The name Epcot is 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."
The Epcot theme park was originally known as EPCOT Center to reflect the acronym explained above, and the fact that the park was located near the center of the Walt Disney property when it was built. Later, however, the "Center" was dropped in 1995 as the property expanded and changed shape. "Epcot" was also changed to mixed-case as the park no longer reflected Walt Disney's plans for a futurist 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.
Epcot is generally regarded as more "learning-oriented" than other Disney World theme parks. It has only two thrill rides (Test Track and Mission: SPACE); the rest of its attractions are dark rides, shows, films, or walkthrough exhibits. A plan code-named "Project Gemini" is rumored to exist which would change Future World into "Discoveryland," change its theme to the idea of discovery, reduce the pressure to keep everything cutting-edge, and add a few more thrill rides. A few Future World pavilions have already received major renovations, including Universe of Energy (which now features Ellen's Energy Adventure), World of Motion (now a high speed car ride called Test Track), Horizons (now the simulator attraction Mission: Space), and most recently The Land, which now features the simulator ride Soarin'.
Opening Day Dedication Dedication Plaque reads: "To all who come to this Place of Joy, Hope and Friendship, Welcome. 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.
The Orlando, FL 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 half of the 20th century.
Future World consists of a variety of pavilions that explore innovative aspects and applications of technology.
* Spaceship Earth, the eighteen-story-tall geodesic sphere covered in 11,324 triangular silver panels made of alucobond, is the gateway to Future World. Inside is a slow-moving dark ride through the history of communication, with a focus on the development of cultures and the future of technologies.
* Innoventions, located in two pavilions (aptly named Innoventions East and Innoventions West), houses hands-on exhibitions from various science-and-technology oriented companies such as IBM and Segway. When EPCOT was first opened, Innoventions was called Communicore.
* Innoventions Plaza is the location of the "Fountain of Nations," a large choreographed musical fountain which performs every fifteen minutes. During Epcot's opening ceremonies in 1982, water from 22 nations was poured into the fountain. Kristos, a circus-act of group strength and flexibility, performs daily near the fountain. The three performers are from Bulgaria; they include a mother and her two sons. Nearby are Mouse Gear, Epcot's largest store offering a wealth of Disney related merchandise; Ice Station Cool, an igloo which offers guests a chance to taste various Coca-Cola beverages from around the world; the Fountain View Espresso and Bakery, a coffee shop; and the Electric Umbrella, Future World's main counter-service restaurant with typical theme-park-style fast food.
* Inside Universe of Energy is Ellen's Energy Adventure, a show starring Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Nye, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alex Trebek, and (an actor playing) Albert Einstein in an episode of Jeopardy!. The categories are about energy and how people generate and harvest it. (Michael Richards, "Kramer" from Seinfeld, has a brief cameo in the show as a caveman who discovers fire.) The audience's seats are actually large vehicles which move slowly through the attraction and are powered by solar cells on the building's roof. Visitors travel through the primeval world of dinosaurs to teach you that they will become the fossil fuels in your gas tank. Guests also learn how shale, "the rock that burns" will be used as fuel (a "bridge to the future") when all the fossil fuels run out.
* Wonders of Life contains several small attractions (such as Body Wars, a motion simulator ride through the human body) about the human body and how to keep it in good health.
* Mission: SPACE is a ride which simulates the training required to be member of the space program. Gary Sinise is the guide through a simulated mission to Mars in a spinning centrifuge gravity-simulator, which lets guests feel what it's like to blast off in a rocket. (This attraction is built on the former site of Horizons, a ride which compared science fiction of the past with what life might be like in the future.)
* In Test Track, guests sit in six-seater cars and experience the wide range of testing that automobiles must go through before they are approved for mass production. Cars in the ride pass through extreme temperatures, over rough surfaces, and around high-speed turns. (This pavilion formerly housed World of Motion, a slow-moving ride past scenes depicting the past and the future of transportation. It was replaced in 1996.)
* The Living Seas is one of the largest indoor aquariums in the world. Guests can view many different aquatic animals such as manatees while they learn about the preservation of the oceans. The illusion is that you are at the bottom of the sea in a sea station.
* The Land is about human interaction with the natural environment. It contains a boat ride through a working greenhouse and a slowly-rotating restaurant which serves food grown there. A copy of the attraction Soarin' Over California from Disney's California Adventure opened here in May 2005, along with a remodeled Land pavilion. Also showing is a movie called The Circle of Life, starring the characters from The Lion King.
* Imagination! contains Journey Into Imagination, a lighthearted ride starring Eric Idle and the Epcot mascot Figment. It encourages guests to use their senses and their imagination. This attraction is currently in its third incarnation: a refurbishment in 1998 removed the little purple dragon Figment and his creator/father figure Dreamfinder and featured Idle instead, but there were so many complaints over the disappearance of Figment that a 2003 refurbishment added him back, though Dreamfinder is still absent. Imagination! also contains Honey I Shrunk The Audience; in this 3-D short film featuring Eric Idle, Rick Moranis, and the rest of the cast of the film Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, a demonstration of a new invention inadvertently shrinks the entire theater.
World Showcase is made up of eleven pavilions: in clockwise order, Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Each of these contains representative shops and restaurants and is staffed by citizens of these countries. Some also contain rides and shows. Each pavilion is sponsored (and paid for) by the country it represents, so tourism brochures are readily available.
To cut costs, Disney now opens World Showcase late (usually 11:00 AM) and closes Future World early (usually 7:00 PM, except for Test Track and Mission: SPACE which sometimes remain open until park closing). Unlike the Magic Kingdom which has no alcohol, many stores and restaurants in the World Showcase serve or sell alcoholic beverages from their respective countries and beer is sold at refreshment stands throughout the park.
A thirteen-minute fireworks show takes place in the World Showcase Lagoon every night at the park's closing time (usually 9:00 PM). Fireworks and lasers fill the sky above an immense rotating globe whose continents show changing pictures of culture and technology throughout the ages, while a rousing musical score plays over the loudspeakers. The current show is titled Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. It is divided into three movements titled "Chaos," "Order," and "Meaning." The music has an African tribal sound to it, to emphasize the idea of humanity as a single unified tribe on this planet; the lagoon is surrounded by twenty large torches signifying the past twenty centuries, and the show culminates in the globe opening like a lotus blossom to reveal a twenty-first torch, representing the new century. The show originally debuted as part of Epcot's millennium celebration in 2000.
Information courtesy of Mickeypedia