Circles of Life: Twenty-Five Years of Epcot Center
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�We started out to do two parks - the first was Future World, the second was World Showcase. We were developing both at once. Jack Lindquist was responsible for recruiting participant countries for World Showcase and what we found was that almost all of the countries that we approached were signatories to the BIE Convention [the Bureau International des Exposition],� Marty reveals. These signatories promise through the Convention they will not participate in a permanent �World�s Fair� as rules for these events are they should only be in operation for six months. �Jack had to go to private sources - companies within those countries to secure support,� Marty explains.

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OF the 27,000 plus acres of the Florida property, Walt�s EPCOT was to have occupied approximately 1,100 acres, whilst Epcot Center resides on around 400 acres. In Walt Disney and the Quest for Community, Stephen Mannheim notes that Disney personally selected a relatively dry site for EPCOT and that chosen land was virtually flat and naturally poorly drained. Referring to a report by the building contractors Tishman Realty & Construction Co., Mannheim states that for the realized project �work crews removed 5 million cubic yards of earth, 1 million cubic yards of muck, and 500,000 cubic yards of sand.�

Despite those numbers it appears you can just never have enough dirt around when you need it, so a common development practice of Florida and other states that helps to maximize resources is employed. �When they want additional earth they create what they call a �borrow pit�,� Marty explains. �So they would dig a hole somewhere and take the dirt which creates a little lake.�

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SHOWCASED in pre-opening literature, Future World presented itself as seven pavilions with the staggered opening of Horizons in 1983 and The Living Seas in 1984. I asked Marty if this was a deliberate attempt to keep bringing the guests back? �We had to pace the construction � working between the designs and the contracts sometimes wouldn�t leave us with enough time to get everything to the same opening date, so we decided it would be better to delay some things,� Marty admits.