EPCOT

About EPCOT

By the ULTIMATE Florida Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

EPCOT began as an idea for a real city. The park that opened on 1 October 1982 as EPCOT Center turned that vision into two worlds: one about the future and one about the nations of the world.

A city that became a park

In 1966 Walt Disney coined the name EPCOT, for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”: a planned city where new ideas would be tried out in everyday life. After the idea of an actual city was dropped, Disney’s Imagineers developed a park instead, laid out in two areas, Future World and World Showcase.

EPCOT Center, 1982

The park opened as EPCOT Center on 1 October 1982, eleven years to the day after Walt Disney World itself. The word “Center” was dropped in December 1993, and for many years the park was written “Epcot”, in lower case.

Walt Disney coined the name in 1966: the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (Disney Archives).

Around the world in a day

World Showcase circles the lagoon with pavilions dedicated to different countries, each with its own architecture, shops and restaurants. It is the part of EPCOT most visitors remember, and in autumn it hosts the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival.

Planning your day

EPCOT is a walking park, and the loop around World Showcase is long. Do the rides in the morning and the pavilions in the afternoon and evening, when the lagoon is at its best.

Our advice: book a table in one of the World Showcase restaurants ahead of time. Dinner by the lagoon is the highlight of an EPCOT day.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with EPCOT before you go.