Progress City, U.S.A.

Herb Ryman at work on EPCOT Center’s Mexico pavilion

Herb Ryman’s work on EPCOT City for Walt Disney ended well before Walt Disney World’s debut in 1971. Ryman departed WED Enterprises that year, and set off on another round of world travels. He returned to the halls of Imagineering in 1976, though, in order to assist in the massive task of making EPCOT Center come to life.

Ryman’s paintings were an essential tool in selling the park’s concept to potential corporate sponsors, as well as in helping Walt Disney Productions figure out exactly what this unprecedented new project was going to be. He worked on ideas for EPCOT’s entrance, on the layout and atmosphere of World Showcase, and on individual pavilions for both Future World and World Showcase. His globetrotting experiences helped in this regard; his fascination with both Africa and the Orient led to his involvement with the China and Equatorial Africa pavilions.

Ryman’s depiction of Spaceship Earth and EPCOT’s entrance plaza from 1978. Note the original, modern design for the American Adventure to the left.

Ryman’s well-known rendering of Horizons

A rendering of EPCOT’s Transportation pavilion from 1979; before it became “World of Motion” the building had a more complicated design as shown here.

An earlier rendering for a “Science & Invention” pavilion; this was a catch-all concept intended to snare corporate sponsors and some of its themes later emerged in Communicore and Horizons

A Ryman sketch for an unknown EPCOT attraction; most likely this is an idea for an exhibit at Communicore

This intriguing rendering shows a concept for an unknown attraction for EPCOT

Famous rendering of Spaceship Earth by Ryman; incidentally, this has served as my desktop background for many years

The artist at work on a concept for World Showcase, 1976

The same rendering from 1976 shows EPCOT in transition; World Showcase pavilions would be located in a semi-circular show building and would be the entrance to the park. The spires depicted were the visual “wienie” that beckoned guests into Future World.

A sketch of World Showcase from circa 1977

This intriguing and rare sketch by Ryman, which I estimate to be from early 1977, shows a little-seen configuration for the park. World Showcase retains its original design concept that dated back to at least 1973 but which would be replaced some time in 1977 by a layout similar to the one we know today. Spaceship Earth has sprouted in Future World, replacing the spires. I’ve never seen any “official” Disney renderings featuring this particular configuration.

Other things of note include the WEDway train passing overhead – it was meant to encircle the lagoon. The “cruise ship” sketched on the lagoon resembles a similar craft that would appear in Harper Goff’s renderings of World Showcase a year later.

This rare sketch shows several concepts for the China pavilion

Ryman’s time spent in China and other Asian nations during the 1930s helped inspire his design work on the China pavilion. Herb would return to the Orient a few years after EPCOT’s debut; he made a special trip to see Tokyo Disneyland, for which he also did design work.

A wonderfully atmospheric concept piece for EPCOT’s unbuilt Israel pavilion, 1982

Concept for unbuilt Equatorial Africa pavilion

Ryman was also enthusiastic about the Equatorial Africa pavilion slated for inclusion in World Showcase. Asking to join Ken Anderson on the design team for the attraction, Ryman painted a number of inspirational paintings for the project. Along the way he befriended Roots author Alex Haley – a consultant on the pavilion. They would remain friends for the rest of Ryman’s life.

The Waterhole – This piece depicts one of the two attractions intended for the Equatorial Africa pavilion, where guests would observe a jungle watering hole as night fell

Herb’s work on the Equatorial Africa pavilion, much like his work on The Good Earth almost fifty years prior, inspired his desire to check out “the real thing” and so, in his early seventies, he set out on safari. This was an artistic safari, however, and Ryman would have a series of high adventures in Africa.

Concept for The American Adventure

Ryman worked for several years on The American Adventure; various designers were asked to do treatments for different aspects of the attraction, and Herb was assigned the task of depicting “the multitudes”. So it was that many of his paintings showed the masses of people that have streamed into America over the years, and evoked the sense of “the melting pot.”

Rendering of The American Adventure; not depicted is the American Gardens Theater, but there is a very nifty sailing ship from the 16th or 17th century

In this rendering of the “mighty Mississippi”, the floating raft isn’t occupied by Frederick Douglass, but rather Huckleberry Finn and Jim

Ben Franklin by Ryman, 1976

Mark Twain, 1976

Humorist Will Rogers was originally intended as a third host of The American Adventure, as seen in this painting from 1976

Ryman seemed to be proud of his work on EPCOT; he speaks fondly of it in A Brush With Disney. But I found this quote fascinating and, looking at the park today, somewhat sad:

These pavilions are all confined as little pieces of pie along the lagoon. I think it’s very interesting to envision that we’ve got room for many other nations to squeeze in between these pieces of the pie. If the imagination is still working, there can be lots of nations along there.

If only, Herb… if only!

Someone posted this chestnut from 1990 on a message board today, and I thought it was good for a chuckle or two. Or, you know, tears. Lots of tears.

Counting generously, I have them at zero-for-seven on those announcements. That’s a hitting percentage of… .000. Nice. Although I guess you could be super generous, and say that Harry actually meant that the park would be getting an entirely different The Little Mermaid ride, but just in 2011 and in the parking lot.

I have no explanation for the music cue from Back to the Future.

Artist’s rendering of Thunder Mesa, circa 1969

No, this isn’t a big article about Western River Expedition. I’m not yet ready to make that rite of passage that every Disney blog eventually must face. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do since day one, but I just haven’t had that breakthrough of research yet to make it any more than a rewrite of articles posted elsewhere.

Instead, I was going through some documents and cleaning up some artwork and just came across this rendering – an image very familiar to most retro Disney fans. Thunder Mesa and the Western River Expedition has become, over the years, something both legendary and symbolic for fans. It’s the one that got away – the magnum opus of several legendary imagineers that would pick up where Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion left off. And, as of about 1973, there was little to no chance that we’d ever see it become a reality.

