The EPCOT Theme Show 

In 1976, and as work began to expedite on the creation of the EPCOT Theme Centers, attention was given to how guests would perceive the bevy of satellite parks that the Vacation Kingdom would soon play host to. Long before visions of geospheres and geodomes for Spaceship Earth came dancing into the Imagineer’s heads, an “introductory show” was planned for the EPCOT Future World Theme Center, that would preface an visit to the exhibits and pavilions and help to further the overall message and purpose of the park. Essentially, a thematic thesis statement was planned for the first series of EPCOTs. 

Much like earlier shows dedicated to showcasing forward thinking topics that were based in futurism and fact, the EPCOT Theme Show was to be a CircleVision 360 film, set in the middle of CommuniCore, at the entry way to Future World. This exhibit would have explained and detailed the purpose of EPCOT, and showcased it’s subjects and themes. Energy, Transportation, Space, and Land were all to have a major part, and as you can see in the rendering above, ancillary attractions. This was described as a welcoming look into “Man and His World of Tomorrow”. 

While I don’t like to dabble in conjecture, it seems as though this is very much akin to the final CommuniCore product. Not to mention the 1964 Carousel of Progress when considering the supplemental attractions. In the end, though, all of these ideas would be dropped in favor of building Spaceship Earth, a much more grand and inspiring thesis statement for the park: the perfect blend of world culture and futuristic topic. 

As for the form and function revealed in the art seen here, this building is, perhaps, housed in the “Pylon Bridge” that Herbert Ryman inserted into his paintings of the EPCOT Center. 

Expanded England: Classics and Cruises 

With London and the Olympics at the forefront of everyone’s minds, today, now is as good as any to look back at Disney’s plans for English cultural exposition… 

Much like the rest of EPCOT Center, World Showcase’s pavilions went through a rigorous design process and several different iterations of each concept were explored and highlighted. 

In the mid 1980s, plans were looked at to expand the United Kingdom’s pavilion and had two of WED’s top Imagineers dedicated to the project. 

In 1986, Harper Goff painted the first picture, revealing the plans for a Thames River Cruise. While never appearing, Goff’s plans would have taken guests on a tour of London’s landmarks and history. The scale of the ride looks to be quite expansive, and the composition of the rendering is redolent of Pirates of the Carribean’s opening scenes, and perhaps served as an inspiration for Goff. 

Earlier, in 1984, Sam McKim also tried his hand at expanding World Showcase, and this time, with a more fantasy and literary based approach. Delving into the world of Charles Dickens, McKim planned and painted a whole series of Audio Animatonic tableaux for a show in the United Kingdom centering around the story of Scrooge and the Spirits of Christmas.

Fully drawing on the emotion, descriptions, and cultural symbolism of the novel McKim’s show would have been an explicit example of cultural adaptation for World Showcase, something that has not been done before. El Rio Del Tiempo and Maelstrom dealt in nebulous concepts of history and myth; the American Adventure exposes patriotism and a measure of history. The travelogue films do much of the same, and IllumiNations is a conglomerate effort of symbolism, ethos, and shared history. Nothing as specific as McKim’s Dickensian show has ever, unfortunately, been found in World Showcase.  Given the fact that it suits the pavilion, and the intent of World Showcase totally, this is a mode of exhibition and entertainment that should be furthered and considered in concepts to come. 

Pictures of Progressland – The Artistry of Corporate Showmanship

Out of all the pavilions that Walt Disney exuded influence over for the New York World’s Fair of 1964, the one that bares the greatest hallmark of Walt’s personal touch is General Electric’s Progressland. The star of the show was the Carousel Theater of Progress, a depiction of suburban life throughout the 20^th century and how appliances and the electric age influenced how the typical American family lived, worked, and played in a quickly changing and dynamic time.   As a matter of the happenstance, the General Electric exhibition was also the one pavilion that reflected the true nature of the New York World’s Fair- part trade show, part international summit, all parts space age optimism wrapped up in the flash and glamour of striking googie architecture and corporate might. Of course, to any student of theme park history, this will sound familiar, with the earliest iterations of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center both reflecting optimistic, corporately branded futurism.

