Earlier today, Disney World held the 40 Years of EPCOT Ceremony at the American Gardens Theater. The ceremony featured musical acts from Mariachi Cobre and the Voices of Liberty, as well as an archival video of Walt Disney as he dreamed up the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow that inspired the creation of the EPCOT theme park. The ceremony also briefly acknowledged Cast Members that have worked at EPCOT for 40 years.
We were in the crowd at the American Gardens Theater to bring you photos and a full video of the 40 Years of EPCOT Ceremony!
The Harmonious barges have the EPCOT 40th Anniversary logo on them throughout the day.
A significant portion of the ceremony was dedicated to the Mariachi Cobre band, which has been performing at the park for 40 years. Some of the members even worked at Disneyland back before Walt Disney World and EPCOT opened to the public.
Two of the members of Mariachi Cobre, Israel and Esteban, have been working at EPCOT since “before World Showcase Lagoon was filled with water”. They received a special recognition by their bandmates and the crowd.
After Mariachi Cobre, Walt Disney World ambassadors Ali Manion and Raevon Redding came out to speak about the recent impacts of Hurricane Ian on the Cast Member community and how strong the community is.
They then introduced the Voices of Liberty, who performed a few of their set before singing a classic melody as a historical video of EPCOT and Walt Disney played in the background.
EPCOT Vice President Kartika Rodriguez then came out to talk about what makes EPCOT special and talk about the ongoing transformation of the park.
The Voices of Liberty then performed Golden Dream as the finale to the ceremony.
You can watch the full ceremony in our video below!
After the ceremony, opening day Cast Members posed for a photo op.
For more coverage of the EPCOT 40th Anniversary day, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com!