Pressed by fans, Walt Disney World is expanding its observance of Epcot’s 25th anniversary by providing company-sponsored public events to go along with private celebrations already set for Oct.1.

Epcot turns 25 on Monday, still blessed and cursed as the bricks-and-mortar legacy of Walt Disney’s last, most ambitious and most quixotic dream. Disney did not envision Epcot as a theme park; he saw ...