At opening in 1982, was EPCOT Center a "full day" park for you?

[erasure fan1]

It was most definitely a full day park. Walking and seeing each pavilion in world showcase felt like half a day. It had a nice selection of rides, even though a few of my favorites weren't there opening day. I can see why some would wouldn't think it's a full day. As a kid I really wanted no part of world showcase. There were a few pavilions I liked like Mexico and Japan. I liked the American adventure and a few other things. So I can see why some might just think shopping.

 

[RoadiJeff]

I was there the second week EPCOT had opened back in 1982. I don't remember any huge crowds but I was only going to be there for a day and so I didn't spend a lot of time in each Word Showcase pavilion. I walked around in the rain part of the day instead of staying indoors somewhere, waiting for it to stop.

In the Imagination pavilion, I volunteered to be one of two guests to interact in a scene with a blue screen behind us and we were in a western. I guess we did good because I'd seen others in the same show several times and we were the only ones who received an applause by everyone at the end.

 

[Phonedave]

I went as a kid with my family in 83 or 84. It was most assuredly a full day park. We went to "Orlando" not Disney World. We did a day in Sea World, a day at Cape Canaveral, a day at Magic Kingdom, and a day at EPCOT. I remember wishing we had more time to go back to EPCOT, as we did not get to see it all.

 

[tpoly88]

i first went in 1988 and then it was a full day. Sounds funny but I had more patience to do all the attractions then although i was a teenager. i thought body wars was so cool and i really liked the seas with seabase alpha. we also went to all the countries and did all the shows and did both sides of innoventions . One thing that i thought was so neat was the video phone booth that you would make a reservation for dinner or other information. Epcot had a different feel back then as most of the stuff and rides in future world was cutting edge and new. I think that the speed of life has accelerated and everything is so "supercharged" that its hard to slow down in the park without effort. I will say that now Epcot is a 4 hr park to me now and that's with stopping to eat. im rambling but i feel all parks dont keep me there as long as i used to.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

My dad spent days at EC opening week, including opening day. He remembers UoE breaking down a lot but overall a great experience. He was also on Horizons opening day the following year.

 

[Phonedave]

i first went in 1988 and then it was a full day. Sounds funny but I had more patience to do all the attractions then although i was a teenager. i thought body wars was so cool and i really liked the seas with seabase alpha. we also went to all the countries and did all the shows and did both sides of innoventions . One thing that i thought was so neat was the video phone booth that you would make a reservation for dinner or other information. Epcot had a different feel back then as most of the stuff and rides in future world was cutting edge and new. I think that the speed of life has accelerated and everything is so "supercharged" that its hard to slow down in the park without effort. I will say that now Epcot is a 4 hr park to me now and that's with stopping to eat. im rambling but i feel all parks dont keep me there as long as i used to.

Seabase Alpha is one of the distinct memories that I have of early EPCOT. We spent a lot of time there if I recall correctly. As you said, everything back then was new or cutting edge. I think speed of development is a big factor. When the next big innovation comes every year or two, you can review it, plan a display, and install it while it is still fresh. Now it is something is invented on a Monday and by the time Friday comes around it is old hat. It is difficult to keep the installations up to date.

 

[pigglewiggle]

I was 9. But I know we ended the night at Alfredo's.

And knowing my dad, we were there open to close.

 

[donaldtoo]

My DWifey and myself first visited EPCOT Center together in Dec. of 1988 on our honeymoon (although she had visited two years earlier with her younger sister and half uncle).
The Norway pavilion had just opened earlier that year in ‘88, and we definitely spent the whole day there…the place was amazing…!!!!!!!
Even since then, it was always a full day Park on our family trips, and even with our two young granddaughters last October…!!!

 

[UNCgolf]

Seabase Alpha is one of the distinct memories that I have of early EPCOT. We spent a lot of time there if I recall correctly. As you said, everything back then was new or cutting edge. I think speed of development is a big factor. When the next big innovation comes every year or two, you can review it, plan a display, and install it while it is still fresh. Now it is something is invented on a Monday and by the time Friday comes around it is old hat. It is difficult to keep the installations up to date.

Me too. I still think that pavilion is one of the best things Disney has ever built as a whole experience (hydrolators to SeaCabs to the seabase). I thought about it regularly as a kid. It's so disappointing that that awful Nemo ride is there now instead.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I can't speak for anyone else but I went to EPCOT in February of 1983 (my god, that was 41 years ago ) And it was a two hour park for me. All those crowd control things that Disney was so famous for had not taken hold at that point. The line to get to just see the movie at Imagination (only part open) ran all the way back to beyond The Land. Spaceship Earth, which had a massive queue was impossible. We just gave up and left, got in the car and went to the Kennedy Space Center. We had been at EPCOT for just about 2 hours and saw nothing except the movie. Went back a couple years later and it was great and took more than one day.

So the answer is yes, but only because it took so long to see anything. It would have been a full day just to see the first half. Heck, the World of Energy was an hour ride all by itself. Three times that by the time you got into it. It became my favorite park after my second visit, but the first was a complete waste of money. What helped ease the blow was that admission was only about $17.00. (Adjusted for inflation was about $40.00)

 

[bjlc57]

epcot was not a full day park for me and my family.. it was TWO FULL DAYS..solid.. and it was OUTSTANDING..it still is..

