
Pylons
I think EPCOT is so close to so many of our hearts in part because it was so close to Walt’s heart. As he explained when he started talking publicly about his plans for an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow in 1966, just months before he passed away, "I happen to be a kind of inquisitive guy and when I see things I don't like, I start thinking why do they have to be like this and how can I improve them." When Walt died later that year, many people thought that the Florida Project, and his vision to create EPCOT, would die with him. Luckily for the rest of us, he’d built a team around him that didn’t let that happen. Walt Disney World opened in 1971, and even then the marketing materials were talking about plans for Walt’s reimagined city. Over the years of its development, EPCOT became something new–a sort of permanent World’s Fair celebrating technological achievement and international culture. When it came time to create its logo, countless ideas were tacked to the walls.