Constructing... CommuniCore
Monday, August 16, 2010 at 7:00AM 
COMMENTARY
This flyer briefly (no pun intended) touches on one of the most impressive and underappreciated accomplishments of the EPCOT Center Project: the Concrete Pour. As was said in David Koenig’s Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World; the job was so massive that it was split between several contractors. All of them having to re-adapt to working around other disciplines simultaneous finishing their own works. So as not to be disturbed (or be disturbed by others) most of the work was done at night...
To accommodate around-the-clock construction in areas where electricity had yet to be installed, Disney bought in a hook-and-ladder fire truck to shine enough light to allow more than 100 concrete finishers to keep working. Disney chefs also showed up in the middle of the night to grill hamburgers for the graveyard shift laborers. To maximize every second, The Disney World weather station sent weather reports of the EPCOT jobsite every ten minutes. Construction workers then had advance notice to protect their freshly poured concrete from an approaching thunderstorm.
In order to accommodate the complex construction sites of Future World, World Showcase was completed first, and then zigzag out as other areas became available.
The Color of the pavement was one of many decisions made personally by John Hench. In his book, Designing Disney
John described Pink as a very optimistic color. This, in addition other qualities including its neutral reflectiveness and contemporary feel, lead to his decision to make pink the overriding color for the pathways of tomorrow.
Foot Note
As part of a Cast Celebration, these flyers were reprinted daily as a countdown to the October 1st Anniversary of Epcot’s 25th year in 2007. I was working at Epcot at the time and these flyers although simple, were one of the coolest aspects of the celebration. I was always excited to come to work and read what interesting things happened on that same day 25 years ago.
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Photo Caption:
This aerial shot (dated 09/01/80) appears rather boring on first glace but upon closer inspection one would notice the original Magic Kingdom Auto Plaza as well as an operational STOLport in pristine condition. What does this have to do with EPCOT Center!? Almost in the center of frame is EPCOT’s north-south access road allowing for (near) uninterrupted transport of construction materials from Central Shops to the construction site. Additionally, this temporary road also prevented job site and guest traffic from clogging World Drive. Finally, the road would also service the monorail construction soon to commence after this shot was taken. One Road – Three Purposes = Ingenious!
Reader Comments (2)
Wow...how interesting! It is amazing what people can accomplish!
The aerial shot next to the toll plaza is NOT a road but the clearing for the Epcot Monorail line. Also, while the stolport was in pristine shape, by the 1980 it had been closed for many years. There are huge "X"'s indicating not open for use.