Progressland, being no different, was driven by General Electric’s desire to exhibit their product and industrial roles in a commercial and public light. As most corporate entities at the fair did, they signed on specific design firms to create their thematic exhibits. General Electric chose Walt Disney’s WED Enterprises to lead such an effort and their final product remains, to this day, one of the most beloved and long running theme park attractions left from this point in time. The Carousel of Progress still spins happily along in Disney World’s Tomorrowland, even if the 21^st century has caught up with it and its thematic background drastically altered. But, this is only one part of the Progressland Pavilion that originally graced the shores of Flushing Meadows’ Pool of Industry. In 1964, Disney had designed a whole series of ancillary attractions for the pavilion, attractions that would have accompanied the carousel’s message of industry and optimism,  and would have represented GE’s full breadth of services and appliances. In media, today, these attractions rarely are discussed, and even by fairgoers were relegated to the back seat, when compared to the audio animatronic laden rotating theater show. However, they bear interesting insight to the nature of the World’s Fair of 1964 and prove to even be a object of longing for some theme park fans, today. For those of us that enjoy EPCOT Center and the thematic showmanship of specific industries and trades, Progressland and her Medallion City, her SkyDome Spectacular, and her Nuclear Fusion Demonstration will be very redolent of the shows we’ve lost along the wayside in places such as CommuniCore, Spaceship Earth, and the World of Motion. The concept is very much the same- a multilateral company hiring Disney to design and showcase their commercial triumphs and endeavors. What follows is a rare and in depth look at the Progressland pavilion and its intents, aesthetics, and exhibits.

While I won’t go into the details of the 1964 iteration of the Carousel of Progress, as that’s been assessed and documented with descriptive powers far better than my own, I would like to point out the aesthetics and details that the rotating theater cars had. What you see here is a Kaleidoscope Screen, reflective glass and plastic that lined the walls of the pavilion’s theaters. During the introduction to the Carousel of Progress, these lights would flash and glow in sequence to the narrator’s voice and the iconic music of the pavilion.

The carousel theater show, from then on out, progressed in a manner very much akin to the experience you can still find in the Vacation Kingdom, today. When the show ended, though, guests were lead up to the second level of a pavilion by a speed ramp that was connected directly to the theater, and in place of the stage.  This unique feature of the 1964 carousel only existed in the first two versions of the show, and streamlined the entire experience. Also, the visceral experience of “walking forward” and “springing up out of your seats to meet the future” help crystalize the optimistic sand hopeful message and imagery of the presentation. The speed ramp was quite the sight, too. Clad in mirrors and brushed metallic trappings, the entire corridor was a spectacle of light and luminosity.  Images of GE engineers and scientists were projected onto the walls and mirrors and had the effect of floating in space. Much of the focus of this imagry is on energy technology and industry, the theme of next show.   Disney dubbed this area a “Time Tunnel”, one that transported you from the present to the far-flung, but foreseeable future.

Once guests exited the tunnel, they were deposited in the second part of the Progressland show: The SkyDome Spectacular and Fusion Demonstration, prefaced by another corridor of mirrors and informational plaques detailing GE’s work on electrical energy and new technologies with fuel cells, thermionic conversion, and magnetohydronamics. After a short wait, guests entered the SkyDome, and, at the time, the world’s largest projection screen on the interior of General Electric’s iconic domed pavilion. With terraced viewing, guests were shown the history and adventure surrounding man’s struggle to temper nature and making fire serve civilization on a 200-foot screen in the round. Dramatic lighting and projections highlighted both topic and theme. Once the show ended, guests descended from the top level of the pavilion to see the actual technologies described to them in use.

