EPCOT could work, look at Mall of America

[dig8x]

I didnt know where to post this, so i figured here might work. If im wrong, they will move it im sure =P

EPCOT (as we all know) stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. It was supposed to house ~20,000 people, with schools, buisnesses, and recreational facilities. It would have its own transportation systems, police, and fire departments, hospitals, etc.

Last night on Travel Channel they did a story on Mall of America, and it got me thinking of Disney. Mall of America, has a lot of whats mentioned above. It has 2 schools (highschool and college), a police department, several reseraunts (over 50). It also has an Aquarium, Theme Park (with over 30 rides), Flight Simulators, Race Track, and over 400 stores. All of which is inside! The buiding is massive, and is all air conditioned. They estimate that they get over 30M people to visit the mall each year (~82,200 people per day). They have a work force of 12,000 people.

To me it seems this mall comes fairly close to the idea walt had. It is a hub. Granted its missing a few key points, such as housing, and transportation systems. But it shows that something that Walt envisioned could be possible. It is said that if you spend 10 minutes in every store, you would be there for over 60 hours. That doesnt include the attractions, shows, etc. If they could somehow put housing there, via condo's or something, it could easily be its own little city. Of course it is not self sustained, but, it is impressive none the less.

I would love for Disney to look at the sucess of this mall, and dream of what they could do, and actually make Walts dream come true. If you take this small project, and see its value, you can easily see how a true EPCOT could come to be.

 

[peter11435]

To be honest. The Mall of America is nothing like EPCOT. First of all the housing and tranportation were the two most important aspects of EPCOT. Both of which are absent from the Mall of America. In fact IMO WDW today is more like EPCOT than the Mall of America.

 

[Glasgow]

I can see how it could be viewed both ways. An important aspect of EPCOT though is that it would have to be self-sustaining, which MOA obviously is not -- the food and the people all come by auto

I suppose the residents of EPCOT could eat from "The Land" and live in separate housing. Maybe you can propose the idea to WDW mgmt and setup an apartment in SSE:animwink:

 

[MinnieSummer]

And here I thought that they built Celebration to fulfill Walt's dream since they didn't do it with Epcot.

I watched the same show last night, apparently there is a form of transportation -- there's a private airport for people to fly in and take the kiddies shopping. (Or did I misunderstand the woman who said her and her daughter flew in for a day of shopping?).

 

[ruca]

Hi Guys-

I live about 12 minutes from the MOA. Actually, there are TONS of buses going to the mall and the Twin Cities have a new lightrail system, which goes to the MOA I think. There has also been talk of adding housing there. Condos I think. I'm not sure if this has been decided on yet, but they are doing a HUGE expansion. I think they are adding a lot of thirs tier (GUCCI, Armani, etc.) type stores but housing may be included (although I would LOVE to live at Epcot, and I would hate to live at the MOA). Camp Snoopy can not really be compared to WDW at all, but it is fun to go on the log flume to get excited for upcoming trips to the world.

 

[mmssbrg2]

There is not a private airport servicing MOA, however, the MSP international airport is right across the highway from MOA. The Hiawatha Line of the Light Rail system runs from the mall through the airport and north into downtown Minneapolis. I'm sure many people, with the means to do so, fly into MSP and take the train to the mall for a day of shopping.

 

[kal1484]

I never thought of that, however the poster is right, if they continue the construction that was mentioned on the show. The show said that they are building housing connected to the mall in the future, as well as wanting to make schools. So if the plans they mentioned on the program go through, then infact it would be a semi-EPCOT type place.

 

[WDWCP]

This is all a very BAD idea...

MOA is too big... I got lost there once. Took me 3 hours to find my way out.

Of course, I'm way to proud (read: stupid) to ask for help!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I can see the original posters point, but that show was old, and all the bars and stuff they said was on the 4th floor are all closed with the exception of Hooters. My question is would you really want to live in that enclosed of a space? Sure everything is contained all together and it would be easy to get around, but what about fresh air!

 

[WDWCP]

I can see the original posters point, but that show was old, and all the bars and stuff they said was on the 4th floor are all closed with the exception of Hooters. My question is would you really want to live in that enclosed of a space? Sure everything is contained all together and it would be easy to get around, but what about fresh air!

Don't forget about getting lost either!!! :brick:

 

[wdwCC]

While I like the MOA, (go often, since it's 5 minutes away), the Travel Channel show made it sound better than it really is. The 4th floor has Hooters and the movie theatre, but there isn't much up there anymore. Camp Snoopy is now "The Park at MOA" since they lost the Peanuts rights. While the mall security is good, the program showed Bloomington police in action.

That said, phase 2 of the mall will be more of a entertainment/housing complex if that ever gets off the ground.

MOA is ok, but it's no EPCOT, never will be.

 

[kbusch]

I do see the original posters point, although I have to agree....MOA is nothing close to WDW. Maybe it's just not as great for me as it is for others since I have the luxury of going anytime I want. I work about a mile from MOA. What would be really cool is if Disney took over and bought rights to "The Park at MOA" and made it into a Disney mini theme park. :sohappy: Now that would rock my world!!

 

[wdwCC]

"What would be really cool is if Disney took over and bought rights to "The Park at MOA" and made it into a Disney mini theme park."

Now that's an idea!

You could buy park tickets to WDW or DL. Even though there's a Disney store in the mall, this would be better! There is Disneyland, there's Walt Disney World, there's Disney Paris,etc.. you can have Disney Park!

 

[dig8x]

a lot of you seem to be thinking that i was saying its dead on. In my post i was just saying that i could see epcot working. MOA has a lot going for it, and i can definitly see a real EPCOT made now that i have seen this mall. I know some of the points are EPCOT is bigger, and has its own Transportation, and Housing. But i see this mall, and think, if the right things are added, it could be pretty close to the vision.

there are plenty of jobs (the show said over 12000 employees). All we would need is the housing (which is apparently something they are considering), there is already a school there, and their own transportation is set up as well. So really its missing the self sufficiant part. I cant claim that ive ever been to a city that was self sufficiant though. I live in Fort Myers Florida. We have lots of land for fruits, and cows, but we definitly get goods from other places. I would even venture to guess most citys do not sustain themselvs.

Anyway, i was just saying that i can definitly see an EPCOT at some point in time. If they can do it with a mall, and make it have a lot of similar things, then disney could definitly do it the right way, and make a true self contained city.

 

[MacDuffieMuppet]

i like the idea of dinsey taking over the park...that would be cool!!! i have been there twice and going there this summer for a day or two... where abouts is the school and college... i too was watching the show last night and saw that. granted that i go there to shop and do some rides but they are not quality rides.. yes the epcot idea is good but if everythign is all in one place leaving that place would defeat the purpose of getting out into the "real world" and experiancing it. i dunno its one of those ideas that are half baked and have good and bad points.

 

[speck76]

To be honest. The Mall of America is nothing like EPCOT. First of all the housing and tranportation were the two most important aspects of EPCOT. Both of which are absent from the Mall of America. In fact IMO WDW today is more like EPCOT than the Mall of America.

WDW as a whole is Walt's EPCOT.....it has 100K+ residents each night (although they move out every 5 or so days, new residents move right in)

 

[KumbaRider]

M O A = E P M O T