117 Fun Facts About Epcot

What does the name EPCOT originally stand for?

EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, the working city Walt Disney planned for the Florida property; after his death in 1966 the company dropped the residential plan and built a theme park instead.

EPCOT Center opened in 1982 as Walt Disney World's second theme park, after which one?

Magic Kingdom came first, in 1971; EPCOT Center followed only after Disney's executives decided against building Walt's planned city and made a second park instead.

Spaceship Earth is what kind of structure?

Spaceship Earth is a geodesic sphere 165 feet across; Buckminster Fuller, the champion of geodesic structures, also popularised the phrase 'Spaceship Earth'.

Epcot is often described as a permanent what?

Epcot is often called a permanent world's fair; after 'Center' was dropped from its name, the park was even marketed with the year attached, as Epcot '94.

How many nation pavilions does World Showcase have?

World Showcase has 11 national pavilions, and one of them was sponsored by its own country's government rather than by a company.

Which two World Showcase pavilions were added after Epcot's opening day?

Morocco and Norway: Morocco arrived in 1984, its tile work laid by craftsmen brought over from the country, and Norway followed in 1988.

Which ride replaced Norway's Maelstrom in 2016?

Frozen Ever After opened in June 2016 in Maelstrom's place: its boats tour Arendelle on a 'Summer Snow Day' and climb to Elsa's ice palace on the North Mountain.

The Mexico pavilion at Epcot is built in the shape of what?

A Mesoamerican pyramid holds the pavilion's main plaza: inside, market stalls stand under a simulated night sky beside the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride.

Which of the Three Caballeros goes missing during the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride?

Donald Duck wanders off to go sightseeing, so Panchito Pistoles and José Carioca spend the Gran Fiesta Tour searching for him before the three reunite for the closing fiesta.

Which pavilion is designated the host pavilion of World Showcase?

The American Adventure, facing the lagoon from the far end of World Showcase, is its host pavilion; its theatre show is narrated by Audio-Animatronics Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain.

Which Epcot ride opened on October 1, 2021, Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary?

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure 'shrinks' guests to the size of a rat in the France pavilion; the pandemic pushed its opening back from 2020, which is how it came to debut on the anniversary.

Which two pavilions show Circle-Vision 360° films?

Canada and China each show a Circle-Vision 360° film, shot with a ring of nine cameras so that the screens can encircle the audience; Canada's 2020 version is narrated by Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy.

Epcot's second entrance, between the France and United Kingdom pavilions, is called what?

International Gateway opened in 1990 so that guests of the new hotels behind World Showcase could walk or take a boat straight into Epcot instead of travelling round to the main entrance.

The Outpost refreshment stand in World Showcase sits on land set aside for which never-built pavilion?

Equatorial Africa was promised as 'coming soon' when the park opened but was never built; the Outpost snack bar took over its plot between China and Germany in 1983.

What is the name of the small purple dragon who debuted in an Epcot ride in 1983?

Figment is a literal 'figment of the imagination': in his original ride he is dreamed up on the spot from two tiny wings, big yellow eyes and the horns of a steer.

Which songwriting duo wrote 'One Little Spark' for Epcot's original Journey Into Imagination ride?

The Sherman Brothers, the duo behind Mary Poppins and 'It's a Small World', came back to Disney to write songs for EPCOT Center's opening, 'One Little Spark' among them.

What was the name of the red-bearded, top-hatted host of the original Journey Into Imagination ride?

Dreamfinder flew a blimp-like machine that vacuumed up sounds and ideas for new inventions; he hosted the ride from 1983 to 1998, then both later rebuilds left him out.

Which Monty Python member plays Dr. Nigel Channing in the Imagination pavilion?

Eric Idle plays Dr. Nigel Channing, chairman of the Imagination Institute; the character debuted in the 1994 3-D film Honey, I Shrunk the Audience before hosting the pavilion's ride.

Why was Journey into YOUR Imagination replaced after only two years?

