Walt Disney had an issue with the way cities were built in his day. He spent much of his adult life in Los Angeles, notorious for traffic and dangerous corridors. Disney believed he had all the answers, and after the success of Disney land, he began formulating a plan for a new city. Eventually, Epcot would become the project’s name, which stood for the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow. This city was romantic, to say the least. If Walt had succeeded, it would’ve been one of the most incredible places on earth. However, many critics point to the glaring flaws with the strategy. The argument is moot, though. The city of Epcot never saw the light of day. After Disney’s untimely death, his brother Roy took the reigns of the project and converted it to a larger iteration of the prosperous Disney land.
Why Build a City?
Walt Disney had long dreamed of building his city. It all began with Disney studios when he attempted to create an office space where his employees could work, play, and live. This idea sounds familiar to us today, but at the time, it was a foreign concept. Ultimately, the dream didn’t work and ended in a lengthy animator strike. Also, he had goals for an expansion of Disneyland, but following the park’s success, the area around the park was quickly developed and filled with hotels and tourist traps. As a result, it was restricting his expansion opportunities.
These two scenarios alone drove Walt’s desire to build his city. However, one of the most significant driving factors was his belief that he could design a better city than anyone who had tried before him. He was furious with modern city life. The violence, the traffic, and the noise were solvable problems in the eyes of Disney. Epcot was his solution.
The Original Epcot
Today Epcot is nothing more than a theme park, but that was not the original idea. For Walt, Epcot would’ve been the city of his dreams. The name was an acronym that stood for the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow. The town was meant to always be 20 years ahead of every other city on the planet. To do that, the company hoped to entice all the leading tech companies to relocate their headquarters to Epcot and test their new products within the city. Guests to the town had the privilege of exploring a city of the future and the hope for the products that would one day line the shelves of their hometown.
The city would lay host to more than just tech companies. It would host its airport, a massive hotel, indoor shopping mall with districts themed on countries around the world, neighborhoods, and of course, a theme park. The city would be laid out in large circles connected by people movers allowing people to travel between nearby areas within their district and a monorail line adjoining districts. The rail system allowed a route to solving one of Walt’s biggest civic woes; traffic. The roads in the city existed primarily for transit out of Epcot, and most were buried underground. A large freeway spanned the city underground for regular traffic and connected to underground parking facilities. Likewise, an even large freeway was buried deeper than the last for freight and deliveries.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, Disney became obsessed with the idea. Once prototyping began, it was all he could think about, and he began overworking himself and compromising his health. Eventually, the lack of a work-life balance led to his death. His brother Roy continued the Epcot project but believed the idea was over ambitious and unrealistic. Instead, Roy pivoted the project to build Walt Disney World. The park became the most successful theme park of all time. However, Walt would roll over in his grave if he knew what his Epcot project became. Watch or listen to this week’s episode of Things I Learned Last Night to learn more about Walt’s experimental city concept.
Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning, and laughing a whole lot while you do, then you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode right now!
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