George McGinnis
During my first six months at WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises (from June to December 1966), I did sketches and renderings of transportation concepts for Walt Disney's EPCOT presentation. Walt asked me to do a design for a larger PeopleMover (then named WEDway). I also sketched a “wide body” monorail, a concept for the main transportation line through the property.
Some of these were used in what is sometimes called “Walt's Last Film” or “The EPCOT Film,” which showed the original plan for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT).
Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom was coming out of the ground at this time. The new icon at the Magic Kingdom would not be the castle, but Walt's revolutionary concept of the monorail passing through the Contemporary Hotel. My illustration of Bob Gurr's Mark IV monorail exiting the hotel was the beginning of my relationship with the Disney monorails. The painting was used extensively for initial advertising of Walt Disney World.
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