Why EPCOT Exists: The Story Behind World Showcase

 

Hello and welcome to the Where In The Park Podcast. This is Kevin, and on this episode, we will be laying the groundwork for a new series that will be running once a month for the next several months. In this series, we are going to have fun exploring the details of the eleven pavilions that make up the World Showcase half of Epcot.

Setting the Stage: A New World Showcase Series Begins

We were going to dive straight into talking about the pavilions of EPCOT's World Showcase, but I thought it would be nice to start with a brief history of how this park exists and why half of it is made up of buildings from, or inspired by, other countries. And the more I went down the rabbit hole, the more I realized I didn't know this story as well as I thought I did, and it's an interesting one, so I decided to turn this into a full-length, not-so-brief episode.

Now, I know if you're listening to this podcast, you likely already know a lot about Walt Disney World. There's Magic Kingdom park, which is stylized after the original Disneyland in Anaheim, and was built in 1971. And then, there's the second park, EPCOT Center, which was built in 1982. In 1994, the word "Center" was removed from the park's official name, so now it's just EPCOT. Fun fact, the name has only been back to being stylized with all capital letters since 2020.

Anyway, we talked about the park briefly in our June 13th episode last year, Words of Wonder: The Dedication Plaques That Built the Disney Parks. But yeah, we're going to go into a lot more detail on this episode.

The Florida Project and Walt Disney’s Original Vision

The Florida Project was first announced on November 15th, 1965, but no real details were given as to what it would be. It wasn't until almost a year later, October of 1966, that Walt Disney recorded some segments for what would eventually become a 25-minute short film in which he revealed the plans for that project. That episode was written by Imagineering Legend Marty Sklar, we talked about him in length in our Windows With a View (Part 1) episode back in June of 2025.

Unfortunately, within a week of recording this film, Walt was diagnosed with lung cancer. By December 15th, around a month and a half later, he was gone.

EPCOT as a City: What Was Planned—and What Changed

On February 2nd, 1967, another month and a half later, but actually on its originally planned schedule, Disney executives, along with Walt's brother, Roy O., played the film for business and government figures at a theater in Winter Park, Florida. Some reports say that the film was delayed due to Walt's death, but the 1966 annual report from Walt Disney Pictures, which came out before Walt had even recorded the film, has a section about the "so-called 'Disney World' project," and it explains that the preliminary plans will be shared at a public meeting during the first week of February, 1967. 

So, like I said, the meeting went as scheduled, and they watched the film, in which Walt explained that this "Disney World" would include an "amusement theme park" similar to Disneyland, as well as hotels and recreational areas on the north end of the property, an airport on the south end, and between them would be the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT for short. 

You can find a few versions of this video on YouTube, because it was eventually released on an official DVD set, Walt Disney's Treasures: Tomorrowland. The video that was released, though, was clearly edited after February of 1967, because it includes footage from Disneyland's PeopleMover attraction, which wasn't completed in February, having not opened until July of that year. 

I reached out to Sebastien at the-original-epcot.com, which is an incredible fan site all about early EPCOT, with a ton of information about this film, to ask him if he knew how the "original" unedited version of the film could include footage of the PeopleMover, and he was kind enough to write back saying that the actual original version did not mention the attraction, and the version released to the public was edited and expanded.

But, either way, most of the episode, as we know it, is about how that city would work, explaining how transportation was planned, including monorails and, yes, people movers, and how the main focus would be about trying out new things from companies to help solve problems. There is a short section in the episode where some concept art is shown for a commercial area in EPCOT, and the narrator explains that people will find, "Shopping areas, where stores and whole streets recreate the character and adventure of places around the world."

The film was also, reportedly, later aired on Florida televisions, and the public had a positive enough response, seeing as how Disney clearly received approval to begin building their project.

But, the company was left with guidelines on what to do next, but without the person who had the dream to build it. Roy O., again, that's Walt's brother, was president and chairman of the board before and after Walt's death. Also, interestingly, that 1966 annual report, which came out before anyone even thought Walt wouldn't be around the following year, listed Compass East Corporation as a domestic subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions, with Roy O. Disney listed as the president, and the description for the company was simply "Florida Project." He took that responsibility seriously, and made it his mission to get the project off the drawing boards and into reality. He accomplished the goal of opening the Magic Kingdom park, and two hotels, by October of 1971. He retired later that month, but sadly, passed away before the year was over.

