The 12 Milestones in Disney World History part 4; the Epcot epiphany
It is said that when Walt Disney was dying, some of his last thoughts were of his plans for Epcot, his experimental city. Walt was one of America’s great dreamers, and this dream was a big one. He wanted to build an ideal city that brought together all of the best ideas from around the world. It was to be a utopia that all could share in.
But after his death, Disney executives concluded that such a Utopia would not be practical. But they were not ready to abandon their founders dreams entirely and thus set out on a mission to design a park that would include the best of Walt’s Epcot dreams. It was within this process that one of Disney World’s greatest and least known milestones occurred.
What we see now as Future World and the World Showcase were at first two very different and separate ideas for theme parks. Both were inspired by Walt’s ideas, but both were being developed individually. The Imagineers struggled to find something they liked, and then the moment occurred. As Imagineer Marty Sklar tells it, he and fellow Imagineer John Hench each got on one end of these two models and then simply pushed them together. In one stroke of inspiration, the idea for Epcot was born. From that moment on, the mission was clear. Epcot was to be a combination of the new ideas of the future with a sampling of the best the world has to offer.
In 1982, Epcot Center opened and it looked very similar to what it looked like when Hench and Sklar moved those models. Here Walt Disney’s dreams of showcasing cutting edge technology and bringing countries from around the world together were both accomplished. It may not have been the Utopia he invisioned, but for Disney theme park lovers it was pretty close.
Hench and Sklar are both Disney Legends, and giants in the history of developing the theme parks. This was certainly not the only major moment of lasting inspiration that either of them had in their long and storied careers. But when one considers the impact this moment had in the history of Walt Disney World, it is hard to argue the place it has amongst the great milestones.
Bill said,
December 30, 2007 @ 6:02 am
I always thought of Epcot as a place where the world’s progress was measured. Innovations in communications, energy, transportation, land mangagement, water management, health and welfare, and culture were shown in Future World. The many different ways those idea were put into place were shown in the countries of World Showcase, which, for better or worse, showcases mostly industrialized European-based countries who have been historically ahead in those areas, culminating in the United States, which, forgiving any foreign misgivings, has been the most successful (and in 1982 probably was) at combinining all facets of Future World in forming a society.