From Spaceship Earth, we move to the two semi-circular buildings directly behind the geosphere which was known as CommuniCore.
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| Disney Wiki |
CommuniCore
CommuniCore, short for Community Core, was an opening day pavilion at EPCOT Center that focused on the technological advances of the world. The two buildings were known as CommuniCore East and West and featured rotating exhibits on technology.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
Looking Back to the East
Since CommuniCore opened in the 1980s at the beginning of the computer boom, most of the rotating exhibits focused on educating visiting guests on computers. The main exhibit of CommuniCore East was a tour through the computer hub of EPCOT Center called EPCOT Computer Central. The tour was called the Astuter Computer Revue and featured a song called “The Computer Song,” which was penned by the Sherman Brothers. In 1984, the show was replaced with Backstage Magic, which demonstrated how Audio-Animatronics worked.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
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| The Kingdom Insider |
In addition to the exhibits, CommuniCore East also housed two restaurants. Stargate Restaurant served breakfast, lunch, and dinner while the Beverage Base served popcorn, fresh fruit, and beverages.
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| The Kingdom Insider |
The largest gift shop at EPCOT Center was the Centorium and was also located in CommuniCore East. The Centorium was a two level shop that included a large assortment of EPCOT Center and Disney themed merchandise. Guests could take a glass elevator up to the second floor where everything from watches to Team Mickey sports clothes to Art of Disney merchandise were sold over the years. In 1999, the Centorium was moved to Innoventions West while Mouse Gears was being built.
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| Disney Parks Blog |
Looking Back to the West
CommuniCore West housed several exhibits that focused on the way people communicated. FutureCom, which was sponsored by Bell System and then AT&T, included the Information Fountain which showed different ways of communication such as newspapers, radios, televisions, magazines, telephones, and more. There was a hands-on computer game called Age of Information that allowed guests to follow the flow of a long distance call.
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| The Kingdom Insider |
The featured show at CommuniCore West was Expo Robotics. The show featured Pixel, a stunt performing robot. There were also robots in CommuniCore West that would sketch portraits for guests and robots that would airbrush Disney characters onto t-shirts.
CommuniCore West was also a place where concept plans for future pavilions and exhibits were displayed for guests to see at EPCOT Outreach. There was also a Teacher Center where education materials were sold.
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| Disney Detail |
The main restaurant at CommuniCore West was the Sunrise Terrace Restaurant, which later became Pasta Pizza and Fountainview Espresso & Bakery. Upon the closing of these two eateries, an ice cream shop would be put into the space. Eventually, the Epcot Character Spot and Club Cool would fill in the rest of the space in CommuniCore West.
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| Walt Disney World |
Looking Forward
In 1994, CommuniCore was closed and rebuilt into Innoventions East and Innoventions West. Over the years, Innoventions has hosted a variety of exhibits from Lego, GE, IBM, and Disney Interactive. However, aside from the Electric Umbrella, Mouse Gears, Club Cool, and the Character Spot, Innoventions East and West still seem to be a big chunk of unused potential.
I think it is time Disney updates this pavilion, bringing it back to it’s early days of glory. It needs to be a place where people can learn about the latest technology, ways to conserve energy, and about the newest ways to communicate. Technology is growing at such a rapid rate that having a place where guests can learn about all of that seems to make perfect sense at Epcot.
After all, Walt Disney once said that “(he doesn’t) believe there’s a challenge anywhere in the world that’s more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities. But where do we begin… how do we start answering this great challenge?” I believe we can start to answer these questions by bringing back the exhibits at Innoventions East and West that will inspire the future generations to make the world a better place.
Robyn Fleenor is a contributing writer for The Mouse Knows Best Podcast. She is an avid Disney fanatic and would rather be at Walt Disney World eating glazed almonds than anything else. When she isn't working to pay for her next Disney vacation, she likes to binge watch TV shows and fall in love with fictional characters. She can be found tweeting at @rahrah6263.
Robyn Fleenor is a contributing writer for The Mouse Knows Best Podcast. She is an avid Disney fanatic and would rather be at Walt Disney World eating glazed almonds than anything else. When she isn't working to pay for her next Disney vacation, she likes to binge watch TV shows and fall in love with fictional characters. She can be found tweeting at @rahrah6263.
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