Walt Disney World has announced the debut of the Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour for Christmas 2024 at EPCOT. This post offers a rundown of this new addition to the Enchanting Extras Collection, plus our commentary about why we’re so excited for this behind the scenes look at the Merry & Bright overlay of Living with the Land.
Let’s start with basics. Living with the Land: Merry & Bright is the EPCOT Festival of the Holidays overlay of the iconic greenhouse tour. It began several years ago and has gotten bigger and better with each passing year, resulting in ‘spinoffs’ of sorts for the other festivals. It’s to the point that the additions to Living with the Land for Food & Wine almost qualify as an overlay. Not quite, but close.
Living with the Land: Merry & Bright is a special, sparkling boat ride during which you can enjoy a peaceful cruise and view twinkling holiday light displays throughout the greenhouses. There are daytime decorations, and little vignettes with presents and such, but the greenhouses really shine at night when they’re illuminated with Christmas lights.
We absolutely love Living with the Land. It’s one of the Walt Disney World attractions we do the most. We also absolutely love Christmas lights. Put those two things together, and we are squarely the target audience for Living with the Land: Merry and Bright Nights.
Unsurprisingly, we absolutely love this overlay. I could go on and on about this, gushing about the calming atmosphere, thoroughness, and understated simplicity of it all. Suffice to say, do not miss Living with the Land: Merry and Bright Nights! It’s the best holiday ride overlay at Walt Disney World…which isn’t really saying much as the Florida parks don’t really do seasonal overlays, but it’s still very fantastic for what it is.
Anyway, here’s Walt Disney World’s description of the new Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses Tour:
Celebrate the joyous season with a limited-time walking tour of the Glimmering Greenhouses at The Land Pavilion. During this one-hour experience, you’ll:
- Learn about crops that bring festive flavors to many of our holiday traditions.
- Enjoy brilliant light displays.
- Explore hydroponic greenhouses and discover sustainable growing techniques used to bring the Glimmering Greenhouses to life!
The Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour is offered at 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Tour cost is $45 per Person (tax not included); no discount information has been released yet.
The Behind the Seeds tour is still available during the day. Advance reservations are highly recommended, as availability is limited. Make reservations online or via the My Disney Experience app. Same-day reservations and walk-ins can be made on a limited basis and are subject to availability.
Here’s important information about Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour:
- Valid admission required. A theme park reservation may be required based on admission type.
- You’ll be on your feet for the whole hour of this walking tour. With that in mind, make sure you wear comfortable shoes.
- Riding Living with the Land prior to the tour will give you a preview of what to expect. Please be aware that the tour highlights listed above are subject to change.
- Please check in 15 minutes prior to the start of your tour at the lower level of The Land Pavilion near the attraction exit.
- There is a 24-hour cancellation policy. Full price will be charged/forfeited if the Guest cancels within one day or fails to show up for the reservation.
- Guests must be at least 3 years of age to participate in this tour.
- Guests under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a paying adult.
Before we dig into the commentary, here’s a quick plug for the regular Behind the Seeds tour, which we’d highly recommend before doing the Glimmering Greenhouses tour.
If you like the Living with the Land attraction at EPCOT, then you’ll love Behind the Seeds. This one-hour tour of the fish farm and 4 greenhouses that make up the Land Pavilion is perfect for anyone with an interest in gardening or natural sciences.
Behind the Seeds teaches guests about the latest plant-growing techniques, including hydroponics. It also showcases the hybrid striped bass, tilapia, catfish and freshwater shrimp in EPCOT’s fish farm. Along the way, you’ll behold gigantic fruits and vegetables and unusual crops from around the world.
During Behind the Seeds, you’ll take in the sights and smells of unusual crops from around the world while exploring the future of agriculture. Your knowledgeable guide will help you discover some of the latest plant-growing techniques in use at The Land, including hydroponics, and provide ideas you can try at home in your own garden.
We absolutely love Behind the Seeds at EPCOT, and it’s actually the first Walt Disney World tour we recommend. And keep in mind that I say this as someone who hates horticulture of the participatory and am not allowed near our garden due to an unfortunate lawnmower incident over a decade ago. So it’s not like I’m exactly the target audience for Behind the Seeds!
Read and see more in our Behind the Seeds at EPCOT Tour Review.
Turning to commentary, I absolutely love the Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour for a couple of reasons.
Back when EPCOT tours returned in 2022, I specifically asked for exactly this: “Now that the Merry & Bright overlay is an annual thing that seems to get bigger and better each year, I’d love to see Walt Disney World offer nighttime Behind the Seeds tours at Christmas-time.”
Given that, I feel obligated to book the Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour. It’s either my civic duty or necessary for the sake of very important research–perhaps both. And I guess it would probably be pretty fun and atmospheric, too. But a sense of obligation is the main reason I’ll do it–not personal enjoyment!
Joking aside, “restoring upcharges” was one of the things we listed in Walt Disney World Could Fix the Guest Experience by Improving These Things. Obviously that’s an unconventional request given that the majority of guest complaints revolve around pricing.
However, as pointed out there, spiraling costs are far from the only issue. Plenty of guests have complaints about paying more while getting less, and there are two ways to resolve that–only one of which is realistic. Other fans want upcharge opportunities that offer commensurate value for the extra money. These notions are not in conflict–it’s possible to be upset about paying more while getting less, while also having a willingness to splurge on something special that’s “worth it.”
There’s actually a lot in the Enchanting Extras Collection (and associated add-ons) that gives Walt Disney World a tremendous amount of repeatability for regulars. Things like certain behind the scenes or VIP tours, dining or dessert parties, early or late park access, and much more. The big one that comes to mind for us is the EPCOT festival seminars and experiences–which is a big reason why our review of the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine lamented the event as “remicrowaved leftovers.”
Point being, the Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour is exactly what I had in mind when writing that. Getting to spend an hour walking around the Living with the Land greenhouses at night all decked out and aglow for the holiday season is precisely the kind of new-to-us experience that sounds special and keeps us coming back.
Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses is certainly not going to be for all Walt Disney World fans and it’s pricey at $45 per person (especially contrasted with what Behind the Seeds used to cost), but this is tailor-made for our interests. I already know it’ll be an awesome experience that’s 100% worth it to us, and one of the highlights of our holiday season. (I would say #1, but Sarah is really looking forward to Jollywood Nights since she didn’t get to do that this year.)
That might sound extreme, but again, we aren’t everyone–and this is the type of thing that ‘speaks to us’ and keeps us coming back. Oh, and if Walt Disney World is already looking for a way to boost Christmas 2025 bookings in ‘response’ to Epic Universe…I have a somewhat similar idea.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the new Behind the Seeds: Glimmering Greenhouses tour of Living with the Land at EPCOT? Planning on booking this? Is $45 to walk around greenhouses and look at Christmas lights too steep for you? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