So, what happened next?

After the opening of Walt Disney World -oh yeah, the name had "Walt" added to it by Roy soon after Walt's death- well, the Disney company continued with the plans that had been laid out... Kind of.

Going over a few more of the annual reports, just to be clear, Disney has been a publicly traded company since 1957, so they create these annual reports for shareholders and potential investors... So yeah, every year starting in 1967, they mention the word EPCOT and/or the phrase Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. In 1967, they explained how they're working with major American corporations to develop systems and materials for this city of tomorrow. In 1968, they explained that Phase One "vacationland" is their short term goal, while long-range includes EPCOT, "Walt Disney's dream." They share that they are master planning to develop the land for future use. William E. Potter is listed as the Vice President of EPCOT Planning for Walt Disney World Co. Potter, who went by Joe, I'm guessing because of his military background, was actually an engineer and military officer who had served as Governor of the Panama Canal Zone from 1956 to 1960, and was an executive vice president in charge of logistics of the 1964 New York World's Fair. If you have ever taken the General Joe Potter ferry to or from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom, it was renamed in his honor in 1997.

Continuing on, in 1969, they reiterate what EPCOT was supposed to be, but close out by saying that it will "not materialize until sometime after 1971." 

In 1970, they mention that they have attained a major goal in developing their own construction organization, which will ultimately create the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

Then, in 1971, there's a development in the project... They mention that the ultimate goal of the Florida project has always been the development of EPCOT, but there's a spotlight put on the creation of the City of Lake Buena Vista. They state that it could eventually serve 20,000 permanent residents, which was also the number of people Walt had said would live in EPCOT in the film he recorded shortly before his death. 

The 1972 annual report kind of repeats 1971, but mentions that 80 townhouses were completed and leased, with another 53 beginning construction. They make it clear that The City of Lake Buena Vista is a first step toward EPCOT. 

The report from 1973 briefly mentions that WED (that's what Imagineering was named back then) had formed a unit to plan and design work on EPCOT. That year, Joe Potter's name was removed from the list of executives; he would retire the following year. The Walt Disney World subsidiary's list of executives, though, had expanded to 16.

The following year, in 1974, they casually state that additional utility lines were installed in the Community of Lake Buena Vista for future residential development, and that a shopping complex for that community, "The Village," was under construction. 

Later in that report, in the WED Enterprises section, they show photos of "WED technicians" developing models and renderings of "World Showcase" attractions that they were planning to use for presentations to foreign governments. This is to become one of, what they referred to as, the EPCOT "satellite" projects. Other projects they mention are centers for corporate training and industrial research, energy and the environment, design and the arts, communications and the media, educational research, the sciences, experimental and prototype living environments, a health and medical data bank, and a major computer center.

They do focus on "The World Showcase," though, as the first major step for EPCOT. In this section, they include a painting of concept art, and a photo of a large-scale model for a World Showcase, which at the time, was to be housed within two large, half-circle, indoor buildings. They state that this version of the World Showcase would be nearly as large as the Magic Kingdom theme park. And, according to the concept art, it was to be built roughly where the Ticket and Transportation Center is currently located, that's the TTC I referred to earlier, it that area where you can board a monorail from the parking lot to either the Magic Kingdom or EPCOT today.)

There is a sentence in this section that seems like foreshadowing of things to come, where they refer to World Showcase as an entirely new "center" for guest activity, that is so large in scope that it will give visitors added reason to extend their stay at Walt Disney World.

Early International Ideas: International Street to Little Europa

But yeah, where did the inspiration for this satellite of an international showcase come from?

You can actually point back to Disneyland's first year; they had a banner near the front of Main Street, over where the bypass behind the right side of the road is sometimes found these days, well, that sign read: Site of International Street. Grand Opening 1956. The following year, it was updated with a new sign, which now showed the year as 1957. In 1957, though, it was changed to Liberty Street Grand Opening 1958, then again to 1959. Of course, we didn't end up getting either of those locations at Disneyland. In 1971, the Imagineers had added Liberty Square to the Magic Kingdom, making the Liberty Street concept a reality. So, it makes sense that they would have also dusted off the International Street plans to see what they could do with them.

