EPCOT was originally created in an attempt by
Disney to create a perfect
utopian self-sustaining society, and then
charge people to see it. It quickly became evident that people didn't want to
see this sort of thing, and EPCOT was revised shortly after Disney's
death.
The new idea: a sort of "eternal world's fair,"
where people could go and see (a) what the future might be like, a little more realistically
than the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrow Land; and (b) learn about other cultures.
The result is Future World and the World Showcase.
A bus driver there told us EPCOT stood for either Every Pocketbook Comes Out Thinner or Every Parent Carries Out a Toddler.
Major attractions at EPCOT (ones currently with nodes):