But looking at this image filling my monitor, I forgot about the attraction as a bit of history or a mystery to be researched, and just thought of what it would really be like if it were real. Go ahead – click and open up the large image, let it fill your screen, and think… that could be real. Like, really real. Let it fill your field of view. It’s a vista just as if you were standing on the Rivers of America. It could be real, regardless of what later naysayers and revisionists (coughMartySklarcough) would tell you. Sure, it’s huge – but so is Mount Prometheus in Tokyo.

So forget all the baggage, and just look at that picture. Wouldn’t that be cool?

By 1975, Walt Disney Productions had given up any pretense that it was ever going to build Walt’s city of the future in Florida. The stirring images of Progress City had disappeared from their promotional materials, and by July of that year a Disney spokesman publicly stated that “the concept that was originally envisioned is no longer relevant.”¹ Yet Disney executives still planned to go forward with an EPCOT project; after all, most of the concessions that Walt Disney World had obtained from the Florida government were predicated on the assumption that they were necessary for the EPCOT dream to become reality. Outside of the legislature, the public was clamoring for information on EPCOT. The vision of Walt’s futuristic city had been well-publicized in the run-up to Walt Disney World’s opening, and the people of Florida would not forget it easily. With this constant pressure from the outside, it was clear that despite Disney CEO Card Walker’s back-pedaling, EPCOT was not going to go away.

As the original EPCOT concept of an actual working city faded away, Disney slowly began to promote the narrative that the Walt Disney World property itself, with its innovative use of technology and new systems, was EPCOT made real. EPCOT was never meant to be an actual city, the story would go as the decades passed, but instead it was the set of values upon which the Florida property was modeled. In 1975, the memory of Walt’s EPCOT film with its soaring skyscrapers and swooping peoplemovers was still too fresh in the public consciousness for this story to have worked, and the company was fairly candid in its admissions that they were changing EPCOT into a form with which they were more comfortable – that of themed entertainment. Disney still planned on incorporating many of EPCOT’s ideas into its Florida property, but instead of permanent residents it would house and service a transient population of tourists and corporate personnel. The elements in and around Walt Disney World derived from the EPCOT philosophy would then be made accessible to the public through a series of themed attractions that would inform guests about the various EPCOT initiatives and allow them to experience the innovations firsthand.

How, exactly, Disney intended to do this remained vague until halfway through 1975. Prior to that point, Walker and others gave several clues as to what the Imagineers were working on, but it’s clear from reading contemporary reports in the press that the media and public tended to interpret Disney management’s vague clues to EPCOT’s future in the context of their expectations for an actual futuristic city. This is despite the fact that in 1974 Disney had revealed that EPCOT would now take the form of a series of “satellites”; these would be demonstration sites within and without Walt Disney World that would display or promote new technologies or ideas. The first of these satellites, Disney announced in 1974, would be The World Showcase. This separately-gated attraction was to be “the first major step in the evolution of EPCOT.”²

The turning point for EPCOT, though, was meant to occur in 1975. Disney had announced in its 1974 Annual Report that the new year would “mark the first period of concentrated planning and design for the “centers of activity” within EPCOT itself. Said Disney:

Wide ranging discussions will be held with representatives of world governments, leading businessmen, engineers, scientists and artists, for only through their cooperation will the Company be able to bring this immense concept to life

Card Walker reiterated this intent in February of 1975, telling the Christian Science Monitor that “this is not double-talk … It’s serious. We are really getting it off the ground.”³ EPCOT, said Walker, would address “what is the best method of solar energy … new types of crop rotation … the whole field of solid waste disposal.”

But why 1975? According to Walker, the year would officially mark the end of Phase I of Walt Disney World’s development. The metric for this was the theoretical rides-per-hour capacity of the Magic Kingdom; with the addition of several new attractions the park had reached a theoretical capacity of 70,000 which matched that of Disneyland.⁴ It seems that the pre-determined endpoint of Phase I might have been a bit of a moving target; prior to Walt Disney World’s 1971 opening the company gave themselves five years to achieve an annual attendance of 10 million guests, at which point they would feel comfortable with proceeding with EPCOT. When the resort surpassed that attendance benchmark in its first year, a timetable recalibration was in order. According to Walker, the result was that the start of their EPCOT studies were announced two years ahead of schedule.⁵ By early 1975, Disney was working with General Electric, RCA, the National Science Foundation and the Jet Propulsion Labs to develop concepts for EPCOT. Said Walker, “We think we can do it, and if we can, it’ll be one of the most exciting things the company has ever done. It’s bigger than us, but because we’re us we might be able to get it done. We’re communicators; why not be able to communicate technology as well as entertainment?”

Disney made their intentions more clear on July 14th, 1975, when Walker and Disney Board Chairman Donn Tatum unveiled the company’s plans for EPCOT for the media and around 70 guests and visiting dignitaries⁶. It was a very different concept from what Walt had originally announced in the famous EPCOT film; as the headline in the Miami News put it, “Disney’s ‘City of Tomorrow’ will be built – without residents.” As Walker would later report, talking about their “dynamic and achievable” approach to EPCOT, “We believe that in order to attain Walt Disney’s goals for EPCOT, we must avoid building a huge, traditional “brick and mortar” community which might possibly become obsolete, in EPCOT terms, as soon as it is completed.”

“We believe,” Walker continued, “we must develop a community system oriented to the communication of new ideas, rather than to serving the day-to-day needs of a limited number of permanent residents.”

“EPCOT’s purpose, therefore, will be to respond to the needs of people by providing a Disney-designed and Disney-managed forum where creative men and women of science, industry, universities, government and the arts – from around the world – can develop, demonstrate and communicate prototype concepts and new technologies, which can help mankind to achieve better ways of living.

