EPCOT - Walts Vision
Discussion
I just watched this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLCHg9mUBag
Getting to that video was a bit of a journey that started with simply liking 50's and 60's modernism/futurism; furniture, architecture. By extension I ended up looking at places like Disney Land and its Tomorrowland, highway of the future, house of tomorrow, the monorail etc all of which carried with them that futurist outlook. Then I came across Walt Disney himself, explaining his vision for Walt Disney World Florida and in particular, what he had in store for EPCOT or Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.
I have been to WDW many times as a young kid and of course at that age its all excitement and rides. I have been back a couple of times when well into my 20's and saw it in a completely different light; nothing much had changed, it just seemed a bit old, tired and directionless. But now having found these old videos its time to see the place completely differently again!
As it stands today you can see what they were trying to achieve. Especially with items like the monorail, which is an integral part of all the locations, and the contemporary resort (which looks a bit like a grey, brutalist brick today, but must have looked like a space station back when it was built). If only they'd gone through with Walts original plan though, it could have absolutely mesmerizing.
It looks like the kind of Utopia you see in Sci-Fi films today.... only this was on the drawing board in the mid-60's! And no ones built it yet. It was supposed to exist as a permanent worlds fair, a permanent showcase of Americas greatest technologies, it would evolve and always been on the forefront of technology. A far cry from what exists today which shows you the future.... circa 1980.
What do we think? If WDW and EPCOT had been built just as Walt intended would it have worked? would other towns and cities have been inspired and followed some of the ideas? Or would it still become what it is today; A vision of the future that has already passed? A quaint look at how we used to think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLCHg9mUBag
Getting to that video was a bit of a journey that started with simply liking 50's and 60's modernism/futurism; furniture, architecture. By extension I ended up looking at places like Disney Land and its Tomorrowland, highway of the future, house of tomorrow, the monorail etc all of which carried with them that futurist outlook. Then I came across Walt Disney himself, explaining his vision for Walt Disney World Florida and in particular, what he had in store for EPCOT or Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.
I have been to WDW many times as a young kid and of course at that age its all excitement and rides. I have been back a couple of times when well into my 20's and saw it in a completely different light; nothing much had changed, it just seemed a bit old, tired and directionless. But now having found these old videos its time to see the place completely differently again!
As it stands today you can see what they were trying to achieve. Especially with items like the monorail, which is an integral part of all the locations, and the contemporary resort (which looks a bit like a grey, brutalist brick today, but must have looked like a space station back when it was built). If only they'd gone through with Walts original plan though, it could have absolutely mesmerizing.
It looks like the kind of Utopia you see in Sci-Fi films today.... only this was on the drawing board in the mid-60's! And no ones built it yet. It was supposed to exist as a permanent worlds fair, a permanent showcase of Americas greatest technologies, it would evolve and always been on the forefront of technology. A far cry from what exists today which shows you the future.... circa 1980.
What do we think? If WDW and EPCOT had been built just as Walt intended would it have worked? would other towns and cities have been inspired and followed some of the ideas? Or would it still become what it is today; A vision of the future that has already passed? A quaint look at how we used to think?
Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff