Walt and the Promise of Progress City [Paperback]

Sam Gennawey (Author), Werner Weiss (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2011

• In the middle of Central Florida swamplands and ranch property, Walt Disney aspired to build the greatest American city ever conceived--EPCOT.  While Disney would die before realizing this epic achievement, he still left behind the blueprint for one of the boldest and most unique projects ever proposed on American soil.
• Walt and the Promise of Progress City is an amazing new book that explores how Walt Disney--the master of fiction--was determined to bring new life to the non-fiction world of city design and development and, in doing so, fundamentally improve the Great American way of life.
• This 374-page paperback by Sam Gennawey explores Walt Disney's vision for a city of tomorrow, EPCOT, and how this great city would be a way for American corporations to demonstrate how technology, creative thinking, and hard work could change the world. Quite simply, Disney saw this project as a way to influence the public's expectations about city life, in the same way his earlier work had redefined what it meant to watch an animated film or visit an amusement park.
• Gennawey, a professional planner and highly-respected theme park and attractions industry expert, also breaks new ground in detailing the process through which meaningful and functional spaces have been created by Walt Disney and his artists as well as how guests understand and experience those spaces.
• Gennawey has spent years researching the history of EPCOT and Walt Disney's love for city planning while interviewing a wide variety of key players familiar with Walt and his vision for EPCOT. 

Disney Legend Marty Sklar says;

"[Sam has] captured much of the attitude and events of the times, and hit on much of Walt's drive and inspiration. [His] research into materials and people who were important in one way or ano the r is exemplary. The notes from Buzz Price, John Hench and Marvin Davis, for example... the apparent influence of Victor Gruen's theories...a relationship that developed with James Rouse - all insightful. It is clear, well researched and useful and thoughtful to anyone studying urban planning."

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

• Disney Legend Marty Sklar

"[Sam has] captured much of the attitude and events of the times, and hit on much of Walt's drive and inspiration. [His] research into materials and people who were important in one way or another is exemplary. The notes from Buzz Price, John Hench and Marvin Davis, for example... the apparent influence of Victor Gruen's theories...a relationship that developed with James Rouse - all insightful. It is clear, well researched and useful and thoughtful to anyone studying urban planning."

• Lee Cockerell, Retired & Inspired WDW Executive VP

"I thought I knew a lot about Walt Disney World and especially EPCOT until I read Walt and the Promise of Progress City. This book really details how Walt Disney thought, which I found fascinating. I will now view Walt Disney World in a whole new way."

• Jim Hill, Jim Hill Media

One of the more interesting aspects of "The Promise of Progress City' is how Sam connects the dots. So to Gennawey's way of thinking, it's a fairly logical series of events that leads from Disney driving the design of his new animation studio in Burbank to him then coming up with a site plan for Disneyland. Then - using the urban sprawl that happened in & around Anaheim in the late 1950s / early 1960s as his inciting event - Walt begins exploring the idea of building a city of the future in Central Florida.

• George Taylor, Imaginerding

After Sam explains all of the projects that led Walt to want to create a Utopian city, he takes us on a visit to the EPCOT Center of 1982 that could have been. Sam takes us place-by-place through what an average visitor would experience at EPCOT Center. We start wit the jetport and end with the industrial park; in between, Sam covers the governance, living in EPCOT, shopping, entertainment and transportation. It is an amazing journey where you realize, that for every dream Walt had for his new town, at least half of them came to fruition in the first ten years at Walt Disney World.

• Ryan Wilson, Main Street Gazette


My inability to put a book down is the highest praise that I can heap on a book. In the case of Walt and the Promise of Progress City, I woke up on a vacation at 4:30 in the morning to continue reading and finished the entire 366 page volume before the end of the first week I had it. Sam has something special here, a rare educational text that embodies the spirit of Walt and carries with it the stories that well-versed armchair historians clamor for. This is, without a doubt, one of the best books I've read in the past couple of years. I cannot wait to see what Sam comes up with next.

From the Back Cover

PRAISE

Sam's writing is terrific; he truly enriches the discussion. Not only may you learn something new about the chosen subject, he'll likely open up another perspective on it for you too.

