Theme Park Architecture in the Real World

Through its emphasis on intimacy and human circulation, every Disneyland repudiates the sprawling urban realm that has been built since the 1950s. Disney's original Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), or Project X, was planned as a "New Town" for actual Florida residents based on the urban concepts of planner Victor Gruen. However, because of Walt Disney's death, it was never built. The concept drawings for this gigantic and rarely discussed project tellingly reveal Disney's evolving urban vision. His theme parks inspired his plans to reform the American city.

The exhibition culminates with a look at Disneyland's impact on the real world--its influence on shopping malls, restaurants, and city planning--as well as Disney's place in our collective psyche. Disneyland's thematic nature has had an enormous impact. We know Disneyland so well that it is easy to overlook its conscious and unconscious influence and meanings. While the Disney dream with all its enchantment and largesse is unquestionably designed to entertain, this exhibition also reveals its enormous impact as a rational and complex approach to design and space.

[Introduction]
[Imagineering]
[Main Street, U.S.A.]
[Fantasyland]
[Adventureland]
[Frontierland]
[Tomorrowland]
[Simulations]