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[Music]
when you hear the word epcot this is
probably the image that immediately
comes to mind with its clever design
spaceship earth is one of the most
iconic centerpieces of any theme park
epcot opened on october 1st 1982 as
epcot center the epcot acronym stands
for experimental prototype community of
tomorrow when walt came up with the idea
for the florida project his plan for
epcot was originally designed to be a
real city that would expand on new ideas
of urban living revolving around
technology and the future it was called
progress city and part of the model can
actually be found on the people mover at
magic kingdom it's definitely an
interesting concept of a futuristic city
but obviously this exact idea never came
to fruition but epcot did and it's
loosely based on this concept
keeping with the ideas of technology and
the future disney developed what's
essentially a permanent world's fair
building epcot center on 305 acres of
land where it's now currently the second
largest theme park in florida
the park is split into two sections
future world and world showcase we
already have a full video about the
hidden secrets of world showcase so as
the title suggests today is all about
future world although epcot has seen
many changes since opening and even to
this day is continuing to evolve it's
still a very unique theme park so today
we'll be taking a look at the park's
history and counting down the top 10
secrets and facts of epcot's future
world
number 10.
geodesic
like we mentioned earlier spaceship
earth is probably one of the most iconic
centerpieces in a theme park coming in
at 165 feet wide 180 feet tall and about
15.5 million pounds
but what exactly is it you may have
heard it being referred to as a giant
golf ball or just the epcot ball but its
proper title is a geodesic sphere
actually it's the largest freestanding
sphere in the world now what exactly
makes it a geodesic sphere well it's
because it utilizes triangular pieces
that help distribute the structural
stress this allows the sphere to support
very heavy loads like the spaceship
earth attraction inside but we're just
talking about the inside sphere
spaceship earth is actually a sphere
within a sphere that has an inner layer
and an outer layer now this design was
actually inspired by the montreal
biosphere which was formerly the
american pavilion at expo 67 in montreal
imagineers loved the design and
commissioned the same company to build
spaceship earth
also supporting the sphere are six legs
that are drilled about 120 feet into the
ground which is more than half the
height of spaceship earth so this
structure isn't going anywhere
number nine
secret codes
one thing disney likes to do is pay
tribute to important dates of the theme
parks and attractions through secret
numerical codes in the land pavilions
living with the land attraction as you
approach the american prairie scene
you'll find one of these codes the scene
is filled with animatronics that usually
catch your eye but pay special attention
to the mailbox on the left hand side
next time you ride it reads b jones rfd
number 82 and the 82 represents 1982
which is the year epcot opened also at
soarin just next door there's another
numerical tribute you may have heard
your flight number referenced as soar
and airlines
with round trip service soaring at epcot
opened on may 5th 2005. so the first
five represents may which is the fifth
month the second five represents the
fifth day and the zero five represents
the year 2005. so next time there's a
random numbered code in a disney park it
probably has a lot more meaning than you
think
number eight a record setter
the seas with nimon friends originally
opened as the seas pavilion in 1986 and
when it was built it held the record for
being the largest saltwater aquarium in
the world this aquarium holds a lot of
water 5.7 million gallons to be exact
it's 200 feet wide and 27 feet deep to
give you a bit more perspective on the
size spaceship earth would be able to
fit inside the aquarium leaving 35 feet
to spare so yeah it's pretty big
it's also accredited by the association
of zoos and aquariums and is currently
home to over 8 000 sea creatures
in 2005 the georgia aquarium built an
even larger saltwater tank and more
recently larger aquariums have been
built overseas so now epcot is currently
home to the second largest aquarium in
america and sixth largest aquarium in
the world
number seven
very draining
staying on the topic of water have you
ever noticed that when it rains at epcot
the area under spaceship earth stays
completely dry well that's because a
sophisticated drainage system was built
into the sphere we mentioned earlier
that spaceship earth is a sphere within
a sphere so the outside layer is a
completely separate structure from the
inside layer there's actually a two foot
gap between the inner and outer shells
and each of the 954 aluminum triangles
are just for aesthetic purposes only
