EPCOT — Walt Disney World's newest showplace — is scheduled to open this month.
An $800 million project spread over 550 acres of Central Florida is the latest phase of Walt Disney's dream of creating a permanent exhibition where the achievements of science, industry, and the imagination can be made entertaining and stimulating for its expected 20 million annual visitors.
It has been a union construction project from start to finish, with hundreds of Brotherhood members employed — carpenters, lathers, pile-drivers, floorcoverers and millwrights from our Central Florida District Council.
EPCOT stands for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow." It has been the largest private construction job of 1981-82. Located two miles south of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center covers 260 of the total 550 acreage.
[img]SPACESHIP EARTH , the Bell System presentation about communication in Future World. In the foreground are two of the nine World Showcase pavilions, Canada with its tall steeples and the United Kingdom with its chimnied rooftops.[/img]
[img]LAND PAVILION covers nearly six acres in Future World area of Epcot Center, equal in size to Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Presented by Kraft, Land pavilion is one of 14 major themed areas.[/img]
[img]ITALY PAVILION — One of eight international pavilions in World Showcase, part of the $8OO million Epcot Center, which opened October 1 , 1982 at Walt Disney World.[/img]
[img]JOURNEY INTO IMAGINATION — A pavilion takes shape alongside Land pavilion construction in Future World. Two new Disney characters, DreamFinder and Figment will guide visitors in show presented by Kodak.[/img]
[img]EPCOT CENTER CONSTRUCTION — An aerial view of the $800 million addition to Walt Disney World. EPCOT Center, a showcase for the nations of today and the technology of the future, is expected to entertain an estimated 8 million guests.[/img]
EPCOT has two major theme parks — Future World and World Showcase. An eight-mile monorail circuit connects the Magic Kingdom to EPCOT's Future World. At the entrance is the world's largest geosphere. A 180-foot high globe called Spaceship Earth. Inside, a ride takes visitors on a spiral journey up into the sphere, tracing mankind's progress in communications.
Among the showplaces in Future World which were created by UBC members and other Building Tradesmen are "the worlds of motion, imagination, invention, and the support systems which sustain life on earth." Each exhibit shows the latest innovations in its area. As the pictures below show, several nations have contributed to the exhibitions.
One pavilion — the Universe of Energy Pavilion — has a one-acre area covered with 80,000 photo-voltaic cells in 2,200 modules — the world's largest private solar installation.
The World Showcase encircles a lagoon the size of 85 football fields. Crisscrossing this waterway, weaving between islands will be excursion boats recalling the canal craft of Europe. Centered in the World Showcase is "The American Adventure," portrayed by the Disney-developed art of "audio-animatronics" which will present scenes depicting highlight's of America's past.
[img]GERMAN PAVILION — Work in progress on another of eight international pavilions in World Showcase. This "Community of Nations" building is beside a 40-acre lagoon.[/img]
[img]WORLD OF MOTION, presented by General Motors, is a striking landmark in the Future World area of Epcot Center. The circular structure, nearly 90 feet tall and 320 feet in diameter, houses major attractions of transportation.[/img]
