 31-April 2 and April 28-30: Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment and Conservation Specialists from Disney’s Animal Kingdom; April 22-24: Celebrate Earth Day with featured personalities and activities; May 5-7: Discover the Bounty of Florida Agriculture by learning from Sunshine State specialists; May 12-14: Florida Federation of Garden Clubs presents floral designs that defy description.
- The Butterflies on the Go garden will return with the story of the Monarch’s epic journey across the continent and featuring butterflies emerging from their chrysalises.
Soaring Around The World at Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. Courtesy of Walt Disney World
- On the way to the new Soarin’ Around the World attraction in The Land Pavilion, guests can discover gardens featuring edible flowers, plants that benefit health and healing, and a pollinator paradise.
Dozens of Disney-crafted “flower towers” and beds of multi-colored blooms will transform the park’s landscape. At least 70,000 bedding plants will surround the Future World east and west lakes alone; on the water, 220 mini-gardens will be set afloat.
The festival, including all gardening programs, exhibits, concerts, complimentary English Tea Garden tours and special appearances, is included in regular Epcot admission.
Source: Walt Disney World
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Willie David, Daisy Morales with Florida National News (FNN NEWS) news@FloridaNationalNews.com
Entertainment
Tom Cruise Brings Hollywood Star Power to Daytona as ‘Days of Thunder’ Sequel Energizes NASCAR
Cruise’s Daytona appearance puts NASCAR in the global entertainment spotlight as Cole Trickle prepares to return to the track in 2028
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) — Tom Cruise brought Hollywood star power to Daytona International Speedway, energizing the NASCAR garage and putting one of racing’s most recognizable movie characters back on the starting grid.
The global superstar’s appearance during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 weekend was more than a celebrity visit. Cruise came to Daytona to reconnect with NASCAR, meet today’s drivers and team owners, and introduce the next chapter of Days of Thunder, with Cruise returning as Cole Trickle and Anne Hathaway joining the franchise.
Florida National News was at Daytona capturing Cruise’s interaction with drivers, teams and fans as Hollywood and NASCAR came together at the World Center of Racing.
Cruise Brings Hollywood Star Power to Daytona
Cruise’s presence immediately became one of the biggest stories surrounding the NASCAR weekend.
The actor attended the pre-race drivers meeting and spent time with competitors and team owners as he learned more about how NASCAR has changed since the original Days of Thunder was released in 1990.
Cruise told NASCAR competitors that he wants the new movie to capture more than racing. His interest extends to the teams, people and culture surrounding the sport — an approach that could give NASCAR significant exposure beyond its traditional fan base.
For NASCAR, that star power matters.
Cruise is one of the world’s most recognizable movie stars, and a major theatrical production built around stock-car racing could introduce NASCAR’s drivers, teams and tracks to audiences who may rarely, if ever, watch a Cup Series race.
Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway pose alongside a “Cole Trickle” Days of Thunder race car in a promotional image for Days of Thunder 2.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Photo: Tom Cruise’s X social media
‘Days of Thunder’ Returns for a New NASCAR Generation
Cruise will reprise his role as Cole Trickle, the fearless young driver at the center of the original movie.
Hathaway will co-star as a race-team owner and engineer. Jonathan Levine is set to direct from a screenplay by Will Staples, while Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper are producing.
Paramount Pictures has scheduled the movie for June 2, 2028.
The sequel arrives nearly four decades after the original Days of Thunder brought NASCAR racing to movie theaters around the world.
The 1990 film starred Cruise alongside Robert Duvall, Nicole Kidman, Michael Rooker, Randy Quaid and Cary Elwes. Real NASCAR personalities were also incorporated into the production, establishing a connection between Hollywood fiction and the actual racing community.
Now Cruise is returning to a NASCAR that is dramatically different from the sport Cole Trickle entered in 1990.
NASCAR Drivers Already Want In
Cruise’s Daytona appearance also created another storyline: Which NASCAR stars will make it into the movie?
Three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano, along with Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson, has expressed interest in appearing in the sequel. Production is expected to begin in early 2027, leaving casting and potential NASCAR cameos among the major developments still ahead.
Their enthusiasm illustrates the cultural reach of the original film within NASCAR itself.
Many of today’s drivers grew up in an era when Days of Thunder had already become part of racing’s popular culture. Appearing alongside Cruise could now give a new generation of NASCAR competitors the opportunity once held by drivers who appeared in the original movie.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Helps Connect Hollywood With Modern NASCAR
NASCAR’s involvement may extend well beyond cameos.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has said he has been communicating with people developing the story, including discussions about how the movie can authentically portray today’s NASCAR while respecting what made the original memorable.
That input could prove valuable.
NASCAR has changed dramatically since 1990 — from its race cars and safety technology to team operations, media coverage and the way fans experience the sport. Capturing modern NASCAR while preserving the personality of the original movie will be one of the sequel’s central challenges.
Rick Hendrick Sees a Major Opportunity for NASCAR
Few people have a stronger connection to both chapters than legendary NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick.
Hendrick Motorsports provided technical support for the original movie, beginning a relationship among Hendrick, Cruise and producer Jerry Bruckheimer that stretches back decades.
Hendrick believes the sequel could provide a significant boost for NASCAR, saying the movie could do the sport “a tremendous amount of good.”
That assessment gets to the larger significance of Cruise’s Daytona appearance.
A Days of Thunder sequel isn’t simply another Hollywood production using racing as a backdrop. If NASCAR teams, drivers and tracks become part of the production, the movie could function as a global showcase for the sport.
From ‘Top Gun’ to ‘Days of Thunder’
Cruise has already demonstrated the potential of revisiting a signature movie decades later.
Top Gun: Maverick introduced the Top Gun franchise to a new generation while bringing longtime fans back to theaters. There is no guarantee Days of Thunder will duplicate that success, but NASCAR offers many of the elements associated with Cruise’s biggest action films — speed, technology, competition, danger and spectacle.
The difference this time is that NASCAR itself could share the spotlight.
Cruise isn’t simply returning to the fictional world of Cole Trickle. He is immersing himself in the real NASCAR garage before cameras begin rolling.
Daytona Becomes the Starting Line
That makes Daytona an important part of the sequel’s developing story.
Daytona International Speedway represents generations of NASCAR history. Cruise’s decision to bring Days of Thunder back into that environment connected the original film, today’s NASCAR and Hollywood’s upcoming sequel in one place.
For longtime NASCAR fans, Cruise’s return revives memories of Cole Trickle.
For younger audiences, the new film could provide their first introduction to the character — and potentially their first meaningful exposure to NASCAR.
For the sport itself, the possibilities are considerably larger.
Cruise and Hathaway give the production international star power. NASCAR provides the speed, personalities, rivalries and authenticity. Daytona provided the stage where those worlds came together.
And NASCAR drivers are already lining up to become part of it.
What’s Next for ‘Days of Thunder’
Attention now turns toward production, which is expected to begin in early 2027. Additional casting, filming locations, participating NASCAR organizations and driver cameos remain among the biggest unanswered questions.
The finished movie is scheduled to arrive in theaters June 2, 2028.
Between now and then, NASCAR has an unusual opportunity: allow one of Hollywood’s biggest stars to take audiences behind the wheel and into the culture of American stock-car racing.
At Daytona, Cruise provided the first taste of what that combination could generate.
The thunder is coming back — and NASCAR could be one of its biggest stars.
Entertainment
Miss Texas, Miss Utah and Miss New Jersey Win 2026 Miss America Preliminary Talent Awards
Miss Texas, Miss Utah and Miss New Jersey earn Miss America talent honors as national competition heads into championship weekend
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (FNN) — The Miss America Organization announced the 2026 Miss America and Miss America’s Teen Kawai Pianos Preliminary Talent Award winners following the Miss America’s Got Talent competition at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach.
The Sept. 3 competition showcased the talents of delegates competing for the Miss America and Miss America’s Teen titles, with performances spanning a range of artistic disciplines.
Miss America preliminary talent winners Miss Texas Regan Hutsell, Miss Utah Erika Dalton and Miss New Jersey Kylie Gene Wright celebrate after receiving Kawai Pianos Preliminary Talent Awards during the Miss America’s Got Talent competition in West Palm Beach, Florida. Source Miss America
Miss America Preliminary Talent Award Winners
Three Miss America delegates received Kawai Pianos Preliminary Talent Awards, with each winner earning a $3,000 scholarship:
- Miss Texas Regan Hutsell
- Miss Utah Erika Dalton
- Miss New Jersey Kylie Gene Wright
The awards recognize artistry, creativity, discipline and dedication demonstrated during the preliminary talent competition.
Miss America’s Teen preliminary talent winners Miss Utah’s Teen Elle Anderson, Miss Oregon’s Teen Aria Christensen and Miss New Hampshire’s Teen Kendall Laroche celebrate with their Kawai Pianos Preliminary Talent Awards during the national competition in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Miss America’s Teen Preliminary Talent Award Winners
Three Miss America’s Teen delegates also earned preliminary talent honors. Each receives a $1,500 scholarship:
- Miss Utah’s Teen Elle Anderson
- Miss Oregon’s Teen Aria Christensen
- Miss New Hampshire’s Teen Kendall Laroche
The six preliminary awards provide a combined $13,500 in scholarships.
Seven Judges Evaluate Miss America Talent Competition
The preliminary talent performances were evaluated by a seven-member judging panel representing entertainment and the performing arts.
Judges included Alida Michal, Brooklyn Mack, Jill Twiss, J. Harrison Ghee, Lora Drasner, Shelly Bramhall and Marisha Wallace.
The talent competition remains a central component of the Miss America program, giving delegates an opportunity to demonstrate performance ability while competing for scholarship awards.
Miss America Championship Weekend Continues in West Palm Beach
The national competition continues Saturday, Sept. 5, with the Miss America’s Teen Final at 7 p.m.
The Miss America Final follows Sunday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m., when the organization is scheduled to crown the 99th Miss America.
Both events are being held at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach as The Palm Beaches hosts the national competition.
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