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The Progress City Primer: Stories, Secrets, and Silliness from the Many Worlds of Walt Disney
From the Progress City Archives comes this collection of tall tales and true from the annals of the Walt Disney Company. From Walt’s on-set antics to the creations of modern-day Imagineers, we’ve put together a sampling of stories from throughout Disney history. SEE how Walt Disney befriended presidents and saved the Winter Olympics! HEAR how Imagineers created the technological wonderland of Epcot Center! READ the true-life tales of never-built Disney theme parks Port Disney and Disney’s America! Join us as we explore the obscure and amusing corners of the Disney universe. From Fantasia to Horizons, there’s something here for every fan.
- GenresNonfiction
340 pages, Paperback
Published July 22, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 13, 2023
A well-written, informative account from Walt Disney’s Disneyland days leading through his death and into the Eisner era of theme park expansion. Although the Neverworlds section details a number of projects canceled in the Eisner era, the focus of the book is EPCOT and Epcot, tracing back why certain promises or early concepts never made it to fruition. The black-and-white photos and diagrams really bring the text to life!
The text maintains an even, matter-of-fact tone, sometimes punctuated by humor and surprise. However, it doesn’t delve deep enough into the details, such as why/how certain park proposals cost so much, or how Walt Disney was able to meet and convince so many sponsors.
I appreciate broad analysis of why certain things failed. The book draws quotes from Michael Eisner’s Work in Progress autobiography, but more interviews of actual Imagineers and upper management would have helped paint a more detailed picture. Too often, the text dismisses the reasoning to cost overruns or bureaucracy, which, though true, don’t really provide enough detail into the negotiations and difficult personalities that stood in the Disney Company’s way to realizing Walt’s original dream.
“During his life, Walt crossed paths with several American presidents” and a recurring theme throughout the book was cultivating the necessary support from politicians in government, but the precise way Disney navigated these waters was never made clear. The book reads as if we’re just observers, wondering how cool this attraction would have been, or how awesome that feature would be, but never peeling back the onion to examine where the buck stopped, i.e. who and how an idea died in the meeting rooms. I would have appreciated some of those conversations, even if it just boiled down to construction cost breakdowns or an overly intransigent political opponent.
The book ends lamenting the fact that “the most American aspect of its development—the ability of the rich and powerful to distort the facts and co-opt the media into convincing the less well-off to act in direct opposition to their best interests.” This perspective rings truer than ever today, and I see MIchael Crawford and the publication of books like these as the way to counterbalance that dominant media influence, because Crawford has no skin in the political game, no ulterior motive, isn’t being paid to advertise, and writes for an independent publishing house. This context is all the more reason to dive deeper, provide more color to the facts and figures, and showcase/dramatize the exact interactions that led Walt to be so much more convincing and forward-facing as a leader compared to Card Walker and later Michael Eisner. This isn’t a Walt leadership manual, but with so many nuances and hurdles to planning a city of EPCOT’s scope, it should read more than just a litany of “this happened, then that happened.” I don’t want fiction, but a bit more storytelling and nitty-gritty back-room negotiations would have taught me a lot about what it takes, and what Walt’s successors didn’t have.
Here are some of my highlighted quotes from the book:
“Disney had intended to use the PeopleMover in Epcot Center, where it would carry guests from the Main Entrance into Future World, but that never came to fruition either.” (76)
“Fonts, logos, and signage were consistent throughout the park, giving the entire enterprise a sleek, clean, and futuristic feel. While each pavilion would have its own visual style, and its own unique logo, it would still fit into the overall color design and visual vocabulary of the entire park. This gave all of early Epcot a very comforting vibe, absent of visual contradictions and with a consistent sense of place… restaurant memnus had to be specifically designed to fit into the park’s distinct look. Signs and printed collateral used a single set of approved fonts and styles, and everything felt ‘Epcot’ whether it was a Japanese teppanyaki menu or a postcard for Horizons.” (80)
“The vision of Walt’s futuristic city had been well-publicized in the run-up to Walt Disney World’s opening, and the people of Florida would not forget it easily.”
“EPCOT was never meant to be an actual city, the story would go as the decades passed, but instead it was the set of values upon which the Florida property was modeled.” (123)
“Disney still planned on incorporating many of EPCOT’s ideas into its Florida property, they said, but instead of permanent residents it would now house and service a transient population of tourists and corporate personnel.” (124)
“The most important role of the Theme Center was to carry on Walt’s hope that the systems seen in EPCOT could inspire other cities. It would, said Disney, ‘demonstrate how these new technologies and ideas can be applied in a practical way to improving the environment for living in existing communities throughout America and the world.’