A map of the various EPCOT sites from early 1976 shows the plan as announced in July of 1975

The plan which Walker announced in 1975 divided EPCOT’s various activities into three categories. EPCOT, which Walker hoped to complete by 1980⁷, would consist of:

The EPCOT Institute, an independent organization which will provide the administrative structure necessary to facilitate participation in EPCOT and its “satellite” research activities by all interested parties. Its goal will be to guarantee that the maximum benefits from EPCOT-related research will flow to both the sponsors of EPCOT activities and the public, and to establish the technical credibility of projects undertaken through a series of expert advisory boards.

The company seems to have taken the scientific mission of EPCOT seriously; at the announcement of the project, Card Walker said that “EPCOT will be a ‘forum,’ where creative men and women of science, industry, government and the arts, from around the world, can present and demonstrate new concepts and systems … no one company, no one nation alone could accomplish the goal of EPCOT.”

Key to the development of EPCOT would be the participation of outside entities, and the EPCOT Institute would help facilitate this. To help publicize the new project and to coordinate the recruitment of outside participation, Disney announced that they had brought aboard two prominent new executives to act as the figureheads and public faces of the new EPCOT initiatives. L Gordon Cooper, scientist and celebrity astronaut due to his membership in the fabled Mercury 7, would lead the technological aspects of the project as Vice President of Research and Development for EPCOT. C. Langhorne Washburn, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Tourism, resigned his position in the Nixon administration to join Disney as the World Showcase Vice President. Washburn would coordinate the diplomatic efforts required to ensure international participation in the EPCOT project.

The EPCOT “Satellites” or activity centers, which will be engaged in researching, testing and demonstrating prototype products and systems in such fields as energy, agriculture, education, medicine and communications, in locations best suited for the particular program. These “Satellites” may be located at the Walt Disney World site (as in the case of a specific solar energy project or solid waste recycling system) or off-site, and will undertake projects funded by one sponsor or joint programs funded by industry, government, foundations and universities.

The EPCOT satellite sites were to be a loosely-defined variety of projects meant to publicly demonstrate innovations in EPCOT’s fields of study. These could include any of the innovations already used for the working infrastructure of Walt Disney World, or they could be off-site sponsored research projects. It these centers, “experimental systems in the fields of transportation, energy, education, health and medicine, agriculture, outer space, oceanography, communications and the arts [could] be designed, tested and demonstrated.”⁸ The satellites would be open to guests, allowing them to see cutting-edge research and development in progress.

At each satellite, dedicated men and women will work to develop new technology in their field, seeking solutions and exchanging ideas in broad areas affecting the quality of life for people throughout the world.

Disney News, Spring 1976

The first of the satellite sites to open, as was previously announced in 1974, would be the World Showcase and the International Village in which the Showcase’s cast members would reside. It appears that the Showcase had been moved from its previously-designated site; originally intended to sit adjacent to the Transportation and Ticket Center on the shore of the Seven Seas Lagoon, World Showcase was now to be built south of the Magic Kingdom’s toll plaza on a 100-acre plot closer to the eventual site of the actual EPCOT Center. The International Village, home to the young foreign cast members that would staff the new attraction, seems to have been slated for construction near the then-underway Lake Buena Vista development.

Construction on World Showcase was announced to begin in 1978 with an opening date of 1980⁹; later in 1975 Disney would announce that there had been so much interest in the project that they were moving up the timetable with construction to commence in 1976 and a targeted opening day of October 1st, 1979.

The EPCOT Future World Theme Center, a high-capacity visitor facility which will employ advanced communications techniques, including motion pictures, models, multi-media exhibits and ride-through experiences, to inform millions of people each year about what is being done in the creative centers of science and industry around the world. Most importantly, it will demonstrate how these new technologies and ideas can be applied in a practical way to improving the environment for living in existing communities throughout American and the world.

The Future World Theme Center was the real innovation of the 1975 plan; it was a single site in which all the ideas and fields of study being explored in the EPCOT satellites would be accessible to guests, and it would provide a nexus of sorts for the various EPCOT initiatives. Located roughly where EPCOT Center sits today, the Theme Center was the first emergence of the ideas that would evolve into the Future World section of the EPCOT park. It marked the first appearance of pavilions themed to difference fields of study, and these various pavilions would tie into the EPCOT satellite sites operating elsewhere.

The Theme Center was announced as the “heart” of EPCOT, and in many ways it was true; its three major pavilions based on science and technology, community, and communications and the arts would “feature displays, shows and information centers on … various fields and disciplines.” It would “keep abreast of scientific and industrial research around the world and make that information available to visitors.”¹⁰ According to the Spring 1976 Disney News, inside the Future World Theme Center “360-degree movie screens and various displays will offer guests an overview of current EPCOT projects. Guests can then visit the area, called satellites, of particular interest to them.”

The plan in 1975 was for there to be no fee for guests to visit the Future World Theme Center; Disney would charge for admission to the World Showcase and the other satellite sites. Resort guests would be able to reach the Theme Center and World Showcase via an expansion of the monorail system. Other future satellite sites would be tied into the resort transportation system as well.

As announced in July of 1975, the Future World Theme Center would begin construction in 1978. As to cost, officials stated that World Showcase by itself could “reach dimensions and expenditures similar to that of the current Magic Kingdom theme park.” Another spokesman said that the Florida property currently represented “an investment of $650 million now. We don’t have a figure on how much money is to be involved in the new attractions, but it’s possible that it could involve the same amount.” Over time, that would of course prove an understatement.

Perhaps the greatest impetus for the EPCOT project can be found in another statement by the unnamed Disney spokesman on the occasion of the project’s announcement: “It will give the public the incentive to spend at least a second day with us and possibly relieve us of some of the overcrowding that now occurs at peak times in the park.” It was explained that EPCOT would contain so many trade pavilions, scientific and technical exhibits and rides and theaters that visitors could spend an entire day.