Al Lutz Founder/MiceAge
 
A tour de force. this is a must-read for any urban planner wanting to understand city-building and how people use urban space.  sam gennawey provides a rare glimpse into the creative "backstage" of how walt disney planned his theme parks and the experimental prototype community of tomorrow.  the irony is that the future 21st century 'economy of ideas' is finding a happier home on walt's human-scale main street than in an epcot community, an irony walt would have loved.
Marsha V. Rood, FAICP; Principal, URBAN Reinventions
 
 
Gennawey not only provides his readers with a deeper understanding of Walt's vision for Progress City, he offers insight into the world of urban design as it relates to theme park design.  This book serves as an ideal example of how we can apply a wide variety of principles to help us appreciate Disney's dream of a utopian city.
David Zanolla, Department of Communications, Western Illinois University

See all Editorial Reviews

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Product Details Paperback: 374 pages Publisher: Ayefour Publishing (October 4, 2011) Language: English ISBN-10: 0615540244 ISBN-13: 978-0615540245 Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews) Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

Sam Gennawey is the author of Walt and the Promise of Progress City, a contributor to Planning Los Angeles and other books as well as a columnist for the popular MiceChat website. His unique point of view built on his passion for history, his professional training as an urban planner, and his obsession with theme parks has brought speaking invitations from Walt Disney Imagineering, the Walt Disney Family Museum, Disney Creative, the American Planning Association, the California Preservation Foundation, the California League of Cities, and many Disneyana clubs, libraries and podcasts. He is currently a Senior Associate at the planning firm of Katherine Padilla and Associates.

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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars

(28)

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“ Walt and the Promise of Progress City is an inspiring tale that any fan of Walt Disney, the theme parks or urban design will enjoy. ” George H. Taylor Jr.  |  19 reviewers made a similar statement

“ Typically when I read a Disney book I learn a few facts that I have never been aware of before, but honestly many Disney books revisit the same material. ” Daniel Butcher  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement

“ I know I'm glad it is in mine, and I highly recommend it. ” Walter G Blanchard  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Between Books - Walt and the Promise of Progress City November 7, 2011

By Daniel Butcher

Format:Paperback

Often I have wondered what the Walt Disney World Resort would have looked like if Walt Disney had lived to see his last dream come to completion. I am sure that many of you have wondered the same thing. Walt Disney's hopes for his Florida property were for so much more than a theme park; after all he did not do sequels. The Walt Disney World Resort we have today is more than a clone of the Disneyland that opened in 1955 due to lessons learned from the California park, but it is still only a shadow of what Walt Disney dreamed.

Sam Gennawey of the SamLand blog provides his insight as an urban planner to detail Walt Disney's dreams for his Florida project, its evolution and its development in Walt and the Promise of Progress City. Gennawey introduces his readers to concepts used by urban planners when developing an area, often referring to specific examples within the Disneyland Resort to demonstrate them in action. This is followed by a detailed examination of Walt Disney's own property development projects including the Burbank studio, Disney's Carolwood Drive home, Disneyland, the failed Mineral King development, and finally the Florida project. This historical journey makes it clear that Disney's projects were becoming more complex and that Disney's true interest in building in Florida was not another theme park, since he had already built one, but the development of a working city that could demonstrate solutions to the problems of urban living through the use of technology. Genneway then walks his readers through the EPCOT of 1982 that might have been, Walt Disney's Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, not the Epcot theme park that we have today. Instead this EPCOT is a functioning city with shopping, recreational areas (including a theme park), residential areas and even a theme park much like seen in the Progress City model found in the exit of the Carousel of Progress at Disneyland during Gennawey's childhood. Gennawey concludes his book with a brief answer to if Disney's plans would have worked.

This book is full of the language of the urban planner. And though that could be seen as a drawback, I believe it is a benefit. I do not have a background in planning cities, I am not aware of the vocabulary that urban planners use and I'm definitely not aware of historic urban planning thinkers. Typically when I read a Disney book I learn a few facts that I have never been aware of before, but honestly many Disney books revisit the same material. Instead with Walt and the Promise of Progress City I learned about the world of the urban planner and because of this I was finding myself having conversations using this new vocabulary. And I was able to understand it because of the Disney linkages Gennawey provides his reader. Instead of being intimidated by these new concepts I was learning about them since he presents them in terms I can understand. Concepts like "The Quality Without a Name" can be easily understood when demonstrated in action within the Disney parks.