Overwhelmingly negative reception killed the 1999 ride: guests disliked its shorter length, the near-absence of its dragon mascot and the loss of its original host, so it closed in 2001 and was rebuilt.

Which science-fiction author helped write the original Spaceship Earth storyline?

Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, helped the Imagineers design the structure and wrote the storyline that first carried riders from cave paintings towards the future.

Who took over as narrator of the Spaceship Earth ride in December 2007?

Judi Dench became the ride's fourth narrator when Spaceship Earth reopened in December 2007 after a Siemens-sponsored refurbishment that added the touchscreen ending.

Which news anchor narrated Spaceship Earth from 1986 to 1994?

Walter Cronkite replaced the ride's original narrator in a 1986 update that also added two scenes of computers in everyday life; his voice stayed until the next overhaul in 1994.

What does the Spaceship Earth ride depict the history of?

Spaceship Earth traces the history of human communication, climbing from cave paintings past the printing press to the internet before a touchscreen finale lets riders design their own future.

Epcot's 180-foot Spaceship Earth is often likened to which kind of ball?

A golf ball: fans call it 'the giant golf ball', yet the 165-foot globe never touches the ground, because six steel legs hold it 15 feet up in the air.

Where does rain that falls on Spaceship Earth end up?

It is piped into the lagoon: rain slips through one-inch gaps between the outer panels into hidden gutters, a design chosen so that no water pours off the sides onto the ground below.

What nickname did Imagineers give the scent cannon that puffs smoke odour into Spaceship Earth's burning-Rome scene?

The Smellitzer shoots puffs of scent across a scene as riders pass; Imagineer Bob McCarthy created it while EPCOT Center was being developed and filed a patent on the idea in 1984.

For the year 2000, what 25-story structure was built next to Spaceship Earth?

A magic wand held by Mickey's hand towered over the ride for the Millennium Celebration; built as a 15-month decoration, it had its '2000' swapped for 'Epcot' and stayed until 2007.

Which company sponsored Spaceship Earth when EPCOT Center first opened?

The Bell System (AT&T) backed the ride from opening day; when the telephone monopoly was broken up in 1984, AT&T simply carried on the sponsorship under its own name.

Which opening-day Epcot ride did Test Track replace?

World of Motion closed in January 1996, but technical trouble with its replacement kept the building shut far longer than planned: Test Track only began soft openings in December 1998, about eighteen months late.

Which automaker sponsored Epcot's Test Track when the ride opened in 1999?

General Motors modelled the ride on its own vehicle proving grounds; its Chevrolet brand took over the billing for the 2012 redesign, and GM's name returned when a third version opened in 2025.

Where does the Mission: SPACE ride simulate a flight to?

Mission: SPACE's Orange mission simulates a launch and landing on Mars using centrifuge pods; the gentler Green mission was redone in 2017 as an orbit around Earth.

Which actor played the Capcom in Mission: SPACE's preshow from opening day until 2017?

Gary Sinise played the Capcom from the ride's 2003 opening until 2017, fittingly having played astronaut Ken Mattingly in Apollo 13; Gina Torres took over the role.

Which Epcot attraction was demolished to make room for Mission: SPACE?

Horizons let riders vote on their own ending, a first for a Disney ride: a flight home from a desert farm, an undersea base or a space colony. It closed in January 1999.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind replaced which former Epcot pavilion?

Universe of Energy closed in August 2017; its old building was refitted as the coaster's queue, while the ride itself runs in a far larger new show building put up behind it.

Epcot's Guardians of the Galaxy coaster was the first Disney roller coaster to do what?

Cosmic Rewind was Disney's first coaster to launch backwards; its 'Omnicoaster' cars also rotate 360 degrees so riders face the show screens throughout the ride.

From 1999 to 2007, guests at Epcot's entrance could pay to have what etched onto the Leave a Legacy monoliths?

Their photographs: each buyer's face was etched on a one-inch steel tile and mounted on granite monoliths by the gate, a family album Disney started for its Millennium Celebration.

