Walt's Thoughts on the Asian parks

[Californian Elitist]

You are ignorant in terms of the topic of the conversation. That's not a bad thing, you just aren't fully aware of what really happened. I'm trying to explain what happened, but it's falling on deaf ears. I don't know how many times I can continue to explain it, so I'm done as well. Good day, ma'am.

 

[lazyboy97o]

All I was trying to do originally is explain HOW Magic Kingdom is different from Disneyland. And some people had to take it WAY out of proportions.

How and why the Disneylands are different is an interesting discussion but it has very little to do with Walt Disney.

And to because I wasn't specific enough, I guess I should have put "Disney wanted WDW to be an escape..."

But he didn't. EPCOT was intended to address real issues. In "The EPCOT Film" Walt Disney says:
"I don't believe there is a challenge anywhere in the world that's more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities."

 

[AlwaysaDisney]

How and why the Disneylands are different is an interesting discussion but it has very little to do with Walt Disney.


But he didn't. EPCOT was intended to address real issues. In "The EPCOT Film" Walt Disney says:
"I don't believe there is a challenge anywhere in the world that's more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities."

Yes I do recognize this quote and the focus behind EPCOT. And I do believe if Disney lived through the finalzing of the Florida Project/EPCOT project, the rest of WDW would be completely different. However, the plans do mention the building of recreation ground, motels/hotels, and a possible theme park. But the major thing was EPCOT, yes. I guess how I am interpreting it in my head is different from what I'm writing. I feel like Walt intended WDW/EPCOT to be different from the rest of the world, to yes, address the issues and problems with cities, but at the same time, allow everyone to 'escape' what is occuring in the rest of the world. I don't know how to say it...it just seems like he wanted well, to creat a new world and way of living. I believe that was his utmost intent.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

No one is denying the fact that Walt wasn't fond of Disneyland's surroundings. That is absolutely true. It is not unanswered. After Disneyland was built, Walt Disney literally said, "I'm done with theme parks." I take it you're not familiar with that quote? The original EPCOT was originally intended to be a city. Walt Disney hated repeating himself, and had no intentions of building another Disneyland-style park. It was going to be E.P.C.O.T. and that was all. A lot of money was needed to fund this man-made city, and Walt's "people" told him another Disneyland would have to be built, although it was against what Mr. Disney wanted. That is a fact, not an interpretation. E.P.C.O.T. the city never happened, and it is now a theme park.

"Of course, there'll be another amusement theme park in Florida, similar to the one in California. We're now developing a master plan that encompasses the theme park and all facilities around it..." - Walt Disney 2:02:



Walt fully intended to build another Magic Kingdom at, what he called, 'The Disney World'. (A name that was later changed by Roy into 'Walt Disney World', to honour that this was Walt's project)

Walt's earlier quotes about repeating himself are superceded by Walt's later quotes about building another Disneyland, which he never retracted. If Walt had lived ten years longer, he ('in all probabilty', one should add) would've overseen the design and construction of his new Magic Kingdom theme park himself. The heart of the Florida Project was EPCOT, but there was never going to be an EPCOT without a Florida Disneyland.

Walt is standing in front of his MK theme park and hotel area plans. Although, as with all of his Florida Project palns, these rudimentary designs were rushed because he needed to present concrete plans to the Florida legislature and the wider world. Everybody at the company understood the tentative nature of the plans, and that they could still radically depart from them.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Walt was involved with the design and development of those projects. The only material related to the Magic Kingdom that date's to his lifetime is the site plan featured in the Disney World Master Plans that is just a copy of Disneyland. Art of EPCOT exists showing us its urban design and more could could probably safely be assumed because we still have influential works like The Heart of Our Cities by Victor Gruen and Garden Cities of To-Morrow by Ebenezer Howard. We have nothing like that for the Magic Kingdom that shows how it was to be unique and different, just a copy of Disneyland.

