Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Orlando Sentinel

Today I present part two of Ken Martinez's scans of a very scarce and historic edition of The Orlando Sentinel, from 1967. Until Ken sent me the images, I don't think I was aware that this neat collection of early stories about the Magic Kingdom even existed! Once again, I've tried to post the images in a very large size (click on the thumbnails, in case you didn't know) so that you can read the complete articles for yourselves. Here's Ken:

Orlando Sentinel - Disney World Souvenir Edition Part 2

Today is part two of the Orlando Sentinel Disney World Souvenir Edition.  This special edition of the Orlando Sentinel was released on February 3, 1967.  Featured today are a full page and various clippings from this edition.

I love these two drawings for EPCOT.  The Mark III Monorails are shown here and a different style PeopeMover which appears to be completely enclosed. The second image is reminiscent of World Showcase at Epcot. Also there’s an article on the “School of Tomorrow” and law enforcement with the coming increase in population of Central Florida.


Here’s the conceptual rendering for EPCOT which by now has been seen by many Disney fans.  In addition, there’s an article on the coming building boom in Central Florida.


Here’s an architect’s cross section of the Dynamic Urban Center of EPCOT.   I wonder how many other architectural drawings and renderings exist but have never been revealed to the public.  I’ve love to see them.


Here’s an early artist’s idea layout.  The monorail transportation system shown here seems to cover all the major activity centers on the property.  Much was to change from this early rendering.  I wonder how much of what was originally planned never came into being.  For sure the “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” and “Jet Airport of the Future” didn’t happen. And the monorail system didn’t quite expand and grow to cover all points of interest.


Well, that’s it for the Orlando Sentinel Disney World Souvenir Edition from 1967.  I hope you enjoyed this bit of pre-history before Walt Disney World was built.

MANY THANKS to Ken for scanning this rare document and sharing it with us!

14 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

Wow! If only......sigh! Just think what might have been!

Thanks for sharing this, Ken!

Nanook said...

Ken-

Fascinating piece of history. And as with so many large-scale projects of this nature, many, many changes take place prior to any official opening. (Obviously, the EPCOT portion never materialized as originally-envisioned; not to mention the "Jet Airport" - shades from Carousel of Progress. (I wonder what happened to the "school of tomorrow"-? Other than morphing-into the Disney Institute).

Thanks, Ken.

Pegleg Pete said...

This has been fascinating. Thanks Ken and Major! Sigh – the future we were promised versus the future we got...

Chuck said...

The future we got...where are the bagpipers in the streets that Disney promised us?

Interesting to see the Mark III monorails in the first two conceptual paintings. Also interesting to note that in the second picture, the Mark III appears to sport a white-and-striped paint job similar to the Mark IVs, Vs, and VIs.

Melissa said...

Shoot, if I had known about the plans for the School of Tomorrow, I would have felt even worse about the crummy, backward schools I went to than I already did!

Thanks as always for sharing your treasures!

Anonymous said...

This is terrific, thanks Ken and Major.

I love these old architectural renderings. Everything today is Photo-realistic, "because we can", and it just doesn't have the same soul. (Apologies to Bob Seger).

The cross-section through the city center is brilliant, I can just imagine those spaces in the transport lobby, and the cars are where they belong on the bottom levels underground.

JG

Anonymous said...

Just now noticed the reference to the Tam O'Shanter in the rendering.

This restaurant in Glendale was the after-work hangout for Walt Disney and the Imagineers. It's still in business, serving prime rib and cocktails. You can even sit at Disney's favorite table.

http://www.lawrysonline.com/tam-oshanter/general-info

JG

Anonymous said...

One of the biggest losses from Walt's untimely death was his original EPCOT city of the future. Such a shame it never came into fruition, and the least that we received was a theme park out of the concept, and even then, the theme park has been losing that original vision.

Of course, as cool as his city of the future would have been, you have to wonder if it would have worked. This one video by Rob Plays offers some speculation on that matter: https://youtu.be/RWgKEI7Tfa8

Nanook said...

@ JG-

Thanks for pointing-out the Tam O'Shanter Inn. I was so busy looking at the other knickknacks, (such as the Peoplemover-like vehicles, reminiscent of those at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport), I completely missed it. What a great inside reference.

Melissa said...

The lack of PeopleMovers going everywhere is one of the big letdowns. That would be awesome even in the report as it is today.

Melissa said...

Resort, not report.

K. Martinez said...

TokyoMagic!, Agreed. What might have been.

Nanook, I think a lot of things morphed into something else from the early ideas of EPCOT like the city of "Celebration" and the "Disney Institute" as you mentioned as well as World Showcase and Future World which came from ideas of it in some form.

Pegleg Pete, I grew up dreaming about this city Walt talked about. I have to admit I was disappointed when it was announced in the late 1970's that we would be getting a permanent world's fair vs. an actual city. Still there were things I enjoyed about EPCOT Center when I visited in early 1980's.

Chuck, That is what's great about sharing stuff about Disney with other enthusiasts on this blog. They can spot details overlooked by others. Thanks for calling to our attention the differences in the various Mark monorails. I didn't catch that myself

Melissa, that "School of Tomorrow" intrigued me too.

JG, That cross-section multi-level city center is one of my favorite architectural drawings of EPCOT. Also thanks for that link to the Tam O'Shanter Inn. Like I said to Chuck, it's great when readers chime in with their observations and add to the depth of the post. I'm also hungry after viewing that site.

The Disney Dudebro, Thanks for the link to that video. Very interesting. Like the narrator said, we will never know if it could've worked although I like to think that if Walt lived, it would've came into being. And of course the city would change and morph over time. Otherwise it would become obsolete. I would be curious to hear your take on the revamping of EPCOT with the IPs being injected into the park.

Melissa again, I would've loved if they had PeopleMovers going in and around the various pavilions of Future World. Sort of a pavilion preview like they have for Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom. They already had the monorail circling around inside. Would've added some great kinetic energy.

Glad you all enjoyed today's post and thanks for chiming in.

Anonymous said...

@Nanook & Ken M.

Happy to help. I've wanted to have dinner at the TO'S since I learned of the Disney connection. It's really a classic old place, dates back to the '20's I think.

My firm just opened an office in Glendale only a short drive away, so maybe now I'll have an excuse to visit someday as I will have to visit there occasionally as part of my duties.

It's kind of ironic for me, after working for a long time on LA projects, and then years away from it in NorCal, having an office back in the middle of familiar surroundings. I'm kind of looking forward to it. More visits to Disneyland too.

JG

Anonymous said...

@K. Martinez: Eh, I'd say it was inevitable. Epcot is a good park, but it's biggest flaw is its lack of connection to anything Disney. I think adding more IP will provide some opportunity for the park, especially when it comes to adding rides, especially in the World Showcase area. That area has been lacking rides, so what better way to introduce more rides than with movies based in those countries. We already have Frozen in Norway, and now we're going to be getting a Ratatouille ride in France and a Coco ride in Mexico. So why not add a different movie ride to each country, just so that guests have more to do than simply wander about?