The Story of Walt's EPCOT
Disney historian and urban planner Sam Gennawey traces the evolution of the EPCOT we didn't get and the Epcot we did, in a tour-de-force analysis of Walt's vision for city-building and how his City of Tomorrow might have turned out had he lived.
Beginning with Walt's earliest conceptions for "Progress City", a centrally planned, centrally run community where people could work, live, and play, Gennawey weaves urban planning concepts into a meticulously researched historical narrative that culminates in Walt's death and his brother Roy's decision to focus on building a new theme park in Florida, not an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.
In Walt Disney and the Promise of Progress City, you'll read about:
- Walt's early attempts at "physical entertainment" with steam trains and Disneylandia
- The building blocks of theme park design, and how they were put to use in the creation of Disneyland
- Why the Mineral King and Independence Lake projects failed
- The real story of the Florida Project, and why Walt didn't want to build another Disneyland in Florida
- n in-depth look at what Walt hoped to accomplish with EPCOT, and whether he could have done it
- How EPCOT might have been built, with Walt calling the shots: an eye-opening what-if analysis
Disney Legend Marty Sklar says that Gennawey "captured much of the attitude and events of the times, and hit on much of Walt's drive and inspiration", and Lee Cockerell, a former Walt Disney World executive vice-president, says, "I thought I knew a lot about Epcot until I read Walt Disney and the Promise of Progress City". Find out what Walt really had in mind for tomorrow!
