EPCOT

"EPCOT... will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise."

Walt Disney

EPCOT is an acronym of Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, which was the name originally given by Walt Disney to his concept of a utopian city that he intended to build as Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.


The original plan was for the site to include an airport at the Southern end of the site where guests and visitors would arrive and pass through a massive welcome centre. 


The Magic Kingdom theme park would be at the North of the site with an electric high speed monorail running from North to South right through the centre of the EPCOT metropolitan city and suburban areas. At the centre of the site would be the city surrounded by a large residential area with schools, churches and suburbs. 


I could go on but Walt himself describes the whole intended set up in this Youtube clip. It's a good watch at 24 mins but worth it if you're interested in this sort of thing.

To me, the thing I find most fascinating is how this "might" have affected or changed the world in a positive way. If any of it had caught on or spread we could be living in a much different world today. The ideas about keeping city roads completely separate from pedestrian areas, the city transport systems and the circular design plans for the city and its various areas are such simple but large changes compared to how we live now and would reduce traffic accidents, congestion and pollution.


There are some things that don't seem to make so much sense given some thought, like the environmental control system and certain other issues such as who would police it if its basically a large resort? Who is allowed to live there? I have know idea how any of that would have worked out or been resolved had EPCOT happened as originally planned but the thought that someone was willing to make it happen and give it a chance is inspiring.


It seems a rare thing that someone so rich and successful would be willing to put his company and name behind something like this in that there is no guarantee that it would work. It could have been a complete failure and would have lost billions of dollars. It says something about Walt Disney's self belief, vision and character I think.

Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Over the sumer I did a bit of research on Walt Disney.  I really didn't know to much about him besides general knowledge so it was quite interesting to delve into his life and find out just how driven he was. There's no doubt in my mind that Disney would not be the giant corporation it is today if it wasn't for Walt.


That might seem like I'm stating the obvious but I'll go into it more in later posts. For now I'll just say it was because of Walt Disney going against everything his peers were telling him that got "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" to happen. The big deal about this is that it was one of the first American feature length animations, it was a massive success and opened the door for future feature length animations to be produced.


When you think about how influential those early Disney films have been to scores of other animators you can start to understand how important this was for the film and animation industries.


I think it's his strong work ethic that made him so successful. He never gave up after the failures of his first two businesses, Iwerks & Disney Commercial Artists and Laugh-O-Grams Studio. He basically did what it took to make things happen.


When "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" ran into financial trouble during production (just like his peers said it would!), he took what had been produced so far and secured a bank loan to cover the remainder of the production.


I also found myself being really interested in his later project, EPCOT, The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. EPCOT was to be a place where corporations would be encouraged to tackle the problems inherent in modern American cities with an aim to spread this ideal to other parts of the world by creating a self sustained city, suburbs and the Disney World Theme Park and Holiday Resort and inspiring visitors. He unfortunately died before completing the project and the board of directors decided to abandon the project.


What really interested me about this is that, given what I had already learned about Disneys drive, ambition and work ethic, he might have actually pulled it off. I wonder how successful it would have been and what sort of impact it would have had. How different would the world be? It might have totally failed. It's just really fascinating to me!


I've probably more to say on Walt Disney and EPCOT but I'll keep this short and just end on a quote from the man himself the day before the launch of Disneyland which I think is a nice little ideal that shows his desire to entertain and to give back what he enjoyed in his childhood.


"To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past .... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world."

Walt Disney Sunday, July 17, 1955