“What a wonderfully ironic notion it is that, in this turbulent century, urban man might, just possibly, be saved by a mouse.” The last line from the book, The Art of Walt Disney, by Christopher Finch.
Since first seeing Christopher Finch’s book, I wanted to live in Walt Disney’s EPCOT. I’m not referring to Epcot the theme park. I’m referring to Walt’s first and original concept, an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Few people knew what EPCOT was at that time. At that time the “Florida film” Walt Disney created had only been shown to a few select audiences. Finch’s work was really the first book to highlight this project after Walt Disney World was established in 1971. Published in 1973 after Roy’s death, the notions presented here would only be held for a few more years before the Epcot Center concept of having a world’s fair-type of experience would be presented in its wake. But the vision was still very bold—and very possible.
here) to get a greater context of this development. I cannot begin to say how wowed I was by the experience. I don’t say wow very often, but I was saying it throughout the entire experience. And the biggest BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) I had that day was that this development had literally taken a page out of Walt Disney’s design for EPCOT. Let me illustrate:
Undeveloped Land. At the heart of the EPCOT development was the idea that you would have to start from scratch in order to create the ideal city. To that end, Walt Disney amassed a major amount of land. At the Palm, they didn’t necessarily take undeveloped land—they created it. Out of the ocean they scooped up exactly what they wanted and where and placed it where they wanted to create the shape of a palm. In essence Disney had to do the same thing to create its parks and resorts. It had to take swamp and separate it into land and water components.
Residential homes in the foreground. You can see “branches” of sand still awaiting residential development. In the far distance is further resort development on the very periphery of the Palm. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
Radial Design. Walt Disney’s design suggested that you move from a center of the city outward. The analogy was one of a wheel with spokes, with the city center in the middle, and suburbs located on the outside. The Palm is not designed in the shape of a wheel, but a palm, it still uses a similar radial design, moving from the base or trunk of the palm outward. The core of the community resides along the trunk of the palm. Single-unit residential dwellings are found moving toward the perimeter.
This mosaic display of the layout of the Palm is found at the monorail station. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
An Array of Residential Options. Walt wanted a variety of housing choices. The same is said of The Palm. There are apartments, condos, villas, and garden homes. Like EPCOT, the homes are more single-dwelling units on the outside, and multi-residential heading toward the inside of the development.
High-rise condos emerge around the trunk of the palm. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
Innovative Transit Solutions. In Walt Disney’s plan, mass transportation is designed using monorails and People Movers. There are no People Movers here. But there is an outstanding monorail system that runs the entire length of the trunk to the outer rim. The monorail system runs 5.4 km (3.35 miles) and operates without a pilot at the controls.
The Monorail extends the entire length of the Palm. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
There are also roads running through the resort, and in what seems to be a nod toward Walt’s Utilidor where cars would run underground, the road heads underneath the ocean at the top of the palm before re-emerging on the outer island.
Monorails run overhead, while the road dives under the ocean on its way to Atlantis on the far end. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
Retail Development. There is more work to be done here, but it’s in the design. You won’t see a “World Showcase” of shopping experiences, but you will soon see a showcase of world-class shopping experiences when the mall is finally developed.
Foundation is created for an eventual mall. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
Hotel at the Center. The centerpiece of EPCOT was a tall hotel that would dominate the skyline. The Palm Jumeira offers the possibility of two centerpieces. One of them is just that, it’s a tall centerpiece known as the Palm Trump Tower Hotel, which would be more toward the center of the entire development, just as Walt’s hotel would. Unfortunately, that isn’t yet built. There’s a huge hole for it to be built, but it has yet to come out of the ground.
Atlantis Hotel is an oasis in the desert, or ocean. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
A more interesting “weenie” using Walt’s terms comes at the very end of the road or monorail line in the form of Atlantis The Palm. When you think of a resort by the name of Atlantis, you may be thinking of the Atlantis Paradise Island located in the Bahamas. This resort follows a very similar design, look and feel, only with a more Arabian-style design at its center, where the bridge suites are located. That said, it is unbelievably beautiful. Additionally, it includes a full water park, dolphin cove, and aquarium for visiting. In many ways it becomes the “weenie” for the Palms in the same way the Magic Kingdom would have served as a “weenie” for EPCOT
Beautiful views of life under the sea unfold at the Atlantis. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
Water park adjacent to Atlantis. Photo by J. Jeff Kober.
Of course, there are some very distinct differences as well. the EPCOT plan had a dome concept for controlling the climate downtown (something that would be welcomed in Dubai). EPCOT also had it’s own government municipal body, a legislative act that is essentially un-parallel to any other entity anywhere. But beyond that, you really have the makings of an experimental community of tomorrow. And that’s what was at the heart of EPCOT.
Do I think owners of the Palms copied the EPCOT concept? No, not likely per se. I do think any community plan will focus on issues like transportation, housing, recreation, business and retail. Moreover, I feel that it is a testament to what Walt conceived back in the 1960’s was not only innovative, but plausible. I also think that while Walt Disney was by no means schooled or degreed in the issues that plague most cities he really had done his homework, and had a strong sense of what would create a better community/world. And for someone who started his career as a cartoonist and an animator, that’s pretty amazing.
“If you can dream it…you can do it.” That’s a message any of us can take to resolving any challenge or issue we face. It’s how Walt saw EPCOT. Even he, with no credentials as a city planner, could conceive something that was not in his expertise. For us, the mantra is that it really “makes no difference who you are.” You can “do what dreamers do,” if you study it out.
*Arvida was a real estate company Walt Disney Productions purchased in the early 1980s as an effort to fatten the company and keep it from being agressively taken over by outsiders. While the real estate company was sold not long after Michael Eisner came on board, many of the people of the organization merged over to what became the Disney Development Company. The Disney Development Company were responsible for the design of Celebration.
