Traveling Around Epcot

Mar 29, 2020

5 min read

Epcot was the second park built at Walt Disney World. Opening on October 1, 1982, it was loosely based off of Walt Disney’s vision of an “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.” Walt Disney’s original vision for the Florida property was to have an actual city where people lived, worked, and developed new technology.

Who knows if that would have became a reality if Walt Disney didn’t have an early death, but, years later, Epcot was developed as a theme park. Epcot was, and still is in many ways, largely an educational theme park that celebrated human achievement and, what was essentially, a permanent world’s fair.

Epcot still retains a lot of the educational aspects. It has scaled that back a little bit, however, by making attractions that are (subjectively) more “entertaining” attractions by the general public.

Epcot is separated into two sections, Future World and World Showcase. Future World is where you will be when you first enter the park. As you move towards the back, you will find World Showcase, which surrounds Crescent Lake. Currently, Epcot is in the middle of making some major changes. Future World is being separated into 3 separately themed areas (called World Discovery, World Celebration, and World Nature). There are new attractions, pavilions, and restaurants being built in these lands, or “worlds.” This renovation is needed in a lot of ways, as Future World has been closing a lot of attractions and pavilions in recent years with no replacements. World Showcase is also getting a couple of new attractions.

As I mentioned before, when you first walk into Epcot, you will be in Future World. As I explain this area, keep in mind that the whole entrance will be changing, and it won’t be called Future World anymore when construction is done. However, current attractions aren’t moving, so the general layout will be the same.

The first thing that will catch your eye when you walk into Epcot is Spaceship Earth. This is the main icon of the park. This is what some people may refer to as “the big ball” or “the big golf ball.” Spaceship Earth houses a slow moving, dark ride that takes you through a history of human communication. It features lots of audio animations throughout the entire ride. This makes it really feel like a classic Disney attraction. However, this is another thing in Epcot that is changing. The ride will be closing soon for an extended period of time for a major renovation. It is even getting a new name (that is actually just an extension to it’s current name), Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story. Instead of communication, the new message of the attraction will be how storytelling connects humans throughout the world. The narration also is going to be changing. Now, you have to realize that this is a classic attraction that has been part of Epcot since day one, so a lot of fans are a little uneasy about such a drastic change to it. But, the feel of Spaceship Earth is supposed to be staying the same, and it will still be an excursion through time. Popular scenes are still going to be in the attraction, but they will be updated in “amazing ways.” I’m sure that this update will be better for the attraction in the long-run.

If you go left in Future World, you will find Test Track and Mission: Space. These are probably the 2 most “thrilling” attractions in Epcot (until the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster opens up anyway). On the right side of Future World, the highlights include 3 main pavilions, Imagination!, The Land, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends (you can guess how each one is themed). All of these pavilions house rides and different activities, including what was, back then, the largest aquarium in the world.

When you make your way to the back of the park, that is where you will find World Showcase. 11 different countries are featured and surround Crescent Lake. These countries include: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. Most of the workers (which Disney calls cast members) are native to each country, which makes the experiences all the more unique. Every pavilion has different restaurants, shops, and attractions that will immerse you into that country. There is also lots of outside entertainment in this area.

These days, you can’t really mention Epcot without talking about the festivals that are put on throughout the year. There’s the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, and Epcot International Festival of the Holidays. You should definitely check to see if there is a festival going on during your trip. You will want to research and know what to expect so that you can take part in them! These festivals also attract a lot of locals, so you will want to try to stay away from Epcot on the weekends if you are there for vacation.

Like Magic Kingdom overview, this is just an overview of Epcot. There is plenty to see and do here, and there are lots of exciting things yet to come!

I will end, again, with a full list of Epcot’s official attractions. This does include a lot of shows, especially in World Showcase, but it doesn’t include anything that doesn’t run continuous throughout the day. And, of course, there is plenty of things to see in Epcot outside of the main attractions. You could enjoy a full day in this park without riding a single attraction!

(The starred attractions are attractions that have been at Epcot since the opening day of October 1, 1982. I realize this list is a little subjective as most have been updated or have gone through changes. For example, most of the films in World Showcase have been updated and Gran Fiesta Tour was called El Rio Del Tiempo, and did not include The Three Caballeros, but they were all there and the concepts haven’t changed enough for me to consider them as completely different attractions)

Future World