The WorldKey System

Vol 1. No. 3 Date: 9/3/82

NEW HOURS FOR LABOR DAY PARTY

Time change for this Monday's Construction Family Preview -- new hours are 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

A group of 12 singers plus alternates from around the U.S. began rehearsals this week as the Voices of Liberty. The group will sing without musical accompaniment in American Adventure. Dressed in period costumes, they' 11 perform such American classics as "This Land Is Your Land" and "0 Shenendoah".

The group recently performed for their first audience -- construction workers at American Adventure -- and. the tunes were followed by enthusiastic rounds of applause.

Another point of interest -- the Voices of Liberty will sing at the dedications of the individual pavilions in October. Their selections? Each country' s national anthem . . . in that country's native language of course!

The World Showcase Fellowship Program has a sister program in Future World . . . The Land Agricultural Student Program. Two students majoring in Horticulture -- one from the University of Florida and another from the University of Arizona -- will participate in the pilot program this fall. The students, Susan Griffith and Cell Driseoll, will receive college credit by working in The Land -- giving tours and answering guests' questions.

The co-op program is expected to expand to include 10 students by next fall, with programs in other Future World experiences to follow.

Some Epcot Center guests will get their information from the World Key Information System, an electronic guest service network.

Twenty-nine terminals located in five World Key areas throughout Epcot Center operate by means of an invisible grid of photo diodes and photo detectors. By touching the screen,guests receive vital information about the project and limited Magic Kingdom and Resorts information as well. With a touch of a finger, a guest can make dinner reservations or quickly tour the Universe of Energy. Programs come in both Spanish and English.

The World Key Information System also provides two-way video communication between guests and World Key Hosts and Hostesses.

28 DAYS OUT

© 1982 Walt Disney Productions

COMMENTARY

In 1982, Time Magazine declared it “The Year of the Computer” and by 1983 there were 10 million PC’s in the United States alone. These computers had very little in the way of power, they were not linked together and graphically could only display limited characters and the full spectrum was one of green on black.

In stark contrast is the World Key Information system, the abilities of this system were incredible for 1982. Full Color and graphic intensive, the World Key is in many ways the distant ancestor to our modern smartphones. The system functioned like a CD-ROM long before any of those letters had acronyms. Even the touch screen aspect was one that only became practical for mass marketing just a few years ago. World Key is seldom mentioned largely because of its mundane appearance in modern times. But, when taken into historical context the system is in many ways an Antikythera Mechanism for the 21st Century.

One of the most understated experiences in the early days of EPCOT Center was the authentic international dining experiences of World Showcase, which many considered to be attractions in and of themselves. So popular was dining that within a few months of opening folding tables were set up in Guest Relations (Earth Station) to facilitate booking reservations for all Epcot dining without the mile-long walk around World Showcase. In 1983, the non-futuristic card tables were removed and the already revolutionary World Key System took another giant leap forward by adding video conferencing with a call to a dining and information specialist. We don’t even do that in 2011! To be fair we do have the technology, just a lack of interest in what is now called a “post-human society”. Flash forward to today, when one can do many of these things on their iPhone, which is far faster and much more graphic intensive, and (although it’s not exactly safe) you can even walk while you’re doing it!

It’s just another example of the prophetic technologies of EPCOT Center.

The one thing World Key had that we don’t have today is detailed and official information about the pavilions and attractions of the park in a themed format. As recently as last year, there was chatter about and enhanced electronic experience for both smart phones and iPads were the user would access a plethora of “Bonus Feature-like” information about the park including an App where you could point to a structure and see the environment as it existed in different time periods. One can only hope that such a thing can bring back a World Key type of experience for a future (and past) Epcot.

The first large-scale equipment, to be installed in Epcot Computer Central, situated in CommuniCore East this was the first completed section of the two semicircular buildings.
Photo dated May 1st, 1982 just six months from opening day