This is one of these stories that I’m sure is going to depress a certain portion of JHM readers. Mostly because it gives a glimpse of what might have been at Walt Disney World. Particularly if Ron Miller had remained in power at the Mouse House.
Anyway … The following is a transcript of an article that ran in the June 6, 1982 issue of the Epcot Center Construction News.
Copyright 1982 Walt Disney Productions. All Rights Reserved
This was a weekly newsletter that was distributed to the more-than-10,000 construction workers that were toiling at the Epcot Center job site. So that these folks could then be brought up to speed about what Walt Disney Productions was up to.
The following interview with Dick Nunis (Who was then president of the Walt Disney World Disney) …
Dick Nunis, president of the Walt
Disney World Resort (1980 – 1991)
… was supposed to give these construction workers some idea of the projects that they’d be tackling after Phase One of Epcot Center was complete.
Q: Will we ever expand Epcot Center?
A: Very definitely. Epcot Center will never be complete. We want to go ahead with the Seas pavilion and we feel there is a need for a Life and Health pavilion. Beyond that, there should be a Space pavilion. But we’ve put that on hold for now because the space industry is changing so rapidly.
Copyright 1982 Walt Disney Productions. All Rights Reserved
In World Showcase we have nine countries to begin with: Canada, Great Britain, France, Japan, the United States, China, Italy, Mexico and Germany, and there are eight other spaces available. We think they will fill up rather rapidly. We’ve signed a contract with Spain, and we’re negotiating with Israel. We’ll have an African pavilion. We’ll probably have a Scandinavian pavilion someday and we’ve also been talking with Venezuela. Now you see why I think those eight spots will fill up very rapidly.
Copyright 1982 Walt Disney Productions. All Rights Reserved
We also have a blue sky dream. On both sides of the American Adventure (pavilion) there is enough room to make a cut through and create another lagoon on the south side of World Showcase where there are about five good building sites. The concept involves building a hotel in Australia for instance. If you’re staying in this hotel then you’re in World Showcase already. If you’re a day guest, you could take a cruise down to Australia or to the South Seas or other parts of the world. I think it’s a good concept and would be another way to generate more hotel space.
Copyright 1978 Walt Disney Prdouctions. All Rights Reserved
Q: Let’s talk about our plans outside Epcot Center. Do we have any plans of expanding the Magic Kingdom?
Copyright 1990 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A: Very definitely. The Magic Kingdom will continue to grow. It’s designed to expand to the north of Fantasyland and I’d like to bring the Matterhorn to the Magic Kingdom (currently a popular attraction in California’s Disneyland park). It’d be the tallest mountain in Florida! Our concept would be to put the Matterhorn over the train, creating a blizzard scene with real snow. Can you imagine people in July and August riding the train to get cool?
Q: Do we plan to expand our hotels?
A: Estimates say that this area is between 15,000 and 19,000 hotel rooms short. We’re worried about it. Right now we plan to expand the Polynesian Village, Golf Resort and Walt Disney World Village resort areas.
Copyright 1990 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
We also have in design three hotels. The Mediterranean will be located between the Transportation & Ticket Center and the Contemporary Resort. The Cypress Point Lodge will be west of River Country (in Fort Wilderness) and be themed as a western hotel. It’ll include log cabins along Bay Lake.
Copyright 1987 The Walt Disney Company. All Rights Reserved
The third one, the Grand Floridian, we’ll build on the old Asian site on Seven Seas Lagoon (near the existing Polynesian Village Resort). It will be a replica of the great Florida hotels of the 1900s. Our creative people came up with an absolutely beautiful design.
In addition, we have some dreams for the Walt Disney World (Shopping) Village. From the Empress Lilly (restaurant), we’re going into a New Orleans street, and you’ll walk right into a beautiful New Orleans hotel.
Those are the kinds of things we can continue to do in the future here at Walt Disney World … I think the sky is the limit.
Of course, a few of the projects that Dick mentioned did eventually make it up out of the ground. The Living Seas pavilion. The Grand Floridian. Cypress Point Lodge (i.e, That name was abandoned in the late 1980s in favor of Wilderness Lodge). But as for that Matterhorn in the Magic Kingdom and/or that Australian pavilion that was to have included a hotel that WDW guests could have stayed in … These, plus the Africa, Israel and Spain pavilion never actually made it off the drawing board.
Out of all the projects mentioned here, is there one that you really wish Disney had actually put into construction?
Your thoughts?