Walt Disney's Original Plan for EPCOT - Part 3

[stokepogue]

It would be a bonus if he they had bike paths for epcot. They could run from each radial neighborhood into the central complex via long tunnels and into the transportation center where they could park their bikes.

[PantaroParatroopa]

I've had enough of the Bus Systems which always get me to school 2 minutes too late, and take 20 minutes to arrive. Give me W.E.D.ways!

[TheBeastchannel123]

THIS IS INSANE!!

[pileonthewoman3]

would you kindly

[Totes1829]

I would say Disney isn't quite done with this project just yet...

[POPCANA]

@lauriegordon9 I like the "skeleton" aspect of this community. Meaning the smooth flow of the transportation systems, innovative infrastructure, highly organized balance of land purposes, emphasis of the city center etc..

This vid definitely has the "perfect community" tone to it but ignoring that part I think today's city's (even in booming China) could learn some things from this vid.

[SirGabriel2076]

I can imagine what people with WB shields would be like with Leeroy Jenkins in the party at this city's gates.

[SirGabriel2076]

This gives me inspiration for what the capital of the Walt Disney Empire would be like in my fan fiction stories. There would also be the Disney castle somewhere that would be designed to withstand ACME arsenal (which is of the Warner Brothers Empire, Disney's arc enemy) meaning that it would be the universe's most fortified castle complete with both highly defensive walls and anti-air magic towers.

[Chibihalo2]

I guess when EPCOT didn't quite turn out like Walt's original plan the Disney Corporation went the way of their PUD Celebration. They never did get close to what they wanted to do with their planned community because of state and county building codes. Instead, Celebration turned out to be a model of the perfect Fifties and Sixties small town American community. A community with some pretty set in stone neighborhood rules to make everything perfect from the front.

[GoldsteinsBook]

@lauriegordon9 Right, because the slums of Detroit and near-endless hordes of welfare-dependents of Albany, NY are so much better. Shut up.

[rockfreak611]

@lauriegordon9 reminds me of a Brave New World esque "utopian" society *shudders*

[cancerman50]

They build the town Celebration and didn't follow this? And now they can't do this because of the recesstion. They ruined Journey Into Imagination. They destroy pleasure Island. Disney needs to start asking what the public wants instead of guessing.

[2800cc]

Idea stolen from Louis Kahn. Voted down.

[dadylarge]

Cracked.com

[hf132071]

@TimidOrgy

Yea..it did sound like that!! ;)

[moemankool]

My name is Walt Disney, and I'd like to ask you a question: Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?

[Green110697]

THIRD REICH

[yuiotred2]

dharma

[AshlieElizabethMoore]

We need People Movers :)



[tscastro114]

Even as Walt was dying he was still planning out Epcot. According to his brother Roy, he was using the ceiling of his hospital room as a layout and point to where the buildings were suppose to go.

[Noswag579]

If only he didn't die this would have happened. If it did we would be on mars by now

[SuspenseSmith]

It's sad that so many people associate Walt Disney with only the cartoons and theme parks that he did. Walt Disney was more about just making movies for kids, he was about sharing a vision of harmony with the world.

With all the billions of dollars these corporations get nowadays, its a wonder why they never ended up doing this.

[axe863]

The Venus Project sent me here :P

[PPTgames]

just that alone would cost billions and billions to build, let alone populate - but no man alive has ever had a mind like Walt`s.

[iraqilemonade]

The rappers from those projects-sorry, "high-density apartments"-would probably be the rawest alive. That's really my only regret about this dystopia not being built.

[1218sunflower]

I wanna live there!!!

[Meowzi]

The transportation idea was the most ambitious and hasty part of this idea. Disneyworld already stands 14 feet above normal ground level, due to Florida being basically at sea level. They would have had to built the city much higher to have those transit-ways.

[scarletlark]

If only Walt were around at least another 10 years, this might have happened. WDW is fun, but this plan was truly grand. Maybe someday, right?

[deniceinspain]

check out the Venus Project. not concerned with major coorporations but human concerns

[WishesSetFree]

Woah... this is a magnificent system... I'm gonna present this to my AP Human Geography class to try and analyze this. :D

[RoyalW1979]

I was here 1104210117

[whiteboy080992]

you mean i couldve  lived in a amusement park

[carloscastaf]

God take the Jonas Brothers and give us Walt back!!

