EPCOT (Center) Project Introduction by Walt Disney Walt Disney World Resort 50th Anniversary

Epcot (stylized as EPCOT) is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unrealized concept developed by Walt Disney, the park opened on October 1, 1982, as EPCOT Center, and was the second of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World, after the Magic Kingdom. Spanning 305 acres (1.23 km2), more than twice the size of the Magic Kingdom park, Epcot is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture, and is often referred to as a "permanent world's fair".

Epcot was originally conceived by Walt Disney during the early development of Walt Disney World, as an experimental planned community that would serve as a center for American enterprise and urban living. Known as "EPCOT", the idea included an urban city center, residential areas, industrial areas, schools, and a series of mass transportation systems that would connect the community. After Disney's death in 1966, the "EPCOT" concept was abandoned as the company was uncertain about the feasibility of operating a city. In the 1970s, WED Enterprises began developing a second theme park for the resort to supplement Magic Kingdom, as that park's popularity grew. The new park reprised the idea of showcasing modern innovation through avant-garde edutainment attractions, as well as the addition of a world nations exposition. The newly designed park, featuring two sections—Future World and World Showcase—opened as EPCOT Center in 1982. In 1994, the park was renamed to "Epcot", dropping the acronym and "Center" from the name.

In 2019, Epcot hosted 12.444 million guests, ranking it as the fourth-most-visited theme park in North America and the seventh-most-visited theme park in the world. The park is represented by Spaceship Earth, a geodesic sphere.

The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT, was an unfinished concept for a planned community developed by Walt Disney and designed by WED Enterprises in the 1960s. Its purpose was to be a "real city that would 'never cease to be a living blueprint of the future'", drawing on the latest technology and innovation from American industry. The community was intended to be a major component of Disney's "Florida Project", a massive property of undeveloped land located near Orlando, Florida during the 1960s.

EPCOT was to be a utopian autocratic company town completely controlled by Walt Disney himself and featuring commercial, residential, industrial and recreational centers, connected by a mass multimodal transportation system. Based on ideas stemming from modernism and futurism, it was designed to replace the inefficient infrastructure created by urban sprawl that was growing in the United States in the 1960s.

The original concept of EPCOT was abandoned by Walt Disney Productions after Walt Disney's death in 1966, citing the impracticality of maintaining, governing, and operating the city. The plans for the property were folded into Walt Disney World, at the behest of Roy O. Disney, which opened in 1971. Although Walt Disney's vision of EPCOT was never realized, several components and aesthetic designs of the concept survived and evolved into elements of the Walt Disney World Resort, including the Walt Disney World Monorail and Utilidor systems. EPCOT served as the inspiration for the resort's 1982 eponymous theme park, and the nearby planned community of Celebration, Florida.

Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American entrepreneur, animator, writer, voice actor, and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

© 2021 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
(https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/)
Posted for entertainment and educational purposes only.
No copyrights infringed. All works property of the company listed above. Please do not reproduce without their expressed written consent.

#EPCOTCenter
#EPCOT
#WaltDisneyWorld
#WaltDisneyWorldResort
#WaltDisney
#DisneyParks
#MagicKingdom
#FloridaProject
#MickeyMouse
#DisneyCharacters
#ThemeParkHistory
#Florida
#WaltDisneyImagineering
#CowMissing