From Dream to Reality
EPCOT has always been the oddball of Walt Disney World, its not quite a castle park, not quite a thrill-seeker’s paradise, but something entirely its own, and that was exactly the point. Walt Disney’s vision for EPCOT was nothing short of a utopian future city, but what we got was a theme park that took us on a journey through innovation, imagination, and international culture.
The Early Vision: Walt’s Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow
When Walt Disney first announced this grand idea for EPCOT in 1966, it wasn’t meant to be a theme park at all. Instead, he envisioned a futuristic city where people would live, work, and test cutting edge technology. A place where you could ride a monorail to work, live in a climate-controlled dome, and have robots delivering your groceries (which, let’s be honest, sounds like a Disney+ original series waiting to happen).
His vision although was ambitious, he saw EPCOT as corporate living utopia, where no one owned property, and life was carefully designed to maximise efficiency and innovation. However, the concern arose, would anyone actually want to live in a city there was no ownership, and corporations had control over daily life?
Sadly, Walt passed away before his vision became reality, and the company struggled with how to get the project off the ground. Instead of an actual city, EPCOT became a theme park, one that would honour the original idea and the man behind it (with the added Statue of Walt Disney at Dreamer Point) by celebrating progress, innovation, and global culture. So on October 1st 1982, EPCOT Center opened its gates.
Construction Challenges
At the time of construction EPCOT was the most expensive Disney park ever built, costing over $1 billion in 1982 dollars. This was down to the massive scale, twice the size of Magic Kingdom. Disney required help and sought corporate sponsors to fund this ambitious project. Future World pavilions like Spaceship Earth, The Land, and Universe of Energy were all backed by major companies like Exxon, General Motors, and Kraft. Without their financial support, EPCOT may never have been completed.
Future World and World Showcase
When EPCOT opened it started with two distinct sections. Future World (all about technology and innovation) and World Showcase (a journey through international cultures). The original attractions were cutting-edge to for their time, showcasing everything from space travel to underwater exploration to what it was like to be inside the human body (shoutout to Cranium Command, the original Inside Out).
EPCOT’s opening day lineup included some truly futuristic experiences for the time:
- Universe of Energy: A journey through the history of energy, complete with dinosaurs (and later, Ellen DeGeneres making it a bizarrely fun experience).
- The Land: A pavilion focused on sustainability, featuring the boat ride Living with the Land, which still exists today (and remains an underrated classic).
- Spaceship Earth: The main iconic attraction inside the geodesic sphere originally had a far darker and ominous ending, emphasising technology’s potential dangers before later versions softened the message.
Classic EPCOT attractions if you visited EPCOT in the ’80s or ’90s, you might remember:
- Horizons: The ultimate vision of the future, complete with underwater cities and space colonies (and that orange-scented scene that still lives rent free in my brain).
- The Original Journey Into Imagination: Where Dreamfinder and Figment taught us that creativity had no limits. It remains one of my favourite childhood EPCOT memories, and I’ll never forgive its “reimagining” for making Figment feel like a nostalgic throwback instead of the park’s unofficial mascot.
- World of Motion: The history of transportation, narrated with dad joke level puns (that would make a Jungle Cruise skipper laugh) before Test Track zoomed in to take its place.
- CommuniCore & Innoventions: EPCOT’s hands-on tech playgrounds, where you could test out the latest gadgets (and marvel at computers that took up entire rooms). We even got to test out a cool Magic Carpet ride through the streets of Agrabah using virtual reality headsets, this scene is now part of PhilharMagic.
- Kitchen Kabaret: Because nothing says thrilling theme park attraction like a singing tomato and a rapping milk carton teaching you about nutrition.
EPCOT’s Hidden Secrets
EPCOT is packed with details that only hardcore fans (or Disney Imagineering nerds) will notice. Here are a few secrets to look out for:
- The Hydrolators at The Living Seas Weren’t Real, If you visited EPCOT in its early days, you might remember stepping into the Hydrolators to “descend” into SeaBase Alpha. The trick? The elevators never actually moved! It was a clever illusion using sound effects and slight floor vibrations. Mind. Blown.
- The Reverse Waterfall, near Journey Into Imagination, you’ll find a waterfall that flows… upward. It’s a quirky detail that Imagineers included to reinforce the park’s theme of imagination and the unexpected.
- The “Ghost” Track in Test Track, before Test Track’s major refurbishment in 2012, there was a hidden piece of track where the ride’s original queue used to be. Will this still be visible after the 2025 Test Track Refurbishment? Take a peek behind some of the walls near the entrance to see!
- The Secret VIP Lounge in Spaceship Earth, believe it or not, Spaceship Earth has a hidden VIP lounge inside. Originally used by corporate sponsors, it’s mostly off-limits to guests but can sometimes be accessed during special events.
My First EPCOT Experience (1988)
My first visit to EPCOT was in 1988, and I still remember standing around the fountains near Figment, getting absolutely drenched like I was starring in my own water show. It’s funny how some of those smaller memories stick with you, though I do wish I had dried off before going on Spaceship Earth.
EPCOT Evolves
Dining with Disney Royalty, one of my all-time favourite recent EPCOT moments was in 2023, when my daughter had the absolute best time at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. Seeing her fully engaged, asking the princesses about their stories, having them sit down at our table talking to her, and the way she lit up in the moment? That’s the kind of Disney magic that sticks with you forever.
Diving Into the Magic. Speaking of once-in-a-lifetime EPCOT experiences, I also got the chance to SCUBA dive in The Seas With Nemo & Friends in 2023 (click here to read more about that adventure). If you’ve ever wanted to feel like part of an EPCOT attraction, I highly recommend it.
Favourite EPCOT Memories
EPCOT has seen some massive transformations over the years. Some changes have been exciting, while others (cough Journey Into Imagination’s downgrade cough) still sting.
The Biggest Changes:
- Spaceship Earth Narrators: For me, the Walter Cronkite version will always be peak nostalgia, but I also have a soft spot for Dame Judi Dench and her “thank the Phoenicians” era.
- Test Track replacing World of Motion: Faster cars, fewer dad jokes.
- Soarin’ replacing Food Rocks: Look, I love Soarin’, but it still feels weird knowing an animatronic singing piece of cheese had to die for it.
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind: EPCOT’s first real thrill ride, proving the park can balance nostalgia and high-energy fun.
The Future of EPCOT
EPCOT’s tagline has always been about the community of tomorrow, so change is part of its DNA. While we hold onto fond memories of Horizons, Dreamfinder, and Cranium Command, it’s also exciting to see what Disney Imagineers can think up next.
That said… can we please bring back? And tell me Cranium Command wouldn’t be perfect as an Inside Out attraction, having it go full circle? Just saying.
Final Thoughts: EPCOT’s Perfect Balance
EPCOT is at its best when it blends thrill, nostalgia and education. From my go-to Mexican margaritas and tacos (seriously, Mexico Pavilion is undefeated) to the Rose & Crown’s whiskey flights, I love how the park continues to evolve while keeping some of its heart intact.
If I could bring back one old attraction? It’s Horizons, hands down. But if EPCOT has taught us anything, it’s that the future is always just around the corner.
So here’s to the past, present, and future of EPCOT, where imagination still takes flight, even if Dreamfinder isn’t piloting the ship anymore.
We would love to hear your favourite memories and thoughts on EPCOTs past and future, so leave a comment below
Diving Into the Magic. Speaking of once-in-a-lifetime EPCOT experiences, I also got the chance to SCUBA dive in The Seas With Nemo & Friends in 2023 (click here to read more about that adventure). If you’ve ever wanted to feel like part of an EPCOT attraction, I highly recommend it.
