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Michelle Oertner
Professor Maslonka
English 101.1N
10 November 2014
Inspiration in EPCOT
Walt Disney Worlds main purpose is usually thought to be entertainment, and in most of
the parks this is true. However, in the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, more
commonly known as the EPCOT Center, the goal is to educate and inspire through entertainment
(Postman 66). EPCOT is split into two sections, Future World and World Showcase, and is more
of an interactive museum than an amusement park. Like Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia,
EPCOT is an attempt to create a living portrait of what it means to be human in a particular time
and place; it is the worlds largest animated diorama (Postman 66). The animated technology
EPCOT uses is meant to attract people, to make them want to come in and learn. The park was
created with the idea that it would be a place that would inspire creativity and push people,
especially younger generations, to think differently. Part of their attempts to inspire young minds
includes a program in which high schools compete to take part in a yearly holiday Candlelight
procession (Oertner). These types of competition for young people are common there and
support EPCOTs mission to enlighten and motivate the next generation in the hopes of
promoting creative and technological advancements for future society.
Every year during the holiday season, the EPCOT Center hosts several different
programs for high school music programs. Among these programs are two that Palm Bay High

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School in Palm Bay, Florida participates in every year (Oertner). The Candlelight procession is a
holiday concert. High schools send in an application and a recording of their choir and the best
groups are chosen to perform alongside a small group of professional singers and a guest speaker
(Oertner). They also had a similar program for high school bands and orchestras which Palm Bay
HS also wins a spot in every year (Oertner). In that program, actual conductors and producers
from Disney soundtracks would work with the students to learn a Disney song and then perform
it in EPCOT in the holiday concerts in front of a big screen that would play the video clip from
the movie to match up with the song they were playing (Oertner). Along with these music
programs for young adults, EPCOT also hosts a variety of other programs and competitions, such
as a robotics competition and a design competition. These programs celebrate creativity and
innovation and support EPCOTs mission to inspire.
When Walt Disney first planned the EPCOT Center he described it as a museum
celebrating the possibilities of humanitys future (Postman 67). Although Walt Disney died in
1966 and EPCOT did not open until 1982, much of Disneys original concept was kept intact
(Postman 66). The biggest change made was that rather than being built to be an actual lived-in
city, as Disney originally intended, it was built as a theme park with all the same concepts the
city was to have (Postman 67). It was meant to tell part of the story of human intelligence and
creativity (Postman 66), which is why they hold so many competitions for young adults. The
teenagers in high school, about to graduate and go out into the world, are the best ones to involve
in the ideas needed to move society forward. At the time that EPCOT was envisioned and even
still in the time it was actually built, the world was making large leaps forward in technology. It
was a period of advancement and enlightenment.

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Many people say that EPCOTs mission is no longer relevant. That society now is
already focused on advancing technologically and that it needs to find a new point to get across
to continue to be successful. Future World in EPCOT is mostly about space exploration and
envisioned gadgets of the future from what the world expected in 1982. Since then, space
exploration has become a lot more advanced. Now there are probes sending back photographs
from deep space and the Hubble Telescope showing things society never dreamed of being able
to see back in the 1980s. Many of the future inventions they envisioned have since either become
a reality or been found to be impossible. While EPCOTs mission is still clear, it is also
becoming slightly outdated.
The EPCOT Center of Disney World is a place meant to enthrall, inspire, and instruct. It
showcases young minds and young talents. It shows the worlds cultures both as they are and as
society could be in the future. While EPCOT was originally pictured as a city, it has possibly
been more effective in spreading its message as a theme park because people come from all over
the world to visit the theme park, whereas that probably would not happen if it were a city. Some
of the ideas portrayed there may be becoming obsolete, but the idea of pushing creativity and
ingenuity will always be relevant.

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Works Cited
Oertner, Virginia A. Personal interview. 1 Nov 2014.
Postman, Neil. Museum as dialogue. Museum Provision and Professionalism.(1994):66-67.
Web. 1 Nov. 2014.