EPCOT will be a forum where creative men and women of science, industry, government and the arts from around the world can present and demonstrate new concepts and systems. It will be dedicated to the advancement of new technologies and approaches to meeting the challenges we face throughout the world today

Disney CEO E. Cardon Walker

The EPCOT of 1975 is very different from the EPCOT Center that opened in 1982, but we can see the germination of many ideas that would develop into that later park. For the very first time, we had early versions of both Future World and World Showcase, and at some point over the next year those two concept would be combined into a single gate that would slowly become EPCOT Center. What’s interesting is how this version of EPCOT was a very functional environment for active research and development. Instead of just addressing themes relating to the future, the EPCOT satellite centers would feature working installations of cutting-edge systems and the latest developments of public and private institutions and corporations.

“The selection of Walt Disney World as the site for the Southern Governors’ Conference last September gave Card Walker and other Disney executives the opportunity to brief many state and national leaders on the Company’s plans for EPCOT and the World Showcase.”

The new momentum behind the EPCOT project can be seen in the increasingly aggressive marketing of the concept throughout 1975. In September of that year, Disney took advantage of the annual conference of the Southern Governors’ Association to help promote EPCOT. The conference, which not coincidentally was held at the Contemporary Resort on Disney property, brought a number of notable politicians to Orlando where they were a captive audience for Disney’s presentations.

Florida Governor Reuben Askew at the Southern Governors’ Association conference, Walt Disney World, 1975

Aiding Disney’s plans was Florida Governor Reuben Askew, who assisted the company in making their EPCOT presentation to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (right), Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT), and EPA Administrator Russell Train. The dignitaries were said to have “expressed their enthusiasm” for the concept. Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr., of Virginia said, after witnessing the presentation, “The depth of planning and the vision that went into the concept, I am certain, will assure its success.” Georgia Governor George D. Busbee said that “it is a concept that I feel certain will do a great deal for our own country and for the cause of world peace.” Secretary Kissinger assigned two of his top aides to view the presentation, and the State Department arranged meetings for the Disney marketing department in Amsterdam, Athens, Copenhagen, Brussels and Paris. Additional presentations were made at Walt Disney World in July and October of 1975, and Disney opened an office in Washington, D.C. where World Showcase VP C. Langhorne Washburn could more easily present the EPCOT concepts to diplomats and politicians. In December 1975, Disney executives made a presentation on EPCOT to members of Congress in the theater of the Rayburn House Office Building.

EPCOT was underway. As Walker would say in the 1975 annual report:

It is my firm conviction that the need for EPCOT and the World Showcase has never been greater, that the timing is right, and that, in Florida, we have the right location. I am hopeful that by the time we celebrate our Bicentennial on July 4, 1976, we will be confident of enough foreign participation in the World Showcase to make the decision to proceed. If we do, it will become the focal point of our second phase of development at Walt Disney World.

Coming Soon: A closer look at the various projects developed for EPCOT in 1975. Special thanks to Scott Otis for his assistance in the research for this article.

This post is part of the Disney Blog Carnival; head there for more posts from around the Disney world.

1. The Miami News – Jul 16, 1975 [↩]
2. Walt Disney Productions Annual Report, 1974 [↩]
3. Anchorage Daily News – Feb 5, 1975 [↩]
4. Walt Disney Productions Annual Report, 1975 [↩]
5. Los Angeles Times – Mar 9, 1975 [↩]
6. Rome News-Tribune – Jul 16, 1975 [↩]
7. The Miami News – Jul 16, 1975 [↩]
8. The Washington Post – Aug 17, 1975 [↩]
9. The Montreal Gazette – Jul 18, 1975 [↩]
10. The Pittsburgh Press – Jun 13, 1976 [↩]

EPCOT Center’s path from concept to execution was, in so many ways, far more tortured than most Disney fans know. Far from a merely difficult transition from Walt’s concept for a futuristic city to a permanent World’s Fair (or, as modern revisionists would have it, a straight shot from Walt’s mind to the park that opened in 1982), EPCOT’s development occupied the full span of the 1970s and in that time took a number of different forms. EPCOT, in one form or another, was announced on several different occasions – often with great fanfare. But as disjointed as this development process might seem, in retrospect it follows a clear evolution, with concepts changing and merging but core themes remaining throughout.

The ideals that would underpin EPCOT Center were formulated early in the 1970s and grew fairly organically from Walt’s ambitions for EPCOT city; each variation of the EPCOT concept derived its mission, in some fashion, from these ideals. The first of these points was that Walt Disney World itself was, in a way, EPCOT, and would provide a living laboratory for a number of innovative technologies and systems. A second goal for EPCOT centered on the international community, and on ways to bring various cultures together in one place; plans for a World Showcase were in fact the first elements of EPCOT announced for construction in the early 1970s.

The other key aspects of EPCOT, of course, would involve the creation of a futuristic “community” that would allow the public to encounter new technologies and to see how these ideas and innovations would shape their lives in the future. Key to this element of EPCOT would be the involvement of major American corporations, as the Disney organization under Card Walker believed that only American free enterprise held the answers for the problems facing our communities and when given free reign (as Disney itself had been in its self-governed Reedy Creek Improvement District) these corporations could and would address these problems head-on.

Looking Back At Tomorrow: The EPCOT Future World Theme Center, 1975

Concepts to embody the futuristic aspects of EPCOT’s goals took longer to develop, only truly emerging with some of Card Walker’s EPCOT Center announcements in 1975. As we’ve mentioned previously, this “EPCOT Future World Theme Center” would have been an entirely separate gate from the World Showcase and was the first publicly-announced version of what would evolve into EPCOT Center’s Future World.

Of course, at the time this was intended to be only one of the EPCOT “Theme Centers.” These “centers” of activity (also, on occasion, referred to as “Satellites”) are vaguely mentioned through the years as places where public and private researchers could interact and meet to address society’s ills, all under the watchful eyes of thousands of daily visitors. In fact, it’s occasionally mentioned that these Centers would stretch beyond the borders of Walt Disney World and to various research locations nationwide. It was with an eye towards this goal that Disney held a number of academic conferences under the EPCOT name during the 1970s, focusing on subjects ranging from future technology to health care. Eventually these “Theme Centers” would be abandoned, and they were replaced with a single concept – EPCOT Center.

