After writing my post about The Food and Wine festival at EPCOT, I started to thinking back about what EPCOT was supposed to be, and what we eventually ended up with–and decided that this really did need to be a Rant and Rave article after all.

I could prattle on about it how sad it is that Walt’s grand vision never came to pass, and describe in detail the depths of his brilliance and his enthusiasm surrounding his ideals and goals for EPCOT, but I’d rather defer to the master himself–Walt E. Disney–in a short film, made in 1966 (not long before his death), about his California theme park and the magnificent plans for some swamp-front property in Orange and Osceola Counties.

While the airport of tomorrow and transportation center Walt envisioned at the extreme southern end of the property (8:34 in the film) never materialized; Disney World does–or rather did–in fact, have an airport, of sorts:

Lake Buena Vista Airport, Orlando, Florida, on the 1972 Jacksonville sectional chart

According to the website Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields, a small STOL field existed sidelining the east side of the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom parking lot. The paved asphalt and ramp are still there, and still meticulously maintained in true Disney fashion:

The former Lake Buena Vista STOL Airport runway 12/30 (click for Google interactive Map)

Ironically, in our post-9/11 world, a permanent TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) zone–in English, an FAA-mandated No-Fly zone–has existed over both Walt Disney World and Disneyland since 2003, and reiterated via NOTAM (NOTice to AirMen) by the FAA as recently as February 2009. Oh sure, you can apply for a waiver to fly over Disney. Good luck with that. Not that you could actually land on 12/30 anyway–it’s been closed to air traffic for many, many years (thank you, over-protective, hyperventilating, hand-wringing Disney legal)–and, according to reports, is a staging area for cargo containers and buses.

But this is only one of Walt’s grand dreams that died with him; I could go on and on and on but if you watched the whole film, you were, as I was,  likely shaking your head in sad wonderment that such a beautiful vision of tomorrow was supplanted by what exists on the Disney property now. In fact, outside a handful of independent bloggers and historians on the Web keeping the dream of the EPCOT that could have been alive, only the briefest of nods to Walt’s true vision for EPCOT isn’t even in EPCOT at all:

Rather, this beautiful, sophisticated, detailed model of Walt’s grand design for the Experimental Prototype City Of Tommorow–his largest, most sophisticated, and most spectacular dream–has been relegated to a dark, dusty, little-known tunnel in the People Mover in the Tomorrowland section Magic Kingdom, almost as if Disney management are embarrassed by the fact that they have completely eschewed Disney’s dreams and vision, dashing them both upon the rocks of corporate profits and pandering to shareholders.

Fellow blogger Michael Steele in his blog, URLS from the Edge,  said it best as he recalls in this entry an anecdote about the sadness of the EPCOT that could have been:

Chris Cole used to tell a sad story that went something like this:

“Walt Disney said “Let’s make cartoons in color!” and marketing people said “You’re crazy, Walt, no one wants or needs that” and then he did it anyway and it was amazing and successful and the marketing people said “Wow, Walt’s a genius!”.

Then Walt said “Let’s use cartoons to tell full length stories; tales which can never be told with real films and actors” and the marketing people said “You’re crazy, Walt, no one wants or needs that” and then he did it anyway and it was amazing and successful and the marketing people said “Wow, Walt’s a genius!”.

Then Walt said “Let’s create an amusement park like no other – a clean, friendly place, where we can build narrative spaces and meaningful experiences that people will remember all their lives” and the marketing people said “You’re crazy, Walt, no one wants or needs that” and then he did it anyway and it was amazing and successful and the marketing people said “Wow, Walt’s a genius!”.

Finally Walt had his greatest vision to date; He said “Cities are in horrible shape, poorly laid out, designed by chance and greed, and giving rise to all kinds of environmental and social ills. We can do better than this! Besides, mankind will someday journey to the stars, trips that may take centuries – we’d best learn how to live together soon; let’s build a carefully designed arcology that puts the people’s needs first, and which improves and changes efficiently as technology evolves. We’ll call it EPCOT; Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow!” and the marketing people said “You’re crazy, Walt, no one wants or needs that”.

…and then Walt died…

and the marketing people took control of the company said “Walt was crazy, let’s build a big themed shopping center – people want and need that!”

(Editor’s note: I wish I could find out more about this Chris Cole person–I’d always tucked this anecdote away in my mind thinking that he was maybe a top Imagineer working with Disney up until his death, but sadly, the only mentions on the Intrawebs I can find of Chris Cole bespeaks of his skateboarding prowess–and I don’t care how young-at-heart you are, I’d have a hard time believing that a contemporary of Walt’s is still spry enough to shred on a skateboard at the profesisonal level).

I love Engadget. Not becuase I’m a self-proclaimed gadget junkie, but also–unlike the dry, dry, drier than cold-chicken-on-toast-with-nothing-else sandwich, drier than a vodka martini with no vermouth, drier than a mouthful of cinnamon commentary you get from just about every other techie site on the Intrawebs (are you listening, c|net?)–Engadget’s commentary is almost always delivered with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek and, at times, hilariously funny.

This headline made me literally laugh out loud at my desk:

Motorola Droid torn down despite desperate cries of ‘No Disassemble’

Motorola Droid in less-than-operable condition

I know it’s been a while, and I made a couple of entries previous to this, but Butterfly and I went to the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World Orlando over the weekend.

Wow. What an amazing variety of food! We ate our way all the way around the world of nations, both garnering personal favorites: Laura’s was the empanada she had at Brazil, with a close second being the Etouffé she had at New Orleans. This was a personal favorite of mine as well; however, my favorite was France–with Escargot baked into tiny pastries and braised boneless beef ribs, topped off with chocolate crème brûlée–absolutely scrumptious.

I’ve been going to EPCOT for years–however, it was on this trip, late into the evening on Saturday, that I discovered that the Mexico pavilion had a ride! Butterfly had asked me if I wanted to go on the Mexican boat ride–”They have a ride?” I exclaimed. It’s kind of cute, too–sort of a Mexican version of “It’s a Small World,” but showcasing only Mexico, and starring the Three Caballeros–Donald Duck and two other birds. Wikipedia says the ride used to be El Rio de Tiempo (The River of Time)–which I think I would’ve liked better than what they turned it into, apparently, in 2007. But hey, anything to keep the kiddies entertained, right? I mean, hell, who actually needs to learn stuff anymore? *sigh* Oh Walt, man, I miss you… You would’ve killed the executive who even proposed defacing the ride like that… I’d better stop, before I have to add the “Rants and Raves” tag to this entry…

In any case, not only does Mexico have a ride, but they also have a beautiful restaurant inside the pavilion, too–made up to look like a Mexican marketplace at night. Simply stunning. I’m sorry I never went in there before, and will have to return with Butterfly to go to the restaurant.

We also got the opportunity to go on Spaceship Earth–without question my favorite ride at EPCOT (call me nutty). Siemens AG took over sponsorship of the ride, and with that came some fetching new ride redesigns, but more evolutionary than revolutionary. And while Judy Densch does a respectable job as current narrator, nobody will ever fill the shoes, in my opinion, of the first narrator of Spaceship Earth–the venerable Walter Cronkite.

I finally got to get a vacation alone with Butterfly for the first time in over two years. That was neat–we sure needed it. Butterfly’s mom was gracious enough to stay at our place and watch T-Rex for us. That’s the last time we will ever let that happen. She brought her two incredibly obnoxious malteses with her, who pissed and shit all over my fucking house. God I hate dogs–especially her dogs. Next time we ask her to watch T-Rex overnight, we’re going to take him to her place.