Disney’s Once-Futuristic Epcot Is Getting a Modern Overhaul

There was a time when Epcot, the second piece of Florida's sprawling Walt Disney World resort, functioned as a source for slow-paced education about energy, technology, farming, and world cultures. Speedy thrills were for other lands. In more recent years, the park, which opened in 1982, has added more adventurous (and crowd-generating) components: the speedy Test Track; the multi-sensory Soarin'; the blastoff-simulating Mission: Space; the wildly popular movie-based Frozen Ever After. But The Walt Disney Company still wants more for Epcot as it pours money into upgrading its theme parks around the world — and especially in Orlando, where competition from smaller rival Universal Studios have proven fierce in the years following the addition of Harry Potter attractions. "If you look at what Disney's done since Universal opened Wizarding World in 2010, they focused on each of their four parks in succession," said Robert Niles, founder and editor  of Theme Park Insider. "Magi