As a historian I truly enjoyed Gennawey's presentation of Walt Disney's evolution of building bigger and bigger projects eventually arriving at his dream of EPCOT, an entirely new city within the Disney Florida property. By linking together the various building projects that Disney oversaw, the reader can see Disney's desire for the inclusion of new technologies and improving the quality of life even if it was just an animator's desk for his Burbank Studio. Additionally, I found his discussion of the Mineral King project fresh and filled with possibilities of what could have been if the property had followed Walt Disney's designs. It is also clear that urban planners like Victor Gruen who were foremost thinkers in the city planning were influencing Disney's thoughts on cities. But Genneway makes it clear that Disney was not attempting to innovate new ideas about cities but to use the best thinking and technology to create spaces that people could truly use and enjoy. Disney's dream was gift humanity with a model of better ways to live and solve urban problems, not just an enjoyable family vacation.

Genneway's visit to the EPCOT 1982 is inspiring. First, it is not a theme park, but is instead a place where people live and work. Theme parks and hotels do not dominate this space. Instead it is a city with shopping, residential housing, schools, greenbelts, and yes that moneymaking theme park. Most surprising to me was the industrial park where companies would display the latest technology and processes. Though this EPCOT looks different than what we have today, it still includes shopping, hotels, and green spaces that exist today. While Walt's dream of a city is clearly not fully achieved by the current profile of the Walt Disney World Resort, it is amazing how much of the plans for a full city exist. For example as Genneway discusses the reading for the shopping district to be an attraction on its own right, I thought my families inclusion of Downtown Disney alongside the parks as part of our vacation planning.

If I could change one thing about Walt and the Promise of Progress City, it would be the inclusion of an index. There is so much good information about Walt Disney, the Disneyland Resort, the Walt Disney World Resort and urban planning, many readers will likely dog their copy with notes and highlighting and be used as a constant reference for what will have been. This text is an essential for any good Disney library due to its content. Interest for this book also can be found beyond Disney fans, I have friends who are not Disney enthusiasts asking to borrow my copy due to the historical content out of their own general interest. Sam Genneway in Walt and the Promise of Progress City offers a well-written, highly educational and highly interesting book that fans and non-fans of the Walt Disney World Resort will enjoy.

Review copy provided by Ayefour Publishing

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Explains Why Disney Theme Parks "Work" October 24, 2011

By Leonard Testa

Format:Paperback

This book is the first to explain - in basic architecture terms - how Disney's theme parks were designed. It is a fascinating read for anyone who enjoys spending time in Disneyland or Walt Disney World and wants a deeper understanding of why the parks were constructed as they are. While there are other good books on Disney architecture, they tend to describe the parks' architecture along the lines of "The Imagineers chose A and B to represent the American west" without explaining _why_ A and B were chosen. In contrast, Sam's book explains why these choices were made, and from where either Walt or the Disney Imagineers probably saw these architecture patterns in use before.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Urban Planner and Disney Enthusiast Chronicles Walt's EPCOT Center Plans January 10, 2012

By George H. Taylor Jr.

Format:Paperback

Since 1966, the world has been captivated by the vision that Walt Disney presented in his Project Florida film. It was such an amazing and inspiring vision, that Walt's brother Roy was able to persuade the State of Florida to pass legislation that would allow the Disney Company almost unfettered power to develop the City of Tomorrow. After Walt's passing in 1966 and then Roy's death in 1971, the Company wasn't able to complete Walt's dream as laid out in the film, but many of the innovative technologies found their way into the Vacation Kingdom. Regardless, the Company battled the press, local governments and the public with their outcries of "Where is EPCOT Center?" As we all know, Disney finally opened EPCOT Center, the theme park, in 1982 and it was a far cry from Walt's 1966 vision.

There has been a lot written about the Disney theme parks with an emphasis on the creation of EPCOT Center and the variance from Walt's ideas. Much of the critical writing has focused on trying to dissect where Disney went wrong or strayed from Walt's vision and promise. This is where Sam Gennawey's book differs and offers a new look at what happened and what we might have seen. Sam has had a varied and long career that has led him to being an urban planner. Being a Disney fan and an urban planner makes Sam an obvious choice to postulate on Walt, urban design and what might have been.

Walt and the Promise of Progress City is an exhaustive and thoroughly enjoyable book about Walt's EPCOT City, how the ideas were developed and what a visit to 1982 EPCOT Center could have been. Since Sam is an urban planner, you would assume that he would write with jargon and discuss overly-complex theories. On the contrary, Sam has written a book dealing with fairly complex subjects that any Disney fan will be able to read, enjoy and digest.