Considered the climax of the Progressland experience, the Fusion Demonstration beneath the domed screen and in another, smaller, theater in the round. Standing on a plinth was a large quartz tube, with control panels and displays detailing the process of fusion that would be attempted. After a countdown, brilliant flashes of light and a loud, popping, crack would signify that GE was successful in tapping into the nuclear science of sun building. Billed as a first public demonstration of fusion, this feat took place every 4-6 minutes. Clerical workers that staffed the pavilion soon grew accustomed to the loud explosions emanating from the dome, according to memoirs and recollections many years after Progressland had closed and moved to Disneyland.

Finally, guests would make their way into Medallion City, back on the first level of Progressland. The city was named for the “Total Electric Award” medal that GE popularized for its products. Widely considered to be the post show of the pavilion, this was the main exhibition hall for General Electric and was a stylized city with buildings dedicated to each of the company’s initiatives and appliances. Among the topics showcased were beauty and comfort products, business and industrial solutions, and even a town hall and hospital featuring the latest in electrical ingenuity. Fully airconditioned and comfortable, Medallion City was very much the showroom for GE and guests could even place mail orders for the products they had seen in the Carousel Theater, and now, in person, and in use. The idea of allowing guests browse a “city of the future” certainly wasn’t new to the World’s Fair, either. General Motor’s Futurama at both the 1939 and 1964 New York World’s Fair exhibited an “Avenue of Progress” in which guests would see their automobiles on display. Ford’s Wonder Rotunda, another Disney creation, also showed off automobiles to their guests. This degree of cooperate was the widely accepted modus operandi of the fair, and this style was replicated, much later, in EPCOT Center.

In summary, the Carousel of Progress’ charm and place in thematic history reaches far beyond the carousel theater show that we still have, today. In part, it is the base of the experience, and the most memorable. But the entire Progressland Pavilion was a thematic bastion of industrial artistry and extravagance.  Corporate and commercial advertisement? Yes. But it left a lasting mark in the minds of those who saw it and were inspired by the spirit of progress and optimism the pavilion fostered. The art of corporate showmanship hasn’t changed much, since the days of international exhibitions and World’s Fairs. 

Music To Buy Toasters By 

Yes, that is the title of this piece, and it comes to us from the 1960’s and Disney’s involvement at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. 

And although it is a corny title, for what I think is a particularly good example of music, the title IS evocative of General Electric’s motive at the World’s Fair with the Carousel of Progress. The Carousel of Progress was set up inside the  much larger Progressland Pavilion, and was not only an entertainment venue, but a venue for exhibition and a showcase for all of GE’s products. The World’s Fair never dissuaded the aspects of it that made it part trade show, part international exhibition. In fact, it readily embraced it, and most advertisements and centered around the product placement and advertising of the wares for sale and on display in the corporate pavilions. GE, in particular, had an area of Progressland called Medallion City in which guests could stroll through and attend seminars that featured all the new appliances and tools they had just seen in the Carousel Theater. 

But the music itself is subtle, lilting, melodic, and relaxing. Setting a wonderful mood for the Progressland Pavilion, it is not hard to imagine this playing through the speakers as queues of smartly dressed 60’s fairgoers exited the “Carousel Theater” and took in the sights and sounds of the industrial and sleek future of 1964. 

And on a personal note, I want this theme to serve as the background music to my life. 

Chromatic Contemporary 

Unrealized plans from the 1980’s reveal concepts that would have totally modified the Contemporary Resort Hotel’s Grand Canyon Concourse.

In an effort to ditch the Southwest motif, the warm tones and textures of the Vacation Kingdom’s flagship hotel would have been muted, and replaced with pastels, greenery, and space age flair, perhaps to accent the Monorail’s dynamic role in the resort’s aesthetics.  Most horrifying of all? Mary Blair’s iconic mural would have been stripped away and replaced with a series of colorful waterfalls. 