 

[tpoly88]

i wanted to edit some of what i put before on this. i just went to Epcot this past sunday, i brought my niece, her fiance' (who never was at epcot before)and my nephew. We went on basically all the rides in future world (skipped the land) and went around the world. we spent about 6.5hrs, we stopped an ate and at that point we were in Germany. we left and the kids stayed so i can say i was wrong that it is a 4hr park, as its only that way for me as ive been so many times i dont go and look at all the stuff in every country like we did this weekend. If you have never been to Epcot and want to see it all, yes its a full day and ill admit i was wrong on that but, for my wife and I it is a 4 hr park as we have an agenda when we go vs just taking it all in. Have to admit, it was actually nice seeing everything and showing someone thats never been all that Epcot has. He was amazed btw.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

It was a two day park for us from our first visit in April 1983. Still my favorite Florida park. But I miss what it used to be.

 

[Phonedave]

Me too. I still think that pavilion is one of the best things Disney has ever built as a whole experience (hydrolators to SeaCabs to the seabase). I thought about it regularly as a kid. It's so disappointing that that awful Nemo ride is there now instead.

The Nemo ride in and of itself is OK. It is the fact it replaced what I consider "real" imagineering is what is disappointing.

Seabase Alpha was just an awesome idea. It must have been some great brainstorming.

Well, what else can we put in EPCOT? How about an aquarium?

But aquariums are so run of the mill.

How about we flip it around? The people are inside the enclosure, at an undersea base.

Yeah, they have to take an underwater elevator, yeah yeah a hydrolator!, down to the base.

What if they didn't go right to the base, but went to a staging area, where they then had to ride a train (hydrotrain, seatrain, SeaCab, yeah, SeaCab!) through a clear tunnel to the main base.



It was just a glorified aquarium, but combination of story, and tech, and effects is what made it great.

 

[Phonedave]

i wanted to edit some of what i put before on this. i just went to Epcot this past sunday, i brought my niece, her fiance' (who never was at epcot before)and my nephew. We went on basically all the rides in future world (skipped the land) and went around the world. we spent about 6.5hrs, we stopped an ate and at that point we were in Germany. we left and the kids stayed so i can say i was wrong that it is a 4hr park, as its only that way for me as ive been so many times i dont go and look at all the stuff in every country like we did this weekend. If you have never been to Epcot and want to see it all, yes its a full day and ill admit i was wrong on that but, for my wife and I it is a 4 hr park as we have an agenda when we go vs just taking it all in. Have to admit, it was actually nice seeing everything and showing someone thats never been all that Epcot has. He was amazed btw.

That is part of it for us as well. My wife and I no longer feed the need to see "everything". We also skip certain rides that my wife knows will trigger motion sickness. It does make the park go faster when you skip things.

 

[George]

Seabase Alpha is one of the distinct memories that I have of early EPCOT. We spent a lot of time there if I recall correctly. As you said, everything back then was new or cutting edge. I think speed of development is a big factor. When the next big innovation comes every year or two, you can review it, plan a display, and install it while it is still fresh. Now it is something is invented on a Monday and by the time Friday comes around it is old hat. It is difficult to keep the installations up to date.

A deluge of such magnitude that the world’s greatest waterfalls flowing together for more than a million years would only begin to just approach its results. For when it finally stopped, the seas had been born.

 

[George]

The Universe we know is one of dynamic forces -- its heartbeat sending a constant flow of energy coursing through the vastness. This energy is never destroyed, nor is this energy created. But energy is perceived in different forms. Within the atoms of all matter - on a level most infinitesimal, yet most powerful - is nuclear energy. Binding atoms into molecules and crystals - and stored in the cells of all living things - is chemical energy. In the sudden flow of electrons there is electrical energy. In the world around us, there is constant motion - and in this motion, there is mechanical energy. Unleashed in the motion of molecules themselves is heat energy. Finally, washing over the Earth in an all-pervasive, never ending flood is light energy. We long observed with fascination, the interplay of these elemental forms of energy, noting that certain forms often changed into others.

 

[George]

Behold the majesty of the Sistine chapel.

 

[George]

Radok blocks (working a bit after opening day if I recall). The mechanically elegant Imagination ride. Soaring over an Omnimax screen as just part of a ride. The incredibly audacious American Adventure show. Playing in Imagination. I couldn’t believe such a place had been built.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

The Universe we know is one of dynamic forces -- its heartbeat sending a constant flow of energy coursing through the vastness. This energy is never destroyed, nor is this energy created. But energy is perceived in different forms. Within the atoms of all matter - on a level most infinitesimal, yet most powerful - is nuclear energy. Binding atoms into molecules and crystals - and stored in the cells of all living things - is chemical energy. In the sudden flow of electrons there is electrical energy. In the world around us, there is constant motion - and in this motion, there is mechanical energy. Unleashed in the motion of molecules themselves is heat energy. Finally, washing over the Earth in an all-pervasive, never ending flood is light energy. We long observed with fascination, the interplay of these elemental forms of energy, noting that certain forms often changed into others.

How the mighty has fallen...

Would guests now boarding their superhero coaster even in their wildest imagination believe that the above was once what that very place was all about?