Instead of merely another attraction in an amusement park, Walt Disney wanted to build a “city of the future.” It was to have included a prototype community, an industrial park, an airport of the future, and more.

All these elements were imagined by Disney and his staff. The project was conceived and worked on between 1962 and 1966 (when Walt Disney died). Without the passion of its originator, it was never developed, though some elements did survive in the Walt Disney World resort as we know it today, such as the World Showcase concept.

The original dream of E.P.C.O.T. (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) was for a 27,000-acre model community (home to 20,000 residents) that would be a test bed for city planning and organization. The community was to have been built in the shape of a circle, with businesses and commercial areas at its center, community buildings and schools and recreational complexes around it, and residential neighborhoods along the perimeter.

Inhabitants would live in a 50-acre climate-controlled “snow globe” where they'd be "protected from rain, heat and cold and humidity.” The sphere-shaped community would act as a wheel, with the hub of transportation located in the center. Routes would branch out from here to all sectors of the city. The center would consist of business and commerce outlined with high-density apartment housing, while the majority of E.P.C.O.T. would consist of residential neighborhoods.