That’s More Like It: EPCOT Center, as envisioned in 1979

Obviously, something happened between these early visions and the announcement in 1978 of a theme park that is recognizably EPCOT Center. There’s always been the famous story of Marty Sklar and John Hench, staring down the barrel of an impending visit from Disney executives, pushing the World Showcase and Future World models together to form a single park. But even that tale belies a more complicated truth. The first time the World Showcase and Future World ideas were combined into a single gated attraction appears to be sometime in 1976. But, at the time, the park’s layout was far different, and reversed – guests would enter the park through World Showcase, which would serve as a sort of international Main Street before guiding visitors into the technological realm of Future World. Looking at the plans from the period, it’s clear Disney was still trying to work out a single clear vision for the park. Finally, in 1977, things would start to click into place.

Getting Better All The Time: EPCOT Center starts to take shape in this 1977 model

With great fanfare, the 1977 Walt Disney Productions Annual Report rather breathlessly heralds the “conceptual breaktrough” of Master Plan 5 – their newest vision of what EPCOT Center would be. To quote CEO Card Walker’s letter to shareholders:

There has never been a greater need for the communication of information about the diverse peoples of our planet, the new systems and technologies evolving to meet the needs of those people, and the alternative decisions we face. Our future depends upon it. For the better we understand today, the choices for tomorrow, the better decisions we will make.

This is what EPCOT Center and its two major themes, Future World and the World Showcase, will be devoted to: the advancement of international understanding and the solution of the problems of people everywhere – through the communication of ideas.

Our dedication to this concept will not be limited to the EPCOT Center site in Florida. It will extend as far as the Disney ability to communicate can reach, including films, television, educational materials and even the licensing of concepts and products. For this reason, we believe, EPCOT Center can open an exciting new dimension for Walt Disney Productions.

At this writing, for example, a series of five television specials exploring each of EPCOT Center’s wide-ranging themes is under development. Our preliminary plans are to inaugurate this series with a gala “Disney Week” on television, recreating the career and dreams of Walt Disney, culminating in a major special on “Walt Disney’s Greatest Dream: EPCOT.”

However, as we have consistently pointed out, EPCOT Center cannot and should not move forward on the financial or creative strength of any one organization. It requires the best thinking and financial support of American industry and the commercial and government interest of other nations as well.

Therefore, while our creative people have been developing the conceptual breakthrough for EPCOT Center, we have continued to seek support for the first phase of World Showcase from foreign industry and governments around the world. Our efforts have included Canada, Costa Rica, England, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, West Germany, and other countries. Several of these have already indicated their intention to participate as sponsors of pavilions and exhibits in the World Showcase. Others are in varying stages of negotiations which we feel will lead to their participation.

Over the past few months, we have begun to emphasize our concept for EPCOT Center’s Future World. We have discussed the first phase development with such major American corporations as American Telephone & Telegraph, ARCO, Borden, Coca-Cola, Exxon, General Electric, General Motors, IBM, RCA, Sperry Rand, Standard Oil of Indiana, Westinghouse, and others. The initials response from these corporations has been most enthusiastic. And we have entered into negotiations with a number of them which we feel will result in their participation as sponsors of pavilions and exhibits in Future World. We believe EPCOT Center has stimulated many of America’s leading corporations because the EPCOT dynamic is really the America dynamic. It is founded on the principles of American enterprise – and a belief that an informed public can, and will, make better decisions for tomorrow if they understand and believe accurate and relevant information today.

So, you know, no pressure.

Imagineers Marty Sklar and John Hench with a dimensional model of the 1977 park layout seen above. Note the later, 1978 rendering of the park on the wall behind them.

What’s interesting about Walker’s statement, aside from the list of nations and sponsors who would never join the EPCOT ranks, is how he adheres so strictly to those core EPCOT ideals. As the Disney report would later state:

As conceived here, EPCOT will be a “Showcase for prototype concepts,” demonstrating practical applications of new ideas and systems from creative centers everywhere. It will provide an “on-going forum of the future,” where the best thinking of industry, government and academia is exchanged to communicate practical solutions to the needs of the world community. It will be a “communicator to the world,” utilizing the growing spectrum of information transfer to bring new knowledge to the public. Finally, EPCOT will be a permanent “international people-to-people exchange,” advancing the cause of world understanding.

In addition, we are convinced that EPCOT will provide a much needed symbol of hope and optimism that our major challenges can, and will be met. It will provide outstanding family entertainment from which people may draw enlightenment, as well as enjoyment. And it will, of course, represent a major new extension of our business activities around the world.

It also seems clear that Future World has entered development much more recently than World Showcase; surprisingly, though, the vision described for that area hews very closely on a pavilion-by-pavilion basis to the park that opened in 1982. World Showcase, as you can see from the models above, actually took the form of a double promenade, providing far more open space for potential national pavilions than the final layout. The American Adventure, labeled on the model as “U.S.A.”, sits not at the far end of the World Showcase lagoon, but instead straddles the path from Future World to World Showcase. It would remain in this spot until 1979. But even Disney, proud as they are to promote the success of Master Plan 5, acknowledge that things remain in flux:

As we proceed with our planning for the EPCOT project, the specifics of this plan will, undoubtedly, change time and time again. This is a natural result of the Disney creative process which continually probes for the best alternative. Disneyland, for example, was constructed from Master Plan 67. the Walt Disney World complex, which more than 71 million people have visited, grew out of our 17th Master Plan.

However, the basic concepts contained here will remain substantially the same. For the two major themed areas, “Future World” and the “World Showcase,” together with the “American Adventure,” which acts as a gateway between the world of today and tomorrow, provide what we believe are the best opportunities for meeting the four major objectives we have established to bring Walt Disney’s last and greatest dream to reality.

It seemed, at last, that the Imagineers had found a concept that they liked. So let’s take a look around EPCOT Center in 1977; a familiar yet strangely different park, which is still strongly defined by the divide between its two sections: Future World and World Showcase.

