Happy 30th Birthday EPCOT!

"To all who come to this place of joy, hope and friendship - welcome. EPCOT is inspired by Walt Disney's creative vision. Here, human achievements are celebrated through imagination, wonders of enterprise and concepts of a future that promises new and exciting benefits for all. May EPCOT Center entertain, inform and inspire and above all, may it instill a new sense of belief and pride in man's ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere in the world" - E. Cardon Walker, March 1, 1982

October 1, 2012 marked the 30th anniversary of the opening of EPCOT! 

Since I arrived here, the cast at Epcot has been preparing for this momentous day. As I previously mentioned, we had a 30 day countdown cast party. In The Seas break room we had a mini 14 day countdown with logos of past and present Epcot attractions and basic facts on them. 

A few days beforehand, Mouse Gears (the main shop at the park) set up 30 anniversary displays with a few products for sale. I woke up the morning of October 1st to find images and clips of the outrageous lines to get exclusive limited edition merchandise. 

Thankfully, I didn't start work till 2pm so I was able to enjoy part of the festivities. Christina and I arrived at Epcot Cast Services around 11:30. In the main hallway was balloons, signs that said "hip hip hooray" for Epcot's birthday, and of course a table full of festive cupcakes. 

On our way out we ran into Matt who was on lunch break and heading to the cast cafeteria. So we joined him. If I was hungry I would have gotten the 82 cent lunch special: Walt's chili recipe with salad and apple pie. Why 82 cents? Well, EPCOT Center (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) was inspired by Walt's vision of a utopian city, which was his goal of the Florida Project. 


I met up with two of my co-workers and we headed off to the front of the park to receive a EPCOT 3o button to proudly wear. We also were given a commemorative guide map which opened up to show past park map drawings reflecting the changes of Epcot throughout the years. 








At 1 pm we attended a presentation in Millennium Village (now called World Showplace) which was originally built to host several countries for Epcot's Millennium Celebration. A panel of imagineers who've been with Epcot since the beginning came out and introduced themselves and their role in bringing the park to life. It was really interesting to hear their stories. Unfortunately I had to leave halfway through because I had a training meeting at 2. 

I headed backstage to Cast Services and changed into my costume. Then I went to the Future World East attractions team trailer for my meeting. This was basically a review of the 4 keys and expectations for us CPs. While we were waiting to start, we had a delicious birthday cake. What happened was a group of cast members who were part of Epcot's opening team and still with Disney get together from time to time. They asked if a small gathering could be arranged for them the morning of October 1st. A beautiful cake was ordered and unfortunately it got delayed arriving due to a traffic accident. :(

After the meeting I was given the cast gift of two commemorative coins, the first one the same that Epcot's opening team was given, and the second one to the current cast for continuing on the magic. 

I was very lucky to get off work at 8. I went over to Mouse Gears where I stood in line for about 10 minutes to buy the limited edition "I was there" 30th anniversary pin and t-shirt. Then Christina, Colleen, and Brian joined me and we said "hi" to Tyler while he was working. He told us that tonight's IllumiNations was going to be new for the special occasion. (If you happen to read this - You're the best! haha)

So thanks to Tyler just before 9 we made our way to Mexico to watch the show. There was a huge crowd so we had a pole in our line of vision, but we still had a pretty good view of the globe. The firework show started and ended as usual with the crackle of the last fireworks and all lights going out. But then came twinkling lights around the World Showcase and mini fireworks as a voice over the loud speaker said  "and now we invite you to join us in a special pyrotechnic salute honoring the 30th anniversary of Epcot." This was accompanied by a beautiful soundtrack. The water fountains were light up in rainbow colors and danced along. After almost 5 minutes came the most PHENOMINAL finale I have ever seen. Hundreds of huge, loud,multi-colored  fireworks shot up at once, lighting up the night sky like you could never imagine. And they kept on coming too! It really was spectacularly outstanding and no video can do it justice. 

Here's to the imagineers for making the impossible possible each and every day!