Walt’s Vision of EPCOT Becoming Reality…in Dubai :(

From The Disney Blog – The original idea Walt Disney had for his Florida project was to create a whole new type of city. A place that would be on the cutting edge for environmentally friendly technology, mass transit and urban planning. While the Disney company did eventually build the community of Celebration, it didn’t measure up to Walt’s original dreams for EPCOT.

That dream is finally becoming a reality in the middle of the dessert of Abu Dhabi. Masdar will be the world’s first “Zero-carbon” city and will have many elements that appear cribbed right from the Disney theme park design toolbox. From underground corridors to peoplemover systems to streets where only pedestrians are allowed, Masdar sounds a lot like Walt’s original vision for EPCOT.

This news digs up all my long-suppressed sadness about Celebration. While it was a great little town, and one I would have bought in had I the money in the 90’s, it was no EPCOT. Why take all this undeveloped land and build Celebration as just a normal town. Sure, their schools referred to studants as “learners” — but where were the peoplemovers that Walt dreamed up for his city three decades earlier? I hate that a community of tomorrow is being built non-Disney and not in Florida.

If you’d like to learn more about Masdar, click HERE to go to the NY Times article. I’ll click HERE and sulk as I watch Walt’s original vision.