The plan, in 1975, was for there to be no fee for guests to visit the Future World Theme Center; Disney would, however, charge for admission to the World Showcase and the other satellite sites.” (129)
“The Disney organization under Card Walker believed that American free enterprise held the answers for problems facing our communities and, when given free reign (as Disney itself had been in its self-governed Reedy Creek Improvement District), these corporations could an dwould address those problems head on.” (134)
“Among the ideas for the ‘information marketplace’ were Telstore, a Future World ‘video bookstore.’ … the Informat Arcade, the idea of gaming would be combined with ‘providing new experiences for the public in information retrieval’ to create ‘a casino of information’ in video game format. It would, in Disney’s words, ‘[take] the penny arcade of the past into the information age.’” (142)
“Complicated, coordinated movements were pre-programmed into his onboard computers, allowing GERO to be controlled by a simple wireless device concealed in his operator’s pocket. This allowed for a wide variety of possible interactions, such as shaking hands, waving, pointing, or driving his scooter. Many of these were hard-coded into his programming to simplify operation…” (176)
“Every time I designed something I thought was totally new, I would take it over to our horticulturists and they would tell me it already existed,” said [Imagineer Alex] Taylor. I began to despair of coming up with something nature hadn’t already done.” (190)
“G.E. eventually abandoned the pavilion it helped create when its sponsorship ended on September 30th, 1993. Horizons continued to operate without a sponsor, but with no one coming forward to fund a much-needed refurbishment, the pavilion closed in late 1994… Disney balked at the cost.” (197)
“Walt Disney Productions, as it existed in 1982, certainly couldn’t fund [Epcot] on their own, and corporate participants were necessary to underwrite the massive pavilions. This meant nearly a decade of wining and dining doughy, rich old white guys with endless steak dinners and pitchers of cocktails; it meant countless private het flights and limo rides to a range of corporate headquarters, with dinner, drinks, and a show afterwards.” (207)
“The death of Frank Wells and the departure of Heffery Katzenberg, Eisner’s health scare, and the cancellation of Disney’s America—these events took their tool, and management became cowed.” (247)
“Disney had been roundly castigated for their secrecy and back-room tactics. Putting on a show of openly consulting the public early in the permitting and environmental review process showed that they were taking the community’s opinions into consideration, and were behaving like good corporate citizens.” (250)
“By February 1988, the estimated cost of the complex had risen to $618 million, although DIsney had entered talks with British retailer Harrods. Mitsukoshi of Japan, although not yet contacted by Disney, openly exopressed interest in the project as well.” (266)
“The reasons for the demise of these grand projects vary in the details, but upon examination similar themes emerge. All the projects met with some initial resistance from a vocal minority, which was only compounded when faced by Disney’s then-defiant upper-level management. By the time public and private support for the parks rallied and various bureaucratic roadblocks began to falll, fatigue had set in at Team Disney. (267)
“Delays in the approval process and escalating costs made Port Disney difficult to justify when compared to the cheaper and quicker yet still spectacular WESTCOT option. (281)
“In the end, it was money that killed the Port Disney project.” (282)
“Secondly, the need for secrecy to secure the land for the park prevented the company from reaching out to political allies and starting a lobbying effort in earnest before the story leaked. THey never quite managed to get ahead of the story after it slipped away from them, and their enemies already had an in-place network of contacts and influence that always left DIsney’s lobbying attempts a step behind.”
“That’s the real story of Disney’s America, and perhaps the most American aspect of its development—the ability of the rich and powerful to distort the facts and co-opt the media into convincing the less well-off to act in direct opposition to their best interests.” (302)
“The constant litigation was not only pushing back the park’s anticipated opening date, but the constant flow of lawyers and lobbyists was draining company funds.” (306)
The text maintains an even, matter-of-fact tone, sometimes punctuated by humor and surprise. However, it doesn’t delve deep enough into the details, such as why/how certain park proposals cost so much, or how Walt Disney was able to meet and convince so many sponsors.
I appreciate broad analysis of why certain things failed. The book draws quotes from Michael Eisner’s Work in Progress autobiography, but more interviews of actual Imagineers and upper management would have helped paint a more detailed picture. Too often, the text dismisses the reasoning to cost overruns or bureaucracy, which, though true, don’t really provide enough detail into the negotiations and difficult personalities that stood in the Disney Company’s way to realizing Walt’s original dream.
