My parents, who have not been to Walt Disney World since 1998, are planning a day trip to Epcot. So I thought it would be fun to write up the highlights of the park for them. Most of the tips in this article would be useful for any one planning a day at Epcot.
First, a little bit of background about Epcot. As originally envisioned by Walt Disney, Epcot was not a theme park at all. Instead, it was a futuristic city. The name Epcot comes form Walt’s term “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”. Walt’s city of the future was the heart and soul of his “Florida project”. Unfortunately, Walt Disney died while Disney World was still in the planning stages.
When it came time to build Epcot, the Disney company decided it was impractical to build Walt’s city of the future. Instead, they built a theme park dedicated to the ideas that inspired Walt’s dream. Originally, there were two competing designs for Epcot. One was designed to showcase cutting edge technology and visions of the future. The other was a kind of permanent world’s fair.
Eventually, an imagineer took models for both designs and pushed them together. The result was a park divided into two halves. The first half, Future World, deals with technology and the future. The back half of the park, World Showcase, includes pavilions depicting cultures from around the world.
TIP: As with any Disney park, it is best to arrive as early as possible. Crowds are almost non-existent for the first few hours of operation. It is possible to hit all of the major Future World attractions with little to no wait early in the morning.
Next: Soarin’
We didn’t have all these tips on our trip and missed out on Soarin’. We loved the Crush show. Had low expectations so that was a highlight of the day. Hated the Mission Space -thought it was a total waste. I saw Mindy’s facebook post about not liking Spaceship Earth, but we liked it. Of course we did that one first so we walked right on, but the kids loved the interactive part at the end and all the games inside after the ride was over. Oh and had an incredible meal in Mexico, England was so-so but due to… Read more »
Mindy doesn’t like Spaceship Earth because it triggered her claustrophobia. I would make fun of her for that, but there is actually a warning sign saying that if you get claustrophobic you may not want to ride. I have a hard time understanding what about the ride could possibly trigger claustrophobia, but I guess it must if there is a warning sign. I don’t love Mission: Space. But it is kind of cool. Especially if you have ever wondered what a lift-off would be like. The best thing about Mission: Space is it is right next to Test Track and… Read more »
Epcot seems like a cool place!I’d like to give it a shot next timei take a trip to Florida!