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Calendar of Events.....................3Letter from the Editor............4Four Parks, One Day................5T ips for Four Parks............7E.P.C.O.T: The Real Story......10By the Numbers...........................14

EDITORTonya Civiello

PRODUCTION DIRECTORTonya Civiello

WRITERTonya Civiello

PUBLISHERTonya Civiello

PHOTOGRAPHER Tonya Civiello

Eyes&Ears Publishing143 Disney Blvd

Lake Buena Vista, FL 32831P: 407-642-5393F: 407-646-6433

www.eyesandears.com

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Star Wars WeekendsDisney’s Hollywood StudiosMay 15 - June 14, 2015May the force be with you during Disney’s Hollywood Studios Star Wars Weekends! Join the Jedi-Training Academy, meet and greet with limited-time Star Wars characters and have the opportunity to get autographs from the actors that portrayed the beloved charac-ters in the Star Wars franchise. Special guest appearances may include: - Ray Park - Jeremy Bulloch - Frank Oz - Peter MayhewInternational Food and Wine FestivalEPCOT World ShowcaseSeptember 25 - November 16, 2015Experience the food, drinks and culture of over 25 different countries as they set up around the World Showcase. Make sure to grab a passport and keep track as you embark on a culinary cruise around the world!Candlelight Processional EPCOTNovember 26 - December 30, 2015Relive the history of Christmas told by celebrity guests as they perform the story with the help of a full orchestra and choir.Celebrity apperances include: - Jodi Benson - Neil Patrick Harris - Marlee Matlin - Jonathon Groff

Frozen Summer FunDisney’s Hollywood StudiosJune 17 - September 7, 2015Join in on the royal return of the Frozen prin-cesses as they take over Hollywood Studios for the second summer in a row. Join Anna and Elsa as they perform Arendelle’s history through a musical reprise of For the First Time in Forever with an awe-inspiring finale firework show that is sure to thaw any Frozen heart.Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween PartyMagic KingdomSelect Nights - September 15 - November 1, 2015Experience the spooky-time magic with Mickey and the Gang as they take over Main Street, U.S.A. with a limited time Halloween party that is sure to bring out the character in everyone. Party features may include: - Limited Edition merchandise - Free candy throughout the park - A one time opportunity to dress as any character you want!

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Letter from the EditorHello Disney lovers! Welcome to the first ever issue of

Eyes&Ears Magazine. As a former cast member at Walt Disney World, I hope to capture the pixie dust that has kept Walt Disney’s dreams

running.In this issue, Eyes&Ears will feature the true story of EPCOT, and what it was originally meant to be. During my eight months as a cast member, I worked at Mouse Gear, the third largest retail store on proper ty, located in EPCOT - Future World East. This park is near and dear to my hear t and I hope that I am

able to capture what Walt originally wanted for E.P.C.O.T. Throughout this issue, you will see many things that relate back to EPCOT, for example, the International Food and Wine

Festival. While this issue focuses most ly on my home park, our next

issues will take on a different park until we have run out of parks to cover!

For those who are annual passholders or just Disney-fanatics, we hope that you will enjoy learning more about the parks that

are frequented so often.

Thank you,

Tonya CivielloEditor

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Mandy Ellis and I posing in front of Cinderella Castle on Main Street, U.S.A. Magic Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, FL.

Some people say that Walt Disney World is the Most Magical Place on Earth. It’s the place where every guest can meet their favorite characters, no matter what age they are, where they can travel to twelve different countries without ever leaving the Unit-ed States, where they can see animals from all over the world in one place and where they can experience movie sets and awesome thrill-rides from Pixar to Tower of Terror. For most people, taking on Walt Disney World usually means spending a week there but for some daring people, the ‘Four Parks, One Day’ challenge is the highlight of their week. Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in the Four Parks, One Day challenge and it is not an easy task. It is exhausting, busy, jam-packed with getting a picture in every park and riding at least one thing, not to mention that, eventually, eating has to be a priority as well. While every person’s experience may be different, I found that having a plan does not work out for a challenge like this. Even if you are the best time-management planner in the world, you can never account for the weather of Florida (because we all know how frequently that changes) or the wait times for any of the rides you may want to encounter during your challenge. Battling Florida rain with crowds of people in one of the peak times to visit is time consuming and having patience is the number one goal before you ever enter the parks. When I had the opportunity to participate in this challenge, it was with two of my good friends from work and one of their acquaintances. They kick-started my day with an early phone call around 8:30AM, letting me know that I had five minutes to get ready and get down to the car before they came in and pulled me out. It was quite the wake-up call, but the day ahead of me was well worth it. The next step was going to McDonald’s by Disney’s Animal King-dom (DAK) for breakfast. It was close to home and right next to the first park that we planned on starting with. After breakfast (which was delicious, as always) we strolled into DAK around 9:15AM – I know, later than what we were hoping. As soon as we got through the front entrance line, we head-ed straight for the Safari’s to get our fast pass. After we managed to swing some of those, we went over to Expedition Everest to go spend time with Betty the Yeti (who, unfortunately, only works ev-ery few months). The line wasn’t too bad just yet, and we were on