[bluebettle]

Whatever this would had been a success is one giant hypothetical (one would hope that it could had, although I think he'd be forced to compromise his image a large amount when ground would had been finally broke), but one thing that Walt was right on the money about was in diminishing the importance of the car in metropolitan areas. I mean, you talk to city planners today and they'll tell you just in the past 10 years did people really catch up to that idea...

[JustJust2D]

This sounds like Jacque Frescos design, does anyone know whos designs are these?

[Smallpoxproductions]

This Wasn't really a dream for Epcot This was his Dream for the world. Epcot would just be the first community like this.

[justnaesman]

ah, this was a selling/promotional video to American inddustry wasn't it.

[LickingButter]

how come it didnt happen?? why wasnt it created??

[Pengelly2001]

@LickingButter Because those that had the money to make it a reality were to cowardly to do it.

[thecopykidofthestarz]

@Pengelly2001 because they fear progress. They and they alone want to prosper. Not us. this was made for the people. to the rich and powerful wish us more contained, vulerable to disconnection from our electrical life.

This was a inter and outer net ! not the hidden contained philosophy of internet and digital comunications

[AzraelofLegion]

@Pengelly2001 Yep, everyone knows solving problems is bad for business. Its in fact better to make problems for the world so you can sell short term "treatments", Its call repeat business. Something like this city would most likely solve to many problems thus destroying a large number of markets in the process. Thumps up if any one here agrees!

[ghostbuddy]

@AzraelofLegion

It makes me happy that after one whole month, no one was retarded enough to like your comment.

[NewsFreak42]

they are allready change the planet massive: youtube.com/watch?v=VyX2G-RanB­­k

[maplebayou1]

It’s ironic that Disney, who surely owed much of his success to the emergence of automobile-dependent communities, was advocating a prototype community dominated by mass transit. He was really opening a huge can of worms here. It is no surprise that this was never realized.

[TheCorrster]

I'm not sure why, but this project creeps me l

Out...to much bioshock. But it's a neat concept, Something about close proximity and crime bothers me, though now, this would be very possible to build, 50's...not so much!

[MrAmerica1995]

Imagine how different the world would be if this was built....I really wish they followed through with this after Walt's death, they should build it in the future at least, instead of not at all.

[STRANGEJAMES85]

It's in a giant bubble. I wonder how susceptible this thing would have been to terrorist attacks. It's something Walt didn't have to worry about in the mid-late 60's, but unfortunatly, in 2010, I can't help but wonder how something like poisonous gas would be in a closed in area like that.

[JebbyStudio]

@STRANGEJAMES85 Actually, Walt Disney's vision of EPCOT being encased in a giant dome is a common misconception. The only part of the city that would be enclosed would be the downtown shopping district, but not even that part would be in a dome. However, small domes on the roof of the structure would let in natural light.

[RetroToledo]

@JebbyStudio It certainly makes sense that way.

[cancerman50]

I wanted to try this on SimCity but because of how the game is set up it's harder then you think. But in real life I think this would have actually worked. The only hard part is he would have to have 100's of businesses move in on opening day.

[websuspect]

@cancerman50 I think his idea was to collude with buisiness like walmart, GM and Mc DOnalds.

[xXnimitsXx]

"te wed-way people mover" that sounds soo epic omg. should be the new name for a 4 x 4 ahaha. love you walt!!

[knappsales]

Imagine! Being able to create your own, climate contolled city. Anyone who knows about Walt Disney knows that if he had lived longer, this would have been completed. I wonder, with the dome, if he was thinking about putting something like this on the moon, or even mars.

[knappsales]

Damn! What a trip!

[SVB2002]

I love Epcot as it is now, but wouldn't it be cool to see Walt's vision. The dome idea would be used in that Jim Carrey movie where he lives in that almost perfect community. I almost forgot it, but just remembered "The Truman Show'"

[madpistol]

The idea was far fetched back in the 50's, but now, with today's advancements in technology, this could be 100% real (with the exception of the enclosed dome... that's still just a little bit too "Jetson-ish" )

Somebody needs to resurrect these plans and start digging in. It wouldn't be a "Utopia" but it would be the most functional city ever created. Hell, it doesn't even have to be self-governed or run by Disney. It can simply function as a regular city.