Though these plans were never fully executed, a more space age look did dominate the Contemporary in the 80s. Thankfully, Mary Blair’s mural survived, and does so to this day. 

The Prologue and the Promise: Tale of Two EPCOTs.

Part I- The Challenge and Commitment to the EPCOT Theme Center

            EPCOT has always had the rare distinction having its conceptual nexus rooted in Walt Disney’s litany of personal products and projects. As one of the last ideas to come from the world’s greatest showman, The Walt Disney Company has always striven to tie EPCOT, as an entity, to their founder so as to appear respectful to his legacy and grand plans for the Walt Disney World Resort. Of course, the Florida property itself was the engine for Walt’s original idea for a grand center of urban planning and industry, so the narrative of both city and resort are highly intertwined.  All of this remains inherent, even today, despite the city never materializing, and instead a theme park being built bearing the iconic and storied acronym.

             Although the lofty goals for the city were abandoned and instead its thematic underpinnings of futurism and world fellowship were slowly shifted toward a park, this infamous dichotomy is even more fractured and convoluted than it appears. As previously noted on this blog, Dick Nunis was a major influence in shifting the concept of EPCOT City to EPCOT Center. This was done for a multitude of reasons, excuses ranging from the sheer difficulty of building an urban center in the middle of what was slowly becoming the world’s premier vacation destination, to the fact that the techniques and technologies used in Walt Disney World were very similar to the plans that Walt had for his city. The latter fact was espoused in a especially flamboyant way. Nunis declared that Disney World was already EPCOT and the plans for a theme park were the capstone of an already grand achievement.

            But even before all this, in 1974 and 1975, the ideas for EPCOT were scattered and varied. Painfully obvious to Disney leadership, the city that Walt Disney planned for his Florida venture would not be built. So, instead, they co-opted the main points of the idea and set them in motion in the most curious of ways. The first was expanding Lake Buena Vista into a more urban setting and applying some of EPCOT City’s organization and futuristic treatments, such as a large extension of Disney World’s transportation line, with a WEDway Peoplemover and a monorail track. These plans faltered.

             The other two plans are much more familiar: A large showplace for the cultures of the world and international fellowship, and another series of showplaces dedicated to the enterprise and industry that drove the futuristic and streamlined operations of WDW itself.

Keeping in mind that these two projects were separate, the transition from EPCOT City to EPCOT Center begins in a state of independence and slow transformation from one idea, to two ideas, and back to one idea again. This split is intrinsically based in the politics and economy of the Walt Disney World Resort in those heady, early days.

 On July 15th 1976, Walt Disney Productions Chairman, Donn Tatum, spoke at the EPCOT Future Technology Conference, hosted at the Contemporary Resort to express the hope that the Vacation Kingdom could become the host of corporate investment, technological enterprise and an example of practical urban fellowship.

Expounding on the lofty goals of the “EPCOT Theme Center”, Tatum reveals the premise for this “EPCOT Satellite” is one concurrent with the later plans for Future World. Regardless, there are differences in intent, scope, topics, and the corporate reasoning backing the project. The most striking of these philosophical proposals is the notion that the concept of enterprise was well within the bounds of the entertainment industry that Tatum placed Disney squarely into. In his own words, Tatum refers to this as the  “presumptuousness that we have had in a long experience in communication with the public through tangible means, many which were innovative and usually effective, in understanding the importance and empathy in science and technology”. 

 Despite being very long winded, this isn’t far from the truth. Disney’s brand of entertainment had always been centered in fantasy, but aspects of it reflected educational and forward thinking ventures into the worlds of nature and science. Tomorrowland, at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, had been the first real examples of that, as showplaces dedicated to subjects such as aerospace and industrial chemistry. The EPCOT Theme Center was to be the culmination and “master plan” of these individual efforts. And, in a more oblique sense, this showplace of industrial know-how would have backed up the mission statement of Walt Disney World and it’s bevy of space age and progressive operations.