Four parks, one day: A challenge

and off within seventeen minutes. We made a beeline to Finding Nemo: The Musical, hit Dinosaur next and then traveled over to Kilimanjaro Safari’s to use our fast pass… At least, it was supposed to be a fast pass. Instead, something a giraffe decided to make itself statio-nery in front of one of the safari trucks, causing quite the back up. We ended up waiting for about twenty minutes before we finally managed to get on board. Our time at DAK ended around 11:30 in the morning. Mandy, Ellie and I made our way over to the transportation section of the parking lot,

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Mandy Ellis and I posing in front of Cinderella Castle on Main Street, U.S.A. Magic Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, FL.

“It was an amazing last hoorah, and at park close, we were finally

able to say we completed the

challenge.”

boarding the bus that would take us to Art of Animation, Walt Disney World’s newest value resort. While we were there, we ate some lunch (if you count fruit cups and desserts as lunch) and then walked around to take in the new resort. Each section of the resort is themed based on The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars. For every themed section, there are actually large statues of characters from each movie. The scenery also changes based on the movie, for ex-ample; The Lion King is more forest-staged while

Cars is more desert-looking. To say we were impressed would be an understatement. Once we were finally done walking around, Tim, the fourth member of our party, finally joined up with us again. This time, we did not utilize Disney transportation, but only because the hotel buses take for-ever to get from Point A to Point B and we needed to get on with the parks before we ran out of time! (It was nearly 1:00PM at this point) Our next stop was EPCOT, our

home park, as we were all Cast Member’s at the time. Unlike at Animal Kingdom, we stayed away from the rides at EPCOT, other than Soarin’ of course, as the countries are the most important part. We walked through them and sight-seed for a little while before Jackie, our fifth and final member of the party, got off work and joined us. By the time we left EPCOT, it was nearing four in the afternoon and the sky was beginning to get pretty dark and nasty looking – not unusual for Florida by any means. This is another prime example of things not going the way you want them to so before you take on this challenge, always be pre-pared to make changes to your day. From the ride to EPCOT to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it be-gan to pour like crazy! None of us had any umbrellas and we were all without ponchos as well – rule of thumb; ALWAYS BRING A PONCHO! This was one thing that really set us back as we didn’t want to get soaked but we were quickly running out of time All we managed to get done here was a picture in front of the Socrerer’s Hat and a ride on Tower of Terror (which Tim and I sat out on – though Mandy’s, Jackie’s and Ellie’s picture was hilarious!). The next and last stop on our list was Magic Kingdom, what is said to be the best and most beautiful park of the four. It is also the most popular park, given that you can meet Mickey and the gang, the princesses and Tinker Bell as well. We chose to do Magic Kingdom last, as this was Mandy and Ellie’s last day with us before they went home to Canada. Although we were all tired, sweaty, hot and exhausted, we stayed until Wishes! debuted on the castle at 10:00PM. It was an amazing last hoorah, and at park close, we were finally able to say that we completed the Four Parks, One Day challenge with aching feet, hungry bellies and tired eyes.

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Getting ready for the day – If this challenge is something that you are adamant about doing, getting up early enough for the rope drop at any of the parks is one of the most important steps. In order to hit every-thing possible throughout the four parks, earliness is essential! Rope drop is always at 9:00AM so make sure you are up, fed and ready to go by 8:45 at the latest! Be prepared! - Know which rides need fast passes. - Have water bottles packed. - Always make sure to carry an umbrella!- Buy your tickets before the big day! Choose your park – Know which park you want to hit first, whether it is Magic Kingdom for the open-ing show or Animal Kingdom to get that first ride on the safari’s, know where you are going. Aside from knowing the park that you want to go to, make sure you know the first ride that you plan on running to first (of course, I do not mean actual running, Safe-D begins with you). HINT: The easiest park to get done is Disney’s Animal Kingdom; I started there first on my journey.