[websuspect]

@madpistol It could be done as a city with 3rd party covenant laws.

[jar0fdirt63]

just think, if he hadn't smoked we could have had walt in the 1980's! or even 90's! this could have been real!

[FuturelyAncient]

Lol tony stark's dad in iron man 2 hella reminded me of walt and the model for epcot

[xXnimitsXx]

@FuturelyAncient yeeeaahh! i was literally just thinking that! XD

and the fact that epcot is a circle...hmmm? stark creat the atom with THIS! epcot. lol.

.........mmmm rob jr...... >///<

[626fan82]

Oh thank you I am not the only one who made that comparison

[MidgetguyII]

@FuturelyAncient Same here! I think that's what inspired that actually... I saw that scene and I instantly said, "That's Epcot! This is totally just like that one video with Walt Disney!!!!" haha

[SirGabriel2076]

@FuturelyAncient He should be. He unites both Disney and Marvel against Bugs Bunny's right hand man, Bruce Wayne!

[dradioz]

I just realized, if it is enclosed how will they deal with the pollution created by the trucks and cars. This design brings new

meaning to gree-house gasses...ouch!

[cancerman50]

Even when they are underground. Those tunnels will need their own ventilation system not matter how you slice it. Plus inside the dome there is no ozone layer to rip apart.

[dradioz]

Where are the flying cars..lol

Anyway-great idea

[cmtks]

thats so beast! i wanna live in walt's futuristic EPCOT! they have houses and churches too!? woah. i want that to happen.

[MintMickeyDotCom]

This is a fascinating video. Epcot turned out very differently than Walt imagined it...

and Happy Birthday to Walt Disney!

[gojays21]

Disney's idea in these movies was like 40 years before anyone could ever make something like this

[VitricArt]

Oh, and by the way....it's impossible NOT to sound impressive with a full symphonic orchestra backing up your dialogue. LOL!

[VitricArt]

The only modern city that comes close to this level of master design is Brasilia, Brazil. Unfortunately, 5ONE41 is correct in the analysis that "no human-devised system is ever be perfect". Brasilia today is awash with tremendous social/economic problems. As tremendous as the concept of EPCOT is (and oh how I'd love to see it fufilled one day), I shudder to think what the current economic climate would have done to it had it been realized as Walt imagined. Best a happy ideal perhaps?

[bjbearorl]

I LOVE this, I want that future now! I live just north of the theme parks in Orlando, and wow how this sparks my imagination again about what's possible. I hope this idea can be refined and re-visited.

[RandyDobson1]

i wish that epcot could have been completed in the fashion of the original idea.... what a dream that would be

[lovewithouttouching]

@RandyDobson1 more of a nightmare, maybe.

[fourseam33]

@RandyDobson1 Ever read Brave New World?

[FunkayJunk]

he had such big imaginations and dreams so unique. Even in this time period i dont think I would of been able to come up with such an extraordinary idea too bad he wasnt able to bring it to life

[kenny3001]

Walt's EPCOT is similarity to the future city in Meet the Robinsons

[ZKs4FBand]

I want to go to there.

[kudzu32]

i wish they built that, it was wat walt would've wanted, not the 1 they hav around right now

[SimComProductions]

I agree. It is so vast though. In reality today, it is almost impossible. I mean, Sure, on a smaller scale it could work. But, that is just way to extensive and take a VERY long time. Again I totally would love to see this.

[headmouse]

The idea of EPCOT does exist today. The entire WDW property is E.P.C.O.T. They have their own fire dept, police dept, water treatment system, phone system (in fact WDW was the first place in FL to use the 911 system). And look at the community called Celebration. So it may not look like the model, but EPCOT is alive today.

[animalcross77]

@kudzu32 Maybe Disney might add on to the current EPCOT... very unlikley... but, we can DREAM right? WDW is where DREAMS come true! Right.....?

