I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to stumble this weekend upon the recently released autobiography of John Tishman. Tishman supervised, among other things, the building of EPCOT, and a whole chapter in this book is dedicated to his experiences with Disney.

I should have posted this yesterday, of course:

[Pre-opening publicity for the Epcot Disney theme park in Orlando, Florida proclaimed "The 21st Century begins October 1, 1982". That was twenty-five years ago and today Epcot celebrates its birthday with a Silver Anniversary re-dedication ceremony at the Fountain Stage at 10:01 am. There will be special commemorative "retro" theme park maps available only today, buttons and cupcakes and a small Gallery in Innoventions West showcasing some Epcot history. In addition there will be a special 25th Illuminations firework show in the evening.

Imagineering Ambassador Marty Sklar will be at the Circle of Life theater in The Land pavilion to give three special "guest conversations" about Epcot. Last week, Marty gave three one-hour presentations to Epcot cast members and one for the NFFC convention. Among the treasures that Marty shared included the fact that there were two different endings written and filmed for Walt's famous "Epcot" film and Marty showed both of those endings, one for Florida and one for American Industry.

When Disney Historian Jim Korkis asked Marty last week at the NFFC convention if he sensed that Walt was not feeling well when the short film was filmed (roughly two months before Walt Disney died), Marty replied, "We had no idea. He was in good spirits and never complained. It took us an entire day to film those seven minutes of Walt talking. He even ad-libbed one of the best lines in the film, 'According to this scale, I am six miles high'. I didn't write that. He came up with it himself. He did read and edit the script before we filmed it, changing the phrase "living laboratory" to "living showcase" when referring to Epcot."

In case anyone is interested, today is also the 36th birthday of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.]

There are less than thirty-five days until WDW's Epcot celebrates its 25th birthday. From the collection of Jim Korkis, here is the program from the October 1, 1979 groundbreaking ceremonies for that theme park. Looking closely at the map, you can see many differences between the groundbreaking and the opening two years later. For instance, there is a pavilion for Costa Rica but no pavilion for China. The Imagination pavilion is named "Images and Imagination". Walt Disney first announced his plans for Epcot on November 15, 1965 at the Cherry Plaza Hotel in Orlando, Florida. The hotel no longer exists.