On April 5th, 1982, I saw EPCOT Center for the very first time. From the monorail that ran from the Walt Disney World Transportation and Ticket Center, the night sky seemed to glisten with thousands of stars- or were those stars in my eyes? My wife and I were married two days prior, and a short stop at Walt Disney World was the beginning of our honeymoon in the Bahamas.
My soon to be favorite Disney park was still under construction. As we entered into it and rounded the bend in front of the World Showcase Lagoon all lit up, I was struck by how massive the project was. And just how beautiful! It seemed to call me to explore and discover all this new Disney world would offer. I knew a little about it, but I had to have more information.
It'd be several months later when I finally got my hands on the greatest book about the once greatest park, Walt Disney's EPCOT Center: Creating the New World of Tomorrow by Richard R. Beard, I was convinced a visit upon opening was a requirement as a die hard Disney theme park fan. How right I was! I devoured every page and poured over each piece of Imagineering concept art (usually by Herb Ryman) over and over again.
In April of 1983 for our one year anniversary, we traveled to the World specifically to experience EPCOT. Taking it slow, we savored every experience over the two plus days we spent just at this park.
Future World sparkled with fresh ideas at Communicore, a variety of attractions kept us busy for hours on end before even entering World Showcase. The Imagineers gave it their very best making sure each pavilion was varied in tone as well as in style of attraction. Spaceship Earth was informative and set the stage for the adventures ahead. Universe of Energy was powerful in its presentation and the surprise movement of its theater cars. The journey back to the realm of dinosaurs was thrilling and unexpected. The story of World of Motion was told humorously but with no less impact. The show was Audio-Animatronic heavy, expertly done and included a not-so-subtle not to Imagineer Marc Davis' unbuilt Western River Expedition.
The other side consisted of the warm and engaging Land pavilion with the Listen to the Land boat journey and a new theater show Kitchen Kabaret, a spiritual cousin to the Country Bear Jamboree. Of course, Journey into Imagination wowed us with the never to be improved upon adventure with Dreamfinder and Figment. We easily spent an hour playing with all the games in the Image Works.
As fun and informative as Future World once was, once we entered World Showcase, my heart was captured by what was designed for the other half of the park. I was always drawn to travel to distant locales, and this chance to experience the flavor of places I had yet to visit drew me like a moth to a flame.
Mexico, China, Japan and France were early favorites, and each had its own charms. El Rio del Tiempo was an instant favorite, at once both mysterious and familiar. (It's been a ride I write about in one form or another on this blog for Cinco de Mayo.) Its theme song was a delightful piece of ear candy. Impressions de France wowed us with its beautiful score and equally gorgeous sights. It'd be several years more before I'd finally travel there, but the experience set the longing in motion.
Regal and inspiring, The American Adventure remains one of Disney's best attractions in any park. Very befitting to be center stage as the host nation for this permanent World's Fair. A walking Audio-Animatronic? You had to see it to believe it. It was the forerunner to all Disney has accomplished today with its more dynamic robot actors 40 years later.
Long before the Food & Wine Festivals(s) took over the park, EPCOT was the place to go for a great meal! Chefs de France, San Angel Inn Restaurante, and The Good Turn restaurant provided terrific service, good food, and great atmosphere at a fair and decent price. Shopping was part of the experience as well, but it wasn't an overflow of Disney characters here. Goods unique to each nation made browsing stores a unique experience in each pavilion. Something Disney has forgotten, but perhaps it will return as the Disney suits grapple with one more great aspect learned by its competitor who created a slam dunk experience with Harry Potter down the road.
Not once were we bored, wishing instead to be at the Magic Kingdom, or missed any of the Big 5 Disney characters.
It was during this visit, we discovered that we were about to be parents for the first time. Our kids would be introduced to this place to discover there was more to Disney than just animated movies and Disneyland.
The year 1989 brought our next visit to Florida, and this time it was with three young children. We began our tour with a day at EPCOT Center, believing they'd be more open to the park as a first experience than if it came after a visit to the Magic Kingdom or the brand new Disney-MGM Studios. We need not have worried. All our kids loved to learn, and Disney made sure the second park on the property was as enjoyable as it was educational.
Since our earlier visit, the park had opened both a pavilion in Morocco and Norway to World Showcase as well as the Living Seas and the amazing Horizons to Future World. Disney had debuted a new nighttime show IllumiNations as well, and it instantly became our family's favorite evening experience.
This park just kept getting better and better! Then it all stopped.
We came back in 1992 for another visit with my sister and her family. The Disney-MGM Studios had more attractions added and the resort continued to grow, but EPCOT stood still. And it remained that way for years.
By our next visit in 1999, the suits had made only minor changes to the park while concurrently destroying some of what made it great. The death of Journey into Imagination into both versions much less magical was only the beginning. On the plus side, the new parade for the Millenium, Tapestry of Nations was added for a brief time. Disney could still pull off the magic, but the suits began to make one bad choice after another when it came to this once ambitious theme park.
I continued to love it, remaining upbeat about its future. I still loved World Showcase but found myself less and less excited about Future World as the company continued to ignore it, update it, and even give it proper care and maintenance.
We began to travel elsewhere, and it would be a decade before I would return to the World in 2009. EPCOT Center was gone for good. Optimism had been replaced with the ordinary and expected. Test Track and Mission: Space were great fun, but they should not have come at the expense of the iconic attractions they replaced. Soarin', however misplaced, was a great addition. World Showcase would see nothing new aside from a growing number of food booths. By and large, the park was ignored, and it showed. Our most memorable experiences that trip were outside the parks.
We returned with family in 2018 and 2019- this time with grandkids- and again in 2021 with our youngest son, now a grown adult. All three trips, I was excited to share my favorite park. Gran Fiesta Tour and Frozen Ever After made it clear where they were headed. Neither family was all that impressed with what they saw, and our youngest son found it to be last on his list of parks in Orlando. Telling.
Does Imagineer Zach Riddley's Epcot give me hope? Not really. (Read this.) Sure, there's more characters, more Marvel, more and more commercialism. There's also less inspiration, less innovation, and less charm. I can't blame him. It's our fault too. (I prove it here.) Yet, the Walt Disney Company is all about the buck now. Instead of providing the first class experience they were once known for, it's now about drawing more money out of each guest.
I'll still enjoy Epcot as a memorable family vacation from time to time. But now it will be with even greater memories for what once was. Sad to think the park's glory days are behind it. But I'll still go. Just not as often and with more lowered expectations. I guess that means my 40 year love affair with Epcot will continue but with a more matured pair of less rose colored glasses.
(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)
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Want more Epcot? It's one of my favorite places to write about. Here are links to some of the articles, but there's tons more to discover:
Epcot's Unbuilt Costa Rica Showcase
Disney Park Countdown- #2 Epcot
Thursday Night at Epcot's Germany Showcase
Disney World After A Decade Away: Epcot
Celebrating Cinco de Mayo at Epcot
Abandoned Science and Technology Pavilion for Epcot
Imagineer Harper Goff's Rare Plans for Epcot
EPCOT Center Dreams Fill Coffee Table Books
Dine or Ditch: The Land's Garden Grille Room
Japan's Never Built Omnimover Ride
2019 Trip Report: Turning Epcot Upside Down
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