EPCOT 30th Anniversary Celebration!

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EPCOT Center’s 30th anniversary occured October 1, 2012. This page takes a look back at the best of EPCOT Center through some stunning reader-submitted photos and also shares some of the highlights of EPCOT30!

Extinct EPCOT Center:

In honor of EPCOT Center’s 30th Anniversary, we’ve conducted asked our readers to submit some of their photos from the glory years of EPCOT Center. We originally planned on doing one single post with these photos, but we received so many that we’ve expanded it to a series! Check the photos out at the links below:

Journey into Imagination
World of Motion
Horizons
Spaceship Earth
The Land
The Living Seas
World Showcase

There are many more galleries to come in this series, including Extinct Characters of EPCOT, World Showcase, and Ephemera , so stay tuned! 

If you enjoy the photos in those galleries and are interested in learning more about early EPCOT Center, I strongly encourage you to check out the 240-page book from 1983: Walt Disney’s Epcot Center: Creating the New World of Tomorrow. There’s also an earlier 100 page book from 1982 by a similar name that sells for a lot less. We own both, and the later edition blows the earlier away.

(EPCOT’s 30th Anniversary occurred October 1, 2012 – moving the following down to the bottom of the page for historical/reference purposes)

So, what should you know about EPCOT Center’s 30th anniversary if you’re going to be in Walt Disney World for the events? First of all that it’s primarily a gathering of fans and is driven by the fan community, and is not a colossal celebration by Walt Disney World. Although the day-of and Disney D23 events on September 30th sound like a lot of fun, this is not the type of celebration Walt Disney World put on for its 25th anniversary or Disneyland’s 50th. Expect something more in line with the events held for last year’s 40th Anniversary of Walt Disney World (click to read our recap).

Official Schedule:

Thanks to Food & Wine Festival, fan events, and Disney’s official events, there will be no shortage of activities to entertain all weekend long!

The big official events are the Disney D23 seminars on September 30th (now sold out) and the schedule of official events throughout the day on October 1st.

October 1, 2012 Official Schedule:

• 1-2 p.m. – Designing the Future – Past and Present: A panel of Disney Imagineers remembers 30 years of building tomorrow! (World Showplace)
• 3 p.m. – Anniversary Moment: Disney Leaders and Performers Pay Tribute to Epcot (America Gardens Theatre)
• 4:30–6 p.m. – Epcot: How it Changed the World with Marty Sklar (World Showplace)
• 6:30–8 p.m. – Epcot: How it Changed the World with Marty Sklar (World Showplace – Repeat of earlier seminar)
• 9 p.m. – IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth with Special 30th Anniversary End Tag (World Showcase Lagoon)

Of course, merchandise will play a big part in the event, and the merchandise Disney has previewed on the Parks Blog thus far looks amazing. From Limited Edition shirts, iPhone cases, and pins to 11 special World Showcase shirts, and many other items that have yet to be previewed, EPCOT Center’s 30th Anniversary looks to be an expensive day for collectors, and guests interested in this merchandise should expect to arrive prior to park opening to have a chance at it due to the limited runs of some items. Expect the longest lines of the day to be at MouseGears and Epcot’s other gift shops!

Fan Events:

In addition to the events scheduled by Disney, several groups in the community are doing their own events in honor of, or around the same time as, Epcot’s 30th Anniversary. Here’s a rundown of the ones of which we’re aware:

• WDWCelebrations
• Retro Day WDW
• Communicore Weekly Epcot 30th Event
• AllEars Meet
• WDW Today unTent Fest
• WDW Radio Meet of the Month
• Disney Food Blog Foodie Fest

We are really excited to share all the festivities of EPCOT Center’s 30th anniversary with you, and you can find all of our coverage right here on this page. The links in the next section contain some awesome photos of “Extinct EPCOT” and will give you an idea of why EPCOT Center was (and is) so special if you’re a relatively new fan of Walt Disney World.

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Also, check out some of our top recent Epcot posts…

Our Previous Epcot Posts:
Top Food & Wine Festival Snacks
Drinking Around the World at Epcot
2012 Food & Wine Festival Preview
Epcot Facebook Timeline Covers
Test Track 2012 Refurbishment Details
Epcot’s Candlelight Processional

If you are enjoying our EPCOT30 coverage, please share or Like this post on Facebook, Tweet it out to your friends, Pin some of the photos on the various pages to Pinterest, or ‘get social’ with it in some other way! Or, let us know your thoughts in the comments. We love to hear from our readers!

 

2 Responses to “EPCOT 30th Anniversary Celebration!”

1. John Saye says:

   September 27, 2012 at 7:22 pm

   I wasn’t even thinking about it, but now I’m starting to really get excited about the 30th anniversary of EPCOT.

   I remember visiting Disney World before there was even groundbreaking on EPCOT. I remember when the Spaceship Earth was going up and no one knew what it was.

   Now I think that EPCOT is by far my favorite of the parks, save for the really old stuff in the Magic Kingdom. Love the imagery in this post.

   Reply
2. switts says:

   September 28, 2012 at 7:23 am

   I fly out in 24 hours and could not be more excited for the 30th anniversary on monday

   Reply