[appleboy326]

i thought tht too

[LMann32869]

I'd like to get opinions of Walt's EPCOT~~ Did anyone who watched the movie Wall-E ever notice the similarity of how the Axiom was set up and how it's almost exactly what Walt invisioned for EPCOT? Next time U watch Wall-E chasing Eve through the Axiom while she was straped to the board ... keep this in mind.. I'd love 2 hear your opinions.

[stemarshallcirque]

This is a clear example of how mad Walt Disney really is!

[jch31384]

it seems like it would have been a great place to live on the surface. but there's plenty of disturbing ramifications one should consider. a city of this size would need it's own police force elected officials etc. disney would have to ensure that it's mayor for example was a staunch support of the corporate agenda. also there might be issues with florida government when you consider that disney is know to delay reporting illicit employee misconduct. it would have its underside like any city.

[5ONE41]

There are also some odd parts of the idea that sound nice like "employment for all" and "careful control" which would need considerable government intervention to work, and that seems to contradict the free enterprise message he was trying to send. But no human-devised system will ever be perfect, it would need constant consideration of improvements even after implementation, like any city, but that's part of the point: to at least try to solve problems in a way that preserves free enterprise.

[Costerguy1234556]

Wait if Walt died before Tomorrowland 1967 opend how did they show peoplemover fotage!

[badadviceman]

Because this is the last footage of Walt Disney ever recorded. They put this out after Walt died.  Sorry for the nerdery... I just listened to the 33 hour audiobook about him.

[Costerguy1234556]

Thats OK:)

[wolfpacker1993]

i would love to live in disney its an amzing atmosphere everyone is so happy. and goes out of their way to be nice....this truely would have been the perfect city. one day i will build it......

[sailorx72]

It's to bad the technology didn't exist to buid this idea. They can't even do it today. The concept is still do and should be considered in the years ahead.

[toyinattic]

this would do good. i mean schools and homes in WDW? that would be awsome!

[woodencoasterfan]

They actually did it, It's called Celebration City off US 192 near Kissimmee.

[iambluebird]

Of course in retrospect, many aspects of the original plans for EPCOT would never have worked, but the idea was futurist and innovative. It makes me very sad to think that Walt's hopes and dreams for Disney World were never to be. I just hope he died believing in his dreams.

Does anyone know the exact location of the proposed EPCOT city and what currently resides there? It looks like it was to be located to the southeast of the Magic Kingdom, almost about the same place as Fort Wilderness Y/N?

[therealsimmer3]

EPCOT Center is more or less the exact location of where EPCOT was supposed to be.

[cometeclipseutah]

Sure would have helped people save on Gas.

[InfuserGod]

If you can dream it, you can do it.

[gamemasterredlink]

agreed

[tamkins777]

@InfuserGod Only if you have to money to start it LOL

[redique]

@InfuserGod oh I wish that was true for this as he dreamed but it did not become a reality really walt disney world today may be one of the best places ever and is great but this would have been the best trully man after I first knew about this I was like "Just imagine what the world would be if this would have been real" really we would have very different world but well it did not become a reality so now we enjoy the disney world we already have.

[greenfury87]

This reminds me of i robot.

[OverzealousRelayer]

I think that this is a cool idea. If the world had learned from Disney, there wouldn't be an oil crisis today.

[degrassifreek100]

So true! Walt was such a visionary! The World Would be so much different if he would have died so soon

[therealsimmer3]

If he would have?

[tonyroccoJR]

I am glad they trashed this idea! I like shit like test track and mission space. I think good ol Walt was on LSD when he thought of this one.

[smiffymouse]

that is actually fucking nuts

[clevm002]

so was it going to be a theme park at all ? ,,, or just a city ?

[SHAUNERDANIEL]

So it was going to be like just it's own city...

[SHAUNERDANIEL]

They should of built that hotel...

[slobinski]

Check out the "Tomorrowland" Disney Treasures 2 DVD set. Included is a promo film on EPCOT made right before Walt's death. Imagine if he had lived the extra 10 years he said he needed to build EPCOT. And just look what they did to it.

[aramirez]

yea, too bad he smoked like a chimney and was too stubborn to do anything about it.

[shoshtari]

thanks for up loading these videos. where did you get them?