EPCOT CENTER 1982!

Part Five...

Even More Rainbows, Chrome and Purple Dragons!


We move forward with imagery from various areas around 1982-85 Epcot Center that showcase the optimism and style of this once great park...


Epcot Center was just plain trippy! It was a playground of 'extra-curricular ' activities for visually stimulated guests...

Please keep hands and arms on the exhibits and extinguish all smoking devices!

Man, is that car smooth or what?


Up, up and away in my Rolly Crump balloon!


Holy Shit! That group of vegetables are singing and playing instruments!


Whoa! Now the dairy products are speaking! What kind of weed is this stuff?

With all of it's style and innovation, there was a weird sterility to the park. Again, in my mind...not a bad thing. I was asked about "sex" at the park in relation to my posts about vintage Disneyland selling sex. Epcot Center absolutely, undeniably sold NO..ZERO...ZIP...NATTA sex within its pastel gates. The park was a sort of church to our future...

Kodak's Journey Into Imagination had an uncanny resemblance to The Crytsal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Ca.

This was the early 1980s and the Women's Lib movement was at it's peak. Women were equals in society. That's a good thing. It was about time too. The problem with this movement was a byproduct (well intended or not) that weakened the primal attractions between the sexes...at least in the media. At Disney, this created a world of polyester sterility where women and men became one in the same...Politically correct Lego-like characters where the only differentiating factor was hair length and the occasional mustache. Everyone was equal; On the space station platform or in the bedroom...

I guess I should let this one speak for itself...

Epcot didn't have lightly clad mermaids, riding crop wielding vixens in plaid or silver mini skirts with knee-high space boots...nope. Epcot foretold a future where everyone was equally bland and uninteresting.


But the architecture was sure cool!


Here's the Living Seas pavillion c.1985. It was Epcot Center at its best...


World Showcase also gave an extremely positive outlook towards our neighbors on Spaceship Earth.

The original participating nations were given the 'star treatment' by WED's artitsts with pavilions that surpassed anything previously presented at World's Fairs.


All of the Disney show tricks were used to place a generous light on the national advertisements presented in World Showcase.



Canada, Japan, China, Morrocco, Italy, The United Kingdom, France and Mexico were among the first to benefit from a hyper-presentation of their country's attributes through the eyes of the Disney masters...


Pavilions such as Journey Into Imagination, The Land, Horizions, Universe Of Energy, The Living Seas and World Of Motion were truly inspiring attractions that showcased art, technology and optimism in every way they possibly could. For those first few years, Epcot achieved some of what I believe Walt Disney intended for Epcot in spirit.

The Imagineers at WED had a final showcase for their artistry of mind and taste. Everything that came after Epcot 1982-85 was under a new umbrella. The Eisner regime. Idealism was dead in the theme park arts and commerce muscled in.

Well, that's our visit to the original Epcot center 1982-1985. Hope you got something out of it. For those of you who always liked it, this was a nifty look back. For those of you who always thought it was a hacked out compromise, I hope this look gives you reason to look again.

And, for those of you who never saw Epcot and think these two below are from the West Los Angeles Pavilion sponsored by Eveready Batteries...


...there never was a West Los Angeles Pavilion at Epcot!