there's a one inch gap between the
triangular pieces and this acts as a
drainage system when it rains the water
falls into these cracks runs through a
gutter in the structure travels down a
drain through the legs of the sphere
eventually making its way into world
showcase lagoon so if you want to stay
dry just make sure you find a spot under
spaceship earth
number 6 underground tunnels
so magic kingdom is known for its
elaborate underground tunnel system but
did you know that epcot also has
underground tunnels they're nowhere near
as extensive as magic kingdoms but they
definitely exist
epcot's tunnels run in a u-shape under
the old interventions west building
across spaceship earth all the way
through interventions east where it also
connects to the backstage area of the
universe of energy pavilion this series
of tunnels only runs about 700 feet and
it's primarily used for deliveries to
the restaurants and the shops in future
worlds since these buildings are located
in the middle of the park they have no
direct access to backstage areas like
the rest of the buildings so the tunnel
system was built solely for this purpose
number five the fastest
if you watched our top 10 fastest rides
at walt disney world video you probably
know that test track is the fastest ride
at walt disney world it reaches top
speeds of 65 miles per hour but the
speedometer that appears near the end of
the ride doesn't actually track the
current speed of the vehicle there's
many factors like weight and wind that
could affect the speed so it's
essentially just a prop and these aren't
your typical cars either this kind of
attraction is known as a slot car ride
where the ride vehicle is controlled by
a mechanism below the track each of the
vehicles actually has 22 wheels there's
the four main ones you can physically
see then beneath the car there's 18 more
small wheels that lock right onto the
track
number four
abandoned and extinct
at epcot you may have found yourself
walking right by some remnants of a
couple extinct and abandoned attractions
in the imagination pavilion
as you head to the exit in imageworks
you'll notice there's a platform you
step down from and this is actually the
edge of the turntable from the original
journey into imagination ride and if you
look above you can see the circular
outline as well the pavilion also has a
second floor which used to be home to
the original image works that's where
this iconic picture of michael jackson
was taken during the refurb in 1999 it
closed and was left abandoned for the
longest time as of recently it's now
been turned into a dvc member lounge so
when you walk towards the exit doors
that set of stairs on the left hand side
leads to what used to be another
attraction
number three
fiber optics
when the sun sets and day turns to night
epcot is even more beautiful
spaceship earth sports a purple hue the
buildings are illuminated and even the
concrete lights up fiber optic strands
in the concrete tiles light up creating
different lighting patterns as guests
walk by these are the fiber optic lights
you're probably used to seeing but if
you venture behind spaceship earth
you'll find these they're more intricate
designs and larger sections of concrete
and they also change colors they
definitely give off a futuristic feel
fully supporting the whole idea of
future world
number two
talking trash
what if we told you there's still a
talking trash can at disney now we
aren't talking about push the talking
trash can since he was removed from the
parks in 2014
but at the electric umbrella restaurant
in epcot there's still a talking trash
can it's not interactive like push by
any means but when you push the lid and
throw trash into it the trash can will
speak a variety of pre-recorded lines
this is my lucky day french fries
what are you doing stop that i thought
it was
now if you're ever confused on which
trash can is the talking trash can just
take a look to see which one's plugged
into an electrical outlet
number one
presidential space
did you know that some of the presidents
from the hall of president's attraction
can be found on spaceship earth
well creating the face molds for
animatronics are very costly
so imagineers try to eliminate the costs
as much as possible and reuse the molds
within their attractions spaceship earth
has quite a few familiar faces that
you've probably never noticed
the egyptian priest and the roman
senator is actually teddy roosevelt
the writing monk is john adams
the loop player in the renaissance scene
is dwight eisenhower and the scholar
sitting on the ground is franklin pierce
so with some different wigs and costumes
these well-known faces get transformed
into brand new characters
so what's your favorite thing about
epcot and if you were only able to go on
one ride in future world which one would
you choose leave a comment down below
and start a conversation if you have any
videos from the disney parks that you'd
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