Sam's book takes a different path than what I expected, which is a great thing. I assumed that Sam would just discuss what could of happened and why it didn't turn into Walt's vision. Instead, Sam discusses how everything that Walt Disney did from the first Disney Bros. Studios through the Project Florida film and how Walt applied everything he learned to Progress City. Sam looks at each project and analyzes the steps Walt took and the progression of his ideas. It was quite eye-opening to connect the Burbank Studio, Tom Sawyer Island, the Mineral King project and the World's Fair to urban planning designs and theories.

After Sam explains all of the projects that led Walt to want to create a Utopian city, he takes us on a visit to the EPCOT Center of 1982 that could have been. Sam takes us place-by-place through what an average visitor would experience at EPCOT Center. We start wit the jetport and end with the industrial park; in between, Sam covers the governance, living in EPCOT, shopping, entertainment and transportation. It is an amazing journey where you realize, that for every dream Walt had for his new town, at least half of them came to fruition in the first ten years at Walt Disney World.

Walt and the Promise of Progress City is an inspiring tale that any fan of Walt Disney, the theme parks or urban design will enjoy. Sam takes us on a journey through urban design and planning that encompasses everything Walt did to discuss the vision. Although Sam covers some fairly intense theories, the book is not an academic treatise. Sam does a fantastic job of interpreting urban planning theories into a format that is accessible to the layperson.

I applaud Sam for tackling such a divisive subject as EPCOT and the oft-stated Internet battle cry of "What Would Walt Do?" None of us can say for certain what would of happened had Walt lived longer, but it is obvious that Sam understands urban planning and took a storied look at the project and analyzed it with intelligence, thought and a sense of wonder.

› See all 28 customer reviews (newest first)

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great look into the how and why of EPCOT

Detailed look at the how and why EPCOT ended up as it turned out and also what it might have been had Walt not passed away so young, so to speak.

Published 13 days ago by eye4bear

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have read on progress city

I loved this book… it was just so interesting. It was not only about Walt, and his plans but it had really interesting information on city planning. Is that nerdy? Read more

Published 1 month ago by T. Russell

5.0 out of 5 stars Walt and the Promise of Progress City

This book needs to be on the reading list of every top executive of today's alt Disney Company.
They just built the beautiful extended Fantasyland at Walt Disney World. Read more

Published 2 months ago by WCrandall

4.0 out of 5 stars The road to the Experimental Prototype Community of the Future (and...

Those of us who are of a certain age may well recall going to Disneyland and taking the escalator to the second floor of the Carousel of Progress show to look at the model of... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Doc Watson

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but I'd like a little more information

This book is good and offers some great information that I learned from. As someone who is already a fan of Disney and had already seen the EPCOT film much of the information was... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Dion

5.0 out of 5 stars Progress City

Very well written and insightful book. I have really enjoyed reading this book. There is enough new material in this book to keep ones interest. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Tim Savaglio

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Gem in my Disney Library!

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to. Having read a fair amount about Disney's plans for EPCOT and the "Florida Project" ("Walt Disney and the Quest for Community",... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Louis J. Prosperi

5.0 out of 5 stars Evolutionary, not Revolutionary--the Cities that Walt Built

I took my title for this review from a section title in Chapter 14 and page 269--Walt's city designs evolved. The "revolution" was that Walt's cities worked. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Alan D. Cranford

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read. A great addition to any Disney History / parks collector

I had read several of Mr. Gennaway's blog articles. I was especially taken with his views on entering the different parks from a city planning angle. "The Promise" is an education. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Al Jastrom

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, In-depth and Entertaining!

As a true life-long Disney enthusiasts, this is one of THE best books I have read on the design and development of the Happiest Places On Earth!

Published 9 months ago by D. Chase Maxwell-Taylor

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Product Details

• Paperback: 374 pages
• Publisher: Ayefour Publishing (October 4, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615540244
• ISBN-13: 978-0615540245
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sam Gennawey is the author of Walt and the Promise of Progress City, a contributor to Planning Los Angeles and other books as well as a columnist for the popular MiceChat website. His unique point of view built on his passion for history, his professional training as an urban planner, and his obsession with theme parks has brought speaking invitations from Walt Disney Imagineering, the Walt Disney Family Museum, Disney Creative, the American Planning Association, the California Preservation Foundation, the California League of Cities, and many Disneyana clubs, libraries and podcasts. He is currently a Senior Associate at the planning firm of Katherine Padilla and Associates.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Between Books - Walt and the Promise of Progress City November 7, 2011

By Daniel Butcher

Format:Paperback

Often I have wondered what the Walt Disney World Resort would have looked like if Walt Disney had lived to see his last dream come to completion. I am sure that many of you have wondered the same thing. Walt Disney's hopes for his Florida property were for so much more than a theme park; after all he did not do sequels. The Walt Disney World Resort we have today is more than a clone of the Disneyland that opened in 1955 due to lessons learned from the California park, but it is still only a shadow of what Walt Disney dreamed.

