Over the last few years The Daily City has grown into one of Orlando’s real treasures. It’s as close to a hyper-local news blog as we’ve got in the town and it continues to deliver great content on a daily basis (not to mention its spin-off The Food Truck Bazaar is both fantastic and delicious and worth a visit off-property).
Yesterday The Daily City writer Ken Storey posted an interview with R.A. Pederson, the author of The EPCOT Explorer’s Encyclopedia, regarding the future of the Imagination Pavilion. The whole thing is worth reading, but I was particularly struck by this justification for why Pederson loves EPCOT.
Suppose you’re in a hole and ignorant of all the world outside it. You live, you work, you go through life. At night you look up and you see the stars and marvel at their beauty. You think, “Gee, that’s nice” and go back about communing with your worm friends and maybe make a new bureau of mud. The star is not really a star though. It’s a man in a ship in the sky looking down on your hole and the beauty of the rest of the world that surrounds it. It’s not so impossible to get from that hole to the stars, but you need to know there is a world outside the hole to get started. If there’s nothing to aspire for, why aspire at all? Epcot shows us the world and its possibilities in their full grandeur and seeks to keep us from returning to that hole alone again. It is a unique monument to humanity and mankind that needs careful curation to keep the mud of ignorant holes off it.
An excellent description of the purpose behind EPCOT Center’s original vision. We can debate how far the current iteration has strayed from that vision, but let’s profess our love of it instead. In the comments below share why you love EPCOT Center (either the current version known as ‘Epcot’ or the ideal vision behind it) and what you’d like to see from the park in the future.
What I love most about EPCOT is Spaceship Earth and the technical aspects of its structure. It’s an architectural thing of beauty. What I would like to see for the park in the future is maybe a bit more of it’s original intent as a city of tomorrow. Overall, my wife and I find the park, its attractions and its permanent worlds fair feel a joy to behold.
-JB
I love EPCOT Center because it gives visitors a glimpse into cultures around the world. It also shows what’s possible for the future. EPCOT Center is what the world should be like, different countries and cultures that flow together seamlessly. It’s a more global version of what Walt Disney was all about – educating and bringing people together in a beautiful, happy place.
I love going to EPCOT and talking with the cast members in the countries. Learning about where they are from. Have had some amazing conversations with people from all over the globe and it’s right here in my backyard. Ok, so maybe not backyard, but 1 hour away.
Because its the closest we’ll get to the golden age of World’s Fairs without a time machine. Oh and Spaceship Earth is mind blowing.
My initial thought was, “the food!” I do love the food of the World Showcase, but I also very much enjoy Epcot’s rides. From the thrills of Test Track to the soothing pace of the Mexican boat ride, every one of them is a winner. (Well, I haven’t actually done Mission Space because I’m claustrophobic, but my 12-year-old loves it!)
EPCOT was made for adults who were tired of rides about movies and cartoon characters. Don’t get me wrong, MK is still my favorite, but EPCOT, especially World Showcase, gives adults a place to escape and get as close to visiting other countries as they may ever get. Less than 1% of people will ever travel to ALL the countries in World Showcase. It gives them a chance to come as close as you can, without actually going.
What I think people miss about the Future World in Epcot today is that, while there is a slight shift in means, the main vision of EPCOT Center is still there.Like your article said, we are intended to learn more about the world through the past, present and future of different aspects of culture; the Land, Travel, Communication; you know the spiel. The thing is, today it all seems to focus less on the future, and instead on the near-future. Epcot is FULL of the most high-tech, state-of-the-art devices there is, and the fact that the Kim Possible/Agent P Adventure was sent there and then improved versions have opened in Magic and Animal Kingdoms proves it’s still a “prototype community.” The exhibits and rides of today still focus on entertainment and education, but simply don’t look as far over the horizon, and that’s okay, because our eyes are still being opened to all the possibilities of the world.
EPCOT is magnificent in its ability to pull together different cultures and nations, the Globe of SpaceShip Earth is fitting because EPCOT is the only place on Earth you can walk thru country’s from around the globe in one place! I would love to see EPCOT evolve and futher “Future World” into a hyper modern active resort that allows the vision of Walt for EPCOT to test the “Community of Tomorrow” concepts in a real cycle of people sleeping, eating, working and all coming and going. They need to enlist the vision of Frank Geary to do a pavilion to replace Elens Universe of Energy with is very outdated as well. One of my favorite parks at Disney World though!
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