EPCOT
| EPCOT | |
|---|---|
| Location | Walt Disney World, Bay Lake, Florida, United States |
| Opened | October 1, 1982 |
| Area | 305 acres |
| Theme | Technology, innovation and world cultures |
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
| Operator | Disney Experiences |
| Status | Operating |
EPCOT is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1982, as EPCOT Center, it was the second park built at the resort and covers about 305 acres — roughly twice the area of Magic Kingdom. The park is symbolised by Spaceship Earth, a 180-foot geodesic sphere that also houses a ride through the history of communication.
EPCOT began as Walt Disney's most ambitious idea: EPCOT, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, a planned city of 20,000 residents that would serve as a working test bed for new urban technology. After Walt's death the company declined to run a city, and the concept was transformed into a park. As built, the park's front half — originally Future World, reorganised in 2021 into World Celebration, World Discovery and World Nature — presents science, technology and the natural world, while its rear half, World Showcase, is a ring of permanent pavilions representing eleven nations around a 40-acre lagoon.
History
Walt Disney unveiled the EPCOT concept in a film recorded in October 1966, weeks before his death. In the "Florida film" he described a city with a climate-controlled centre, radial transport by monorail and PeopleMover, and residents living with the newest technology. The city was to justify the entire Florida purchase; when the company instead opened Magic Kingdom first in 1971, the city concept was set aside, but the name survived.
In the mid-1970s the company revisited EPCOT as a park, merging two projects: a future-themed exposition with corporate-sponsored pavilions, and a permanent world's fair of nations. Construction began in 1979; the park cost more than a billion dollars and was, at the time, among the largest construction projects in the world. Card Walker, the company chairman, dedicated EPCOT Center on October 1, 1982.
Nine nations opened in World Showcase — Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, the United States, Italy, Germany, China and Mexico — joined by Morocco in 1984 and Norway in 1988, the last additions to date. The Living Seas (now The Seas with Nemo & Friends), Wonders of Life and Horizons pavilions filled out Future World through the 1980s. The 1990s brought the park's first thrill rides: Test Track (1999) and, in the next decade, Mission: SPACE (2003) and Soarin' (2005).
A multi-year transformation begun in 2019 replaced Future World's central plaza with gardens and the CommuniCore Hall complex, brought Remy's Ratatouille Adventure to the France pavilion (2021) and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (2022) — one of the world's longest enclosed roller coasters — and added Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana (2023).
Areas
- World Celebration — the entrance, Spaceship Earth, and gardens including Dreamers Point, with a statue of Walt Disney.
- World Discovery — science and space: Test Track, Mission: SPACE and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
- World Nature — land and sea: The Land pavilion (with Soarin' and Living with the Land), The Seas with Nemo & Friends, and Journey of Water.
- World Showcase — eleven national pavilions around World Showcase Lagoon: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, the United States (The American Adventure), Japan, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom and Canada. Most are staffed in part by cast members from the countries represented.
Festivals
EPCOT's calendar is anchored by seasonal festivals that add outdoor kitchens, gardens, concerts and exhibits: the Festival of the Arts (winter), the Flower & Garden Festival (spring), the Food & Wine Festival (autumn), and the Festival of the Holidays (late autumn to December). The festivals, begun with Food & Wine in 1995, now fill most of the year.