Is this the most momentous
film in Disney history? Hard to argue. After all, where would Disney be today
had Roy not decided to build Walt Disney World? Certainly no one else of the
Disney regime, even Eisner and Wells, would have built it to the specifications
they inherited in 1984. Certainly there would be no EPCOT Center. And certainly
the Magic Kingdom would be at the intersection of 192, as the operators wanted,
instead of in the northwest corner of the property, as Walt wanted. Would
Disney be as successful, or as large, as it is today without Cinderella Castle
and Space Mountain?
“But wait,” you say, “certainly
the Disneyland announcement was just as crucial to the success of the Disney
Company?” I agree completely, but the EPCOT film gave a special element to Disney’s future that the
Disneyland announcement did not have: the unbuilt dream of EPCOT. It would have
been like Disneyland only opening Adventureland and Frontierland, and never
building out the rest. The tantalizing unfinished EPCOT project fired a million
imaginations, and forever included a dark cloud over any future Disney
development. “Sure it’s good, but it’s not EPCOT.”
Even to this day, ill-informed tour guides and fan sites regurgitate the
corporatized, sugar-coated version of the inception of the Epcot theme park:
that Walt had intended to make EPCOT a city, but that this city “turned into” a
World’s Fair-like theme park. As hardcore Disney fans know, that is complete
bull. The secret, of course, is in the name. The Imagineers called the theme
park “EPCOT Center,” not “EPCOT.” It was not supposed to be a city. The theme
park was supposed to be the center of the
city. The city, of course, being the entirety of Walt Disney World. Even in
1982, Imagineers were still hoping against hope that at some point, Disney
corporate might actually decide to build out the city. They even started to do
just that. After all, the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village was designed to be
a shopping village for the city. The
Disney Villas across the lake were designed to be model homes for the city. But alas, it never came to
pass.
Though certainly Walt made
the EPCOT film to announce to the world his plans for the Florida Project and
what wonderful things were in store for the next great Disney kingdom, the film
also had two other goals: 1. Provide a “thesis” video for Walt to present to
Florida legislators to convince them to allow Walt to have unprecedented
regulatory power over his new land, and 2. Recruit possible corporate partners
to invest and participate in the EPCOT project. The film worked so well that
Disney received these grants even after his death. The Florida legislators did
indeed grant Disney unprecedented regulatory powers via the Reedy Creek
Improvement District. And years later, American and International corporate
sponsors lined up around the block to be included in EPCOT Center. And it was
all because of Walt’s presentation.
Walt was in full
presentation mode in this pitch. Having practiced his delivery so many times on
the Disneyland TV show (and after his
very awkward first
attempt to sell the opening of Disneyland), Walt had every Disney nuance
and storytelling skill on display to announce his latest and greatest dream. He
included a historical build-up (as he loved to do in most of his Disneyland educational shows like “Magic
Highway USA,” and “Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom) featuring the exciting
happenings at Disneyland, then goes into a full speech about the Florida
Project, and then includes a full animated demonstration from 13:10 to 24:18.
These educational animated presentations, of course, had been perfected by Disney
over the preceding 11+ years of the television show’s history (and even longer
including the educational films Disney made for the military during WWII).
These animations were simple and necessary to sell the concept to the public.
And boy, did he sell it. Throughout
his time on screen, he gushes about the Florida project. “There is enough land
here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine.” And keep in mind
folks, his entire speech was done without a script or a teleprompter. His
countless Disneyland TV appearances
had made him an excellent public speaker. And in this film, he speaks directly
from the heart.
--Jeff (@ParkScopeJeff)
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