FL -- Lake Buena Vista -- Disney's EPCOT:
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- Wikipedia Description: Epcot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Epcot is the second theme park built at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. It was dedicated to international culture and technological innovation. The park opened on October 1, 1982, and was named EPCOT Center from 1982 to 1993. Based on square footage, it was the largest Disney theme park in the world until 1998, when Disney's Animal Kingdom opened.
EPCOT is inspired by Walt Disney's creative vision. Here, human achievements are celebrated through imagination, wonders of enterprise and concepts of a future that promises new and exciting benefits for all.
"May EPCOT Center entertain, inform and inspire and above all, may it instill a new sense of belief and pride in man's ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere. " -- — E. Cardon Walker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Walt Disney Productions, October 1, 1982
The planned community:
The name Epcot derives from the acronym EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow), a utopian city of the future planned by Walt Disney (he sometimes used the word "City" instead of "Community" when expanding the acronym). In Walt Disney's words: "EPCOT...will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise."
Walt Disney's original vision of EPCOT was for a model community, home to twenty thousand residents, which would be a test bed for city planning and organization. The community was to have been built in the shape of a circle, with businesses and commercial areas at its center, community buildings and schools and recreational complexes around it, and residential neighborhoods along the perimeter. Transportation would have been provided by monorails and PeopleMovers (like the one in the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland). Automobile traffic would be kept underground, leaving pedestrians safe above-ground. Walt Disney said, "It will be a planned, controlled community, a showcase for American industry and research, schools, cultural and educational opportunities. In EPCOT, there will be no slum areas because we won't let them develop. There will be no landowners and therefore no voting control. People will rent houses instead of buying them, and at modest rentals. There will be no retirees; everyone must be employed." The original model of this original vision of EPCOT can still be seen by passengers riding the Tomorrowland Transit Authority attraction in the Magic Kingdom park; when the PeopleMover enters the showhouse for Stitch's Great Escape, the model is visible on the left (when facing forward) behind glass. This vision was not realized. Walt Disney was not able to obtain funding and permission to start work on his Florida property until he agreed to build the Magic Kingdom first. Disney passed away before the Magic Kingdom opened.
Spaceship Earth is the symbol of Epcot. Mickey's magic wand and the Walt Disney World monorail track are visible beside it. After Disney's death, The Walt Disney Company later decided that it did not want to be in the business of running a town. The model community of Celebration, Florida has been mentioned as a realization of Disney's original vision, but Celebration is based on concepts of new urbanism which is radically different from Disney's modernist and futurist visions. However, the idea of EPCOT was instrumental in prompting the state of Florida to create the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) and the Cities of Bay Lake and Reedy Creek (soon renamed Lake Buena Vista), a legislative mechanism which allows the Walt Disney Company to exercise governmental powers over Walt Disney World. Control over the RCID is vested in the landowners of the district, and the promise of an actual city in the district would have meant that the powers of the RCID would have been distributed among the landowners in EPCOT. Because the idea of EPCOT was never implemented, the Disney Corporation remained almost the sole landowner in the district allowing it to maintain control of the RCID and the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista. Disney's intent appears to be that it wishes to keep the RCID as an instrument of the company, as witnessed by the method by which the RCID redrew its boundaries to exclude Celebration rather than allow Celebration's resident landowners to dilute Disney's control over the RCID.
The theme park:
The landscape of Epcot includes lots of water, grassy slopes, and many trees.The Epcot theme park was originally known as EPCOT Center to reflect the fact that the park was built to embody the ideals and values of EPCOT the city. In 1994, the name was changed to Epcot '94 and subsequently Epcot '95 a year later. By 1996, the park was known simply as Epcot, a non-acronym, mixed-case word, as the park no longer reflected Walt Disney's plans for a futuristic city.
The original plans for the park showed indecision over what the park's purpose was to be: some Imagineers wanted it to represent the cutting edge of technology, while others wanted it to showcase international cultures and customs. At one point a model of the futuristic park was pushed together against a model of the international park, and EPCOT Center was born - a theme park with the flavor of a World's Fair.
