Talk:Epcot

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: no consensus. No consensus after a month and two relists, both the move and keep comments have policy backed arguments (interestingly, WP:COMMONNAME was cited by both camps). No prejudice against re-opening if any new arguments are found. CoconutOctopus talk 13:29, 8 September 2025 (UTC)

Epcot → EPCOTEPCOT – The name of the park is an acronym. Always has been. This was remphasized by Disney when they introduced the new logo nearly 6 years ago. All mentions of the park name within the "My Disney Experience" app now use the all caps. This even extends into official communications with Cast Members. It's not just a a stylization, it's how the official name of the park is written. So per WP:OFFICALNAME, we should move this article. Moreover, our own article uses "EPCOT" in every instance but the first at the beginning of the lede. TrueCRaysball ^💬|✏️ 16:24, 12 August 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. ASUKITE 16:47, 20 August 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 02:59, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose. Per WP:COMMONNAME, we go with the commonly used name. The logo was "Epcot" from 1994 to 2019, so there are a lot of published sources that call it "Epcot". In 2019, Disney began to return to the traditional logo and the all-caps acronym, but it has not yet become prevalent in the published literature. Many companies stylize their names in all-caps even though they are not acronyms, like Nvidia, but we put their titles in title caps because those are the versions in common use. --Coolcaesar (talk) 17:00, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

  Here are a few instances of third party reliable sources using the all caps too. The all caps version IS the COMMONNAME now. The only major reliable third party source I could find still using the version this article's title currently uses is the Orlando Sentinel. All the rest go all caps. Because that's how Disney does it. TrueCRaysball ^💬|✏️ 20:45, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

  My concern then becomes WP:NOTNEWS and WP:RECENT. Also, three of the five sources you cited appear to be personal blogs which may not pass muster under WP:RS. Again, the problem is that most published works (such as this one from 2012) used the title caps form because that logo was in effect for so long. So I'm not saying never, I'm just saying not right now. --Coolcaesar (talk) 16:56, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

  So your response to me is to ignore the Disney World specific news sites (not personal blogs, one is even the local CBS affiliate) who cover these parks specifically, even invited as media to events by Disney and are used by the Disney WikiProject regularly to cite Disney Parks related articles, and instead cite a Google Book preview from 2012 edition of a guide before the change was made, when these guides are updated annually. Here's a more recent guidebook that uses the all caps. And another more recent book. WP:NOTNEWS is irrelevant here because we're not adding prose to the article. WP:RECENT is also irrelevant because this change is 6 years old. TrueCRaysball ^💬|✏️ 03:39, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

Comment - If this is solely about capitalization, then the new title may be in violation of MOS:TM. I'm aware that EPCOT was definitely an acronym in the past however. Are there more recent sources that regularly spell out what EPCOT stands for? Epicgenius (talk) 19:58, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

There are several organizations and brands that have officially deprecated the prior definition of their name as an abbreviation, but if it originated with an abbreviation, we usually keep it as all-caps on Wikipedia as far as I know. However, the two examples I can think of are spelled out letter-by-letter instead of being pronounced like a word (i.e., AARP and KFC). —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 21:28, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

• Weak oppose, per WP:COMMONNAME the actual policy. WP:OFFICIALNAME is an essay on why we use common names and not official names just because they are official. Ngrams shows there is a trend very recently towards all-caps (although more in the decline of Epcot rather than the rise in EPCOT), but too soon (hope they update soon) on whether it holds the very tight margin. But probably should discuss this again in a few months/years. DankJae 10:47, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

  It's already been six years. And as I have demonstrated in the links provided, the all caps variant is the version used by guidebooks, news websites, blogs, etc. How much more data do you need to prove that the all caps version is the COMMONNAME? TrueCRaysball ^💬|✏️ 12:15, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

  I think it would be best if it can be proven that these sources treat EPCOT as an acronym, not as merely an all-caps trademark. Per MOS:TM, article titles aren't usually put in all-caps if the only reason is that it's a trademark, but titles are put in all-caps if they are being used as acronyms. This is why EPCOT (concept), for example, is at the all-caps version of the name; sources consistently treat that name as an acronym for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow".

