HISTORY

An exact recreation of the original preshow to The Living Seas depicting the history of undersea exploration and pavilion sponsor United Technologies' role in its future.

Helicopter flyover of the park on Labor Day morning September 6th, 1982 with color correction performed by yours truly :)

A collection of 35mm construction progress shots that show the condition of Horizons on March 10th, 1983 — just 205 days before opening!

In today's world, people are still astonished by how much footage is shot for any motion picture. But what is far less known is this has also been a common practice for theme park attractions

A Cast Member hosted theatrical travelogue showcasing Walt Disney World including the (then) new EPCOT Center with highlights from Lake Buena Vista Village, Discovery Island, River Country and the Contemporary and Polynesian Village resorts in their original state.
Restored from a 16mm print with an enhanced sound track.

Beginning a month of ceremonies for the park was the dedication of the architecturally miraculous Spaceship Earth featuring impressive pomp & circumstance. From the Future Corps supplemented by a full orchestra to the avant-garde choreography of the Showtime Singers, the Center started the 21st Century in style.

The following is an enhanced & color-corrected print of the 1978 presentation depicting the park midway through its evolution from the City to the Center in what I refer to is as the "Gold Dome" phase.

The American Adventure is not merely an attraction in a theme park nor a pedantic presentation of historical events. Put succinctly, The American Adventure is the pinnacle of patriotic achievements of the 20th Century. An experience that begins long before taking your seat in The Liberty Theater.

A commonly-held misconception is that EPCOT Center was conceived only after the impracticalities of a vast corporately-controlled city were discovered and therefore the Center was created, not as the culmination of Walt's dream but as compensation for it. In fact, the origins of EPCOT Center not only run concurrently to the community of tomorrow but could also be argued vastly precedes it.

Why did, Card Walker approve of such an ambitious project? Although not explicitly stated, the following video does give some sense as to the enormously altruistic aspirations everyone involved with EPCOT Center was striving for.

It has often been said that if you interview 20 people who knew Walt, you’d get 20 different Walt Disneys.
But what version of Walt is the most important: the Movie Mogul, the Artist, the Storyteller, the Benevolent Dictator, etc.? All are certainly fine candidates, but the most unique, the most impactful, and the most cohesive version of the man, is Walt Disney the Visionary Innovator…

30 days before opening the “Newest Wonder of the World,” The EPCOT Center News Briefs provided daily progress reports for the many facets in bringing 21st Century to life in 1982.

A retrospective spanning the first quarter-century of the “Fantasyland of Future World”.