Tatum’s reliance on Nunis’ segway concerning the Walt Disney World property as the original EPCOT hinged on how WDW and EPCOT was perceived by the public, and more importantly, the industry leaders he brokered his plan to in May of 1976. In this change, specific wording was chosen to emphasize the broad nature of “community” in EPCOT’s meaning. Instead of employing the strict term of community in the sense that involved people living in an urban setting, the definition was stretched to match Donn Tatum’s meaning of “meeting place for ideas and information transfer”. This center for communication, was essentially to be a company forum to “stimulate comment and discussion within scientific communities” and the forum itself was conceptualized  “with the grand ambition of establishing EPCOT as an on-going meeting place where creative people of science and industry from around the world may gather to discuss and communicate concerning specific solutions to the specific needs of mankind.”  

This, here, is the catch. EPCOT has been altered from a grand city in the center of Walt Disney World to a meeting place, a place where the public could see the testing of technologies and systems that helped run the Disney organization, and even the world. Tatum’s perspicacious wording (All of mankind! All of it! ) certainly give the connotation of grand challenge and promise to be met and found with EPCOT. Card Walker writes that in order to attain Walt Disney’s goal for EPCOT, “We (Walt Disney Productions) 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 we must develop a community system oriented to the communication of new ideas, rather than serving the day-to-day needs of a limited number of permanent residents. EPCOT’s purpose therefor will be to respond to the needs of people, everywhere in a Disney designed and Disney managed forum.”

The city is no more. A plan for a showplace is just beginning.

I won’t comment on if this is a bad thing or a good thing for Disney history. I can’t. I don’t think anyone can. Walt’s dream of the future was utterly sublime. I believe that he, and he alone, could have established a working city in the middle of a Florida swamp that was now becoming the paramount entertainment destination in the world. This is not to say that I think his subordinates and followers could not have done this. But I think in the heady days of Walt Disney’s passing and the stressful years that accompanied the opening of Walt Disney World, the company was paralyzed with self doubt, and the need to assert themselves as being dynamic and driving in the world of entertainment. Modifying the EPCOT concept was, perhaps, a way to be broader in terms of public reach and understanding. Tatum makes several illusions to this.

Happily ahead of the Five Year Plan designed by Walt for the resort, The Magic Kingdom was at an operating capacity of 70,000; equal to Disneyland, a park 16 years its senior! Disney World had increased it’s capacity with a flurry of construction in Tomorrowland, adding the Carousel of Progress, the WEDway Peoplemover, the Star Jets, and the iconic (and first!) Space Mountain. Disney also added Pirates of the Caribbean, which contributed to operational capacity in the theme park. All of this, in turn, would set up Disney World to have the ability to plot the course for a new venue and stage in their entertainment development.

Tatum alludes to this progress as being part of the EPCOT Building Code, one of the oldest components of the EPCOT concept to be instituted in Walt Disney World. This specific mandate for building and growth in WDW was set in place in the planning stages of the resort to foster  “an environment that will stimulate the best thinking in the industry” and to exemplify Disney’s commitment to progressive initiatives, technologies, and techniques. This commitment was the foundation of the Reedy Creek Development District’s (Walt Disney World’s governmental association) modus operandi for construction and the use of new techniques.  One of these techniques was the WEDway Peoplemover, newly instated in Tomorrowland. The EPCOT Satellite program would have instituted the use of this transportation to great effect with a series of trains and lines linking the separate pavilions. It is possible that a secondary monorail system was also conceptualized, as these rare renderings show.

All of these concepts and plans had originally been in place in preparation for the development of EPCOT City. Considering the similarities in intent between city and showplace,  the transition to the EPCOT Theme Center is not complicated. It simply means that instead of creating an environment in which people would live in, an environment of showcasing and exposition would be built with the same underpinnings, instead. The drive of Walt Disney Productions in terms of their educational entertainment, their practices in building and running a resort, and the growth of that resort expedite the transformation and transition of City into Theme Center. The fundamental ideology remains; only the face of the initiative is to be different.

