Sunrise, egg hunts & alleluias —

Easter in Central Florida,
All in One Basket

Every egg hunt, festival, sunrise service and church celebration around Orlando, Kissimmee & St. Cloud — headlined by Eggsploration, the annual Easter egg hunt at Krush Brau Park. Free, family-focused, and verified every season by Lifestyles CFL.

🐣 Explore Eggsploration Browse every event
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🥚 Dozens of annual events ⛪ A full directory of churches 🌅 Easter 2027: Sunday, March 28 ☦️ Orthodox Pascha 2027: Sunday, May 2
Hop around town

Annual Easter Events Around Central Florida

Egg hunts, festivals, sunrise services, theme-park celebrations and community traditions that return every spring across Orlando, Kissimmee, St. Cloud and beyond. Exact dates shift with the church calendar each year — every listing links to the official page so you can confirm this season's schedule.

Mark the calendar

When Is Easter? Key Dates for 2027 & Beyond

Easter is a "moveable feast" — it lands on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox, so it wanders between March 22 and April 25. Here's the roadmap.

Holy Week 2027

ObservanceDate
Ash Wednesday (Lent begins)February 10, 2027
Palm SundayMarch 21, 2027
Maundy (Holy) ThursdayMarch 25, 2027
Good FridayMarch 26, 2027
Holy Saturday / Easter VigilMarch 27, 2027
Easter SundayMarch 28, 2027

Most egg hunts and community festivals happen on the one or two Saturdays before Easter; sunrise services are held Easter morning.

Easter Sunday, Year by Year

YearWestern EasterOrthodox Pascha
2027March 28May 2
2028April 16April 16
2029April 1April 8
2030April 21April 28

Western churches (Catholic and Protestant) use the Gregorian calendar; Orthodox churches calculate Pascha from the Julian calendar, so the two sometimes coincide — as in 2028 — and sometimes sit weeks apart.

The story behind the season

A Short History of Easter

Easter is the oldest and most important festival of the Christian year — the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion, as recounted in all four Gospels. Christians have kept the feast since the first century, when it grew directly out of the Jewish Passover; in most of the world's languages its name is still some form of Pascha, from the Hebrew Pesach. Two thousand years later, the same weekend fills Central Florida with sunrise services on the water, packed sanctuaries, and children racing across parks with baskets in hand.

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From Passover to Pascha

The earliest Christians — most of them Jewish — remembered the resurrection during Passover season, since the crucifixion took place at Passover in Jerusalem. By the second century, churches across the Roman world kept an annual feast of the resurrection, celebrated with an all-night vigil and baptisms at dawn.

In AD 325 the Council of Nicaea set a common rule so all churches would celebrate together: Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox.

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Why the name "Easter"?

English and German are the odd ones out. The 8th-century English monk Bede wrote that the name came from Ēostre, an Anglo-Saxon figure associated with springtime whose month coincided with the feast. Nearly every other language uses a form of Pascha — Spanish Pascua, French Pâques, Italian Pasqua, Greek Páscha.

Whatever the word, the meaning has been constant for two millennia: the feast of the resurrection.

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Why eggs?

Eggs have symbolized new life and the empty tomb since the early church — and for centuries eggs were among the foods given up for Lent, so they piled up and were decorated, blessed and feasted on at Easter. Medieval Christians dyed them red to recall the blood of Christ; elaborately decorated eggs like Ukrainian pysanky turned the custom into folk art.

Egg rolls, egg hunts and egg trees all grew from that same tradition — right up to the White House Easter Egg Roll, held since 1878.

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The Easter Bunny is German

The egg-delivering hare — the Osterhase — first appears in German writings in the 1600s. Children built nests, and the hare laid colored eggs for the well-behaved. German immigrants carried the custom to America in the 1700s, where the nests became today's Easter baskets.

Which makes it delightfully fitting that Central Florida's marquee egg hunt, Eggsploration, is hosted at Krush Brau Park — a German festival park.

