My husband and I love going to the Flower & Garden show. We love looking at the displays and getting ideas for our own garden. We like the food booths and it is not crowded at all. We like listening to some of the guest speakers. This is my favorite festival at Epcot.
We also like going to the Food & Wine festival. However, we only go during the week to avoid the loud/crazy groups of drunk people. We have only been to a few of the demonstrations and thought the price was high for what you get.
We have never been to either of the parties. You can see the holiday parade before Christmas during the day for free, which is what we like to do. Our family doesn't want to wait in long lines for characters and we go often enough that the appeal of riding rides with minimal wait isn't a big deal. After I have paid for my annual passes, it is hard to justify spending more for a ticketed event when you only get a few extra things.