Thus, the EPCOT Theme Center is the main EPCOT Satellite to be conceptualized. Closest to the ideas that Walt Disney had for his Florida Project, the design and topics to be addressed will look familiar in more ways in one. First, this is a reflection of the past hopes for company, hopes set on revolutionizing urban planning and industry. Secondly, they are in step with the final product, EPCOT Center’s Future World. There are some large differences in execution, but for all intents and purposes, the ideological drive of Future World and the EPCOT Theme Center are one and the same.

Card Walker, President of Walt Disney Productions, explained the EPCOT Theme Center some time after Tatum’s address:

 Taking a broad approach to showcasing the world and its challenges the EPCOT Theme Center would have been a series of exhibits and shows dedicated to vital topics. The headliner attraction in 1975? CommuniCore! Described as a communications corridor, CommuniCore was set to be a multilateral pavilion, and part of the EPCOT Theme Satellite that would have  introduced guests to the EPCOT concept and exhibits.  Included in this would have been the EPCOT Overview Circle Vision Theaters which would have tailored their content to meet the guests on the day of their arrival, and the ongoing events at the EPCOT Satellite Centers.

The World City model would have “combined advanced entertainment techniques in miniaturization,  projection, and animation to show and trace the evolution of urban life that would show off the model community that EPCOT hoped to inspire. This concept seems very similar to the 1939 New York World’s Fair exhibit “Democracity”, which was housed within the Trylon and Perisphere and would have shown off a model city of the future. It is very possible that this idea inspired EPCOT’s vision of an urban display, and in turn, that vision of a city inspired the smaller tabluex seen in Spaceship Earth, the World of Motion, and Horizons, once EPCOT Center actually came to fruition. The World City model would have been at the center of the Information Gallery, which was described as an “Information Main Street” and would have centered on global and corporate communications. It is very probable that this entire concept would evolve into Spaceship Earth. The EPCOT Information Network was a major educational component to this, and in the built version of CommuniCore a similar idea did come to exist in the Teacher’s EPCOT Discovery Center.

Surrounding CommuniCore would have existed three major pavilions dedicated to three separate areas of interest. Think of Future World East and West in separate, large buildings, that contained all of their respective pavilions.  The three pavilions to the EPCOT Future World Theme Center would have centered in Community, Science and Technology, and Communications and The Arts. Keeping in mind that these plans are highly conceptual, there is a lot of overlap between the three main pavilions and the afore-mentioned CommuniCore pavilion.

 The first in the series of Theme Center Pavilions would have been the Science and Technology Pavilion, which would have housed many attractions similar in theme to final versions that came to populate Future World in 1982.. Energy, Transportation, Oceanography would have all been featured in interlinking exhibits.

The Community Pavilion would have been a more humanistic experience, and dealt with health care, education, and even economics and government services.

And finally, the Communication and the Arts pavilion would have served as an engine for abstraction into the worlds of performance, be it in a physical, visual, or design based sense. Considering the topics the pavilion would have covered, this might be the first instance of the idea for an imagination pavilion.

