[Amazing] 25 Curious Things You Might Not Know About Epcot
One of four theme parks built at the Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, Epcot is among the most popular tourist attractions in the United States as well as in the world. Opened on October 1, 1982, Epcot is a unique combination of an amusement park and a permanent world fair. You might have known that the theme park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture, but we are quite sure there are many other interesting facts and trivia about this amazing place that you are not aware of. Did you know, for example, that the Spaceship Earth, the iconic structure of the park, was designed to prevent rain water from pouring off the sides onto the ground? We will also tell you what other names Epcot was referred to as during various stages of its famous and rich history, and we will not forget to mention the fact that one of the park´s pavilions was once a site of a Guinness World Record. If you want to learn more about this legendary American theme park, check out this post to find out 25 Curious Things You Might Not Know About Epcot.
The word Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, a concept of a Utopian city of the future planned by Walt Disney near the end of his lifetime.
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Originally, Disney intended Epcot to be a “community of the future” where people would not only have fun but also live and work. Disney even designed a transportation system for his city.
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Worried by the hectic, disorganized, dirty, and crime-ridden modern cities, it was his concern about the future of his grandchildren that actually inspired Disney to come up with idea of Epcot.
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At the time of Epcot's construction (1979 - 1982), Epcot was the largest construction project in the world. It was built for an estimated 0.8 to 1.4 billion dollars.
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Spanning across 300 acres (120 ha), Epcot is larger than the Magic Kingdom Park and Disney´s Hollywood Studios combined, but it is not the biggest Walt Disney World park. Covering 500 acres (200 ha), Disney´s Animal Kingdom boasts the title.
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Spaceship Earth, Epcot's iconic structure, has a diameter of 165 ft (50 m), and it weighs almost 16 million lbs (more than 7 million kg). Appearing as a perfect monolithic sphere, it actually consists of two structural domes. Six massive legs support a steel box-shaped ring at the sphere's perimeter with the upper structural dome sitting on this ring. A grid of trusses inside the ring supports two helical structures of the ride and show system. Below the ring, a second dome is hung from the bottom, completing the spherical shape.
Source and image: en.wikipedia.org
Speaking of Spaceship Earth, its structure was designed to prevent rain water from pouring off the sides onto the ground. While raining, all water is collected through little gaps in the facets into a gutter system and channeled into the park´s lagoon.
Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: commons.wikimedia.org
Epcot´s two distinct halves, the Future World and the World Showcase, are a result of disagreements between Disney´s Imagineers. After Disney´s death, some Imagineers wanted Epcot to be a World Fair while others were pushing for a futuristic park. As both ideas were implemented, the park was divided into different halves.
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The plants in the Land Pavilion are not just for display. More than 30 tons of fruits and vegetables grown in the pavilion are served at Walt Disney World restaurants every year.
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The Land Pavilion itself was also a world record holder. Between May 2005 and April 2006, almost 32,000 tomatoes were harvested from a single plant in the pavilion, setting a new Guinness World Record for a one-year tomato yield.
Source: guinnessworldrecords.com, image: en.wikipedia.org
In 2014, the park hosted almost 11.5 million guests, ranking it the third most visited theme park in North America and the sixth most visited theme park in the world.
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Home to numerous fish and sea creatures, the Seas with Nemo & Friends (formerly known as the Living Seas) housed the largest saltwater tank in the world at its completion on January 15, 1986. It holds 5.7 million US gallons (22,000 m3) of water.
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Epcot was not always Epcot. From 1982 to 1994, the park was called Epcot Center, and in 1994 and 1995 it was renamed to Epcot 94 and Epcot 95 respectively. Since then, it's just been known as Epcot.
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In traditional construction projects, a building is usually given a "topping off" ceremony upon its completion with an American flag set atop of it. However, the building of the Spaceship Earth was essentially built from the top down so the construction crew had a "bottoming out" party and put the flag at the bottom of the sphere to mark its completion.
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The mosaic surrounding the entrance to the Land Pavilion covers 3,000 sq ft (almost 280 sq m). It features 150,000 tiles made in 131 colors and took 3 months to install.
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Mission: Space, a centrifugal motion simulator thrill ride, is one of the most controversial attractions of the park. Several people have been taken to local hospitals for chest pain and nausea, and two people have even died after riding this ride. However, both deaths were due to pre-existing conditions.
Source and image: en.wikipedia.org
The Moroccan Pavilion, designed to look like a Moroccan city with a realistic minaret, is the only pavilion in which the country's government aided in the design.
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Named the American Adventure, the American pavilion is built at a slightly higher elevation than all of the other 10 countries. It symbolizes the importance of the host country and is the centerpiece of this World Showcase section.
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Each pavilion contains a private "VIP area" for its sponsor with offices, lounges, and reception areas hidden away from regular park guests.
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In the French pavilion, birds are prevented from sitting on the top of the Eiffel tower replica. A bird perched atop of the tower would expose how small the tower actually is, ruining the forced perspective effect.
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Similar to other Walt Disney World theme parks, Epcot is also home to many hidden Mickey Mouse heads. One of the most famous can be found on the bottom of the fish tank in the Seas with Nemo & Friends.
Source and image: www.disneydining.com
With a top speed of up to 65 mph (105 km/h) and a circuit length of almost 4,300 ft (over 1,300 m), Test Track, a slot car attraction, is one of the fastest and longest Disney theme park attractions ever built.
Source and image: en.wikipedia.org
One of the most popular jokes of the park´s crew is that the word Epcot actually means “Employee Polyester Costume Of Torture” or “Every Person Comes Out Tired”.
Source: orlando.suntimes.com, image: ip.disneycareers.com
From 1996 to 2013, Epcot’s Japan pavilion was home to Miyuki, the world’s only female Ame Zaiku artist. Ame Zaiku is a Japanese candy craft artistry in which the artists create small edible animal sculptures out of brown rice toffee, heated to 200 degrees.
Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: www.pinterest.com
It took more than 650 Walt Disney Imagineers and five years of hard work to develop Mission: Space, one of Epcot's most famous attractions.
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