What Does EPCOT Stand For? | Two Names + Fun Facts
Often overshadowed when discussing EPCOT is the lesser-known fact that the acronym actually has two different full names that have come straight from Walt Disney himself!
We're here to detail the two full names of EPCOT has had over the years as well as some other fun facts about this beloved Disney theme park!
Questions We'll Answer About EPCOT:
- What Did EPCOT Originally Stand For?
- What Does EPCOT Stand For Now?
- EPCOT Fun Facts!
What Did EPCOT Originally Stand For?
When Walt Disney first announced the Florida Project (codename for Walt Disney World) he referred to EPCOT in a slightly different way than we know it to be today.
The Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow was the original meaning behind the acronym EPCOT!
Walt Disney had big plans for EPCOT with every intention of it becoming a working city with its infrastructure, resources, offices, homes, and everything you can imagine in a modern city.
The major difference was EPCOT would also be a tourist attraction in itself with people also coming to play and learn in this city of tomorrow.
It is hard to imagine a theme park that doubles as a city, so much so that the Imagineers tasked with building EPCOT after Walt Disney had passed away was unable to execute his original vision.
EPCOT ultimately become much more a theme park than a city without Walt's guidance, but the spirit of innovation and progress into the future remains a core value of EPCOT as it stands today.
What Does EPCOT Stand For Now?
Different from how Walt Disney first referred to EPCOT, the acronym now stands for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow!
While Walt Disney first originally called EPCOT the Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow, the name underwent some changes and ultimately become the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.
It's hard to pinpoint why exactly the shift from City to Community happened, but it was likely because building an entire city was much more daunting than a smaller community.
Cities are typically thought of as major metropolitan areas with populations in the hundreds of thousands if not millions, so shifting the name to include Community rather than City was more fitting for what was only going to be an isolated experiment at first.
Perhaps if Disney had gone through with the original EPCOT plans we'd eventually see EPCOT grow beyond a small community into a massive city one day, but unfortunately, we'll never know the true potential of this concept.
EPCOT Fun Facts!
FACT #1: For much of its existence EPCOT was actually known as Epcot - with only the E being capitalized despite being an acronym! The park originally opened as EPCOT Center before transitioning over to Epcot ten years later and then to EPCOT in 2021.
FACT #2: While EPCOT as Walt imagined never became a reality, Disney Imagineers have gone on to design two communities: Celebration and Cotino.
FACT #3: EPCOT was the first, and for many years only, Disney theme park to serve alcohol!
FACT #4: A variation of EPCOT known as WestCOT was originally planned to be constructed at Disneyland where California Adventure now sits. In concept art, WestCOT appeared visually quite different than EPCOT but shared many of the same iconic features like the geodesic sphere and the World Showcase.
FACT #5: Acclaimed author Ray Bradbury (author of Fahrenheit 451) was personal friends with Walt Disney and wrote the script and storyline for the attraction that would eventually become Spaceship Earth.
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