Mouse Extra

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.

When thinking of a list of great milestones in any history, some of them seem all too obvious.  When debating which ones to include, there are always a few that no one ever argues against.  Today’s milestone is just that obvious.  It is October 1, 1971, opening day for the Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World.

Years and years of architectural planning, cutting edge engineering, covert land buys, political deal making, and one of the most massive construction projects the country had ever seen, brought the Disney Company to this remarkable day.  What would one day be a complex including four theme parks, countless hotels, numerous golf courses, and travelled by a fleet buses carrying guests from one corner to another, began on that October day as basically one theme park and two hotels.  Though it may have been smaller then, it was huge to those who worked years to make it happen. 

Learning from the mistakes that filled Disneyland’s opening day, this opening went smooth as one could expect.  It was carefully planned and purposely scheduled to avoid the type of massive stampede and widespread problems that are so often described during its California sister’s dedication.  About 10,000 people paid the less than five dollar admission price to witness history and the birth of a new American institution.

Thirty-six years later the Magic Kingdom stills inspires those who travel there much the same way it did upon its introduction to the world.  From the extraordinary monorail that leads through the lobby of a massive hotel to the awe-inspiring first look at the overwhelming grandeur of Cinderella’s Castle, it still brings the same sense of wonder as it did then.  But the success that began in 1971 was only just the beginning, as we would come to find out.

After Walt’s death, his brother Roy decided to rename the park from Disney World to Walt Disney World in his brother honor.  He said he never wanted anyone who came here to forget that Walt Disney was a man and not just a corporate name.  I believe he accomplished that goal.

From all of us here at Mouse Extra, we wish you and your family the safest and happiest of holidays.

Did the big guy in the red suit bring you anything cool?  Any great Disney related gifts you just can’t wait to brag about??

Mouse Extra’s special holiday series, the 12 Milestones of Walt Disney World History, continues today with a look at the last time Walt appeared on film, and the impact that film had on Disney World. 

Walt Disney World operates with an unbelievable amount of freedom.  It is a freedom that is unprecedented among not only theme parks, but among any industry in the world.  They are essentially free to operate on their own without intervention from local elected officials or taxpayers.  Because of this freedom, Walt Disney World has become the giant it is today, and they owe this freedom to one of Walt Disney’s final efforts in his life; the famous Epcot Film of 1966.

As I am sure you can imagine, this type of independence does not come easily within the political realm in the United States, and some in Florida were not at all happy about the idea of leaving a California company completely in charge of a large swath of Florida’s land.  But Disney was convinced there was no other way, and the political wrangling ensued.    As a way to close the deal, and perhaps get the prevailing opinion on his side, Walt Disney shot a film promoting the “Florida Project” and laying out his plans for an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.   He was going to build the country’s greatest city, and the politicians agreed with him.  Thus began the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the legislative arm that allowed Disney World to operate with nearly complete freedom.

The film is a fascinating insight into the Epcot that never was.  It was also the last time Walt Disney appeared on film.  He died only a short time later.

So why is this film a milestone in Walt Disney World history?  Like I said before, it went a long way in helping pave the political road for the resort’s future.  And that reason should not to be diminished in the slightest.  Though much of this political freedom was manipulated by future Disney executives and few of the plans actually realized after Walt’s death, this freedom has fueled what seems to be a never ending expansion and has allowed Disney World a leverage among the local governments that is unheard of anywhere else.

But it also stands as a sort of reference point for what Walt Disney himself wanted out of Walt Disney World, specifically Epcot.  When Imagineers went to build the resort’s second theme park, they wanted to make a park that was somehow connected to their late-hero’s vision and ideas.  They couldn’t build the city, but they could build their own creative monument to the best of what Walt’s Epcot plans had to offer.  Whether Walt himself would be happy with what has become of Epcot not is infinitely debatable, but without this film one must wonder if an Epcot in any form would have ever happened at all.

Today we begin Mouse Extra’s special holiday series “The 12 Milestones in Disney World History”.  During this holiday season, we will look back at the 12 moments that changed or defined the Walt Disney World we know and love today.  We begin with an event that helped prove the success that was to come.

It is the classic Walt Disney story, the one that defines the man’s imagination.  There were just too many great ideas and too little space to make them all happen.  The success of Disneyland made Walt and his creative geniuses at WED Enterprises yearn for more space to stretch their legs.  He envisioned so much more for Disneyland, but he was rapidly running out of room.   And what was worse was the world outside was all too quickly invading upon his fantasy kingdom. 

The best answer was to find oodles of land somewhere on the east coast and bring the Disney brand of entertainment to a new audience.  But how would it play to people who they felt may have a different version of what made something entertaining?  That was the question they needed to answer and it was answered emphatically at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City.

An enormous event that included exhibits from all over the world, it was the largest World’s Fair ever held in the United States.  But despite the dizzying amount of things to see and do, the attention turned squarely to Walt Disney.  His team created four exhibits; The Magic Skyway, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, It’s a Small World, and the Carousel of Progress.  Here is where he brought audio-animatronics to the world and planted himself as the countries imagination expert. 

But Walt and his team also realized the answer to his question about whether or not Disney’s ideas would work on the east coast was answered with a loud “yes”.  They ate it up.  My family is from the area and those who attended still talk about how amazing and exciting it was over forty years later and how willing they were to wait on exorbitantly long lines to see Disney’s creations.  It was time to make the idea of Disney World a reality, and less then a decade later that is exactly what happened.

In Tomorrowland we see another example of the Fair’s influence on Walt Disney World.  The Carousel of Progress sits as a museum to this golden age of Disney creativity.  If you haven’t been inside for a while, go and see it again.  If you have never been on the Carousel, give it a try.  And when you do, remember that the success of this attraction, though perhaps campy and dated in our eyes now, was a large reason for why you are sitting in the Magic Kingdom in the first place.

Sure, many other factors went into deciding on green lighting the Florida project, but few can debate the effect the 1964 World’s Fair had on that decision.  Had it been a total failure, and his attractions mocked in the New York press as silly or childish, would Disney World have happened when and how it did?  Probably not, so that is why this stands as one of the great milestones in Walt Disney World history.

As you can probably tell, as we get closer and closer to Christmas things here at Mouse Extra have started to slow down a bit, for obvious reasons.  I’m sure the rest of you are going through the crunch as well and know exactly what I am talking about.  But don’t worry; we have some great stuff planned for the holiday season.

Starting this Sunday, and going everyday for the following 12 days, we will be bringing you our 12 Milestones in Walt Disney World history.  We will take a look back at what we feel were the 12 biggest and most important moments in the history of our favorite vacation kingdom.  We will look back at grand opening, amazing ideas, and more.  It should be a fun way to reminisce about some of our favorite Disney World memories. 

Also, I plan on finally getting an RSS feed up for readers to subscribe.  This page has been up and running for over a year now, and I still haven’t done this.  I’ve been asked a few times recently so I hope to have this done over the holiday week.

Of course, I will keep you up to date on any breaking stories or rumors that may come out during the holidays and have my review of the Christmas Parade television broadcast.  So check back soon.  Try and relax and enjoy the holidays.  I know the weekend before Christmas is normally anything but relaxing…