EPCOT: The History Behind Disney's Dream

When Walt Disney first envisioned his EPCOT, he dreamed of an actual city where people worked, lived, and played. A model society that would house up to 20,000 people and an airport, among other things. Disney worked on this idea up until his death in 1966, even creating a short film about his dream. After his death, Disney employees kept his dream alive but the EPCOT we know today is only a glimmer of what Disney hoped it would be. 

EPCOT, originally known as EPCOT Center, eventually opened its doors on October 1, 1982 more than 15 years after Disney's death. The word EPCOT is an acronym that Disney himself created that stood for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Walt Disney's dream was a place that would showcase new technologies and the spirit of American creativity and ingenuity. The original EPCOT was designed as a circle, not the figure eight it is today, that would house schools, businesses, and homes, with people movers and monorails used for transportation, like those already being designed for use in the Magic Kingdom. There would be parking outside the main area and underground roads to keep the city pedestrian friendly. There were no countries in the original design.

The closest that Disney came to recognizing his idea of a self-sufficient, futuristic town is that of Celebration, Florida. With an idyllic design which included white picket fences, homes were first available for individual home ownership in 1994. It is a town originally designed by the Disney Corporation but not run by it. While Disney originally wanted to have a town within the EPCOT walls, after his death, many within the corporation thought it best to leave the business of running a city to others.

While Future World is not exactly the city atmosphere that Disney imagined, the theme of this area of the park is keeping in line with Disney's love of creativity and imagination. There are areas that focus on technology and other futuristic ideas. Keeping up with Disney's spirit of adventure, today you can snorkel with underwater sea creatures or take a tour Behind the Seeds.

To keep Disney's dream alive of creating an everlasting World's Fair, the folks at Disney Corporation, the imagineers, had the idea of bringing countries into the park. When the park opened there were 9 country pavilions: Mexico, China, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, France, UK and Canada, with Morocco opening in 1984, and Norway in 1988. Three suggested countries in the original design were Israel, Spain, and Equatorial Africa. Many more have since been suggested.

Each country has cast members, Disney employees, who are from the country you are visiting, making EPCOT an authentic experience where you can see, taste, and bring home a bit of each of the countries. To learn more about each of the countries, there are also boat rides, movies and shows that tell the history of each one.

Given Disney's original dream of showcasing all the advancements that the world had to offer, it should come as no surprise that corporate sponsors played a big role when EPCOT opened and still play a role today. For example, when the park opened, AT&T and Bell Telephone sponsored Spaceship Earth (Siemens took over the sponsorship contract in 2005 until today) In return for sponsorship, EPCOT relies on its partners for technical assistance and inspiration for rides and attractions. What do the companies get out of it? The added bonus of product placement and advertising within the park along with the ability to "test drive" ideas. Other key sponsors are or have been: Coca-Cola, Exxon-Mobil, MetLife, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, GM (now Chevrolet) and Kraft, to name a few. When you head to EPCOT on your next trip, check out Club Cool with tastes of Coke products from around the world.

Today, EPCOT in Orlando sees more than 11 million visitors and hosts major events throughout the year, such as the International Food and Wine Festival, International Flower and Garden Festival and International Festival of the Arts. Other daily adventures include: the evening fireworks display, the chance to be a Secret Agent like Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb and look for clues in the countries to solve a mystery, or learn from the inventions of others like segways.

"EPCOT will be an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that 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