Sam Gennawey of the SamLand blog provides his insight as an urban planner to detail Walt Disney's dreams for his Florida project, its evolution and its development in Walt and the Promise of Progress City. Gennawey introduces his readers to concepts used by urban planners when developing an area, often referring to specific examples within the Disneyland Resort to demonstrate them in action. This is followed by a detailed examination of Walt Disney's own property development projects including the Burbank studio, Disney's Carolwood Drive home, Disneyland, the failed Mineral King development, and finally the Florida project. This historical journey makes it clear that Disney's projects were becoming more complex and that Disney's true interest in building in Florida was not another theme park, since he had already built one, but the development of a working city that could demonstrate solutions to the problems of urban living through the use of technology. Genneway then walks his readers through the EPCOT of 1982 that might have been, Walt Disney's Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, not the Epcot theme park that we have today. Instead this EPCOT is a functioning city with shopping, recreational areas (including a theme park), residential areas and even a theme park much like seen in the Progress City model found in the exit of the Carousel of Progress at Disneyland during Gennawey's childhood. Gennawey concludes his book with a brief answer to if Disney's plans would have worked.

This book is full of the language of the urban planner. And though that could be seen as a drawback, I believe it is a benefit. I do not have a background in planning cities, I am not aware of the vocabulary that urban planners use and I'm definitely not aware of historic urban planning thinkers. Typically when I read a Disney book I learn a few facts that I have never been aware of before, but honestly many Disney books revisit the same material. Instead with Walt and the Promise of Progress City I learned about the world of the urban planner and because of this I was finding myself having conversations using this new vocabulary. And I was able to understand it because of the Disney linkages Gennawey provides his reader. Instead of being intimidated by these new concepts I was learning about them since he presents them in terms I can understand. Concepts like "The Quality Without a Name" can be easily understood when demonstrated in action within the Disney parks.

As a historian I truly enjoyed Gennawey's presentation of Walt Disney's evolution of building bigger and bigger projects eventually arriving at his dream of EPCOT, an entirely new city within the Disney Florida property. By linking together the various building projects that Disney oversaw, the reader can see Disney's desire for the inclusion of new technologies and improving the quality of life even if it was just an animator's desk for his Burbank Studio. Additionally, I found his discussion of the Mineral King project fresh and filled with possibilities of what could have been if the property had followed Walt Disney's designs. It is also clear that urban planners like Victor Gruen who were foremost thinkers in the city planning were influencing Disney's thoughts on cities. But Genneway makes it clear that Disney was not attempting to innovate new ideas about cities but to use the best thinking and technology to create spaces that people could truly use and enjoy. Disney's dream was gift humanity with a model of better ways to live and solve urban problems, not just an enjoyable family vacation.

Genneway's visit to the EPCOT 1982 is inspiring. First, it is not a theme park, but is instead a place where people live and work. Theme parks and hotels do not dominate this space. Instead it is a city with shopping, residential housing, schools, greenbelts, and yes that moneymaking theme park. Most surprising to me was the industrial park where companies would display the latest technology and processes. Though this EPCOT looks different than what we have today, it still includes shopping, hotels, and green spaces that exist today. While Walt's dream of a city is clearly not fully achieved by the current profile of the Walt Disney World Resort, it is amazing how much of the plans for a full city exist. For example as Genneway discusses the reading for the shopping district to be an attraction on its own right, I thought my families inclusion of Downtown Disney alongside the parks as part of our vacation planning.

