Orlando 40th Birthday Trip 2025 - PART 7
Staying at Universal, visiting Orlando's Theme Parks,
relaxing in the Water Parks and animal sightseeing!
Disney's EPCOT
One of my favourite days of the trip was spent at EPCOT, which says a lot given the many highlights I had experienced, but there was just something really special and that extra bit of Disney magic that will live long in the memory.
EPCOT stands for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”, and was intially spawned Walt Disney’s concept of Utopian community town, seeking to evolve modernist ideas, advances in technology and a showground for imagination. It is part science museum, theme park and philosophy of life.
It is a park of optimism and positivity that communities and cultures of the world can work together for the greater good, which is particularly pertinent in today’s times. It is sets a retro vibe of the 1980s when entering to its iconic central globe, with ride Spaceship Earth telling the evolution of live in effectively 3 minutes. It is genius and enchanting.
Natives from China and Canada showcase everything their country offers with an immersive 360-degree journey through their fascinating landscapes.
The World Showcase area stretches around a huge lagoon, with exacting architecture from 11 countries as diverse as Japan, Morocco and Norway, further emphasising this sense of togetherness, and was quite a departure from the purely American feeling of other Disney parks. It reminded me of Europa Park in Germany, which undoubtedly based itself on this park, with has different areas for European countries. Much like Europa, it also has beautifully manicured garden surroundings.
The rides that this park give a charming overall experience and storyline which makes them soar. Cosmic Rewind, based around Guardians of the Galaxy, takes you on a wondrous zip through space, with a backwards section bringing you back down to earth, with an accompanying soundtrack (I had “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”, but it varies) that really sets the positive mood and feeling throughout.
For an intense experience, you can pilot a Mars Mission. Perhaps the most amazing piece of storytelling was in the Frozen Ever After ride, which is a real powerhouse production not to be missed.
The overall storyline running through the day comes to an emotional crescendo with the fireworks display (called “symphony of us”) across the lagoon and witnessed by thousands all around. This also combines fountains and a narration on the philosophy of life and how individuals should celebrate what they each contribute to the world. It’s a nice thought, a positive world where people strive to work together through their differences. This really was true escapism. What an emotional day it had been.
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