“During his life, Walt crossed paths with several American presidents” and a recurring theme throughout the book was cultivating the necessary support from politicians in government, but the precise way Disney navigated these waters was never made clear. The book reads as if we’re just observers, wondering how cool this attraction would have been, or how awesome that feature would be, but never peeling back the onion to examine where the buck stopped, i.e. who and how an idea died in the meeting rooms. I would have appreciated some of those conversations, even if it just boiled down to construction cost breakdowns or an overly intransigent political opponent.
The book ends lamenting the fact that “the most American aspect of its development—the ability of the rich and powerful to distort the facts and co-opt the media into convincing the less well-off to act in direct opposition to their best interests.” This perspective rings truer than ever today, and I see MIchael Crawford and the publication of books like these as the way to counterbalance that dominant media influence, because Crawford has no skin in the political game, no ulterior motive, isn’t being paid to advertise, and writes for an independent publishing house. This context is all the more reason to dive deeper, provide more color to the facts and figures, and showcase/dramatize the exact interactions that led Walt to be so much more convincing and forward-facing as a leader compared to Card Walker and later Michael Eisner. This isn’t a Walt leadership manual, but with so many nuances and hurdles to planning a city of EPCOT’s scope, it should read more than just a litany of “this happened, then that happened.” I don’t want fiction, but a bit more storytelling and nitty-gritty back-room negotiations would have taught me a lot about what it takes, and what Walt’s successors didn’t have.
Here are some of my highlighted quotes from the book:
“Disney had intended to use the PeopleMover in Epcot Center, where it would carry guests from the Main Entrance into Future World, but that never came to fruition either.” (76)
“Fonts, logos, and signage were consistent throughout the park, giving the entire enterprise a sleek, clean, and futuristic feel. While each pavilion would have its own visual style, and its own unique logo, it would still fit into the overall color design and visual vocabulary of the entire park. This gave all of early Epcot a very comforting vibe, absent of visual contradictions and with a consistent sense of place… restaurant memnus had to be specifically designed to fit into the park’s distinct look. Signs and printed collateral used a single set of approved fonts and styles, and everything felt ‘Epcot’ whether it was a Japanese teppanyaki menu or a postcard for Horizons.” (80)
“The vision of Walt’s futuristic city had been well-publicized in the run-up to Walt Disney World’s opening, and the people of Florida would not forget it easily.”
“EPCOT was never meant to be an actual city, the story would go as the decades passed, but instead it was the set of values upon which the Florida property was modeled.” (123)
“Disney still planned on incorporating many of EPCOT’s ideas into its Florida property, they said, but instead of permanent residents it would now house and service a transient population of tourists and corporate personnel.” (124)
“The most important role of the Theme Center was to carry on Walt’s hope that the systems seen in EPCOT could inspire other cities. It would, said Disney, ‘demonstrate how these new technologies and ideas can be applied in a practical way to improving the environment for living in existing communities throughout America and the world.’
The plan, in 1975, was for there to be no fee for guests to visit the Future World Theme Center; Disney would, however, charge for admission to the World Showcase and the other satellite sites.” (129)
“The Disney organization under Card Walker believed that American free enterprise held the answers for problems facing our communities and, when given free reign (as Disney itself had been in its self-governed Reedy Creek Improvement District), these corporations could an dwould address those problems head on.” (134)
“Among the ideas for the ‘information marketplace’ were Telstore, a Future World ‘video bookstore.’ … the Informat Arcade, the idea of gaming would be combined with ‘providing new experiences for the public in information retrieval’ to create ‘a casino of information’ in video game format. It would, in Disney’s words, ‘[take] the penny arcade of the past into the information age.’” (142)
“Complicated, coordinated movements were pre-programmed into his onboard computers, allowing GERO to be controlled by a simple wireless device concealed in his operator’s pocket. This allowed for a wide variety of possible interactions, such as shaking hands, waving, pointing, or driving his scooter. Many of these were hard-coded into his programming to simplify operation…” (176)
“Every time I designed something I thought was totally new, I would take it over to our horticulturists and they would tell me it already existed,” said [Imagineer Alex] Taylor. I began to despair of coming up with something nature hadn’t already done.” (190)
“G.E. eventually abandoned the pavilion it helped create when its sponsorship ended on September 30th, 1993. Horizons continued to operate without a sponsor, but with no one coming forward to fund a much-needed refurbishment, the pavilion closed in late 1994… Disney balked at the cost.” (197)
“Walt Disney Productions, as it existed in 1982, certainly couldn’t fund [Epcot] on their own, and corporate participants were necessary to underwrite the massive pavilions. This meant nearly a decade of wining and dining doughy, rich old white guys with endless steak dinners and pitchers of cocktails; it meant countless private het flights and limo rides to a range of corporate headquarters, with dinner, drinks, and a show afterwards.” (207)
“The death of Frank Wells and the departure of Heffery Katzenberg, Eisner’s health scare, and the cancellation of Disney’s America—these events took their tool, and management became cowed.” (247)
“Disney had been roundly castigated for their secrecy and back-room tactics. Putting on a show of openly consulting the public early in the permitting and environmental review process showed that they were taking the community’s opinions into consideration, and were behaving like good corporate citizens.” (250)
“By February 1988, the estimated cost of the complex had risen to $618 million, although DIsney had entered talks with British retailer Harrods. Mitsukoshi of Japan, although not yet contacted by Disney, openly exopressed interest in the project as well.” (266)
“The reasons for the demise of these grand projects vary in the details, but upon examination similar themes emerge. All the projects met with some initial resistance from a vocal minority, which was only compounded when faced by Disney’s then-defiant upper-level management. By the time public and private support for the parks rallied and various bureaucratic roadblocks began to falll, fatigue had set in at Team Disney. (267)
“Delays in the approval process and escalating costs made Port Disney difficult to justify when compared to the cheaper and quicker yet still spectacular WESTCOT option. (281)
“In the end, it was money that killed the Port Disney project.” (282)
“Secondly, the need for secrecy to secure the land for the park prevented the company from reaching out to political allies and starting a lobbying effort in earnest before the story leaked. THey never quite managed to get ahead of the story after it slipped away from them, and their enemies already had an in-place network of contacts and influence that always left DIsney’s lobbying attempts a step behind.”
“That’s the real story of Disney’s America, and perhaps the most American aspect of its development—the ability of the rich and powerful to distort the facts and co-opt the media into convincing the less well-off to act in direct opposition to their best interests.” (302)
“The constant litigation was not only pushing back the park’s anticipated opening date, but the constant flow of lawyers and lobbyists was draining company funds.” (306)
May 5, 2020
This book is great!! No matter what level of Disney fan you are or if you’re just interested in some fascinating points in US history, this book gives you fun insightful anecdotes regarding some of the lesser known bits of Disney history from the start of Walt’s Studio to the opening of the California and Disney theme parks. I’ve loved Disney my whole life. I was raised by an obsessed Disney fan. And I’ve spent so much time studying their history. Yet most of these stories I’d never heard before and it was such a delight to be introduced.
August 1, 2020
If you're interested in outside-the-box anecdotes about Walt Disney (small scale or grand scale), or the history of Disney animation, theme parks, or Disney concepts that never came to fruition, you're likely to find a story you'll enjoy in this book. Crawford injects some laugh-out-loud humor into his exploration of niche Disney topics. Probably not for the casual Disney fan, but great for those who love quirky stories and trivia.
November 27, 2020
A really great book of what I like to call "off the beaten path" Disney history. I especially liked the Neverworlds chapter on proposed parks that never came to pass. I would've loved to visit DisneySea in Long Beach, but sadly that park ended up in Japan.
February 16, 2021
There are some great stories in this book. For me, the first 1/3 of the book moved a little slowly, but after that, I couldn't put it down. Well researched and a lot of good information.
August 14, 2025
No surprise I liked the EPCOT parts the most. Worked really well as an audiobook.
July 2, 2020
I've be a big fan of Walt Disney and his works for a long time. Whether it be the movies, parks, or television series he has been a part of I've wanted to absorb as much knowledge about it as I could. Still, I knew that there were many things about the man and his company that I simply did not know. I don't consider myself a slouch when it comes to Disney trivia either. This book, however, gives me the idea that Michael Crawford has probably forgotten more about Disney than I have ever known.
The amazing level of detail in this book immediately brings you into the rooms where the decision were made that Crawford covers. My only wish is that this book were longer and filled with more information for me to consume.
The amazing level of detail in this book immediately brings you into the rooms where the decision were made that Crawford covers. My only wish is that this book were longer and filled with more information for me to consume.
January 12, 2016
What a great, fun, read! I love Walt Disney World history, especially stuff like this that may not be part of the "official" story that Disney releases. Glad that Mr. crawford took the time to dig into these details, AND to inject a little humor here and there along the way. Amazing stories about the original vision for EPCOT, and how it changed through design to implementation! Would welcome further volumes of the same type!
January 31, 2016
Learned a lot of behind the scenes stories and facts that I never knew about before. It's an easy book to pick up and put down, reading a chapter or two at a time. Only downside is the author goes into personal opinions a bit more than I would have liked. Highlights include the chapters about Disney and the Olympics and the "Neverworlds" section. Enjoyable read for any Disneyphile.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews