If nothing else, the gray, sometimes rainy, often windy conditions on the first day of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival sure made the blooms pop.

The 30th edition of the Walt Disney World event began Wednesday with many trademark attractions, including topiaries, flower towers, floating gardens, butterfly garden, Garden Rocks concerts and outdoor kitchens.

But there’s also newness to be found in the beds, on menus and inside the theme park’s new CommuniCore Hall.

New growth

Right away, Epcot visitors can see newly designed topiaries featuring characters great and small from “Moana,” the 2016 animated film.

You’ve got your little Heihei, a chicken character, atop Pua, the pet pig of Moana, whose figure is nearby. And then there’s megatopiary Maui (voiced in the film by Dwayne Johnson) looming. Disney tends to keep these figures proportional, Maui certainly would tower above poultry.

Maui may not be the biggest ever at the fest – let’s flash back to that big ol’ surfing Goofy of yore – but it’s a widebody with greenery girth.

There are lighting effects as daylight fades incorporated into Moana’s paddle and Maui’s Maui-sized fish hook.

In other topiary topics, the figures for Phineas and Ferb have returned to the festival. They are located on the bridge to World Showcase. The settings for all the topiaries and gardens are listed in the festival passport.

Redecking the hall

CommuniCore Hall, the flexible-use space that opened last year, has new horticultural theme for this fest and it’s told from the sizing of the Spike the Bee character.

Aside from some large botanical arrangements, there are displays include brief backgrounds on how Disney creates hanging baskets, floating gardens, flower towers and topiaries. There are rarely seen scaled-down models for Elsa, Anna Bo Peep, Figment, Phineas and Ferb on display.

This version of CommuniCore is brightly colored from floor to ceiling, where visitors can see yet another Spike hovering. There is also seating and some couches. Absent in the space for this fest is any merchandise sales. It’s a soothing spot with nature-driven songs for a soundtrack. (“Flight of the Bumblebee” fits here in not in “Fantasia.”)

The space includes Farmers Feast, an outdoor kitchen that’s indoors. It’s the spot with the menu set to change out twice during the fest. Current options include grilled asparagus, scallop with spring pea risotto and blueberry crumble cake.

Bird land

Orange Bird again is the dominant figure for the Flower & Garden merchandise, much of it branded with a 30th anniversary logo.

O.B. can be spotted in the usual ways: T-shirts, backpacks, mouse-ear hats, caps (“Peelin’ Happy!” reads one with the bird’s head on it), drinking vessels, Spirit Jersey items, Christmas ornaments, etc.

On opening day, there were maddening crowds around the festival trading pins that feature Orange Bird, Figment, Winnie the Pooh and Simba. Folks were lined up out the door at Creations Shop, and the queue was still there at midday Wednesday.

Not into the bird? There’s also an “Alice in Wonderland” themed collection for the festival.

Club grub and new playground

Two new outdoor kitchens are set up side-by-side this year. Beach Grub and Yacht Grub are a vibe inspired by the Yacht Club and Beach Club resorts that are Epcot’s next-door neighbors. On their menus: seafood bake, grilled street corn on the cob, coconut water, dips with chips, meat and cheese plates, a trio of sparkling cocktails and s’mores.

These stations, located in the former rose garden that leads toward World Showcase, are connected by the new Playalong Bay, a large nautical-themed playground with aqua accents. It looks striking from across the park and is in great contrast to the Imagination Pavilion that stands in the distance. Playalong Bay is sponsored by Smucker’s Uncrustables, so that explains directional signs pointing to Port Peanut Butter and (wait for it) Grape Canaveral.

Initial eats

On day one, we checked out a few of the recommended or anticipated food items. At Citrus Blossom, operating out of the Odyssey Building, there was citrus-baked brie ($5.50) and lemon tart ($5). The cheese’s oregon-lemon marmalade was so sticky sweet it could have flown over from the Honey Beestro kitchen. Lemon tart, as the name implies, was extremely lemony and tarty.

Both dishes were so firm, I wish I had picked up a knife. But they were also big enough to share – another reason for that knife.

The Florida Fresh counter, built into the exterior of CommunCore Hall, offers conch fritters ($6.50) , which were flavorful and tender. As if they weren’t Florida forward enough, they came with a dipping sauce of key lime aioli.

The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival runs daily through June 2.

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