Which comedian played a Jeopardy! contestant in an Epcot attraction that ran from 1996 to 2017?

Ellen DeGeneres dreams she is losing on Jeopardy! to an old college rival, so Bill Nye whisks her back to the age of the dinosaurs for a crash course before the final round.

Which Michael Jackson 3-D film played at Epcot until 1994?

Captain EO, a 17-minute 3-D film produced by George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, ran at Epcot from 1986 to 1994 and returned from 2010 to 2015 after Jackson's death.

Soarin' arrived at Epcot in 2005 after first opening at which park?

Disney California Adventure opened with Soarin' Over California in 2001; engineer Mark Sumner had cracked its ride system at home one weekend by building a model out of an Erector set.

Which actor hosts Soarin's pre-boarding safety video as chief flight attendant?

Patrick Warburton, the voice of Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove, filmed the briefing for the ride's 2001 debut in California and stayed on when new films replaced the original in 2016 and 2026.

One plant in Epcot's Living with the Land greenhouse set a Guinness record by yielding over 32,000 of which crop?

Tomatoes: Guinness credits Epcot's 'tomato tree' with 32,194 fruit in a single year, more than half a tonne; crops from the greenhouse are served in the pavilion's own restaurants.

Which name did Epcot's hydroponics-greenhouse boat ride originally carry?

Listen to the Land was the boat ride's name from opening day until 1993, when it relaunched as Living with the Land; the theme song that shared the old title is no longer sung, and recorded narration replaced the live guides.

Which animated film gave Epcot's The Living Seas its new theme in 2006?

Finding Nemo's characters took over in 2006, when the pavilion became The Seas with Nemo & Friends and riders began boarding 'clamobiles' to search the aquarium for the missing clownfish.

Which sea turtle hosts an interactive talk show inside The Seas pavilion?

Crush, the laid-back 150-year-old sea turtle, chats live with guests in Turtle Talk with Crush, a digital-puppetry show that opened in November 2004 and helped prompt the pavilion's makeover.

What did guests ride in the original Living Seas to 'descend' to Sea Base Alpha?

A Hydrolator was a fake lift to the sea floor: the cab never went anywhere, while moving walls, a shuddering floor and sound effects sold the long descent.

Epcot's IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth was divided into three movements named what?

Chaos, Order and Meaning stood for the time before time, Earth's history so far and the future still to come; built for the millennium as IllumiNations 2000, the show ran on until 2019.

In the finale of Epcot's IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, the Earth Globe opened like a flower to reveal what?

A flaming torch: 19 torches already burned around the lagoon, and the globe's petals opened to add one more as the music peaked and fireworks filled the sky.

Which nighttime show premiered at Epcot for Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary in 2021?

Harmonious arrived a year late because of the pandemic and lasted only until April 2023; Epcot Forever then returned as a stopgap until Luminous: The Symphony of Us premiered that December.

Roughly how long is the walk around Epcot's World Showcase Lagoon?

Just over a mile: Disney puts the promenade around the lagoon at 1.2 to 1.3 miles, and ferries called FriendShips have carried guests across the water since opening day for anyone who would rather not walk it.

The courtyard of Epcot's China pavilion is dominated by a replica of which Beijing landmark?

The Temple of Heaven is the pavilion's focal point; for all that grandeur, the pavilion opened without a restaurant of its own, and Nine Dragons only arrived in 1985.

The Flower & Garden Festival is famous for topiary sculptures of what?

Disney characters are sculpted in living plants each spring, with their colours picked out in foliage: a Belle topiary added in 2017 wore a ball gown made of golden Joseph's Coat plants.

Which three neighbourhoods replaced Epcot's Future World?

World Celebration, World Discovery and World Nature were announced in 2019 as part of the park's biggest overhaul; they retired the Future World name, which had covered the front of the park since opening day.

Which Coca-Cola shop at Epcot lets guests sample sodas from around the world for free?

