The History of EPCOT

Toward the end of his life, Walt Disney wanted to help people by solving the problems associated with cities. He envisioned an ideal city environment with a commercial center at its core and strips of residences, green spaces for recreation, schools, and other facilities radiating outward. In his vision, supply trucks and cars would travel via underground tunnels. In 1966, he coined the term EPCOT for this vision, an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. He passed away before he could refine his ideas any further, but Disney executives never forgot about them. In 1975, the president of Walt Disney Productions, Card Walker, announced that the firm would start building EPCOT, but it would look a little different than Walt’s original vision. Walker and his advisors felt that creating a showcase city where people actually lived was unrealistic, as it would effectively place the residents under a microscope. Instead, the Disney Imagineers reimagined EPCOT as a two-pronged park consisting of Future World and World Showcase. The park was given the name EPCOT Center and opened on Walt Disney’s land in Florida in 1982. In 1993, the “Center” was dropped from the name and the letters of EPCOT were changed to lowercase as the word’s history as an acronym was slowly forgotten by the public, but in 2020, Disney reinstated the capital letters as an homage to Walt's original concept. Today, EPCOT remains one of the most beloved Disney attractions with fans flocking from all over the world to visit the park.