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October 1, 1982. A turning point in Disney theme park history, the opening of EPCOT Center. For the first time, there were two Disney parks on one location. Now that is a normal occurence, with Disney's California Adventure, Tokyo DisneySea, and Walt Disney Studios Paris opening in the last year. But at the time, it was something special.

Many people still lament the fact that the park that opened was not part of Walt's original vision of EPCOT. True, he had dreamed of an actual city where new ideas were tried and new technologies were tested. But in a way, all of Walt Disney World carries forth Walt's EPCOT vision - a planned community built from scratch. Pedestrian traffic in one place, vehicles in another. Monorails to almost silently whisk guests to their destination. A vacuum assisted garbage collection system. The latest in communication technology. Environmental protection. A computer monitored irrigation system that gives plants just the right amount of water. In fact, many internal documents and files at Disney have in the past referred to the entire Florida property as "EPCOT"; the portion that is accessible to guests is referred to as the "Walt Disney World Resort". The special building codes set up to govern area construction are called the EPCOT Building Codes, but they do not just apply to the park known as EPCOT Center.

But our purpose is not to focus on what EPCOT Center was not when it opened. We will instead focus on what it was.

Perhaps on their first visit, guests were expecting something similar to the Magic Kingdom or Disneyland in California. Maybe they were expecting to be greeted at the entrance by Mickey and the Disney Characters. Maybe they were expecting lots of fun thrill rides. But EPCOT Center was vastly different from either of the previous Disney parks.

EPCOT Center relied much more on informing guests than the other parks. The fun was still there, but it was a different kind of fun. It was fun to discover something new about futuristic technology, or to learn something from the past. The excitement of thrills was replaced with the excitement of discovery and learning.

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Many of the attractions, especially those of Future World, were somewhat similar in their presentation. For the specific subject of the attraction, guests were shown something about the history of that subject before being introduced to exciting future concepts. This worked quite well in Spaceship Earth, the World of Motion, the Land, as well as to some degree in the Universe of Energy. This technique was used again in Horizons, which opened one year after the rest of the park, and in the Living Seas, which opened in 1986.

In World Showcase, guests were introduced to cultures from around the world. Their attention was drawn to the different countries by recreations of recognizable or interesting landmarks. Once they were at a particular country, they were able to shop for authentic merchandise, eat authentic cuisine, and in some cases experience attractions informing them about that country's history and culture. Tried and true attraction types were used, such as a boat ride in Mexico, or films in France, China, and Canada.

Perhaps the most ambitious attraction was the American Adventure. Imagineers reportedly spent much time deciding how to tell the history of the country, whether in a show, a ride, or a film, not to mention which aspects and events of history to include. Should it be aimed at Americans or foreign visitors? It was a daunting task, to say the least.

Then there were all those cool, futuristic sounding names for things. Especially at the time, it sounded futuristic to combine words into one new word. Communicore is one example, the name that applied to the two central buildings of Future World. Communicore also featured such things as the Travelport and FutureCom. Then there was the Transcenter, the exhibit space at the World of Motion. The main gift shop was the Centorium. And of course, Spaceship Earth was a geosphere, short for a geodesic sphere.

If a guest needed information, he could visit the WorldKey Information Kiosks, which were somewhat revolutionary for their time. The kiosks were located all over the park, and each kiosk had a number of video monitors. Guests could walk up to a touch-screen television monitor and see short videos on all of the attractions around the park, as well as get information on restaurants and such. And if further help was needed, a live host or hostess would appear on the screen to answer questions. I was watching one time when a man using a WorldKey Kiosk asked the live host, "How do I get out of here?" The host informed the man to turn around, look at the big sphere behind him, walk toward and eventually under it, and he would be at the exit. While it was neat, it was also just a bit spooky, similar to Big Brother, always knowing where you are and what you are doing. But even if you did not need much information, the WorldKey system was fun to play with. Before that time, touch screens were something I had only seen on television.

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Opening day at EPCOT Center was quite a large event. After all, it was only the third Disney Park opening in history. All of the Disney executives were on hand, and Card Walker, company chairman, read the dedication. On both October 1 and October 2, the Orlando Sentinal had extensive coverage of the new park, including maps, overviews, and a special color section. The actual park dedication was held on October 25, much like the Magic Kingdom in 1971, which also opened on October 1 but had its dedication on October 25.

A television special about the opening of the park featured Danny Kaye as the host. He took guests on tours of the park, as well as engaging in some of his usual comedy routines. One highlight was an interview with Alex Haley about a future World Showcase pavilion that never came to be. A previous special about the building of EPCOT Center had been hosted by Michael Landon. One feature of that show had Michael talking to the Audio Animatronic Mark Twain from the American Adventure.

Some people really didn't understand the point of EPCOT Center. There was all the fascinating futuristic stuff in Future World, but how did World Showcase fit into that? To me, the theme of EPCOT Center was quite simple: that we are all here together on one planet. We have many different cultures, some of which were represented in World Showcase. But despite our cultural differences and geographical boundaries, our goal should be the same: learning from the past and embracing the future to make the world a better place for everyone.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of EPCOT Center. While most of the park appears the same on the surface as it was two decades ago, much has changed in the park's focus and attractions. In the future, we will take a look at many different aspects of the original park to celebrate this milestone in Disney history.

This is the first of several parts in an occasional series.

- Story by Steve Burns
Posted

Steve is a three-time Disney Store National Trivia finalist and webmaster of BurnsLand, home of Steve's Disney Railroad Adventures.

E-mail Steve at steve@startedbyamouse.com, discuss this article in the StartedByAMouse.com Disney Discussion Forums or use the Talkback feature below.

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