Before Innoventions and World Celebration, the semi-circular buildings behind Spaceship Earth were home to CommuniCore—short for Community Core. Opening with EPCOT Center on October 1, 1982, CommuniCore was the conceptual and technological heart of Future World, designed to complement the surrounding pavilions by diving deeper into their themes through hands-on exhibits, interactive media, and live demonstrations.
CommuniCore Exhibit Index
Unlike ride-through attractions, CommuniCore invited guests to touch the future—literally. It was a place where you could build a roller coaster, talk to a robot, vote on global issues, and learn how EPCOT itself was run—all in one visit.
🎭Computer Central
The star of CommuniCore East was Computer Central, a sprawling exhibit sponsored by Sperry Univac (later UNISYS), which powered EPCOT’s internal systems. Guests could:
- Use Compute-A-Coaster to design a roller coaster and “ride” it via simple vector graphics
- Interact with SMRT-1, a cheerful purple robot who used early voice recognition to play trivia games and chat with guests
- Explore the Great American Census Quiz, Get Set Jet, and Flag Games, all using touch-screen technology—a novelty in 1982
- Experiment with FutureChoice, an interactive decision simulator that let guests explore how personal choices could shape the world of tomorrow—one of CommuniCore’s most forward-thinking concepts
- Visit TravelPort, a computerized travel information center that let guests explore global destinations long before digital trip planning became part of everyday life
- Watch the Population Clock, a constantly updating digital display showing U.S. and world population growth in real time, positioned directly above the Census Quiz kiosks to create a unified “demographics zone”
Up a ramp behind Computer Central was the entrance to the Astuter Computer Revue, a short-lived musical show featuring a shrunken British host dancing across computer cabinets while singing The Computer Song (written by the Sherman Brothers). It closed in January 1984 and was replaced by Backstage Magic, hosted by Julie and her animated sidekick I/O, who explained how EPCOT’s systems controlled everything from lighting to Audio-Animatronics.
The Computer Operations Center (“The Fishbowl”), a glass-walled room housing EPCOT’s real Sperry Univac mainframes, allowed guests to watch the park’s computer systems running in real time—one of the most transparent and ambitious technological displays ever built for a theme park.
⚡ Energy Exchange
Adjacent to Universe of Energy, the Energy Exchange (sponsored by Exxon) let guests:
- Crank a generator to light bulbs
- Examine a massive slab of oil shale
- Explore energy concepts in a tactile, engaging way
The Energy Efficiency Game (often called the Energy Quiz) used touch‑panel scenarios to show how everyday choices—like insulation, transportation, and home energy use—could impact the world’s energy future, turning conservation into an empowering, interactive experience.
🗳️ Electronic Forum
The Electronic Forum was EPCOT’s take on civic engagement. Guests used buttons on their theater seats to vote on real-world issues and see results instantly. In the early ’90s, it hosted the Person of the Century poll—an ambitious project that was quietly shelved when Walt Disney began dominating the votes. By 1999, the Forum and adjacent Centorium gift shop were merged to form Mouse Gear.
📚 EPCOT Outreach and Teacher’s Center
The Electronic Library, a small cluster of computer terminals in CommuniCore West, allowed guests to explore curated digital databases tied to EPCOT’s themes—an early experiment in interactive information access that bridged the gap between Computer Central and EPCOT Outreach.
One of CommuniCore’s most beloved features was EPCOT Outreach, a resource center where guests and educators could request information on any topic presented in the park. It later became the Epcot Discovery Center, located in what is now the Art of Disney shop, with the Teacher’s Center moving upstairs. Though the guest-facing services closed in the 2000s, the internal research mission continues today through the Walt Disney World Library and Research Center, still staffed by former CommuniCore Cast Members.
📞 FutureCom
Sponsored by Bell System (later AT&T), FutureCom explored the future of communication. Highlights included:
- The Fountain of Information, a kinetic sculpture made of books, neon signs, vinyl records, and more
- The Age of Information, a whimsical installation predicting email, video conferencing, and digital banking
- Interactive exhibits like Face to Face, Scramblin’ Faces, The Amazing Microchip, Chip Cruiser, and Electronic Finger Paint
- A small voice-synthesizer station (often referred to by fans as Phraser) where guests could type short phrases and hear them spoken aloud by a computer—an early glimpse at text-to-speech technology
- Taxi Driver, a vector‑style driving simulation where guests steered a digital taxi through a simple city grid, demonstrating how computers could model movement and decision‑making in real time (sparsely sourced)
- World News Center, a real‑time digital news display that pulled global headlines and information feeds into a constantly updating stream, showcasing how computers could deliver instant worldwide communication (sparsely sourced)
- Network Control, an interactive demonstration of how communication networks routed calls and data through switching systems, visualizing the hidden infrastructure that kept the world connected (sparsely sourced)
- WorldKey terminals, allowing guests to make dining reservations and explore park info via touch screens
- The Satellite Tracking Display visualized real‑time satellite orbits across a digital world map, revealing the hidden infrastructure of global communication and showing guests how information moved around the planet long before GPS and smartphones made such systems commonplace.
🤖 Robot Show and Imagineering Labs
Originally slated to host a TRON Arcade (never built), the space eventually housed the Robot Show, featuring robotic arms named Pixel and Ironside performing tricks with spinning tops. Later, it became the Walt Disney Imagineering Labs, where guests could test-drive a virtual reality Aladdin experience—later adapted for DisneyQuest.
Expo Robotics, a lively demonstration space where industrial robotic arms performed choreographed routines and precision tricks, showcasing the playful side of automation and the future of robotics.
The front of this space eventually became Club Cool, offering international Coca-Cola samples, while the back hosted the Epcot 25th Anniversary exhibit.
🍽️ Dining and Retail
- Stargate Restaurant and Beverage Base became Electric Umbrella
- Sunrise Terrace Restaurant was later converted into Pasta Piazza Ristorante, and nearby spaces eventually evolved into locations such as Fountain View and the Epcot Character Spot
On January 30, 1994, CommuniCore officially closed. By July 1, 1994, the buildings reopened as Innoventions, a more chaotic, trade-show-inspired experience focused on consumer electronics. The area gained:
- Dancing fountains and kinetic sculptures for visual energy
- Rotating exhibits from sponsors like LEGO, Sega, GE, and Motorola
- The Road to Tomorrow theme around 2000, hosted by Tom Morrow 2.0, a mini-matronic character who later appeared in Stitch’s SuperSonic Celebration
Innoventions continued to evolve until its final closure on September 7, 2019, making way for World Celebration and the new CommuniCore Hall and Plaza—a subtle nod to the original name and purpose.
