If Walt had lived 10 more years . . .

Originally Posted By Eric Paddon

If Walt had lived through the first years of developed property in Florida, I think we would have definitely seen some of the unbuilt concepts for WDW that never got done, in particular the "Western River Expedition." If Walt had lived long enough to buy the original idea that Florida shouldn't have POTC and that WRE would in effect be a grander version of a POTC ride for Florida, I can more easily envision Walt holding his ground and telling disgruntled guests to wait a couple years for WRE and they'll forget all about their complaints about POTC not being there.

EPCOT as Walt would have envisioned it would have gotten further into the development stage, but consider though that Walt would have been confronting the cynical world of the 1970s where utopian ideas of urban renewal done by a big corporation would have attracted considerably less enthusiasm than a late 1960s audience that was still looking forward to the moment when men would walk on the moon. I think Walt would have had to make some adjustments on that point out of practical reality.

 

Originally Posted By sgennawey

DlandDug states that the biggest obstacle to the success of Walt’s EPCOT vision may have been the lack of control once you have residents and democracy has taken over. However, as usual, Walt did know the future because there are over 10,000 residential developments that are controlled by CC&R’s (covenants, conditions, and restrictions) that are far more onerous than any local government could conceive. And people are happy to sign away their rights to live in a pre-programmed place. Look at Celebration. Want to paint you house a different color? Not going to happen. Been to Irvine California? Try and do something different. It is my belief that the success of the Mall of America along with the trend toward “Smart Growth†or more compact urban development were all predicted by Walt and EPCOT would have been a success. Eliminating democracy in the US happens all the time nowadays and this would have been an issue that could have been overcome. Just a thought.

Sam

 

Originally Posted By ssWEDguy

>> EPCOT would have been a success. Eliminating democracy in the US happens all the time nowadays and this would have been an issue that could have been overcome <<

You know, I agree with this guess.

Walt's influence at the time of his death was about as pervasive and dominant as any private citizen's could be. He had the ear of industry leaders, and would have been able to get many to come in with him in his grand experiment. A lot of the frustrations in modern industry is the lack of large, city-sized places and the associated funding support to test out new concepts. What better place to try out a completely new transportation or perhaps an informational mechanism than in Walt's city? With Walt behind the push to make it work, of course.

In the long run would compromises have been made from the original visions? Of course.

But I'm betting we would at least have a lot of non-vehicular traffic systems on property that we don't have now. They wouldn't be buses.

 

Originally Posted By pixiedust1

I thought this very fitting for this thread... part of the whole article is here.. and the complete link below that... some very interesting facts in this...


From the start, the project in central Florida dwarfed its predecessor in scale. To avoid a burst of land speculation, Disney used various dummy corporations and cooperative individuals to acquire 27,400 acres of land. (The company used the same trick when it bought the land for its recently scuttled project in Virginia.) Once the property was secure, he initiated a vast lobbying campaign, which continued after his death in December 1966, to win exemption from state, county, and local regulatory authority. For the same reason he wanted an embankment around the Anaheim park, he now sought a multi-layered buffer zone, with borders both physical and political.

To reach the attractions, guests would travel through thousands of acres of swamp and brush designed with wildlife preserves, rivers and lakes, hills and valleys. The Magic Kingdom itself would be surrounded by an enormous moat, to be crossed by ferry or a futuristic monorail. Plans were drawn for a Disney airport, a 1,000 acre industrial park, and a community with 20,000 residents. Disney World would be its own autonomous civic unit, providing its own energy, water, police, and fire protection. It would set its own building codes and its own zoning authority; it would tax and issue tax-free bonds.

When the Florida legislature convened in early 1967, Walt Disney himself, by then deceased, appeared on film to testify. Here he explained plans for a residential development, the original EPCOT, that would justify such vast delegation of authority. "It will be a planned, controlled community," he said, "a showcase for American industry and research, schools, cultural and educational opportunities." In the last year of his life, in great pain from cancer, Walt had secluded himself to map out what Steven Fjellman, author of Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America, calls "the culmination of a life that led from illustrator to animator to movie-maker to global fame as the voice of childhood." The natural next role, Fjellman suggests, was that of social planner and utopian philosopher. "In EPCOT," Walt promised, "there will be no slum areas because we won't let them develop."

It didn't take long for Disney and his lawyers to realize the fatal flaw of this original vision - that permanent residents of Disney World would threaten the company's control. But while they tabled the plan, publicly they continued to tout EPCOT as the most compelling political and practical argument for permanent, unrestricted authority. Disney promised vast benefits for the residents in the form of quality homes, good schools, and generous public services. Besides, they argued, the constant improvement and experimentation required by such a futuristic community would be crippled by regulatory oversight.

The strategy paid off. The charter legislation for the Reedy Creek Improvement District - bolstered by the promise of EPCOT, but not requiring it - passed the Florida Senate unanimously and the House with one dissenting vote. In 1968 the state Supreme Court confirmed that Reedy Creek could issue tax-free bonds for internal improvements. This power, the court said, would "greatly aid Disney interests" but would carry commensurate benefits to the "numerous inhabitants of the district."

The inhabitants never came; nary another word was said about building permanent residences on Disney property. EPCOT, planned as an urban utopia, was built in the early 1980s as part world's fair and part corporate showcase, a potent symbol that for Disney, utopian ideals and complete corporate control are intricately intertwined. Today, Disney officials deny having practiced deception with EPCOT, arguing that the residential community was always only one of a number of options.

Not much is made of this episode anymore. And though town-mouse relations have not always been smooth - in 1989, Reedy Creek gobbled up $57 million in tax-free bonds that nearby Orange County had wanted for low-income housing - the company now kicks in for local road improvements and other related expenses, satisfying any lingering skepticism. An editorial in Orlando's major daily paper in 1965, titled "Walt Disney to Wave His Magic Wand Over Us," still resonates today: Disney's illusions draw winks and chuckles; the company pays just enough attention to the way its governmental control looks in order to preserve the way it is.

Citizen Mickey

<a href="http://www.rotten.com/library/travel/walt-disney-world/" target="_blank">http://www.rotten.com/library/
travel/walt-disney-world/</a>