Epcot is generally regarded as more "learning-oriented" than other theme parks. It has only three thrill rides (Test Track, Mission: SPACE, and Soarin'); the rest of its attractions are dark rides, shows, or walkthrough exhibits. Epcot's Future World is showing its age; the exhibits there no longer represent the most modern advances in technology.
Epcot is also regarded today as the quintessential park of the 1980s. There are many who feel the park is severely outdated. On the other hand, there are many who enjoy the nostalgia as there has been a growing trend toward interest in 1980s culture. To showcase this growing trend, Epcot has a performance troupe in the Future World area perform many New Wave hits from the '80s on synthesizer instruments. The troupe dresses in Duran Duran and A Flock Of Seagulls-esque clothing and also performs many Disney songs.
Various satirical expansions of the acronym Epcot have emerged over time, such as "Every Person Comes Out Tired" (because of the amount of walking required in the park), "Every Pocketbook Comes Out Thinner," "Evil Polyester Costumes Of Torture" (which refers to the puppets in the Tapestry of Nations and Tapestry of Dreams that created back problems from many Cast Members)(this satirical acronym actually predates the Tapestry of Nations parade by more than a decade and refers to the costumes of most Cast Members throughout Walt Disney World, as polyester is not very comfortable in the Florida humidity), "Every Paycheck Comes On Thursday" (the pay day for Disney Cast Members), "Eisner Puts Cash On Table" (in light of the high admission price to the Disney parks, and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner's bonuses in the 1990s), "Eisner's Personal Coin-Operated Toy," and "Eisner's Personal Cash On Tap."
Opening day:
EPCOT Center's grand opening on October 1, 1982Before the park debuted on October 1, 1982, Walt Disney World Ambassador Genie Field introduced E. Cardon Walker, Disney's chairman and CEO, who dedicated EPCOT Center and presented a family with lifetime passes for the two Walt Disney World theme parks. Walker's remarks were followed by Florida Governor Bob Graham and William Ellinghouse, president of AT&T.
As part of the opening-day ceremony, dancers and band members performed We've Just Begun to Dream. The Sherman Brothers wrote a song especially for the occasion entitled, "The World Showcase March". During the finale, doves and many sets of balloons were released.
Performing groups representing countries from all over the world performed in World Showcase. Water gathered from major rivers across the globe was emptied into the park's lagoon from ceremonial containers to mark the opening.
Facts and figures:
Total cost: $1.4 billion (estimated)
Construction time: three years (at the time the largest construction project on Earth)
Park size: over 300 acres (1.2 kmē)
Parking lot:
141 acres (including bus area)
11,211 vehicles (grass areas hold additional 500+ vehicles)
The pavement at Epcot was engineered by Disney and Kodak photography to be painted a specific custom color of pink that makes the grass look greener and pictures look brighter. In addition, the colored sidewalks give an overall cleaner look to the park.
Unlike the Magic Kingdom, Epcot only contains tunnels underneath the buildings that contain Innoventions East, the Electric Umbrella, MouseGear, Innoventions West, and the building housing Club Cool and Fountain View Espresso. The tunnels are used primarily for the support facilities necessary for the merchandise shops and restaurants contained therein (stock rooms, break rooms, prep kitchens, garbage disposal, etc). There is an entry/exit corridor that runs from the northeast corner of the tunnels (the area below Innoventions East/the Electric Umbrella restaurant) to a backstage area located between the Universe of Energy/Ellen's Energy Adventure and the east side of the main entrance complex.
To commemorate the opening of EPCOT Center in 1982, the Imagineers who worked on the project put together a massive cake that was a scale model of the park. It was dubbed "EpCake: The Experimental Prototype Cake of Tomorrow".
Park layout:
The park consists of two sections: Future World and World Showcase. Both are patterned after the kinds of exhibits which were popular at World's Fairs in the first two-thirds of the 20th century, in particular the 1939 New York World's Fair. Epcot has become essentially a permanent display of the world's nations.
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