One of the great tragedies of 20th century pop culture is that Walt Disney never got to see his dream become a reality. He spent the last years of his life secretly purchasing land in central Florida in anticipation of his most ambitious project. Then, less than two months after announcing the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, Uncle Walt died. He wasn’t even present for the groundbreaking of what the world now knows as Walt Disney World.
Roy O. Disney refused to let his brother’s dream die along with him. Roy held off his retirement from the company, instead throwing himself into the biggest project in the history of The Walt Disney Company. He led the construction of Walt Disney World, building it in a way that he hoped would pay tribute to his younger brother, Walt. More than 50 years after his death, let’s take a look at the land that never became E.P.C.O.T. to answer a pressing question. What would Walt Disney love about Walt Disney World?
The World Showcase
Uncle Walt described the performance of WED Enterprises at the 1964 New York World’s Fair as the pinnacle of his company’s success. Many of the finest minds in the corporate world built historic devices for the two-year exhibition. While facing off against titans of industry, Imagineers did more than just hold their own. They absolutely dominated, securing the corporation’s legacy for decades to come.
The 1964 World’s Fair became the capper on Walt Disney’s illustrious career, but he didn’t know that at the time. Instead, he dreamt of creating a permanent World’s Fair site at E.P.C.O.T. After his death, Disney executives faced impossible choices, ultimately sacrificing many of their founder’s dreams in order to build the most reasonable facsimile of his underlying vision.
The one thing that they got totally right was the World Showcase. Here, Imagineers constructed pavilions highlighting many foreign cultures. These facilities offered the food, merchandise, and architecture of several sovereign nations abroad, eventually totaling 10 (plus the United States). While some glaring exceptions existed then and still do today, the World Showcase is almost exactly what Uncle Walt dreamt that it would become.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
One of the most surprising facts about Jungle Cruise is that the attraction doesn’t function as originally designed. When Disney and his team of employees plotted the signature ride at Adventureland, they wanted it to stand out as inimitable. Disney himself had strong opinions about what Jungle Cruise needed to reach that goal. He wanted live animals to roam the shores and waters of the attraction. His Imagineers eventually talked him down from this unrealistic version of Jungle Cruise.
During the 1950s, the idea of hosting the equivalent of a zoo at a theme park was a functional impossibility. Some four decades later, however, Disney park planners had a much better idea of the intricacies of zoo-keeping. They knew what the company founder had wanted, and countless employees had ruminated on the idea over time.
With the introduction of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and its animals living onsite, Disney Imagineers achieved the goal that their boss had once given to a previous generation of Imagineers. Uncle Walt would love to see it in action, but I actually don’t think that’s what would impress him the most. Instead, that moment would occur during his first visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas. There, he’d witness animals living in the same hotel space as theme park tourists. I have to believe that that sight would leave Uncle Walt in awe.
The Contemporary Monorail
Disney was also a huge fan of architecture. He appreciated the importance of wienies, structures so remarkable in design that casual observers couldn’t help but look at them. While the most obvious wienie at Walt Disney World is Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom, I don’t think that’s the structure that would dazzle Zombie Disney.
Instead, the most impressive architectural feat on the Walt Disney World campus is one designed only a few years after his death. Some enterprising Imagineer saw the plans for the A-frame hotel that we now know as Disney’s Contemporary Resort, and that person presciently envisioned a way to make it better. The architect would combine two things that Walt Disney loved: monorails and onsite hotels.
Image: DisneyDisney hadn’t owned or built the original Disneyland Hotel. Instead, he’d asked for help from a business ally, Jack Wrather, who had jumped at the opportunity to build a hotel at the Happiest Place on Earth. Disney couldn’t afford it at the time but always regretted watching other parties capitalize on his theme park venture.
That’s why onsite hotels at Walt Disney World were always a part of the plan Still, it’s the marriage with a monorail that sets the Contemporary apart. It’s the perfect example of plussing from the early days of construction. The monorail tracks go straight through the building, creating a show-stopping wienie that everyone can see from far away. Up close, it’s even better. Diners at Chef Mickey’s and the Contempo Café often watch in awe as monorail trains zip through the narrow interior corridor. Uncle Walt would have loved watching people eat 20 feet away from a working monorail.
Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
Image: Disney
In its original incarnation, EPCOT would have whisked citizens around the capitalist utopia via the PeopleMover. Disney deemed it the future of mass transportation. He designed his city of tomorrow to have cars travel on a lower level, out of sight. That’s because he hated the visual of traffic cluttering his perfect city. Instead, residents and guests would travel on the railway of the future.
In hindsight, a few problems exist with the concept. Most importantly, having guests get transported around town takes away a lot of important exercise, and that would lead to the type of physique best embodied in a Disney movie called WALL-E. The corpulent humans in that film have computers cater to their every whim, and it’s made them soft and flabby, albeit extremely sweet and well-intended.
Image: DisneyStill, the PeopleMover was a demonstration of how Walt Disney tried to solve congestion problems by finding unprecedented solutions. While he wouldn’t be happy to know that the PeopleMover had failed the test of time, he’d still love to know that his EPCOT land includes a working version of the premise. Disney park planners know this, which explains why one of the first displays on the attraction is a scale model of the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.
Spaceship Earth
From Walt Disney’s perspective, this might be the perfect attraction. He loved rides that had several important traits such as entertainment value, educational value, and hefty throughput. He wanted to give families a great way to spend time together. He also wanted to teach future generations about the world in which they live. And he was also enough of a businessman to appreciate that rides need the capability to satisfy thousands of customers in a given day. Plus, there’s his aforementioned love of wienies in architecture.
Suffice to say that Spaceship Earth checks all the boxes on Uncle Walt’s list.
Guests can see the attraction while flying into Orlando. The unique structure is visible from a vast distance, acting as a sort of magnet to guests approaching Epcot’s entrance gate. Inside the building, an Omnimover carries a steady flow of guests through a visually exciting set of scenes, starting with a projection of mankind’s first successful attempts at teamwork. The interior roof of the ball displays Earth’s perspective from space, adding a rare level of perspective to one of Disney’s favorite subjects: space exploration.
Then, the ride reverses and lowers guests back to the starting point. During this backwards journey, people participate in an interactive game wherein they learn about possible technologies in the future. It’s the ultimate combination of learning about the past and anticipating the future, precisely what Walt Disney had intended when he built multiple themed lands at Disneyland.
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress
Every artist has an ego. It’s a natural part of the creative process. While Walt Disney wasn’t known as a prideful man, he’d still get a kick out of seeing several of the rides from Disneyland’s opening still in operation today. The fact that Peter Pan’s Flight still has hour-long waits even today is a credit to the timeless nature of the concept. I don’t think that’s the attraction that would offer him the most personal satisfaction, though.
Out of the four pavilions that WED Engineering built for the 1964 New York World’s Fair, the Carousel of Progress told the best story. It showed how far mankind has evolved over the past century. If Walt Disney arrived at Walt Disney World today, he’d see that the attraction has not only stood the test of time but also become a source of pride for later generations of Imagineers. They dutifully update parts of the show to reflect modern times.
In fact, Disney wouldn’t just enjoy the latest iteration of Carousel of Progress. He could also use for informational delivery. He’d learn more about the state of the world today while enjoying the Sherman Brothers earworm of yesteryear.
These are the six things that I think Walt Disney would admire the most about the modern version of Walt Disney World. Do you have any others that you’d like to add? Please mention them in the comments.