Know your parks – Make sure you have an idea of when the parades and parties are at each park. If a parade is going on, try to avoid the area at all costs. The parade area will be crowded – meaning that most rides are free game at this point! It is the easiest way to knock out those attractions and food lines without having to battle the crowds. HINT: If possible, take advantage of the extra magic hours and know when they are! (This will allow you to come earlier and leave later!) Transportation – If possible, take advantage of the Disney transportation. Between ferries, buses and monorails, Disney transportation will be the most reli-able and time-efficient way of traveling! I recommend taking the bus from Disney’s Animal Kingdom to Dis-ney’s Hollywood Studios (DHS), taking the ferry from DHS to EPCOT and finally, finishing off the night by taking the monorail to Magic Kingdom! Get your fast passes first – Always make sure to go straight to the biggest attraction to get a fast pass. This is important as it will save you time when it comes down to waiting in those pesky Disney lines!

TIPS FOR FOUR PARKS, ONE DAY

CHALLENGE:

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FEATURED

PARK

Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow

EPCOTPhoto by Tonya Lynn Photography

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The Beginning On October 1, 1982, E.P.C.O.T Center debuted as the second park to join the Walt Disney World Property. In 1994, the name was changed to EPCOT, dropping the Center and abbreviations points. While many people know and love EPCOT and EPCOT’s World Showcase, they unfortunately, do not know the amazing story of what E.P.C.O.T was meant to be. Originally, Walt Disney wanted EPCOT to be unlike any other theme park in the world. In fact, EP-COT was never meant to be a theme park at all. Walt wanted to create an Experimental Prototype Com-munity of Tomorrow. It would be a place that people could not only play in, but live in, as well. “It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed. It will always be showcasing and testing and demonstarting new materials and new sys-tems,” Walt said. November 16, 1965 was the day that the world first heard about Walt’s dream of the “Florida Project.” It would include what many know, today, as Magic King-dom and his experimental community. “Here in Florida, we’ve en-joyed something we’ve never enjoyed at Disneyland; the blessing of size.” By the time that Walt Disney announced his plans for the Florida Project, he had already purchased 27,800 acres of land for nearly $5.5 million from over one-hundred different property owners. The original hopes of Walt’s community dealt with a real-life city, one that was run exclusively by the Walt Disney Company. Walt even went as far as petitioning the State Legis-lature of Florida to get full rights and control over his land, so that the government could never interfere with his dreams. His approval for his petition led to Reedy Creek and Lake Buena Vista being created in 1967. Both of these are Walt Disney World property exclusives, with Reedy Creek providing police officers, fire fight-ers and EMT’s and Lake Buena Vista having an exclu-

sive area code that will only route your GPS to Walt Disney World itself. The Dream It is safe to say that Walt Disney was one of the most ambitious men of his time. He was a true dreamer that never let anything get in the way of his vision. When Disneyland opened in 1955, not a single attraction worked and the plumbing was not strong enough to run the bathrooms, water fountains and concession stands but he never gave up; the park remained open. The Experimental Prototype Community of To-morrow was meant to be the first city of its kind. It would be fully functional, but none of the residents would own any of the land. No citizens of E.P.C.O.T would be able to vote on anything that Walt wanted

done to the community. In fact, in Walt’s plans, the peo-ple of the community would not be able to stop Walt Dis-ney Enterprises from chang-ing anything that they want-ed to in the housing facilities. Some may say this was the fall for Walt Disney’s city dreams, but he kept them going until his dying day in Decembmer of 1966. His city was meant to be in

a wheel format (seen in center image) with all housing communities stemming from the center piece - which would be known as the hub of the community. In the hub, businesses of all types would flourish. Disney’s biggest hope was to have a 30-story building placed in the center of the wheel. This would have served as one of the largest hotel’s and convention center’s in the world, one that could be seen from miles away. Along with his hotel, he hoped to have a Disney Airport that would serve as the only way in and out of the community for guests not residing in E.P.C.O.T. Surrounding the airport and hotel would be an array of different restaurants and shops that would show-case all different cultures from all over the world. In this community, Walt expected as many as 20,000 people to live there. Due to his strict rule on owning property, there were no differences between