Future World

“A COMMUNITY OF IDEAS: EPCOT Center will present the challenges and alternatives for tomorrow”

Future World, as you can see, was starting to take a recognizable shape even at this time. Spaceship Earth is in its proper place, as was Communicore. Going clockwise from the bottom left, where today we’d find the Universe of Energy, we have “Life & Health,” “The Land,” “Transportation,” “U.S.A.” (The American Adventure), “Space,” “The Sea,” and “Energy”. If you removed American Adventure, that’s the same number of pavilions that EPCOT Center would feature in its actual phase one, although only Spaceship Earth, Communicore, and “Transportation” – later World of Motion – would remain in their current spots throughout development. The fact that General Motors signed on as EPCOT’s first sponsor in 1978 meant that the Transportation pavilion got a big head start, and if you look at EPCOT construction photos from 1979-1982 you’ll note that the World of Motion is always much farther along in construction than other pavilions. But what’s in this Future World?

A rather golden-hued Communicore and Spaceship Earth, “a major introductory show.”

The Future World, an American enterprise forum, poses the challenges and previews alternatives for the “Community of the Future.” The principal components of Future World include: A major introductory theme show, Spaceship Earth; the Communicore, a global marketplace of new ideas bringing the public into direct interface with industry; and a series of major pavilions exploring Energy, Life & Health, The Sea, The Land, Transportation, and Space.

The park’s central icon, then as now, was Spaceship Earth. The grand mirrored orb had yet to sprout legs, though, and was not a geosphere – merely a geodome. Judging by artwork and models, a great deal of the attraction would take place in a show building behind the geosphere, not in the dome itself.

“EPCOT INTRODUCTION: Standing at the entrance to EPCOT Center, Spaceship Earth will introduce guests to the concept and meaning of the project.”

Spaceship Earth

Spaceship Earth is the major theme show and introduction to the concept and meaning of EPCOT, focusing on the relationship between communications and humankind’s continuing dynamic – survival. It is an optimistic statement recognizing our enormous challenges and concluding strongly that creative men and women of the world can develop a viable “instruction book for Spaceship Earth.”

Central to the meaning of the show is the fact that access to accurate and relevant information and the continuing ability to create new and better tools for survival have been the real dynamic of our voyage aboard Spaceship Earth.

The Disney staff is creating an exciting and unique theatrical experience for the dramatic spherical structure which will dominate the entrance into EPCOT Center. A time machine journey into the past to trace man’s progress as he acquires and utilizes new knowledge. Surging forward through time, guests will see historical milestones unfold as man records, communicates more broadly and finally uses computer technology to process ever increasing amounts of information.

As the Spaceship Earth show concludes, the audience is invited to go forth into EPCOT’s Future World, into the many pavilions offering dramatic new vistas into vitally important topics affecting the future of humankind.

Communicore

“Communicore, the global marketplace of new ideas.”

As you can probably see from these renderings, Communicore was intended as a much more vibrant and vital section of Future World than it ever was in actuality, and certainly much more so than Innoventions is today. Communicore was the community – and communications – core of EPCOT, and it would be the place where guests would synthesize the information from the various theme pavilions and interact with these new futuristic concepts in relatable ways.

As its name suggests, this global marketplace of new ideas will be the communications core of EPCOT Center. Here, industry and the public will participate in a “hands on” exchange of new and exciting ideas, systems, products and technologies.

“FUTURE WORLD TRAVEL PORT: This artist concept depicts a Communicore attraction where guests will electronically preview their vacations.” (Note the Mark III Monorail in the background)

Some of the beginning concepts for this “information marketplace” include:

Telstore – a Future World “video bookstore” where guests could experience first-hand the newly emerging world of video information for the home.

Future World Travel Port – an electronic travel port where visitors could “dial-in” their travel interests and other itinerary requirements and watch an “instant preview” of their upcoming vacation.

FuturePlan – a career center concept where immediate information would be offered about careers for young people and the newly developing field of second careers for retiring citizens.

Informat Arcade – a concept providing new experiences for the public in information retrieval, which would include a “Casino of information” in game-playing format … taking the penny arcade of the past into the information age.

Other ideas for the Communicore will be developed by joint task forces of Disney designers and industry participants and may include such things as The Good Health Emporium, the drug store of tomorrow and The Future World Office, a paperless place of business.

The drug store of tomorrow? A career center? The penny arcade of the information age? As you can see, Communicore would have been a much different place had these plans gone through; it would have certainly served more as a futuristic mirror to Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. Although I have to say, I’m intrigued by this “paperless place of business” of which they speak…

Life & Health Pavilion

“The study model of the Life & Health Pavilion includes an area offering guests a ride through the fantastic wonders of the body and The Great Midway of Life, where they will learn their personal responsibility for good health habits.”

This pavilion, though obviously long planned, was also a long time coming for EPCOT fans. A health-themed pavilion would not actually open in the park until 1989, when Wonders of Life debuted. Still, as you might be able to tell, that pavilion drew a great deal of inspiration from these early plans. The interior of the pavilion would have had a very whimsical design, courtesy of veteran Imagineer Rolly Crump. Guests would enter “The Great Midway of Life” in the central circular area, around which were a number of shows and experiences. Some of these would later have analogous attractions in the similarly circular Wonders of Life building.

While a more thorough exploration of this abandoned pavilion will have to wait for a future post, I would like to point out the various attractions in the model. After entering on the right-hand side of the picture, guests moving clockwise would encounter The Joy of Living, a sensory funhouse (at the bottom of the photo), the Tooth Follies, The Head Trip (which would eventually become Cranium Command), Good Health Habits, and, in the large angular show building at the top of the picture, The Incredibly Journey Within. This massive dark ride would have transported guests via omnimover into the human body, where they would pass giant animatronic replicas of a beating heart and breathing lungs.

