During his life, Walt Disney shocked the business world with his fearless drive in creating mammoth entertainment "lands or worlds". His followers have a new shock in the form of Epcot Center, described by its designers at Walt Disney Enterprises as a permanent World's Fair of imagination, discovery, education and exploration.
More than $1 billion has been spent in construction of the current 260-acre site in Orlando, Florida. According to plan, the site may double in size in years to come.
More than $9 million so far has been spent on landscaping; including 12.500 trees of 125 species, 200.000 shrubs of 250 species, 20 acres of emerald zoysia and Argentine bahiagrass, and more than 700,000 annuals in three acres of plant beds.
Epcot Center is divided into two parts. Future World and World Showcase.
The towering gateway to Future World is Spaceship Earth, a 180-ft. tall geosphere. Around Spaceship Earth are six pavilions sponsored by U.S. Corporations. Future World's landscaping carefully blends futuristic structures with plants.
World Showcase contains a 40-acre lagoon and eight mini-nations requiring appropriate vegetation, such as a Canadian pine grove, a German Black Forest, a Japanese garden, and the chestnut-lined Tuileries of Paris.
The people behind this massive landscape are Scott Girard, chief landscape architect for Walt Disney Enterprises, Tony Virginia, director of horticulture for Walt Disney Productions, and Pat McCarty, landscape manager for Epcot Center.
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