Some may know that the theme park we currently called Epcot started development as two separate theme parks. One would have been known as EPCOT Center and pretty much included what became Future World, and the other was World Showcase. Only one could get built so they were combined to become the Epcot we have today.
Welcome back to Epcot Center's Cancelled Attractions and for this article, we are exploring the original proposal for the World Showcase, both before and after it became a part of the development of Epcot. As always, visit here if you missed any previous articles in this series, and keep coming back every week for new articles in this series.
The original World Showcase design looked strikingly similar to what eventually became Communicore and then Innoventions. Two somewhat symmetrical half-circular buildings, partitioned into different exhibits. In between them were fountains, gardens, and a stage.
The idea was all the countries would look equal on the outside, all appearing exactly the same size, but they could be built out as far as the sponsor country wanted in the back, including restaurants, attractions, shows, and shops. The countries would not have been permanent, instead being in a constant state of flux as there were no expansion pads built into the park, so countries would have to close to make way for new countries.
This would also have been in a very interesting location. It would still have been connected to the monorail, but it would have been attached to the existing Magic Kingdom Monorail loop instead of being on a separate monorail loop.
So where would it have been?
Concept art released by Disney for the project shows it being located near the Transportation and Ticket Center, right across from the Magic Kingdom.
This certainly would have proved interesting, and who knows if the monorail system could have handled the demand of two parks. It may have not even been considered a theme park, with it being called something similar to a mall in interviews.
Eventually, the park was combined with the Future World idea, which meant the Seven Seas Lagoon location would no longer work. As the park became more of a traditional theme park Disney decided to abandon this approach to the World Showcase in favor of showing off the architecture of the countries they featured.
The basic architectural idea of this project would get built in Epcot Center, just in Future World instead of World Showcase. It became a part of the Communicore and stands to this day, although one half of it will soon be demolished to make way for additions like a new Festival Center and Moana Journey of Water.
Would you have liked to see this version of the World Showcase get built? Let us know in the comments and be sure to come back for the final 6 articles in the Epcot Center's Canceled Attractions series, and check out all the past and future articles here.
UPDATE: We want to thank Yesterworld for using this article as a source!
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