Red blood cell-shaped omnimover vehicles carry guests through The Incredible Journey Within

Visitors to the Life & Health Pavilion will experience a new awareness and appreciation of themselves. “The Joy of Living,” a multimedia show, will extol the beauty, the dignity and strength of man from birth to the golden years. “The Incredible Journey Within” will take guests to explore the inner workings of the fascinating, complex human machine. Along the “Great Midway of Life,” they’ll participate in a whimsical series of experiences, learning that good health is based, more than anything else, on their own personal responsibility and behavior.

The Land

This early concept for The Land, designed by Imagineer Tony Baxter, led guests through a series of biomes in giant, crystal-shaped show buildings

The Land pavilion, occupying the spot that would eventually go to Horizons, was originally a much different kind of pavilion than that one we would come to know in 1982. Designed by rookie Imagineer Tony Baxter (I wonder whatever became of him?), the various attractions in this original design focused more on the world around us than on the cultivation of crops. Large crystalline buildings, which would later inform the design of Journey into Imagination, would have housed a series of varying climates and ecosystems. Guests could explore these different habitats on foot; there would also be an animatronic show and a balloon ride through the various crystal buildings called The Blueprints of Nature. Unfortunately the original sponsor for the pavilion, a lumber company, fell through and were replaced by Kraft. This switched the focus of the pavilion from ecology to food and farming, and this concept was abandoned. Happily, Baxter would go on to create Journey into Imagination.

“LAND PAVILION: Among preliminary concepts is this experience, stressing harmony between man and his environment.”

The Land Pavilion will graphically illustrate man’s role as a “protector” of this finite resource, as well as his alternatives and choices in maintaining, and even enhancing, the delicate balance within the natural environment. Through a variety of exciting and informative shows and experiences, guests will be introduced to the basic concepts essential for understanding the need for harmony between man and his home on “The Land.”

Transportation

“TRANSPORTATION PAVILION: A concept for “hands-on” experience with working prototype vehicles of the future will be a part of this guest experience.”

This early version of EPCOT’s Transportation-themed pavilion bears many similarities to its successor, the World of Motion. The round building is somewhat familiar, as is the open central courtyard. This design is a lot more busy, though, and there’s a lot more going on – from the full-scale STS orbiter hanging over the courtyard to the external vehicle track. While this version of the pavilion features a dark ride similar to what guests would eventually ride in the real park, it seems that there was an additional attraction where guests were allowed to ride some sort of “futuristic” prototype vehicle. Little is publicly known about this facet of the ride, but some renderings seem to look not unsimilar to the current Test Track.

Conceptual rendering for the Transportation pavilion

The Transportation Pavilion will show how man has progressed through time in direct relation to his ability to move from one location to another. Visitors will see man’s earliest and most humble designs grow and change as he reaches out to explore the world around him. They’ll be treated to simulated trips aboard some of today’s modes of transportation … and have a glimpse at future transportation systems … including a “hands-on” involvement with working prototypes of tomorrow’s vehicles.

Space

Rendering of the massive “space vehicle” that would be the feature attraction of EPCOT’s fabled Space pavilion

Oh, the Space pavilion. If anything puts a wistful look in the eye of a true EPCOT geek, it’s a mention of the Space pavilion. This grand, massive attraction was announced for EPCOT early on, and later slipped to phase II status behind Life & Health. It never saw the light of day.

Little is really known about this pavilion, but not for lack of fan curiosity. Produced with the assistance of author Ray Bradbury, the centerpiece of this pavilion would have been a massive simulator attraction that would have moved an entire theater in sync with outer-space visuals.

“SPACE PAVILION: Designer John De Cuir, Sr. and Writer Ray Bradbury discuss the model of the interstellar “Space Vehicle” which will highlight this pavilion.”

A huge, interstellar “Space Vehicle” will transport passengers to the outer frontiers of the universe, highlighting man’s efforts to reach out for the stars around him … from the early pioneers who looked and wondered … to modern-day space travelers and their triumphs … to the challenges and possibilities of future space technology and exploration.

The Seas

These now-famous renderings of The Seas were used to promote the much more elaborate earlier version of the pavilion through EPCOT Center’s opening in 1982 and even beyond

The Seas is another well-known missed opportunity for Disney fans. While The Living Seas did eventually open in 1986, years behind schedule due to difficulties in finding a suitable sponsor, it lacked the elaborate dark ride with its grand themes that would have served as a highlight of this original version. This early version also contains mention of an entirely separate attraction, featuring legendary mariners and their feats. Note, too, that one of the alternate concepts for the pavilion’s exterior is much more organic and rough than the final design.

“SEAS PAVILION: This WED study model includes a dramatic ‘ride beneath the seas.’”

Guests will board the clipper ship, “Spirit of Mankind,” to sail through moments of peril and triumph with seven legendary mariners … the great explorers who charted the seas for civilization. In another adventure, Poseidon the Sea Lord will challenge visitors to journey through the ocean depths … from the Continental Shelf to the Great Coral Reef. Finally arriving at “Sea Base Alpha,” guests will experience an authentic ocean environment with live marine life, an undersea restaurant, and a showcase of oceanographic exhibits and displays.

Energy Pavilion

“PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The Energy Pavilion will feature demonstrations of solar energy applications.”

Here’s another familiar face – the Energy pavilion. That angled, reflective wedge would survive the development process to become well-known to generations of EPCOT visitors. What’s funny, though, is that the model shown earlier depicts an entirely different version of the Energy pavilion design – a semi-circular bank of mirrors facing a central solar collector. That design would be shown prominently in various EPCOT promotional films during 1978, but as this rendering shows it was a competing concept that would win out in the end. Look closely, though, and you’ll see some details missing from the final design: various solar collectors, what appears to be a greenhouse, and a wind-powered turbine.

Even from the outside, the Energy Pavilion will be a strong visual statement as it generates power via its own solar energy systems. Here, the formation of fossil fuel energy will be portrayed, climaxed by a sudden energy storm of wind, lightening, rain, fire and volcanic eruptions, demonstrating the almost endless potential of raw energy available for man.