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Sunrise services

The Gospels record that the women found the empty tomb "very early... just after sunrise" (Mark 16:2). The first organized Easter sunrise service was held by Moravian Christians in Herrnhut, Germany in 1732, and the custom spread worldwide — including to Florida's lakefronts and beaches, where congregations gather in the dark to greet the dawn.

Central Florida's sunrise services — on Daytona's sands and Orlando's lakes — carry on a 290-year-old tradition.

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How churches celebrate today

Catholic parishes keep the Sacred Triduum — Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the great Easter Vigil after nightfall on Holy Saturday. Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian churches follow similar Holy Week liturgies. Baptist and non-denominational churches often add extra Easter services, cantatas and family festivals. Orthodox Christians celebrate Pascha at midnight with candlelight and the proclamation "Christ is risen!"

Find a congregation for your family in the church directory below.

Every tradition welcome

Central Florida Church Directory for Easter

Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Orthodox and non-denominational congregations across Orlando, Kissimmee, St. Cloud and neighboring towns — each with address, phone and website so you can check Holy Week and Easter service times. Most churches publish their Easter schedules a few weeks ahead; call or check the website to confirm.

Good questions

Easter in Central Florida — FAQ

When is Easter in 2027?
Western Easter — celebrated by Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and most non-denominational churches — falls on Sunday, March 28, 2027. Good Friday is March 26 and Palm Sunday is March 21. Orthodox Pascha falls later, on Sunday, May 2, 2027.
What is Eggsploration at Krush Brau Park?
Eggsploration (also styled Eggploration) is the free annual family Easter egg hunt and festival at Krush Brau Park's Portal Immersion Center, 2198 Four Winds Blvd, Kissimmee. Kids hunt in age groups so every child leaves with candy and prizes, plus Easter Bunny photos, egg coloring, face painting, a bounce house, DJ and games. Register on Eventbrite and watch krushbraupark.com for the 2027 date.
Does Krush Brau Park host other family events during the year?
Yes — the park runs festivals nearly year-round: Oktoberfest (September–November), Weihnachtsfest with Santa & Krampus (December), Dogtoberfest, Summertoberfest, Hallows Fall Fest at Halloween, and European brunches at the Portal Immersion Center. See krushbraupark.com for the calendar.
Are Easter egg hunts in Central Florida free?
Many are! City parks-and-recreation hunts and most church egg hunts are free community events; theme-park and venue events are usually ticketed. Each listing in our events directory notes cost where the organizer publishes it — always confirm on the official page.
Where are the best Easter sunrise services?
Central Florida's most beloved sunrise services happen at the water's edge — most famously on the beach in Daytona and along Orlando-area lakefronts — plus dozens of church campuses across the region. See the Sunrise Services filter in the events directory above.
Why do Orthodox churches celebrate Easter later?
Orthodox churches calculate Pascha using the older Julian calendar, so their Easter usually lands one to five weeks after Western Easter (and occasionally on the same day, as in 2028). In 2027, Orthodox Pascha is May 2.
Can I get an Easter basket delivered to my Orlando resort?
Yes — our sponsor Mouse to Your House hand-delivers Easter baskets and themed gift boxes to all major theme park resorts in Orlando — Walt Disney World, Universal and SeaWorld area hotels and vacation rentals — via your resort's concierge. Plan to order about 3 days ahead of delivery. Call 833-321-4438 or email hello@mousetoyourhouse.com.
Who runs this site?
Eggploration.com is a free community guide hosted by Lifestyles CFL, a Central Florida lifestyle publisher — the team behind guides like Kissimmees.com. Reach us at contact@lifestylescfl.com or (407) 449-2022.
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Lifestyles CFL

We're a Central Florida lifestyle publisher shining a light on the people, places and traditions that make our corner of the Sunshine State feel like home — from Easter morning to Oktoberfest night. Know an annual Easter event or church we should add? Tell us and we'll verify and list it free.

✉️ contact@lifestylescfl.com 📞 (407) 449-2022