I think we have every reason to assume that Walt and the company did not intend for the MK to be a carbon copy of DL, but a vastly improved one, one that would incorporate a decade of progress. Incorporating everything they learned from the 1964 World's fair to NOS to DL's mistakes. Walt wasn't the man to do the same thing twice. Or not to incorporate new technologies and ideas. Nobody ever was more keen on outdoing Walt Disney than Walt Disney himself. He would've made certain his Florida MK would be superior to his earlier California theme park.

While the Magic Kingdom has only ever unofficially referred to as Disneyland East as more of a hypothetical before the Disney World project commenced, Disneyland has been the Magic Kingdom almost since opening. To this day guests at Disneyland's Main Street Station are invited to board the "Disneyland Limited" for "a Grand Circle Tour of Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom."

Totally. The name Magic Kingdom is used extensively for the Anaheim castle park. But does anybody ever actually say that?

Surely kids in LA text to each other 'Gee, let's go to Disneyland today', not 'Let's go to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom'. Similarly, if you are walking in DCA and feel like Pirates, you ask 'shall we hop over to Disneyland' (or rather, 'let's do Pirates'), not 'let's go to the Magic Kingdom'.

 

[Californian Elitist]

"Of course, there'll be another amusement theme park in Florida, similar to the one in California. We're now developing a master plan that encompasses the theme park and all facilities around it..." - Walt Disney 2:02:



Walt fully intended to build another Magic Kingdom at, what he called, 'The Disney World'. (A name that was later changed by Roy into 'Walt Disney World', to honour that this was Walt's project)

Walt's earlier quotes about repeating himself are superceded by Walt's later quotes about building another Disneyland, which he never retracted. If Walt had lived ten years longer, he ('in all probabilty', one should add) would've overseen the design and construction of his new Magic Kingdom theme park himself. The heart of the Florida Project was EPCOT, but there was never going to be an EPCOT without a Florida Disneyland.

Walt is standing in front of his MK theme park and hotel area plans. Although, as with all of his Florida Project palns, these rudimentary designs were rushed because he needed to present concrete plans to the Florida legislature and the wider world. Everybody at the company understood the tentative nature of the plans, and that they could still radically depart from them.

Yeah, his intentions changed once he realized he needed money for his city, thus Magic Kingdom popping up into the plans.

I hope we won't be going back and forth. I'm tired of going back and forth.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I think we have every reason to assume that Walt and the company did not intend for the MK to be a carbon copy of DL, but a vastly improved one, one that would incorporate a decade of progress. Incorporating everything they learned from the 1964 World's fair to NOS to DL's mistakes. Walt wasn't the man to do the same thing twice. Or not to incorporate new technologies and ideas. Nobody ever was more keen on outdoing Walt Disney than Walt Disney himself. He would've made certain his Florida MK would be superior to his earlier California theme park.

I do not doubt that the Florida theme park would not have remained a copy of Disneyland. Disneyland was the known success that would immediately grab attention and communicate a level of design, service and experience to potential investors in EPCOT. I do not think it is even outside the realm of possibility that had Walt lived the Magic Kingdom name would have been inappropriate for the second theme park. But the use of a copy of Disneyland points to how Walt's level of involvement in projects could vary dramatically. I think it shows that Walt was confident that the theme park could be handled by others. Yes, he would have final say but it would not have been the same personal passion project as Disneyland. This sort of movement from project to project is a reoccurring theme in Walt's life. Another example of this would be the way no other animated feature ever received the same level of detailed attention as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Totally. The name Magic Kingdom is used extensively for the Anaheim castle park. But does anybody ever actually say that?

Surely kids in LA text to each other 'Gee, let's go to Disneyland today', not 'Let's go to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom'. Similarly, if you are walking in DCA and feel like Pirates, you ask 'shall we hop over to Disneyland' (or rather, 'let's do Pirates'), not 'let's go to the Magic Kingdom'.

To be fair, I would say a good number of people at the Magic Kingdom would tell you they are at Disneyworld.