Walt Disney

3 Pages 642 Words

As Walt entered his mid-60s, he didn't seem to be slowing down. In fact, he appeared to be speeding up. He decided to create four exhibits for the 1964 World's Fair in New York. Why? So that he could experiment with new ideas -- particularly Audio-Animatronics -- while using other people's money. The Mr. Lincoln attraction he developed for the State of Illinois was one of the hits of the fair, and allowed him to take Audio-Animatronics a giant step forward. His other exhibits -- done for General Electric, Pepsi-Cola, and Ford -- were also hits at the fair. Meanwhile, he was working on other plans for the future: a ski resort called Mineral King was to be built near the Sequoia National Park. He considered a tourist site that might be called Walt Disney's Boyhood Home in Marceline, and even bought up properties there.

Neither Mineral King nor Walt's Boyhood Home actually came into being. But his plans for a new kind of university were more successful. Declared Walt, "A completely new approach to training in the arts is needed. That's the principal thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures. If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something." He certainly did. Dubbed CalArts, an amalgamation of the Chouinard Art Institute and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, it would educate students in all facets of the arts -- dance, music, drama, visual arts, and film. CalArts opened in 1961 and has been growing ever since. But though Walt was excited about all of these efforts, their scope paled in comparison to the so-called Florida Project -- a gigantic effort set for an area twice the size of Manhattan Island in the middle of Florida.

The Chouinard Art Institute, merged with the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, became CalArts


Walt points to the sheer scale of his vast "Florida Project" Of course the Florida Project would include a theme park lik...