From World’s Fair to World Showcase

There is a post from the official Disney Imagineering Instagram account with a photo of Walt Disney in front of a map of Disneyland painted by artist Peter Ellenshaw that they say sparked the concept of International Street. This idea, they say, led to the creation of International Gardens, a room full of miniature buildings built by Imagineers for the queue of Ford's Magic Skyway attraction at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, and eventually resulted in the World Showcase at EPCOT.

There's also a D23 article by author and historian Michael Crawford about the origins of The World Showcase at Epcot that touches on how International Street had actually evolved into a planned International Land at Disneyland, which also went by the name Little Europa at time, but that idea was scrapped when Walt decided to put the Matterhorn in the proposed location instead back in 1959.

He also mentions that an internationally themed shopping area was in the original EPCOT designs, and then shares that in May of 1972, Vincent Jefferds, the Disney Vice President of Merchandising and Promotion at the time, had suggested an International Exhibit Area that could present a permanent World's Fair. And just a few months later, in October, there were reports of plans for an "international mall to serve as a theater, shopping, and special-event center in the Vacation Kingdom."

In May of 1974, a few months before the annual report from that year, Card Walker, then President and Chief Operating Officer of the company, described a "permanent international showcase," in which "the nations of the world may participate on a permanent basis to demonstrate their culture and their products." They had, apparently, decided on the name World Showcase based on a 1966 statement by Walt saying that EPCOT would be a "showcase to the world."

The Satellite Concept: Why EPCOT Became a Theme Park

Then, in 1975, that year's annual report made it clear that an important decision about EPCOT had been made. The report lays out in a matter-of-fact way, that Walt Disney wanted a community that would never be completed, and that would always be introducing new materials and systems. Card explains that WED Enterprises and he believed that in order to reach that goal, they must avoid building a huge, traditional "brick and mortar" community that would become obsolete as soon as it's completed. So, they were going to create a community system oriented to the communication of new ideas, rather than having to serve the day-to-day needs of permanent residents.

Meaning, EPCOT as an actual city was no longer going forward.

He continued on, showing more concept art for World Showcase, while also introducing another EPCOT "Satellite" that they had named EPCOT Future World Theme Center.

In the 1976 report, they showed more concepts that had been developed for those two "satellites." Saying that they had spent the past year "testing the market" for their EPCOT and the World Showcase, quote "opening doors from Manila to Moscow." Many paragraphs later, there is a sentence about how encouragement from several major American companies has caused them to rethink their priorities regarding the entire EPCOT/World Showcase development. Where their original plan was to build World Showcase first, they now planned to build it and other major elements of EPCOT at the same time, declaring the creation of one major EPCOT Center. In this first announcement of an EPCOT Center, they explained that guests would enter the World Showcase first, and then "climax their visit in the Future World." Their words. That's right, World Showcase was supposed to be the main street corridor of EPCOT Center, also their words. There is a quote from Marty Sklar, though, that puts it a little more bluntly, where he describes this decision as: "We started out with trying to do two projects. One was international and the other was the so-called Future World area, and we found that we couldn’t get enough sponsorship for both, so we pushed the two of them together basically and that became Epcot Center."

Master Plan 5: The Birth of Modern World Showcase

The 1977 report revealed "Master Plan 5" EPCOT Center: Future World and World Showcase, a community of ideas. This version of Epcot connected Future World with World Showcase and the gateway between the two: the American Adventure. This annual report was the first time a new concept for World Showcase was presented; instead of two semi-circular indoor buildings, the new idea was to have outdoor buildings that represent each country "along the banks of a broad lagoon." This concept was reportedly designed by Imagineering Legend, Harper Goff.

The following year, in 1978, they announced that they were officially planning to go forward with EPCOT Center. They showed concept art that included a parking lot on the north end of the property, a huge sphere near the park entrance, with multiple buildings branching from a hub after the sphere, and then a large round building, followed by a body of water with multiple architectural styles of buildings around it. They described the World Showcase's preliminary design concepts for participants in the first phase, including many of the countries that did end up receiving pavilions, plus the United Arab Emirates and Israel, but missing China and Norway. Oh yeah, and that large round building in the middle of the park (not the sphere, that was always planned as Spaceship Earth), that building was the American Adventure, and at the furthest south end of the park, where the American Adventure is today, there was a fountain in another body of water, with what looks like arched bridges connecting two pavilions with a little island with palm trees on it.

