Epcot Center
 
Spaceship Earth, the icon of Epcot
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| Location | Walt Disney World Resort, Bay Lake, Florida, United States |
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| Coordinates | 28°22′16″N 81°33′00″W / 28.371°N 81.550°WCoordinates: 28°22′16″N 81°33′00″W / 28.371°N 81.550°W |
| Theme | Technological innovation and international culture |
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
| Operated by | Walt Disney Parks and Resorts |
| Opened | October 1, 1982 |
| Previous names | EPCOT Center (1982–1994) Epcot '94 (1994) Epcot '95 (1995) |
| Operating season | Year-round |
| Website | disneyworld |
Epcot (originally named EPCOT Center) is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division. Inspired by an unrealized concept developed by Walt Disney, the park opened on October 1, 1982, and was the second of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World, after the Magic Kingdom. Spanning 300 acres (120 ha), more than twice the size of the Magic Kingdom park, Epcot is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture, and is often referred to as a "permanent World's Fair". The park is divided into two sections: Future World, made up eight pavilions, and World Showcase, themed to eleven world nations.
In 2015, the park hosted approximately 11.98 million guests, ranking it the third most visited theme park in North America and the sixth most visited theme park in the world. The park is represented by Spaceship Earth, a geodesic sphere that also serves as an attraction. Epcot was known as EPCOT Center until 1994 when it was later renamed Epcot '94, then Epcot '95, now commonly known simply as Epcot.
The theme park opened on October 1, 1982. The dedication plaque near the entrance states:
To all who come to this place of joy, hope and friendship, welcome.
Epcot Center is inspired by Walt Disney's creative genius. Here, human achievements are celebrated through imagination, the wonders of enterprise, and concepts of a future that promises new and exciting benefits for all.
The park's name, EPCOT, is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, a utopian city of the future planned by Walt Disney, often interchanging "city" and "community." In Walt Disney's words: "EPCOT will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed but will always be introducing and testing, and demonstrating new materials and new systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world of the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise." His original vision was for a model community which would have been home to twenty thousand residents and a test bed for city planning as well as organization. It was to have been built in the shape of a circle with businesses and commercial areas at its center with community buildings, schools, and recreational complexes around it while residential neighborhoods would line the perimeter. This radial plan concept is strongly influenced by British planner Ebenezer Howard and his Garden Cities of To-morrow. Transportation would have been provided by monorails and PeopleMovers (like that in Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland.) Automobile traffic would be kept underground, leaving pedestrians safe above ground. The original model of EPCOT can still be seen by passengers riding the Tomorrowland Transit Authority attraction in the Magic Kingdom park; when the PeopleMover enters the showhouse for Stitch's Great Escape!, the remaining portion of the model is visible on the left (when facing forward) behind glass. Walt Disney was not able to obtain funding and permission to start work on his Florida property until he agreed to first build Magic Kingdom. He died nearly five years before Magic Kingdom opened.
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