if walt was still alive when disneyworld opened will disneyworld be alot different?

[disneyboi92]

If walt was still alive when disneyworld opened will disneyworld look as much different as it did today?

[Disneyland Daddy]

Originally Posted by disneyboi92

If walt was still alive when disneyworld opened will disneyworld look as much different as it did today?

??? Your phrasing and various tenses throws me somewhat for a loop, but I think I understand what you are asking.....

Well, consider how much different Disneyland looks from opening day in 1955. Walt WAS alive then, and consider the difference. Much of it still the same, yet some of it totally different.

[danyoung]

Yes, Disney World would be totally different. I think the Magic Kingdom would have turned out somewhat the same. But Epcot would have been much closer to EPCOT, the real city with real residents. I've always feld that Walt would have figured out a way to make it work.

[kcnole]

I'm going to take this question to mean if he was alive on the opening day would things be different. I don't think so. Magic Kingdom and the resorts were pretty much already planned out before he died. Roy just completed the plans and made sure they were done the way Walt would have wanted. You don't ask beyond opening day. If he had survived for ten years after opening then yes, the resort would have most definitely been different and I don't know if it would have been better or not. I think Walt was dead set on building the city of EPCOT and I'm not convinced it would have succeeded at all. We'll never know however.

[tasman]

Magic Kingdom was originally supposed to have a slate of unique attractions, most notably Western River Expedition, which were cut due to cost concerns. If Walt had lived a few more years these would have had a much greater likelihood of being built. If here were alive today, I would hope we would see less sacrificing of theme for the sake of movie tie-ins, and less sacrificing of quality for sake of profit.

[mikeland]

I think the monorail would go to more places than it does now. It's definitely underused.

[Pizzapants]

Just going off of history, I think we would've gotten an Epcot much more in the spirit of the original Progress City. People nay-sayed many, many things that Walt did, yet he still made them all happen his way. And a "progress city" isn't impossible. Every time I go to Las Vegas they are working on a project called the City Center, and it's very similar to the original Epcot. I almost wonder if the designers are fans.

[Esdeebee]

Originally Posted by Pizzapants

Just going off of history, I think we would've gotten an Epcot much more in the spirit of the original Progress City. People nay-sayed many, many things that Walt did, yet he still made them all happen his way. And a "progress city" isn't impossible. Every time I go to Las Vegas they are working on a project called the City Center, and it's very similar to the original Epcot. I almost wonder if the designers are fans.

Walt did seem to have a great force of will, and didn't appear to much care whether anyone else thought something he wanted to do was a "smart" thing to do. He seemed to also be pretty much always right.

I'll bet that Walt would have gotten further with his EPCOT project than they ever even TRIED to get. But I think the changing face of corporate America would have stymied him...not at first, but as it changed from what it was back then to what it is today.

I don't really know about MK - I suspect it would have looked different because Walt would have brooked no changes from his plans, and it seems Roy did the expedient things in getting it open on time.

[jackskeleton1015]

Definetly it would be a lot different.

Walt always had the most insaine ideas ever but they always worked out

to be great things. Walt would do things that none of us would think to

do.

Walt's craziest things

1. Sound cartoon (Steamboat Willie)
2. Feature lenght cartoon (Snow White)
3. Theme Park (Disneyland)
4. Creating Another Theme Kingdom (Walt Disney World)

Just to name a few.

[lazyboy97O]

Originally Posted by kcnole

I'm going to take this question to mean if he was alive on the opening day would things be different. I don't think so. Magic Kingdom and the resorts were pretty much already planned out before he died. Roy just completed the plans and made sure they were done the way Walt would have wanted.

I am not entirely convinced of this. If you look closely at the large map in the "EPCOT video" (featured at One Man's Dream), the Magic Kingdom on the map is just the roof plan of Disneyland at that time. There is no lake in front of the park.

Check out this image of the Resort Area

From everything I have read, Walt was just not all that interested in the second Disneyland. EPCOT was his focus, and he accepted the park as a means to an end.

The question then becomes, how long after 1971 did Walt live? Then there's the question of if we should assume that Roy still dies in 1971. Things could have been a lot worse if Walt died after Roy, leaving the company even more lost after Walt's death than they had been.

[Aladdin]

IF Walt had lived, EPCOT very likely would have been Much different. But, just to get the crowds coming to the east coast venue, Walt might have gone ahead with a Magic Kingdom as the 1st WDW park. But he might have changed things up a little more, like offer different dark rides for fantasyland, he might have pushed forward with Western River Expedition at Park opening, He might have insisted on better fronts to the dark rides in Fantasyland, and I'm sure he would be insulted by the Small World Version in the Magic Kingdom.

[TDLFAN]

I guess it's pointless to ponder this question. But in case there is any doubt, someone should go to the fridge and wake up Walt and ask his opinion on this...

[Coastierox]

Originally Posted by TDLFAN

I guess it's pointless to ponder this question. But in case there is any doubt, someone should go to the fridge and wake up Walt and ask his opinion on this...

Didn't they do that on Family Guy?

[Esdeebee]

Originally Posted by Pizzapants

Just going off of history, I think we would've gotten an Epcot much more in the spirit of the original Progress City. People nay-sayed many, many things that Walt did, yet he still made them all happen his way. And a "progress city" isn't impossible. Every time I go to Las Vegas they are working on a project called the City Center, and it's very similar to the original Epcot. I almost wonder if the designers are fans.

I wasn't sure what you were referring to in Vegas...but I think I got it now. It's that large project near (next to?) Bellagio, right?

I'd say it is more like an "arcology" than like what Walt was envisioning for EPCOT. A self contained "building" community where everything is under one roof. I'm under the impression that Walt wanted something closer to a traditional city - streets, little individual houses, lots of open spaces, etc etc. The thing in Vegas is more about being a residential development, a mid rise condo building on steroids. I haven't looked at it in a while, however. Maybe they've made changes to it that I'm unaware of...