They also announced some early plans for where this experience would be located, and how big it would be, and they were close but not exact to what ended up happening, but they did announce that construction would begin in 1979 and the opening was set for October 1st, 1982. Which, spoiler, did happen.

Breaking Ground (1979–1982)

October 1st, 1979 is when they finally broke ground. In that year's annual report, they highlighted this groundbreaking event, and included more concept art of what the park might look like. But, the design was still being finalized, even while construction was underway. The concept art now shows a building that looks like the American Adventure where it is today, but other pavilions, both in the World Showcase and Future World are not where they ended up being built. There is also a section that ends with a paragraph about how "various stages of negotiations for World Showcase involve the governments or businesses' concerns from Mexico, Canada, Germany, Japan, Morocco, the United Kingdom, France, Costa Rica, Italy, and Africa." So, even though they had started building the park, decisions were still being made.

Over a year after groundbreaking, the 1980 annual report came out, where they explained that Card Walker was now the Chairman of the Board and CEO, but Ron Miller had succeeded him as President of the Company and COO. In a section about EPCOT Center, they state that four of the major Future World pavilions have been under heavy construction, and that work was scheduled to begin on the other major features, including the World Showcase pavilions. They also established that there will be eight other pavilions branching out of the America Adventure, they did not include China or Norway on this list. They do mention designs for future developments include Denmark, Israel, the People's Republic of China and the nations of Africa.

In 1981, they included some photos of construction, and mentioned that across the lagoon, World Showcase was taking final shape. And, they announce Epcot Center's slogan: "The 21st Century Begins on October 1, 1982."

Opening Day EPCOT: What Made It—and What Didn’t

And then, in 1982, they opened EPCOT Center, as planned, on October 1st. In the annual report that came out November 30th, they include details about the dedication ceremony, and list all of the nations that people can visit in the World Showcase, which includes everything we have today, except for Norway. Norway wouldn't be added for another six years, in 1988. They don't mention Israel, Equatorial Africa, or Spain in the annual report, but they did put up signs where they believed those pavilions would be added in the park, and included them in a promotional booklet as locations coming to the World Showcase.

And well, those three didn't happen, but we did get that Outpost location that looks inspired by somewhere in Africa between Germany and China.

What Comes Next: Exploring the Pavilions One by One

Starting next month, we will be exploring the details and secrets of each of the pavilions that are in the park. We hope you're excited for it!

If you have any information or photos that you would like to share, please join our free private Facebook group: Where In The Park Explorers.

All right, well, that's the story of how we got EPCOT and its World Showcase, we can't wait to dive deeper into the stories and secrets of each of the pavilions. For now, this is Kevin signing off for the Where In The Park Podcast, until next time, we'll see you somewhere in the park!

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Articles Referenced:

AllEars.net, Chuck Schmidt - Card Walker Gets the Ball Rolling on Epcot
D23.com, Michael Crawford - Epcot Origins: The World Showcase 
Disneydocs.net - Harper Goff World Showcase Photo Album
Early Mustang, Klaus - NY World's Fair 1964-65
Ebay - The Walt Disney Productions 1982 Annual Report featuring EPCOT Center
Google Sites - The Original E.P.C.O.T - Video Transcript
Google Sites - The Original E.P.C.O.T - EPCOT Center
Gorilla's Don't Blog, Major Pepperidge - Ford Pavilion, 1964 New York World's Fair
Instagram - @waltdisneyimagineering - International Street
MousePlanet.com, Jim Korkis - Walt Disney’s EPCOT ’66 Film Debut
WDW News Today, Jessica Figueroa - Walt Disney World Officially Confirms Epcot Name Change to EPCOT as Part of Park’s Transformation 
WorldsFairPhotos.com, Bill Cotter - The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair
WDW News Today - EPCOT Dedication Plaque Returns with New Sign at Park Entrance
WDW Magic - EPCOT Dedication Plaque Returns with Updated Design at Park Entrance