The two-hour special explored the life and legacy of the man who created one of the world's most beloved pop icons, Mickey Mouse, and the world-renowned Disney theme parks.
The documentary first aired in February of last year. Though educational, the special glossed over what we found to be the most interesting bit—Walt's original plans for Epcot in Disney World.
Check out Disney's original plan for Disney World and Epcot >
After Disneyland was built in California, Walt had an idea for another Disney project in Florida; however, he passed away in December 1966 before he could see it come to fruition. Before he died, he filmed a video two months earlier expressing these plans in detail.
We found the nearly half hour video Disney produced for Florida Legislators to get permission and rights for his project. In it, Disney laid out his big ideas for his massive Florida project.
An original design for EPCOT existed as the Progress City model at the Magic Kingdom in 1975.
Waltopia / Google Video
Called "Project X," Walt's Florida expansion was meant to be much more than Disney World. Forget the theme park. Florida wasn't about Disney World, though it was a small part of the picture.
Rather, Disney's plan consisted of building his own perfect Utopian city: the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow—Epcot.
The video sounded like a scene straight out of Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" which envisioned a similar world back in 1932.
Located partly in Orange and Osceola Counties, Disney picked the center of the state for his Florida project on purpose, reasoning it would be easy for tourists and residents to arrive by car.
The land was located between Orlando and Kissimmee, a few miles from the crossing point of Interstate 4 and the Sunshine State Parkway (this was before I95 was finished, of course).
The theme park and all the other tourist facilities—hotels, motels and recreational activities—were meant to fill one small part of Disney's Florida project. This part alone is five times the size of California's Disneyland.
All together, Disney wanted to build five sections consisting of his own airport of tomorrow in Osceola county, an entrance center, an industrial park covering 1000 acres, a theme park (Walt Disney World) and the heart of the Florida project ...
Walt Disney is pointing toward the future airport he hoped to build. Above it would be an entrance center.
Waltopia / Google Video
Walt Disney is pointing to the entrance center which would be in between the airport (below) and an industrial park (above).
The main point of Walt's Florida project was to focus on his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow … EPCOT.
The city was to be a "planned environment demonstrating to the world what American communities can accomplish through proper control of planning and design."
The sphere shaped community would act as a wheel, with the hub of transportation located in the center. Routes would branch out from here to all sectors of the city.
The WEDWay PeopleMover (this is the real name) would also transport people. Today, these are better known as TTA—The Tomorrowland Transit Authority—in Disney's Tomorrowland, Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World Resort.
Housed beneath the town's epicenter would be EPCOT's Transportation Lobby to get on and off monorails and Peoplemovers. It would be similar to the likes of NYC's Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal.
If you wanted to get out of the city "bubble," there's a singular road to leave. However, it appears most residents would only drive their vehicles on "weekend pleasure trips" or vacation.
As for work, everyone would have a job ... a.k.a. some responsibility to maintain the community. While some could choose to work outside of the EPCOT area, it's encouraged many work in the town's nearby industrial park's facility centers.
A single monorail would drop workers off to the 1000-acre industrial parks for work.
Waltopia / Google Video
There, Disney staff would "work with individual companies, looking at experimental prototype plans, research and development laboratories and computer centers for major corporations."
After Walt's death, the project was deemed impractical and was re-envisioned as a theme park with futuristic architecture and technology. Today, EPCOT serves Disney as a walk-through of the world with countries appearing to co-exist peacefully side by side.
Today, Disney's idea lives on—slightly—in the Utopian community of Celebration located in Osceola County, Florida. The city was designed and planned by the Walt Disney Company in the early '90s.
Kirsten Acuna was a correspondent on Business Insider's Entertainment team covering TV, movies, and theme parks. She is Businness Insider's resident expert on all things "The Walking Dead." YKirsten covers superheroes and all things Disney (Marvel, Pixar, and live-action remakes). She is a verified film critic on Rotten Tomatoes. Kirsten has previously written for TV Guide and Time Out New York Kids. She joined Business Insider's entertainment team in 2012 as a reporter, helping to build the team from two people. She holds a degree in magazine journalism and minors in both English and child family studies from Syracuse University.Follow her on Twitter @KirstenAcuna.