What’s different about these pavilions from the final, topic driven attractions that were finally built in 1982 is their emphasis on education and the viability of having people come to EPCOT to learn and to apply their ideas in whatever profession they came from. There are various references to allowing for government workers and even economists to demonstrate and communicate their ideas and works in these settings. On the lowest level, it sounds like some corporate fantasy camp. On its most sincere, hopeful, and optimistic level, this version of EPCOT is made out to be a forum of futurism and promise. The heart of the matter is what astonishing potential the entire project exudes. Despite being corporately founded, Card Walker seems to rely on the fact that the EPCOT Theme Center is to be nonpartisan and non biased. Hopefully true, it is hard to imagine this without a veneer of cynicism directed to a corporation that is trying to be benevolent. Interestingly enough, Card Walker made the distinction of the EPCOT Theme Center as being non-profit for Disney, but leaving them in control of the design process. However, the content would have been totally in the power of the companies and agencies directing the pavilion’s intent. This is a fine line to walk in the power struggle between presenter and the intended effect of the instillation. At every turn there could have been conflict and clashing intents between Disney’s almost benevolent need to display industry, and a corporate desire to make profit.  Then again, this is Disney. This was the 70’s. Anything was possible. The final product of EPCOT Center, itself, while very corporate, was not biased in its intensions, and quite optimistic in its outlook. It is very possible that this similar mood would have dominated this early EPCOT venture.

 In closing, it is appropriate not to truly compare these concepts and ideas to the final product, nor is it altogether plausible to bemoan the fact that they never happened. Instead, one must thoughtfully consider the background in which these concepts were dreamed up, and how and why they either reached fruition after being remolded and reshaped dozens of times. These concepts and ideas for EPCOT and the EPCOT Theme Center are part of the dynamic history and story that comes to settle around the grand vision for civic and technological betterment. Further, they are snapshots of the ideology governing a rapidly changing Walt Disney Company. Together, they form an indelible story of daring, optimism, and strike an interesting chord for the enterprise of themed entertainment and exhibition.

 In Part II we will look at the ideas and plans that were behind the Walt Disney World Showcase, the other half of EPCOT. 

_________________________________________________

Notes: 

This essay is the culmination of a month or so of fun, exhaustive, in-depth research. It was always in my intensions to write about the conceptual history of EPCOT, if not only to learn something for myself, but to clear up what I thought was a particularly shady era in Walt Disney World’s history. This essay is meant to be prefaced by a smaller piece on Dick Nunis which deals with the ideological reasons in revisionist history when concerning EPCOT City’s change into EPCOT Center. That can be found here: 

http://epcotexplorer.tumblr.com/post/18132866507/dick-nunis-revisionist-history-and-the-myth-of

Also, I wish to express my thanks for the friendship and help of Katie Buckler (@Ohmeylaweyla) and Jackie Steele (@Brkgnews) in the collaboration of media for this essay. Their efforts and contributions were invaluable to the completion of this writing. Many thanks to them! 

Hope you enjoyed! 

World Showcase Bazaar: Japan’s EPCOT Influence 

Early in the planning stages for Tokyo Disneyland, WED was in a flurry of creativity, simultaneously guiding Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom though its first few years, while attempting to broaden the Vacation Kingdom with EPCOT- inspired initiatives. Most notably of these EPCOT projects was the Walt Disney World Showcase, the international exhibition part of the project. 

In 1974, discussions reached the point in which Japanese real estate companies wanted to move forward on what was dubbed “The Tokyo Bay Project” and begin to conceptualize what the American entertainment company would build in Japan. What Disney (Mostly the work of John Hench and Claude Coats) came up with is an amalgamation of their most recent and ongoing projects. 

Tokyo’s Magic Kingdom would have had the traditional Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Frontierland (Dubbed Westernland for Eastern audiences) but would have been prefaced by an EPCOT inspired Main Street: International Land featuring a World Bazar. 

As finally built, the street would have been a massive, climate controlled atrium, but instead of housing the traditional Victorian facades of Midwestern America, a sleek and space age showplace would have dominated the landscape with exhibits and pavilions from countries around the world. 

Essentially, a World Showcase would have been dropped down in Tokyo Disneyland’s entrance corridor bringing a bit of EPCOT to a bold, new theme park in Asia. 

Sadly, this never materialized in Tokyo, and the plans for World Showcase soon evolved out of a singular building into the Harper Goff designed individual pavilions of today. The name stuck, though, and a victorian World Bazar greets guests in Tokyo Disneyland, atrium and all.