Epcot

MAD...know you don't like Epcot, and I'm not so sure that Walt wouldn't be right there with you. We'll never know, I guess.

Walt had pushed the envelope of modern culture several times in his career and after the success of Disneyland, Walt had a crazy idea. What if he could create a model city where everything was intertwined perfectly...residential, retail, commercial? It would look like a hub with monorails running back and forth to the city center. It would be clean. It would stretch the mindset of how city planners thought cities should look. It would be the highlight at the new property in Florida. Walt had visions of Epcot while laying in the hospital close to death.

After his death, there was a pause in the Florida project, but Roy soon picked it up and pledged to finish WDW (which he did). Epcot, however was a problem. The Disney Imagineers just couldn't see Walt's vision and couldn't justify it economically. See, Walt didn't worry about economics much. He could make things work by sheer force of will. Now, who knows if Walt would have had to back off his plans. It would have been a first. We'll never know, but what Epcot DID become is still a point of controversy. It does have the World Showcase, which was discussed as part of another project, and does incorporate the "World's Fair" look that Walt loved so much. And, it involves rides and showcases of technology, but that feels a bit too much like big advertisements if you ask me. They've tried to revive it with a couple of high thrill rides, but it does have to grow on you. As a kid, I hated the World Showcase, but now find it one of the best things about Disneyworld. Dining there is pretty cool.

Epcot, the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow...a name that doesn't fit what the park actually is.