U.S.A. Pavilion
a colonial style structure featuring the Audio-Animatronic attraction the American Adventure, the Liberty Inn restaurant, and the America Gardens Amphitheater.
United Kingdom Pavilion
including the Rose & Crown Pub &
Dining Room restaurant, Pringle of Scotland shop, His Lordship shop, Toy Soldier shop, and Biscuit Barrel shop.
Mexico Pavilion
featuring the El Rio del Tiempo attraction, the Artesanias Mexicanas shop, and the Cantina de San Angel restaurant.
German Pavilion
featuring Glas und Porzellan shop, Biergarten restaurant, Süssigkeiten shop, Der Bücherwurm shop, Weinkeller shop, and the Der Teddybär shop.
Italy Pavilion
housing the Arcata d'Antigian shop, the
Il Bel Cristallo shop, and the L'Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante restaurant.
Japan Pavilion
including Mitsukoshi Department Store, Teppanyaki Dining Rooms restaurant, Yakitori House restaurant, and the Mitsukoshi Restaurant.
France Pavilion
housing the film Impressions de France, the Plume et Palette shop, the Boulangerie Patisserie pastry shop, La Maison du Vin shop, Les Chefs de France restaurant, and the Au Petit Cafe restaurant.
China Pavilion
featuing the Circle-Vision 360 film Wonders of China.
Canada Pavilion
including the Circle-Vision 360 film
O Canada!, the Northwest Mercantile Trading Post shop and Le Cellier restaurant.
World of Motion Pavilion
housing the General Motors Transcenter auto display, and the animated film
The Water Engine.
Universe of Energy Pavilion
featuring Universe of Energy film, Mirrored Theater film, Energy Creation Story film, and Energy, You Make the World Go 'Round film.
Earth Station
information and guest
services presenting
The EPCOT Earth Station Film.
Spaceship Earth
the park's 18-story iconic sphere (sponsored by the Bell System) housing an attraction designed with the help of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.
Communicore West
featuring the FutureCom display,
sponsored by Bell.
Communicore East
including the Stargate fast-food facility, Centorium shop, TravelPort attraction, Energy Exchange display, EPCOT Computer Central display of computers, and Astuter Computer Revue show in EPCOT Computer Control.
Land Pavilion
Sponsored by Kraft & housing the Listen to the Land attraction, Tomorrow's Harvest tour, the Farmers Market food court, the Kitchen Kabaret audio-animatronic show, the Harvest Theatre showing the film Symbiosis, and the Good Turn Restaurant.
Journey into Imagination Pavilion including the Image Works area, and the Magic Eye Theater showing the 3-D
film Magic Journeys.
EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World opened on Friday
October 1, 1982. It was Disney's second theme park in
Florida and, based on square footage, was the largest
Disney theme park in the world (until 1998, when Disney's Animal Kingdom opened). EPCOT Center was named to reflect the ideals and values of EPCOT the city. (By 1995-96, the name EPCOT Center was shortened to simply Epcot.)
Located at the front of the park is a plaque bearing Disney chairman and CEO E. Cardon Walker's October 24 official dedication:
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.
The park's name derived 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.) Walt'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. This vision was never realized. Walt wasn't able to obtain funding and permission to start work on his Florida property until he agreed to build the Magic Kingdom first - and he died 5 years before its opening day.
Instead of being a community consisting of homes and
businesses, the $1.2 billion EPCOT consisted of Future
World and World Showcase. They featured 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.
Many of the opening day attractions are still running today and of course much has been added to Epcot since 1982 (such as the Morocco & Norway Pavilions, Living Seas, Test Track, and Mission: SPACE). Epcot may be the only place on Earth where you can explore the whole world ... in just one day!
Future World Opening Day Pavilions -
showcasing the land, communication, imagination, energy & technology:
World Showcase Opening Day Pavilions -
a kaleidoscope of 9 nations from throughout the world brought together to celebrate their cultural heritage, arts and entertainment:
OCTOBER 1, 1982 - THE DAY THE 21ST CENTURY BEGAN
Today Epcot has two entrances. But in 1982 only the entrance convenient to the park's 162-acre parking area (which held over 11,300 vehicles) and the Epcot monorail station existed. The International Gateway entrance opened in 1990 near the France pavilion in World Showcase, providing park access to guests staying in Epcot resort area hotels.
The television special
EPCOT Center: The Opening Celebration aired on CBS October 23, 1982 (the night
before the park's official dedication).
It was hosted by legendary
actor-singer-comic Danny Kaye.
THE GRAND
OPENING OF
EPCOT
CENTER
"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
"On the banks of the 40-acre World Showcase Lagoon are Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Young adults from each nation represented in World Showcase are among your hosts making this a true international exchange."
- Walt Disney World Monorail
Opening-day Cast Members received a packet with a commemorative coin displaying Spaceship Earth and the text "The dawn of a new Disney era."
The park's October 1 debut was actually considered a "soft opening."
A Grand Opening Week was held from October 15 - 27 for celebrities,
key press and VIPs, and top executives from the corporations that sponsored EPCOT attractions.
DID YOU KNOW ...
Walt Disney originally envisioned a dome over the entire Epcot city in order to have complete control over the weather.
DID YOU KNOW ...
There is a marker in Epcot showing the exact center of the park. It is located to the west of Innoventions West on the path that leads to the Land.
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