Are you happy that Walt's EPCOT was never built?

[mbroschak]

I don't want this post to turn into an adversarial, argumentative one, just a reality check and some good discussion more than anything.

I love Disney down to its heart and soul and could list off more stats about its founding father than most, but after watching some footage recently on the Disneyland U.S.A. show about the Florida project and Walt's EPCOT, I really don't know if his idealized view of the future and the EPCOT that was to be built to represent it would have any staying power with our views of things today...

 

[MarkTwain]

I don't want this post to turn into an adversarial, argumentative one, just a reality check and some good discussion more than anything.

I love Disney down to its heart and soul and could list off more stats about its founding father than most, but after watching some footage recently on the Disneyland U.S.A. show about the Florida project and Walt's EPCOT, I really don't know if his idealized view of the future and the EPCOT that was to be built to represent it would have any staying power with our views of things today...

I'm kinda glad EPCOT didn't happen, to be perfectly honest. 3 reasons:

1.) You think Disney has trouble maintaining theme parks? I'd love to see them try and maintaining something as large and fluid as a city. All the pavement, transportation issues, signage, not to mention the accommodations and constant interior decorating that would be going on everywhere. If Disney had actually gone along and built EPCOT, I'm guessing they would have done like Celebration, Lake Buena Vista, or the golf courses and sold/outsourced the city by now, simply for the huge pain in the neck it would have been to run it (and I wouldn't blame them).

2.) Similarly, it would be badly dated in terms of design. The point of EPCOT was to be America's most modern and utopian city, but all the renderings I've seen have shown 100% 1960s architecture - which is completely understandable given when it was designed, but I'm not sure that it would have been feasible for Disney to try and keep the entire city up-to-date with modern design standards. Cities age, as do their architecture, and EPCOT would have been no exception. And so far we've seen Disney struggle to keep up with the idea of Wifi.

3.) I like what we have. Walt's famous rendering of his proposed plan of WDW property (this one) shows an enormous scale of development that would be almost unrecognizable from what we know WDW to look like today - it looks like a good 70% is solid development. And don't forget, much of that was proposed to be things like industrial districts, research centers, and other things that might be considered unsightly in terms of the modern Disney vacation experience. And we would have the one theme park - Epcot, DHS, and AK probably would have never been built, seeing as most of the room would have gone over to the city. Today, our Florida property consists of 4 grand theme parks, several beautifully designed hotels, and recreational activities each separated by hundreds of acres of preserved nature.

No offense to Uncle Walt or his vision, but I'm quite happy with what has become of his property.

 

[maxairmike]

I'm not disappointed it was never built, because...well, it was never truly going to be built in the first place. Not as they presented it, at least.

Having said that, if they had truly planned on building a real EPCOT, I imagine it would have faced enormous pressure then, and would face enormous pressure now.

 

[muse1983]

It was a magnificent idea that Walt had..but honestly I'm glad it wasn't built based on the fact that there is no way it would still be around today.

 

[pumpkin7]

i guess we'll never know if 'the real' EPCOT would have been a success.
i think walt was well ahead of his time when he came up with the idea, but it would have been impossible to maintain it. the amount of work would be astronomical. i'm quite happy with how EPCOT Centre ended up. reading and watching films about what EPCOT could have been is good enough for me.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

There was an idea for the epcot center that looied pretty cool. It was as big as the one now but the layout and architecture was different I think you can find it on google images

 

[Clever Name]

The original plan for EPCOT as proposed by Walt Disney was that the 20,000 residents would not own their apartments, houses or any land. No retired persons would be allowed and everyone would be required to have a job working for Disney controlled enterprises (such as the Magic Kingdom, the airport, city government, the industrial park, etc.). Transportation would be provided by the ‘People Mover” and the monorail system. Rent for the living quarters would be deducted from their pay check. In short, it was nothing more than indentured servitude. :wave:

 

[thelookingglass]

Yeah, I hate to say it, but the "real" EPCOT would have likely been one of the biggest failures of all time.

 

[Clamman73]

Yes, but what happened to the Epcot they actually built?

 

[rct247]

I would have loved to see the real EPCOT built, but I agree that it would be very dated and aging fast today. It wouldn't be perfect as we all have seen it presented. There were will be construction, traffic jams, trash on the ground, leaks, landscape overgrowth, building cracks, peeling paint. Even if Disney maintained a living breathing city, it would happen because it does happen in the parks.

It's been said that the ideals of EPCOT have been incorporated in many other aspects of the Florida Project and beyond, and it's true. Magic Kingdom has an extensive tunnel system that is aging and can't quite honestly be majorly replaced or expanded too much without disrupting the ground upstairs. At some point the highways under the planned city of EPCOT would need to be expanded as well and wouldn't be able to.

Many things on property from the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Polynesian longhouses to the monorail beams, and even the buildings on Main Street have all seen 40 years. Some are showing their age while others are look superb. Look at how pristine the Seven Seas Lagoon looked in 1971, 81, 91, 2001, and now 2011.

We may not have Peoplemovers all over the property, but buses do the same to get guests to their "homes". Then there is also College Project housing. Resident College Program kids sound very similar to how the residents of EPCOT would have lived.

Technologies used to hide utilities and infrastructure are in place on property just as they would have been at EPCOT.

I wish I could explore the real deal, but for what we ended up with, I'm happy with as well.