There actually was a very important reason for the word "Center" being added to the name when we opened "EPCOT Center" in 1982. Back in the '60's, EPCOT was Walt Disney's original concept for the "Florida project". His vision was to create an innovative city, which would include living, working and entertainment all in one place. This city would occupy much of the land we now call Walt Disney World, and would be called EPCOT. When he died in 1969, his vision for EPCOT died with him, and no one fully understood it enough to carry on and create the original idea. Most of the leadership of the company in 1982 were closely associated with Walt and understood what EPCOT really meant. Ron Miller the President of the company then was Walt's son-in-law, and Card Walker the CEO was a close friend of Walt's. So when the decision was made to build the second park at WDW and it was decided to use the name EPCOT, the word "Center" was added to more accurately communicate that this was not EPCOT as Walt envisioned, but rather "EPCOT Center" a new theme park that captured some of the spirit of Walt's original concept. SO dropping the word "Center" was a big deal to some of us, as it represented a further removal of a reverence to Walt and the history of the company, that seems less and less important with each passing year.