Club Cool pours free samples of Coca-Cola drinks sold abroad; the bitter Italian aperitif Beverly, the flavour many guests least expect, is the only one that has survived every change of menu.

Which walkthrough attraction inspired by Moana opened at Epcot in 2023?

Journey of Water follows the water cycle from sky to sea, and the water plays along as the ocean does in the film: streams leap and wave back, and guests can strum 'rain harps'.

Which Epcot restaurant simulates dining aboard a station in orbit high above Earth?

Space 220 Restaurant, opened in 2021 next to Mission: SPACE, seats diners in a fictional Centauri Space Station 220 miles above Earth, reached by a simulated elevator ride.

Which adults-only cocktail lounge opened behind Spaceship Earth in 2025?

GEO-82 took over a room park guests never used to see: the private lounge once kept for the ride's corporate sponsor, reopened in 2025 as an adults-only bar.

Which food company took over sponsorship of Epcot's The Land pavilion after Kraft withdrew in 1992?

Nestlé stayed as the pavilion's sponsor until 2009; on its watch the boat ride was renamed, and the Food Rocks show and a Lion King film about the environment moved in.

The bell tower in Epcot's Italy pavilion is a scaled-down copy of a landmark in which city?

Venice: the tower copies St Mark's Campanile and stands beside a smaller Doge's Palace, because Disney's designers decided the pavilion should have the look of that city, down to a little island that suggests its canals.

Where did Walt Disney's planned EPCOT city put cars and trucks bound for its centre?

On roads beneath it: cars had one underground level and delivery trucks another below that, while monorails and PeopleMovers ran above them, so the centre itself was left to people on foot.

Walt Disney's pitch for a real city called EPCOT promised that it would never be what?

Completed: the city, planned for 20,000 people, was meant always to be introducing, testing and demonstrating new ideas and technologies.

What did a one-day adult ticket cost when EPCOT Center opened in the early 1980s?

$15 covered every attraction in the park: Disney had retired its books of A-to-E ride coupons a few months earlier, so EPCOT Center opened on all-inclusive tickets.

The Candlelight Processional is a highlight of which annual Epcot event?

Festival of the Holidays inherited the show: it began at Disneyland in 1958, and Walt Disney World's version moved to Epcot in 1994, where a celebrity narrator reads the Christmas story with a massed choir and orchestra.

Epcot's 305 acres made it Walt Disney World's largest theme park until which park opened in 1998?

Disney's Animal Kingdom is far bigger, and much of it belongs to the animals: the reserve crossed by its safari ride alone covers more than 100 acres, about a third of Epcot's whole footprint.

Epcot's Germany pavilion was meant to have a boat ride, never built, named after which river?

The Rhine: the cruise would have floated guests past miniature landmarks such as Cologne Cathedral, but it was never built, and a mural now covers the spot where its entrance doors stood.

At Epcot's dedication ceremony, performers poured water from where into the park's central fountain?

Rivers and seas worldwide, and lakes too: performers from more than twenty countries each brought some from home, repeating a 1966 ritual in which children emptied water from their homelands into It's a Small World at Disneyland.

Which actor narrated Epcot's Spaceship Earth from 1994 until the ride shut for its 2007 overhaul?

Jeremy Irons's narration arrived with a rebuilt final act: the 1994 overhaul cleared out 1980s visions of the future, such as a boy at his bedroom computer, that had already dated.

Which rescued animals recover at Epcot's Seas pavilion before being released back into the wild?

Manatees rescued in Florida's waters are sent here once they are stable; since 2025 the pavilion has kept each one only for the months it needs to grow or gain weight before a winter release.

Since 2023, Epcot's Guardians of the Galaxy coaster has spent every September 21 playing one song, by which band?

Earth, Wind & Fire recorded September, whose opening line names that very date. On other days a computer picks at random from six songs, whittled down from more than a hundred that Imagineers considered.

Which singer reportedly turned down the part of a singing tuna in Epcot's nutrition concert Food Rocks?

Tina Turner was offered the role of Tina Tuna, performing a meat-themed parody of What's Love Got to Do with It, but said no. Little Richard and Chubby Checker did agree to play their own food doubles.

Buddy Baker recorded the score of Epcot's Impressions de France with a full orchestra at which London studio?

Abbey Road Studios, best known for the Beatles, hosted the sessions, which Baker conducted himself and captured on an early Sony digital recorder.

Since 2020, the cinema in Epcot's France pavilion has also screened a sing-along version of which Disney film?

Beauty and the Beast is set in a French village, which made it a natural fit for the Palais du Cinéma. The sing-along takes turns on screen with Impressions de France, a travel film shown there since 1982.

Epcot's puppet parade Tapestry of Nations lent its name and theme to a 2000 show at which sporting event?

The Super Bowl in question was number XXXIV, and one director staged both spectacles. The parade's towering figures came from Michael Curry, who designed the puppets for The Lion King on Broadway.

Benjamin Franklin narrates the show in Epcot's United States pavilion alongside an animatronic of which author?

Mark Twain was born 45 years after Franklin died, yet their robotic doubles share a stage to guide audiences from the Revolution through the Civil War to the Great Depression.

Which British pub in Epcot's United Kingdom pavilion is known for its view of the nightly fireworks?

Rose & Crown sits on the edge of World Showcase Lagoon, so its outdoor tables look straight at the nightly fireworks. The pub pours beers and ciders from Britain and Ireland.

A cancelled attraction announced in 2019 for Epcot's United Kingdom pavilion was based on which Disney film?

Mary Poppins was to get a Cherry Tree Lane neighbourhood, but the project was shelved during the pandemic. Leaked plans later pointed to an indoor teacups ride styled after Mary Poppins Returns.

The marketplace inside Epcot's Mexico pavilion is staged to feel like a village at which time of day?

Twilight never ends in the Plaza de los Amigos. Its San Angel Inn is the sibling of a Mexico City restaurant of the same name, which is housed in a former Carmelite monastery.

The three wood-burning pizza ovens at Via Napoli in Epcot's Italy pavilion are named after what?

Italian volcanoes Etna, Vesuvius and Stromboli lend the ovens their names, and each oven is sculpted with a giant face. The long communal table in the middle of the room was built in Florence.

A Mount Fuji coaster for Epcot's Japan pavilion reportedly died when which sponsor objected to Fujifilm's backing?

Kodak, a major sponsor of the park, is said to have objected so strongly to its rival that Disney dropped the idea. The Matterhorn-style ride was never built.

Which display by Epcot's Germany pavilion began as a Flower & Garden Festival exhibit but stayed for good?

A model railway village named after Germany's Romantic Road proved too popular to dismantle. Its working trains come from the German makers LGB and Piko.

Mark Sumner cracked the design of Soarin', later built at Epcot, with a model made from string and which toy?

An Erector Set mock-up showed how riders could all board on one level and then be swung up into the air. The earlier plan needed three loading floors and was judged too costly to build.

Boarding announcements at Epcot's Soarin' have called the trip Flight 5505 in tribute to what?

Its opening date was May 5, 2005, or 5/5/05. The Florida ride leans into an airport theme, loading guests through numbered gates.

Epcot's Soarin' lifts riders in front of a giant domed screen to mimic a flight in what?

A hang glider is the idea behind the wing-like canopy over each bank of seats. Riders' feet dangle free while wind and scents blow past to complete the illusion.

Which fruit could riders smell as the original Soarin' film at Epcot swept low over Californian farmland?

Oranges scented the air over the Valencia groves of Camarillo. The same film also wafted pine, sagebrush and ocean mist at riders as the scenery changed.

The original Soarin' film shown at Epcot ended with fireworks bursting over which theme park?

Disneyland in Anaheim closed the Californian tour, a holdover from the ride's West Coast debut. The round-the-world film that followed in 2016 instead finished over whichever resort was showing it.

Which Disney character appeared in the closing scene of Epcot's Soarin' Around the World, just before the fireworks?

Tinker Bell had already flown through the finale of the original Californian film, so the 2016 replacement kept her in its last moments.

Which landmark in Epcot's Soarin' Around the World became notorious for seeming to bend as riders flew past it?

The Eiffel Tower distorted so visibly on the curved screen that the scene became a fan favourite. A 2024 update kept the camera farther away to reduce the effect.

Growers at Epcot's Living with the Land use moulds to raise cucumbers and pumpkins shaped like which character?

Mickey Mouse takes shape as the young fruit swells to fill its mould. Much of the greenhouse harvest ends up on plates at the Garden Grill and Sunshine Seasons, a few steps from the boats.

The Aquacell section of Epcot's Living with the Land boat ride demonstrates which kind of food production?

Fish farming fills its tanks with tilapia, sturgeon, catfish and bass. Some of the catch is served a short walk away at the Coral Reef Restaurant, beside the park's giant aquarium.

The final greenhouse of Epcot's Living with the Land displays plant-growing units developed by which agency?

NASA designed the units to raise crops on extended voyages far from home. Basil, lettuce and Swiss chard grow in the same greenhouse.

The Garden Grill, overlooking Epcot's Living with the Land boat ride, has a seating area that does what?

It slowly rotates, giving diners a moving view down into the dark-ride scenes. The floor stood still for several months in 2014, which set off rumours that it had stopped for good.

The dark-ride half of Epcot's Living with the Land now opens in a forest during what kind of weather?

A thunderstorm was chosen to show that forces which look destructive also shape the land. It replaced Symphony of the Seed, a stylised look at how a plant grows.

Boats on Epcot's Living with the Land drift past a rainforest, a desert and which third American landscape?

The prairie completes a trio of artificial biomes that use heat, wind and mist to feel real. Some of the animatronic figures were built for a Wild West boat ride that Disney never opened.

A lab behind Epcot's Living with the Land breeds ladybugs and tiny stingless wasps to do which job?

Controlling pests is the work of the Integrated Pest Management Lab, whose insects are used all over Walt Disney World. Riders never see it, but the Behind the Seeds tour stops there.

The first concept for Epcot's Horizons centred on Thomas Edison, in a nod to the history of which sponsor?

General Electric paid for the pavilion for ten years, and two of its chief executives, Reginald Jones and Jack Welch, came up with the original idea.

Near the end of Epcot's Horizons, riders pressed a button in their car to choose what?

The ride's ending came in three versions, each a 31-second flyover filmed over some of the largest scale models then built. No other Disney attraction of the day offered a choice of finales.

Epcot's Horizons opened on October 1, 1983, a date picked to mark which occasion?

The park's first anniversary made Horizons the showpiece of Phase II, exactly a year after the gates opened. Budget cuts before construction had already trimmed the ride's length by about a third.

In the queue for Epcot's Guardians of the Galaxy coaster, which hero talks of his hope to ride Horizons again?

Peter Quill left Earth as a boy in the 1980s, so he still expects to find the attractions he loved as a child and has no idea some closed long ago.

A trio of singing grains in Epcot's Kitchen Kabaret performed Boogie Woogie Bakery Boy in which group's style?

The Andrews Sisters made Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy famous, so Mairzy Oats, Rennie Rice and Connie Corn spoofed it with a bugle-blowing slice of bread for backing.

Which film composer, too busy to score Epcot's Reflections of Earth fireworks, passed the job to Gavin Greenaway?

Hans Zimmer, who scored The Lion King, recommended his colleague and worked with him at the start. Greenaway's finished music was recorded with a 71-piece orchestra and a 30-voice chorus.

Which a cappella group, founded by Derric Johnson, sings in the rotunda of the United States pavilion at Epcot?

Voices of Liberty have sung for presidents including Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Away from the park, the singers record and perform under the name Liberty Voices.

Which theme song closes the stage show in Epcot's United States pavilion over a film montage of famous Americans?

