Another great Epcot memory was in 1999. I was an organizer for Sunrayce '99, which was a college solar-car race that started in Washington DC and ended about a week later in the Epcot parking lot -- Disney basically took care of the entire race finish. It was a great event, and even cooler, I worked with Epcot PR & Events people to plan the finish line staging, set up exhibiting the solar cars for two days inside the park after the finish and develop the awards ceremony, which we were able to host in the AA theatre. They even canceled the last show of the day so we could use the auditorium and get done in time for Illuminations.
As GM was also a sponsor of the race, we had access to GM's Test Track lounge and had a nice reception there the first night. While the solar cars are road-worthy and traveled on roads in regular traffic from DC to Florida, they are still a little fragile. As the race finished during the last week of June, we knew that afternoon thunderstorms would be likely, but the first day of exhibiting the cars the rain didn't materialize. That meant that on the second day the students who were supposed to be staying with their cars got a bit complacent, went to play around the park, leaving just one or two with each car... and of course a big downpour came. The rain was torrential, and I just remember laughing my head off trying to shepherd the solar cars from the Fountain of Nations plaza over to their trailers which were backstage behind TT. All credit to the Epcot CMs who got us moving in advance after seeing a nasty storm on radar.
I don't think I've ever been so completely soaked, but all the cars avoided damage (luckily the storm was hail-free) and we got them out with a minimum of super-soaking. It was a very different way to experience Epcot and a great time that I'll always cherish.