  COMMONNAME doesn't really factor into this, in my opinion, as Epcot and EPCOT are the exact same letters just with different capitalization. – Epicgenius (talk) 18:57, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

  That's a fair point. But the thing is, that the name of the park always stood as an acronym from day one. It never ceased. I don't know why Eisner Era Disney did the proper noun version of the formatting. But the name has always been an acronym. TrueCRaysball ^💬|✏️ 19:27, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

• Support per common name Red Slash 15:45, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Amusement Parks and WikiProject Disney have been notified of this discussion. ASUKITE 16:46, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

• Weak oppose for now, per WP:TOOSOON as the longstanding, stable name both on WP as well as in reliable sources has been using the sentence cased version for a very long time. While I understand and appreciate that the original name/usage was that of an acronym, that has not been the case for a long, long time. There does seem to be a more recent return to the usage of the name as an acronym, but in the scope of this artciles history it is still rather recent. IMHO, I am quite glad to see the return to the original usage (mostly from nostalgia), but regardless from a WP policy standpoint it should remain for now. TiggerJay (talk) 17:53, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

  More than half a decade is too recent? TrueCRaysball ^💬|✏️ 18:55, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

  It is not a measurement of "time" but rather because the WP:NAMECHANGE criteria has yet to be met - in this case, it has not changed over as the commonly recognizable name. When we look at reliable news sources (ie not fan news/websites), we see Orlando Sentinel News, Fox35 Orlando & WFTV Orlando news channels using Epcot. Looking at other reliable sources like Travel and Leisure Magazine and National Geographic Official YT Video on Epcot (link blacklisted) all show Epcot. You might find EPCOT(R), but in prose it is far more frequently just "Epcot" -- see trademark. Now if you look to "fan news/websites", you'll find it differently, but they have different motivations (and generally no policy, or simply just following official names) - but often the official name is contrary to Wikipedia practice and policy. What is the time horizon? It is when it becomes the common term for most reliable sources. If Disney started making a big deal about the "Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow" or "E.P.C.O.T." then I think we're see the commonname switchover happen more quickly, but for now it simply "appears" as a stylistic preference for all caps. TiggerJay (talk) 17:03, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

• Support: I don't think "EPCOT" has ever really been wrong. It was derived as an abbreviation, and all-caps is the conventional way to show that. NGrams show that "EPCOT" is already common and is rising in popularity and perhaps is even currently more popular than "Epcot". It's "Epcot", not "EPCOT", that is a strange and artificial stylism. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 18:59, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

  I was following your rationale up to the very last sentence. Everything you said seems to support the move to EPCOT, and then that last sentence seems to reverse that position. Is there perhaps a typographical error in there somewhere? TiggerJay (talk) 20:34, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

  I think the last sentence just says that I think "Epcot" is "a strange and artificial stylism" – and therefore we should use "EPCOT", which I think is a more ordinary and natural way to write this term that originated as an abbreviation. The sentence can't be read without paying attention to the part after the second comma. Perhaps the commas should have been parentheses. I apologize for my garbled writing. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 20:59, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose. The evidence does not show a clear, consistent preference for all-caps. The Ngram presented shows a very recent change—note that results from 2022 include only two books, one for each style. Epcot has had a lead in every single year from 1988–2021, often substantial. My review of recent news coverage confirms TiggerJay's findings. --MYCETEAE 🍄‍🟫—talk 01:49, 23 August 2025 (UTC)
• Support because it is an acronym, and the standard practice per MOS:CAPSACRS is to use all caps. Since "Epcot" is not overwhelmingly more common than "EPCOT" (and per ngrams, it has actually been steadily declining since the aughts), and the difference in capitalization has little effect on recognizability (i.e. it is unlikely that a reader accustomed to seeing "Epcot" would be thrown off by "EPCOT"), there is nothing wrong with striving for accuracy and consistency. It should also be noted that COMMONNAME should be taken with a grain of salt in this case because this is a style issue, and every source has its own style guide with different guidelines on how to format acronyms (periods or no periods, all caps or mixed caps); we have our own style guide, which calls for generally writing acronyms in all caps. InfiniteNexus (talk) 05:57, 28 August 2025 (UTC)
• Support per BarrelProof and InfiniteNexus, and per Walt Disney himself naming the place as an acronym. Randy Kryn (talk) 23:24, 31 August 2025 (UTC)