This early rendering of the Energy attraction shows how little it actually changed throughout its years of development

Then visitors will see man overcoming the major crises of the past and finally the choices he must consider today … racing against the clock in a search for new energy, and finally harnessing tomorrow’s vast new sources for “The Future World of Energy.”

The American Adventure … Gateway to the WORLD SHOWCASE

While the American Adventure attraction described in 1977 sounds familiar, its show building certainly wasn’t

By this point in EPCOT’s development, Imagineers had a fairly good handle on what they wanted to do with The American Adventure. This was roughly the sixth concept that designers had proposed for the American pavilion, but it’s obviously similar to the attraction as it exists today – with two big differences. First, instead of its current location as host of World Showcase on the far side of the lagoon, it was located as a “bridge” between Future World and World Showcase. The positioning of the pavilion between these two realms affected its design; instead of the colonial bricks of the final show building, this version of the pavilion would have been housed in a then-current modernist structure. The other major difference in this early version was that in addition to Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, Will Rogers acted as a third host and representative of the 20th century. Fearing (sadly) that Rogers would be too obscure for modern audiences, Imagineers eventually relieved him of his hosting role and relegated him to a cameo.

“AMERICAN ADVENTURE: These models and renderings picture the “main spokesmen” guests will meet as they experience the story of the American people: Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain and Will Rogers.”

“America has been settled by the people of all nations, all nations may claim her for heir own. We are not a narrow tribe of men … No: our blood is as the flood of the Amazon, made up of a thousand noble currents all pouring into one. We are not a nation so much as a world…”

These words, written by Herman Melville, are the inspiration for The American Adventure – standing at the crossroads, facing onto the Future World and acting as the gateway and “host” to the nations of the World Showcase. Here, visitors will experience the remarkable three-century story of the American people, from the first step onto Plymouth Rock, to the first step onto the moon. Three of the most eloquent spokesmen in American history, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers, will lead a cast of performers “brought to life” through the Disney Audio-Animatronics process of three-dimensional animation. Their message is one of optimism for the future – that in their times too, American dreamed of a better tomorrow – and that a nation, founded in liberty and freedom, gives its citizens the opportunity and incentive to build on the great foundations of the past.

World Showcase

Unlike earlier proposed versions of World Showcase, the design revealed in Master Plan 5 featured highly-themed national pavilions circling two large lagoons

Despite having been in development longer than Future World, little is said in 1977 about World Showcase. This is most likely due to the rather unsuccessful scramble to sign up national participants. As you can see in the model at the beginning of this story, World Showcase was rather optimistically designed to have two rows of countries, with plenty of room for several dozen national pavilions. This was not to be, of course.

The big breakthrough in Master Plan 5 was the idea that seems second-nature today – that the national pavilions would be housed in separate buildings around the lagoon, and that they should all have highly themed exteriors to match their national sponsor. This plan was the brainchild of Imagineer Harper Goff, and it flew in the face of the original World Showcase plans that called for the national pavilions to be housed adjacent to each other in very modern, featureless semi-circular structures. The pavilions would be well-themed on the inside, but to all outward appearances they would be identical.

More of Harper Goff’s concept art for World Showcase

Goff hated this idea, and envisioned a highly-themed area that would use well-known visual icons for each country, much like World Showcase does today. Try as he might, though, he couldn’t get it past Card Walker, who preferred the more modern approach to the area. Goff knew he was right, though, and one day when a number of potential international sponsors and investors were to tour Imagineering, Goff made sure to leave a number of his elaborate paintings of the forbidden World Showcase concept lying around in plain sight. Needless to say, the money men were smitten with Goff’s detailed and lush paintings and he won the argument by default.

Concept art from this era suggests a number of possible themes for World Showcase nations

In prior years, we have reported extensively on our concepts for the pavilions and exhibits of World Showcase. During this year, WED Imagineers, working with potential participating nations, have continued to refine these concepts creating many new renderings and models, some of which are shown here. In 1977, we have also developed an exciting new concept for the overall design of World Showcase which we are pleased to present publicly for the first time.

In this new interfacing design concept, countries from around the world will stand side-by-side in friendship along the banks of a broad lagoon … symbolic of the waters that bind together the diversified peoples of the world.

Concept for the “Arab World” pavilion

A “Community of Nations,” World Showcase will be the first permanent international exposition of its kind anywhere … communicating the culture, history, tourism and accomplishments of each participating country. Here, guests will visit a wide variety of exciting shows and ride through attractions, restaurants and shopping streets unique to the individual nations, and areas presenting travel and products of industry.

Imagineering concept for Japan pavilion

EPCOT Center’s World Showcase is a true people-to-people concept. Participating nations will be invited to send their outstanding young adults to operate the attractions, shops, restaurants and exhibits of their pavilion. And these young people will not only work together, they will also live, play and learn together. Many of these young adults will be future leaders of their countries. Their association and work experience in EPCOT Center could be a significant step toward generating greater understanding among the peoples of the world.

Concept for Germany pavilion

That last bit alludes to something that Card Walker mentioned often during these years – the hope that the international students coming to work at EPCOT would return as friends to lead their own nations. Walker often referred to his hopes that some day Israeli and Palestinian leaders, or U.S. presidents and Soviet premiers, could defuse global tensions as they reminisced about their days at EPCOT. It seems funny now, but it was a big part of how EPCOT was promoted in the 1970s.

This Imagineering model for the Canadian pavilion is remarkably similar to the finished product except for a few things – first, that Quebecois flag would never fly in the real world, and also, if you look carefully… lumberjacks! I want lumberjacks!

EPCOT in 1977 might seem like a million years away from the park that would open in 1982, but for the first time it had really started to feel like a fully-formed idea and you can see the roots of many attractions that were to become fan favorites. Within the next year, Disney executives would commit to the idea, sponsors would come aboard, and throughout 1978 the idea of what EPCOT Center was to be became clearer and more real. And it all started with Master Plan 5.