EPCOT vs. Tomorrowland

[MermaidOfNeverland]

Hi! I'm mostly a lurker, but listen to the DIS Unplugged often. I had a random question about EPCOT, and I wasn't sure where to post it.

What was the purpose of creating Future World when there was already Tomorrowland in MK? It seems like Future World is just a more "advanced" or "futuristic" Tomorrowland. In fact, what exactly was Walt's vision for EPCOT?

Lastly, was World Showcase always going to be part of EPCOT? It seems to clash with Future World.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Tyler

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Future World, and Epcot in general, is supposed to focus on education. Spaceship Earth (communications), Innovations (technology), The Living Seas (marine life), Living With the Land (agriculture), Test Track (design, manufacturing, physics) etc., all teach about science-related topic.

Tomorrowland is mostly for fun.

 

[MermaidOfNeverland]

Oooh, that makes sense now. Thanks so much for your answer!

 

[TipsyTraveler]

FlightlessDuck is right, EPCOT is an "edutainment" park focusing on man's relationship with the Earth -- the land, seas, space, technological progress, cultures, etc. The Illuminations storyline tells the story of man's entire existence on Earth starting with the Big Bang, bringing it up to present day, and ending with "We go on", symbolizing our continued forward march into the future. (If you haven't read about the Illuminations story you should look it up. It's beautifully done and you'll never see those fireworks in the same way again.)

Walt's vision was that EPCOT would be an actual functioning city, hence the acronym -- Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow. Ultimately, that never happened, obviously.