Epcot

Epcot, which stands for an "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow," was the original inspiration for Walt Disney World. Disney envisioned a future in which nations coexisted in peace and harmony, reaping the miraculous harvest of technological achievement. As early as 1966, Disney said that Epcot would "take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry." He wrote that Epcot, never completed, always improving, "will never cease to be a living blueprint of the future.. a showcase to the world for the ingenuity of American free enterprise."

But the permanent settlement that he envisioned wasn't to be and, instead, has taken an altered shape in Disney's Celebration, an urban planner's dream of a town near fast-growing Kissimmee. Epcot, which opened in 1982, 16 years after Disney's death, is a showcase, ostensibly, for the concepts that would be incorporated into the real-life Epcots of the future. It's composed of two parts: Future World, where most pavilions are colorful collaborations between Walt Disney Imagineering and major U.S. corporations and are designed to demonstrate technological advances through innovative shows and attractions; and the World Showcase, where exhibition areas complete with shops, restaurants, attractions, and live entertainment are microcosms of 11 countries from four continents.

Epcot today is both more and less than Walt Disney's original dream. Less because the World Showcase presents views of its countries that are, as an Epcot guide once put it, "as Americans perceive them"—highly idealized. But this is a minor quibble in the face of the major achievement: Epcot is that rare paradox—an educational theme park—and a very successful one, too.

Although several attractions, such as Soarin', Test Track, and Mission: SPACE, provide high-octane kicks, the thrills are mostly for the mind. Epcot is best for school-age children and adults. But that doesn't mean the little ones can't have a great time here. Much of the park's entertainment and at least half of its attractions provide fun diversions for preschool children overstimulated by the Magic Kingdom's pixie dust. If you're traveling with younger children, don't miss the Kidcot Fun Stops for hands-on crafts at every World Showcase pavilion and at Future World's Test Track, the Land and the Seas with Nemo & Friends.