Happy Birthday Walt: Where His Presence Can Be Felt Most at Walt Disney World

(Tom Simpson on Flickr)

 Yesterday would've been the 116th birthday of Walt Disney. He was a man beyond his time, seeking to make better his own, driven to unimaginable success by his desire and ability to make people's dreams come true. While others sought only or primarily financial gain in the operation of their businesses, Walt simply wanted to bring joy and happiness to the world, and he happened to have a great imagination and the talent of bringing together the right group of people to make his visions a reality. Nothing stopped him, not even financial difficulties or the "sharp pencil boys" that Walt always made sure worked for him and not the other way around. Visionary, optimal behaviorist, leader, game-changer, creator, and human, he all was. He made possible some of the greatest animated and live-action characters and films the world has ever seen, and then went on to make an entirely new and prosperous business for himself when he invented the world's first true theme park. Disneyland changed Walt's company and the world for the better, but it wasn't long before Walt set out on his grandest and most ambitious dream yet. Sadly, he passed away before he could see it to completion. His Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow died with him, but his Vacation Kingdom shines in the hot Floridian sun to this day, and within lies the final incarnations of Walt Disney's last and greatest dreams: the Magic Kingdom, the wonderful resorts and their amenities, and what's left (not much) of EPCOT Center. Walt may have never stepped foot in the complete World that is named after him, but he has a powerful presence there nonetheless. To honor his birthday and the incredible life that it represents, I will now take a look at where Walt Disney's presence can be felt most at the World that he would've been proud of.

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

(Norm Lanier on Flickr)

 Walt's hands may have never touched this first recreation of his Tiki Room, but even without Walt's physical presence, Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room is nearly every bit as nostalgic and filled with Walt's spirit in Florida as it is in California. As it is, WDW's Tiki Room contains much of the essence that made the original show at Disneyland an instant classic. The same delightful avian banter and spellbinding songs that enchant guests in Disneyland play in abridged form at Disney World's Tiki Room. Although the tiki birds at Disneyland will always be the first true audio-animatronics, the birds that sing and the flowers that croon at the show that used to call itself Tropical Serenade represent in spirit that same momentous achievement that Walt made all those years ago.

WEDWAY Peoplemover and the Monorail

(Joe Penniston on Flickr)

(CetusCetus on Flickr)

One of mankind's greatest dreams has always been the freedom and ability to travel quickly and comfortably to wherever they pleased. In that spirit, Walt showcased in his lifetime two marvelous and groundbreaking transportation systems at Disneyland; the Peoplemover and the Monorail. The Monorail was first; a gleaming, sleek, emissions-free train of the future gliding in the skies above on a roundabout trip through Tomorrowland at Walt's kingdom. The iconic Monorail trains would become the perfect mode of transport to and from Disneyland and the Disneyland Hotel when a station was opened there, and well after Walt had passed a Monorail station was created at Downtown Disney. Advances in track and vehicle technology made by Disney during the creation of Ford's Magic Skyway for the World's Fair would lead to the development of another truly spectacular transportation system: the Peoplemover. This motorless, emissions free system of cars powered along a track with motorized wheels embedded in it was thought by Walt to be a revolutionary concept for future transportation, one that he was proud to use for a grand circuit tour of his Tomorrowland.

At Walt Disney World, both the Peoplemover and the Monorail were intended to play a much bigger role. Both were meant to be the primary means of getting out and about in Walt Disney's E.P.C.O.T., the first time that the two systems would have been used in tandem in an actual city anywhere. Although the city of tomorrow never came to fruition, the Monorail and Peoplemover still had starring roles in Disney World's grand show. In addition to transporting guests between the Ticket and Transportation Center, the Magic Kingdom, and the Polynesian and Contemporary Resorts, the Monorail line at WDW would later be expanded to include EPCOT Center and the Grand Floridian Resort when they were built. Deep within the paradise of the Magic Kingdom, a new and improved Peoplemover, now using magnetic linear induction motors instead of embedded motorized tires, sailed on a covered track high above the utopia of Tomorrowland. Unfortunately, neither line expansion nor update of the trains has happened for the Monorail since the late 80s, and while WDW's Peoplemover outlasted its Disneyland cousin, it has been somewhat neglected in recent years. Despite this, both the Peoplemover and Monorail remain wonderful examples of the innovative ideas and inventions that Walt so often showcased in his projects.

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress

(Joe Penniston on Flickr)

 If there ever was a theme song that could encompass Walt's life and who he was, "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" would be it. As the Carousel of Progress has changed and moved over the years, first from the Progressland Pavilion at the World's Fair in '64 to its home in Disneyland's Tomorrowland, then to Walt Disney World when GE felt it was time to tap into a new audience on the East Coast, it has never truly lost its very real and very powerful connection that it has with Walt Disney and all it represented. Even though the final scene is outdated and the GE appliance advertisements have been replaced with a mediocre sitcom in the script, as long as that wonderfully unique theater is still rotating in Tomorrowland, Walt's presence will always be alive and well somewhere in the World dedicated to him.

Progress City and the Original E.P.C.O.T.

(Cory Doctorow on Flickr)

 At last, we come to the one thing in all of Walt Disney World that can claim the most powerful connection by far to Walt; a piece of the original Progress City model. The model that now resides in a dark and quiet corner of a Peoplemover showbuilding was once part of the magnificent Progress City model that resided on the second floor of the Carousel of Progress building at Disneyland. This powerful, bold, and delightfully kinetic model was filled with painstakingly detailed buildings and landscaping, moving cars and vehicles, and an electrician's cornucopia of lights. Only a fraction of this model exists today, but in the face of being overlooked and in need of some TLC, this part of Progress City that figuratively and literally has Walt's fingerprints on it continues to be a powerful physical and spiritual link between Walt Disney World and the man himself.

This model also represents one of the last physical conceptions remaining of Walt's most powerful yet unrealized dream; his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. An actual city never came to be at WDW, but the theme park that rose from its ashes was genuinely sublime. In its prime, EPCOT Center was an optimistic and futuristic force to be reckoned with, combining Walt's vision of American free enterprise and international cultures showcasing their very best with some of the most breathtaking and awe-inspiring work that WED Enterprises (the original Imagineers) ever did. EPCOT Center sought to be, and for a time was a transformative center of learning and culture for all the world. EPCOT Center lit the spark of many of today's great thinkers, inventors, and scientists. The tide has long since ebbed for EPCOT Center, but it will be hard indeed for the world to forget the brilliant attractions and concepts that resided there and the truly remarkable effect it had on today's society and livelihood. The theme park with the amazing geodesic sphere was not Walt's city, but the same brilliant concepts, themes and ideas that Walt had made the beating pulse of his E.P.C.O.T. were reincarnated beautifully in EPCOT Center.

I hope you've all enjoyed this look at just a few of the incredible things that Walt accomplished in his lifetime and beyond. May his spirit and soul live on, if not at the Disney company, in our hearts and memories of the experiences and dreams that Walt made come true for all of us.

Happy Birthday Walt

December 5th, 1901 - December 15th, 1966