Walt's Vision

In Kevin Shortsleeve's article "Disney, Despotism, and the 1930s," I read that EPCOT stood for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. I had always known what the acronym stood for, but I had never thought much about it. Thanks to this article, I now know that Walt Disney had actually planned for EPCOT to be a fully functioning city where people would live, work, and go to school. Walt envisioned a circular city that was constantly developing and utilizing the latest technology as well as creating the technology of tomorrow. While monorails and "People Movers" would transport citizens on or above street level, automobiles and trucks would drive underneath the city's streets in order to keep it's pedestrians safe. In addition, the entire community would be enclosed in order to create ideal weather conditions for the residents of this special community. Overall, this Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow sounds too controlling to me, but it was interesting to learn more about the original purpose of EPCOT.