EPCOT Center

EPCOT, or the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow was Walt Disney's visionary idea comprising a huge transparent dome containing an entire city of harmony and progress. However, with Walt's death in 1966, many of the original ideas for EPCOT were lost, and the resulting EPCOT Centre built by the Disney imagineers is a compromise between the parts of the dream laid out by Walt, and what could be achieved in practice. It is subdivided into two main sections, Future World, and The World Showcase.

In some ways, the forward thinking of Epcot's Future World and the diversity of cultures at World Showcase keep a part of Walt's dream alive. Disney in this case turned the idea of Epcot into a fantastic theme park and it could be argued, moved the spirit of Epcot to the Disney built town of Celebration, Florida, only miles from the Magic of Walt Disney World.

EPCOT, the second oldest of Disney's Floridian theme parks was opened in 1982, and will probably need two days if you want to see and do everything within the park (one day in Future World, and one day around the World Showcase).

Future World

Future World which opens (and closes) earlier than the World Showcase, pretty much covers the area between the main entrance to EPCOT, and the large lagoon. It is themed into distinct pavilions, and is dominated by Spaceship Earth, a large 180ft geodesic sphere made from white aluminum. As well as providing a focus for the park, Spaceship Earth contains a slow ride, which winds its way along a track through the dome itself, tracing the history of human communication from cave drawings through satellite and television.

Behind Spaceship Earth is the Showcase Plaza with the EPCOT fountain, and flanked on either side by a curved "Innoventions" building, containing examples of "technology from tomorrow", though in reality almost everything on display has been with us for a few years in one form or another.

Buckle up and take the ride of your life up bumpy terrain, through hair-pin turns, into freezing cold chambers, and on to 50-degree banked curves at 60 miles an hour. It's all the hair-raising challenges of an automotive proving ground and this time, you're the test driver.

The Wonders of Life contains "Body Wars", a turbulent simulator ride through the human body. Other attraction include the Wondercycles, where you cycle through the EPCOT park which is presented in front of you on a television display, along with distance traveled and energy expended etc.

The recently refurbished Universe of Energy, features "Ellen's Energy Adventure", presented by Ellen DeGeneres.

In The Living Seas, you can explore a large man-made coral reef, teeming with tropical fish, or view sharks and manatees.

The Land features The Circle of Life, and environmental fable with the characters from The Lion King, whilst Living with The Land is a sedate boat ride and walk with an agricultural theme, demonstrating examples of soil-free gardening, plant biotechnology, fish farming, and pest management.

The Journey into Imagination pavilion houses the Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3-D theatre presentation, located in the Imagination Institute.

The World Showcase

The World Showcase covers the area around the lagoon at EPCOT, and it provides a view of the cultural heritage of 11 varied nations including Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, Morocco, France, The United Kingdom and Canada, though each should be taken with a large pinch of salt!

Each individual pavilion houses various attractions, including restaurants, rides, cinema presentations, live shows, and shops selling articles from the country concerned. The Rose & Crown Pub in the United Kingdom for example sells a range of typical British Beers (Bass, Guinness, Harp) in a traditional British Pub environment at very untraditionally high prices ("Innit Guvnor, Cor Blimey Mate!"), whilst in The American Adventure an audio-animatronics show depicting America's "incredible struggles and triumphs" can be seen.

Overall there is much less of a focus on the classic Disney characters within EPCOT, with character appearances very rare, although character dining with Mickey and other characters is available at the Garden Grill restaurant in the Land pavilion.

Disney Theme Park Links

Click around our Walt Disney World's four Theme Parks - Magic Kingdom, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney-MGM Studios.

Magic Kingdom	EPCOT	MGM Studios	Animal Kingdom