Golden Dream has music by Robert Moline and lyrics by the show's producer, Randy Bright. A 2018 update gave it a new arrangement and added faces such as Simone Biles and Michael Phelps to the montage.

Which rapper voiced Fūd Wrapper, the host of Food Rocks, the 1990s nutrition concert in Epcot's Land pavilion?

Tone Lōc was one of five performers who voiced parodies of themselves in the show, which pitted healthy acts against a junk-food heavy metal band called the Excess.

Which Disney Channel cartoon themed the World Showcase scavenger hunt that ran at Epcot from 2009 to 2012?

Kim Possible, the teenage crime-fighter, fronted the hunt across several pavilions. Agent P of Phineas and Ferb took over the game in 2012, and DuckTales followed a decade later.

The statue in the square of Epcot's Germany pavilion, inspired by one in Rothenburg, shows which saint?

St George is shown slaying the dragon under a glockenspiel clock. Snow White, heroine of a Grimm fairy tale, makes appearances around the same square.

Which film composer, said to have left his first ride in tears, wrote the original score for Epcot's Soarin'?

Jerry Goldsmith, whose father was a pilot, said he would have scored the film for free. When a new film arrived in 2016, Bruce Broughton built his music on the original themes.

The round-the-world Soarin' film that reached Epcot in 2016 premiered a day earlier at a Disney park in which city?

Shanghai saw it first, on the opening day of its new resort, under the title Soaring Over the Horizon. That version skipped the usual resort flyover because the park was still being built during filming.

The original Soarin' film at Epcot skimmed past which kind of US Navy ship moored near San Diego?

An aircraft carrier, USS John C. Stennis, was filmed at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado. The film's other stops included Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Napa Valley and Malibu.

On Epcot's Living with the Land, bare hanging roots are sprayed with a nutrient mist, a method called what?

Aeroponics does away with any growing medium, so riders can see whole plants, roots included. Some grow on A-frames and tall columns instead of sitting in beds.

Epcot's Living with the Land has shown off a giant variety of which citrus fruit, named for its nine-pound weight?

Lemon is the surprise: the Nine-pound Lemon has shared the Temperate Greenhouse with other heavyweights, including Atlantic Giant pumpkins and winter melons.

Which banana brand signed on in 2011 as the sponsor of Epcot's Living with the Land boat ride?

Chiquita took over a ride that had gone without a sponsor since 2009, yet the recorded narration never mentions the company.

Epcot's Horizons followed into the 21st century the family first seen in which Tomorrowland stage attraction?

Carousel of Progress traces one family through the 20th century, and Horizons picked up their story. The older show's theme tune even played from a television in one of the ride's early scenes.

Epcot's Horizons carried riders past two immense screens in which film format?

OMNIMAX projects onto a dome, and the Horizons pair showed present-day technology that might shape the decades ahead.

Why was Futureprobe dropped as a working title for the Epcot ride that opened in 1983 as Horizons?

It sounded medical, thanks to the word probe, so Disney and its sponsor let the name go. An earlier title, Century 3, had been dropped for fear that overseas visitors would miss its nod to America's third century.

Why did Epcot bring Horizons back in December 1995, a year after closing it without explanation?

Nearby rides were shut for rebuilding, which would have left the east side of Future World almost empty. Horizons filled the gap until January 1999.

Which space artist painted The Prologue and the Promise, the mural in the exit corridor of Epcot's Horizons?

Robert McCall painted it on canvas, which let Disney take the work down before the building was demolished.

The torii gate on the shore of Epcot's Japan pavilion is modelled on the famous one at which Japanese shrine?

Itsukushima, in Hiroshima Prefecture, is best known for a gate that appears to float on the sea. The pavilion's pagoda is based on another landmark, Horyuji.

What did Epcot's Soarin' gain in June 2016, when a round-the-world film replaced the Californian original?

A third theatre was built while the ride sat closed from January to May 2016. The new film also leaned heavily on computer-generated imagery, including the transitions between scenes.