Walt Disney and the Promise of Progress City

The Story of Walt's EPCOT

Disney historian and urban planner Sam Gennawey traces the evolution of the EPCOT we didn't get and the Epcot we did, in a tour-de-force analysis of Walt's vision for city-building and how his City of Tomorrow might have turned out had he lived.

Beginning with Walt's earliest conceptions for "Progress City", a centrally planned, centrally run community where people could work, live, and play, Gennawey weaves urban planning concepts into a meticulously researched historical narrative that culminates in Walt's death and his brother Roy's decision to focus on building a new theme park in Florida, not an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

In Walt Disney and the Promise of Progress City, you'll read about:

Walt's early attempts at "physical entertainment" with steam trains and Disneylandia

The building blocks of theme park design, and how they were put to use in the creation of Disneyland

Why the Mineral King and Independence Lake projects failed

The real story of the Florida Project, and why Walt didn't want to build another Disneyland in Florida

An in-depth look at what Walt hoped to accomplish with EPCOT, and whether he could have done it

How EPCOT might have been built, with Walt calling the shots: an eye-opening what-if analysis

Disney Legend Marty Sklar says that Gennawey "captured much of the attitude and events of the times, and hit on much of Walt's drive and inspiration", and Lee Cockerell, a former Walt Disney World executive vice-president, says, "I thought I knew a lot about Epcot until I read Walt Disney and the Promise of Progress City". Find out what Walt really had in mind for tomorrow!