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apartments and houses. Everybody that lived in Disney’s community would be required to work in the stores, restaurants, hotel, air-port, welcome center or Magic Kingdom. The bustling hub was not the only place that held community activities in Walt’s city. He drew up a place that would have been known as the ‘Green Belt,’ where low-density living areas would take place. The green belt would consist of churches, community recreation centers, parks and would also house the People Mover stations, as well. “Everyone living in EPCOT will have responsibili-ty to maintain this living blueprint of the future,” Walt stated in his Florida Project presentation. Along with the ordinary people that would be living in his community, there would also be bigger techno-logical industries working out of technological centers in the hub. Those that visit E.P.C.O.T would be able to take tours of the centers in order to learn more about what the future would hold for them. To Walt, his dream would increase the technological advancements in the United States as he would have people ‘round the clock working on new pieces of technology. To decrease the amount of poisoning to the air through vehciles, Walt had plans to make all trav-el done strictly by monorail or the WED Way People

Mover (which can be seen today in Magic Kingdom as the Tomorrowland Transit Authority). This type of transportation relied solely on the motors in the tracks, rather than relying on gas or engine motors. Unlike the monorail, however, the People Mover’s never stopped moving. Not only would it decrease air pollution, but it would also decrease the likelihood of any accidents ever occuring on Walt’s E.P.C.O.T. The monorail would take visitors from the airport to Magic Kingdom and back, but it did not go out to the communities. Those who resided in the communi-ty would have to take the monorail to their respective People Mover location to transfer trains. From there, the People Mover would take them to the nearest WED Way station to their houses or apartments. This would also be the way that employees would travel to and from work. Due to the transportation ideas that Walt had, he be-lieved that no person would ever require the use of a ve-hicle unless they were going away on vacation. All cars, trucks and deliveries were done beneath the ground level of E.P.C.O.T., where there was a parking garage located in order to keep the fumes from the vehicles from interfering in the community area. Walt Disney planned this city with excitement ev-ery day, even while hospitalized, until the fateful day in 1966, when lung cancer took over and won

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EPCOT Today After Walt’s death, his brother Roy Disney, came out of retirement to make sure that his brother’s dreams did not flounder. “We are going to finish this park [in Flori-da], and we’re going to do it just the way that Walt wanted,” Roy stated. “Don’t you ever forget it. I want every one of you to do just exactly what you were going to do when Walt was alive.” Unfortunately, Roy could not convince the company directors to keep Walt’s vision for E.P.C.O.T., though he did manage to head the creation of Magic Kingdom. In April 1969, the ground-breaking ceremony for Magic Kingdom commenced, headed by Roy Disney, Donn Tatum and E. Cardon Walker. The project was expected to be completed by 1971, and on October 1, 1971, Roy gave his opening day speech. The land that Magic Kingdom sat upon would no longer be called ‘Disney World,’ as Roy Disney insisted that his brother live on through his dream; thus creating what we all know now as Walt Disney World. In 1982, E.P.C.O.T Center opened, and while it was not the EPCOT that Walt Disney dreamed, it is still a places that showcases both cultural diver-sity and technological advancements. When E.P.C.O.T. Center was being tossed around on the drawing board once again, the designers decided to create it in the shape of an hourglass, in order to honor the dream that their founder once had. The top of the hour glass shape would consist of 11 countries, from the United States to Japan, and some countries in between. On the bottom half of the hour glass would be a tribute to technology, known as Future World West and East. On the West, the aquarium and plant conservation center sits - and on the East, guests can learn about energy saving and experi-ence simulations of what it would be like to expe-rience a NASA flight. They can build cars in Test Track or take a ride through The Land. They can adopt a turtle from the ocean or take a walk through Innoventions. In World Showcase, they can experience the true cultures of the countries that reside there.

While EPCOT today may not be the original vision of Walt’s dream; it is still an amazing com-promise to the dreamer himself.

“Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney … and to the talents, the ded-ication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organiza-

tion that made Walt Disney’s dream come true. May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowl-edge to all who come to this happy place … a Magic King-

dom where the young at hear t of all ages can laugh

and play and learn – together.”

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