We all know and love Epcot as one of Disney’s most beloved parks. Nothing tops the iconic Spaceship Earth, or as many lovingly refer to it, the Epcot Ball, towering over you as you first enter the park. As soon as you see it, you know a day of fun, adrenaline, and adventure awaits you.

But what if, in another world, this familiar sight meant the beginning of your life in an autocratic-totalitarian society? Believe it or not, Epcot was originally meant to be a city in which the people who live there are employees of the Walt Disney Company, subject to the rule of their CEO, Walt Disney. In fact, Epcot stood for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.”

The idea first stemmed from Disney’s fear of the direction that urban infrastructure was heading. He believed it was wildly ineffective and would eventually become unmanageable and inhabitable. To remedy this fear, he created Epcot. The city would span 27,400 acres and would feature a radial design like spokes on a wheel. As the city fanned out from the center, it would become less dense the further it went out. The population of 20,000 would either stay in the high-density apartments along the edge of the center of shopping centers and luxury resorts or in small suburban homes on the green outskirts of Epcot. It would be connected via monorail and PeopleMover to Magic Kingdom, an industrial park, a welcome center, and an airport. The entire design was centered around the idea that the “pedestrian was king”—no cars would be permitted at all.

Another major concept for Epcot was to be a testing ground for products. Manufacturing companies like General Electric planned to partner with the Walt Disney Corporation to use Epcot (and its subsequent population) to test out prototypes of new models of dishwashers, refrigerators, and the like. Every single time a company would create a brand new model, they would first use it with the people of Epcot and then release it to the public— hence the name, “Community of Tomorrow.” But to be able to enforce this idea, Disney needed full control, which is where legality was called into question.

In his original plan, all citizens of Epcot would have to work for the Walt Disney Corporation; either at the hotels, stores, theme parks, airport, or other places needed to make his plan function. Because of this, nobody was allowed to retire. At the same time, no citizens owned their homes or land as it all belonged to Disney and his corporation. Because of this, they were given no voting rights or choice in their government– Walt would be left as the sole, supreme leader.

Obviously, this brought up many questions of legality. He wanted to build a whole city independent of government influence or zoning regulations, and with its own codes and laws. So Disney drafted the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) which would give him authority similar to that of a Florida county and allow for his plans to come to fruition. To lobby for this, Walt produced a whole 25-minute short film that explained Epcot and his plans for a theme park while showing off impressive proof of concepts. It was then presented to legislators and later released for the public to watch. Even today, you can still find the film and watch it for yourself.

Unfortunately, Walt Disney’s death would mark the premature end of the original plans for the Community of Tomorrow. Even on his deathbed, he was still drafting plans and drawing concept art. After his death, the RCID was passed, but now Epcot was a distant memory. His brother, Roy, took charge of the project and re-invented Epcot into the theme park we know and love today.

Information retrieved from Matt Patches of Esquire (2015), Alex Krieger of Fast Company (2021), and the online site, The Original Epcot Project.