If I could change one thing about Walt and the Promise of Progress City, it would be the inclusion of an index. There is so much good information about Walt Disney, the Disneyland Resort, the Walt Disney World Resort and urban planning, many readers will likely dog their copy with notes and highlighting and be used as a constant reference for what will have been. This text is an essential for any good Disney library due to its content. Interest for this book also can be found beyond Disney fans, I have friends who are not Disney enthusiasts asking to borrow my copy due to the historical content out of their own general interest. Sam Genneway in Walt and the Promise of Progress City offers a well-written, highly educational and highly interesting book that fans and non-fans of the Walt Disney World Resort will enjoy.

Review copy provided by Ayefour Publishing

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Explains Why Disney Theme Parks "Work" October 24, 2011

By Leonard Testa

Format:Paperback

This book is the first to explain - in basic architecture terms - how Disney's theme parks were designed. It is a fascinating read for anyone who enjoys spending time in Disneyland or Walt Disney World and wants a deeper understanding of why the parks were constructed as they are. While there are other good books on Disney architecture, they tend to describe the parks' architecture along the lines of "The Imagineers chose A and B to represent the American west" without explaining _why_ A and B were chosen. In contrast, Sam's book explains why these choices were made, and from where either Walt or the Disney Imagineers probably saw these architecture patterns in use before.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Urban Planner and Disney Enthusiast Chronicles Walt's EPCOT Center Plans January 10, 2012

By George H. Taylor Jr.

Format:Paperback

Since 1966, the world has been captivated by the vision that Walt Disney presented in his Project Florida film. It was such an amazing and inspiring vision, that Walt's brother Roy was able to persuade the State of Florida to pass legislation that would allow the Disney Company almost unfettered power to develop the City of Tomorrow. After Walt's passing in 1966 and then Roy's death in 1971, the Company wasn't able to complete Walt's dream as laid out in the film, but many of the innovative technologies found their way into the Vacation Kingdom. Regardless, the Company battled the press, local governments and the public with their outcries of "Where is EPCOT Center?" As we all know, Disney finally opened EPCOT Center, the theme park, in 1982 and it was a far cry from Walt's 1966 vision.

There has been a lot written about the Disney theme parks with an emphasis on the creation of EPCOT Center and the variance from Walt's ideas. Much of the critical writing has focused on trying to dissect where Disney went wrong or strayed from Walt's vision and promise. This is where Sam Gennawey's book differs and offers a new look at what happened and what we might have seen. Sam has had a varied and long career that has led him to being an urban planner. Being a Disney fan and an urban planner makes Sam an obvious choice to postulate on Walt, urban design and what might have been.

Walt and the Promise of Progress City is an exhaustive and thoroughly enjoyable book about Walt's EPCOT City, how the ideas were developed and what a visit to 1982 EPCOT Center could have been. Since Sam is an urban planner, you would assume that he would write with jargon and discuss overly-complex theories. On the contrary, Sam has written a book dealing with fairly complex subjects that any Disney fan will be able to read, enjoy and digest.

Sam's book takes a different path than what I expected, which is a great thing. I assumed that Sam would just discuss what could of happened and why it didn't turn into Walt's vision. Instead, Sam discusses how everything that Walt Disney did from the first Disney Bros. Studios through the Project Florida film and how Walt applied everything he learned to Progress City. Sam looks at each project and analyzes the steps Walt took and the progression of his ideas. It was quite eye-opening to connect the Burbank Studio, Tom Sawyer Island, the Mineral King project and the World's Fair to urban planning designs and theories.

After Sam explains all of the projects that led Walt to want to create a Utopian city, he takes us on a visit to the EPCOT Center of 1982 that could have been. Sam takes us place-by-place through what an average visitor would experience at EPCOT Center. We start wit the jetport and end with the industrial park; in between, Sam covers the governance, living in EPCOT, shopping, entertainment and transportation. It is an amazing journey where you realize, that for every dream Walt had for his new town, at least half of them came to fruition in the first ten years at Walt Disney World.

Walt and the Promise of Progress City is an inspiring tale that any fan of Walt Disney, the theme parks or urban design will enjoy. Sam takes us on a journey through urban design and planning that encompasses everything Walt did to discuss the vision. Although Sam covers some fairly intense theories, the book is not an academic treatise. Sam does a fantastic job of interpreting urban planning theories into a format that is accessible to the layperson.

I applaud Sam for tackling such a divisive subject as EPCOT and the oft-stated Internet battle cry of "What Would Walt Do?" None of us can say for certain what would of happened had Walt lived longer, but it is obvious that Sam understands urban planning and took a storied look at the project and analyzed it with intelligence, thought and a sense of wonder.