Epcot in October 1996
Today, we take a look back at our visit to Epcot at Walt Disney World in October 1996. The 25th Anniversary celebration was not quite as evident at Epcot as it was at the Magic Kingdom, but then Epcot had only been open for 14 years, and it was not meant to be the focal point of that celebration. Here is what we saw during our trip.
Spaceship Earth is always a good place to start at Epcot, since it is right at the main entrance. Here, you can see some of the Innoventions canopies in front of Spaceship Earth, which of course means that this photo was taken inside the park. But you can see Spaceship Earth from all over, of course.
The Land was a nice, calm place back in 1996, long before Soarin’ was added. However, the beloved Kitchen Kabaret attraction (see a photo from that one in the 1988 Epcot photos) had just been replaced by Food Rocks, which proved to be not quite as popular as the original attraction, at least in my opinion.
Test Track was still a couple of years away from opening. But they did have one of the Test Track vehicles parked outside of the building to give you a glimpse of what was to come. World of Motion had been one of my favorites starting with my first visit in 1983, so I was sad to see it go, although this vehicle did look interesting.
As we move on toward World Showcase, these flamingos were hanging out near the Odyssey Restaurant building. As the story goes, a large sinkhole was discoverd when they were building Epcot, and so that area was turned into a water feature, which you can see here. The flamingos don’t seem to mind at all. By the way, “flamingos” and “flamingoes” are both accepted plurals of flamingo, but “flamingos” is the more common spelling. Just in case you were wondering. Again, the birds do not seem to care either way.
This garden railway had been added to the Germany pavilion as part of the annual Flower and Garden festival. However, it became so popular that it became a permanent addition. If you did not know, LGB model trains come from Germany, which is why the model railway was added here.
We next stopped by Italy, where I took this photo of Laura with the famous Italian poles. Of course, Spaceship Earth in the distance gives away the fact that we are not in the real Italy.
And then it started to rain in Italy. That is, in the Florida version of Italy. I don’t know how much it rains in the real Italy, but rain in the Florida version of Italy is rather common. If you aren’t sure if it is raining in this photo, the person in the yellow poncho in the foreground gives it away.
After the rain, here is Laura in Morocco. Again, the Florida version and not the real thing. We did not have passports back then, so the Florida version of Morocco was as far as we could go.
And finally, we end our World Showcase visit with Canada, because starting at Canada and ending at Mexico is just backwards. I do enjoy all the different Canadian cultural items that you can see here. Interesting architecture!
That wraps up our visit to Epcot at Walt Disney World in October 1996. Check back soon for more Looking Back at Walt Disney World posts!
