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Case Study: An Epic EPCOT Dinearound

June 10, 2026

How GoGather turned the famed Disney EPCOT theme park Into a VIP networking experience

What happens when you take a franchise organization’s top 50 performers, scatter a team of C-suite executives across the countries of EPCOT, and hand attendees a branded map with no set agenda? You get one of the most talked-about VIP networking events of the year.

Shannon Bream, Event Operations Manager at GoGather

Shannon Bream, Event Operations Manager at GoGather — an experiential marketing and event management company — recently led the design and execution of an exclusive EPCOT Showcase as part of a client’s multi-day sales achievement incentive trip in Orlando. The result was a masterclass in blending structured networking with a choose-your-own-adventure guest experience.

The 3-day event was headquartered at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando — chosen specifically for its proximity to Walt Disney World — and drew 261 total attendees, including franchisees, sponsors, and host company employees and their guests. The program included sessions, breakouts, a golf tournament and cabana activities at the hotel, but the crown jewel was reserved for the top tier: An exclusive evening in EPCOT.

Approximately 50 elite franchisees — each invited to bring a plus-one — were transported from the hotel to the park for a private, three-hour evening experience. The exclusivity was intentional. “They like to build FOMO internally,” Bream explained. “Other franchisors that got to experience the other parts of the program are now saying, ‘I want to get to that level where I’m getting that special face time and experience.’”

The client’s senior leadership team was distributed across EPCOT’s international pavilions — one executive per country — giving VIP attendees the chance to have organic, one-on-one conversations with company leadership in an environment far removed from a hotel ballroom. Attendees received a branded map as they stepped off the bus, highlighting each country and who they might find there. From that point, the evening was theirs to navigate.

There were no check-in requirements, no passport-stamp formalities — just a loose framework that encouraged exploration. “The choose-your-own-adventure approach really worked for the group,” said Bream. The evening culminated with EPCOT’s nightly fireworks show before attendees returned to the hotel.

EPCOT’s fireworks show over the World Showcase Lagoon.

Why It Worked

Several design decisions made the EPCOT Showcase stand out from a standard incentive activity, Bream said:

Access to leadership in an informal setting. Placing executives across the park rather than on a stage or behind a conference table made networking feel natural and memorable.

Attendee agency. Giving guests control over their own evening — including bringing a partner or colleague — peeled back the corporate layers and made the experience genuinely fun rather than obligatory.

The power of place. For many attendees with young families, EPCOT is a place they visit with their kids. Being in the park as adults, after hours, with a glass of wine in hand, carried its own brand of magic.

While some attendees would have preferred the more programmatic entertainment of the previous year’s Vegas trip, the feedback overall was strongly positive, she said. The client is now exploring how to bring their larger annual conference to the Orlando area, and GoGather is already thinking about how to evolve the EPCOT concept by adding structured activities at each pavilion, layering in light competition, or developing a more formal scavenger hunt element.

The most important thing to pulling off an event like this is to use the venue’s built-in magic (this is Disney, after all) to do the heavy lifting, give attendees room to breathe, and let meaningful connections happen on their own terms.