Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Obligatory Ruminations about Human Settlement Patterns in Disney World

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by

James A. Bacon
in ,

Before departing on vacation, I promised to share my impressions of what might be gleaned from the Disney World experiment for building functional human settlement patterns in the Rest of the World. I fully acknowledge that the commentary that follows is based upon quick and superficial observation, which may be of limited value. But some interesting points do emerge.

Utilidors. Disney turned down my request to view the underground complex — a network of corridors that contain utilities and accommodate logistical transportation — that I deemed the most innovative aspect of Disney World and, possibly, the most instructive for design of other communities. Accordingly, most of what I know about the “utilidors” I gleaned from an online article, “Under the Magic Kingdom,” on the HiddenMickeys.org website.

The 15-foot-high corridors were built at ground level, then covered with soil from excavation of the Seven Seas Lagoon. Disney World was actually built atop this spoil, creating the above-ground level visible to visitors and a below-ground level used by employees. From the website:

You have never seen a delivery truck at Disney – have you? Magic Kingdom’s first floor has all the access roads for the Cast Members (employees) and service vehicles, the “tunnels” or Utilidors, the AVAC, service rooms, wardrobe and costuming, male and female locker rooms, offices, storage, kitchens, break rooms, two employee cafeterias, including the Fantasyland Dining Room, Kingdom Kutters, a Fire Prevention Center, Studio “D” and many of the support departments for the Magic Kingdom. The Fantasyland Dining Room and restrooms are to the left.

Underground corridors strike me as a possibly useful adjunct to Claude Lewenz’ concept of pedestrian villages. (See “First, Shoot All the Cars.”) While the pedestrian-only aspects of Lewenz’ village are highly appealing, the difficulty in accommodating delivery trucks and other utilitarian vehicles creates problems that I’m not sure that Lewenz ever resolved satisfactorily. Disney-esque corridors could solve those problems — though, admittedly, at a significant cost.

Monorail

. I did have a chance to ride the monorail, which is showing its age after 27 years. The mass transit system has 12 trains consisting of six cars each, capable of running up to 40 miles per hour. I’m no expert in mass transit, so I apologize in advance if my commentary sounds like Urban Planning 101

The Disney monorail strikes me as a “niche” system that is appropriate in certain settings, but not a tool capable of providing mobility and access for large populations. The beauty of the monorail, or so it would appear to my uninformed eye, is that the structure takes up relatively little space. The struts upon which the track rests have a small “footprint,” therefore can be retrofitted into an existing urban space, presumably a highway or boulevard, relatively easily.

The monorail stations need not be large if located inside a building, as the Disney World monorail is in one of the Disney hotels. However, the ramps connecting the monorail to the pedestrian level did consume considerable space — posing an obstacle for retrofitting an already-developed area.

Multimodal. Where Disney truly excels is in its implementation of multi-modal transportation. Each of the four main theme parks is surrounded by vast acres of parking lots, which function as the resort’s interface with the world. Tens of thousands of visitors arrive by car daily. To transport them quickly and efficiently from the parking lots into the pedestrian-oriented parks, Disney operates an elaborate tram system. To provide access between the theme parks, as well as the various resort hotels and other facilities, Disney runs buses, passenger boats and the aforementioned monorail.

The key to making the Disney system work is the existence of well-placed multi-modal transportation hubs, where parking-lot trams, passenger boats, monorails, buses and pedestrian walkways all come together and visitors can easily switch from one mode to the other. Once the newcomer has figured out the system — what connects with what — the multimodal system functions reasonably well.

Where planning for Virginia’s transportation facilities seem deficient, it strikes me, is (a) the paucity of such multi-modal centers, and (b) the failure in imagination to incorporate water-borne craft into the multi-modal system. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it cost to put the Disney system into place, nor how much it costs to operate. I suspect that Disney treats such information as closely guarded competitive intelligence. Therefore, there is no way to know whether implementation of such a system would make sense in real-world urban conditions in Virginia today.

There you have it, folks, the sum total of what I learned from the Mouse.

Celebration. P.S. To answer Ed Risse’s question, I did not have a chance to visit Celebration, Disney’s New Urbanist development built nearby. From what I heard from a friend who works for the Disney organization, Celebration is both a success and a failure. The New Urbanist formula was such a commercial success that the prices of property there rose to astronomical levels that priced less affluent households out of the “affordable” housing envisioned for the development. The obvious answer: Build more communities like Celebration, eliminate the scarcity value, and “affordable” housing will stay affordable.

I found one other observation made by my friend to be noteworthy: Performance of the retail development in Celebration has been disappointing. Turns out, people still like driving long distances to Big Box retail outside the development. Whether the phenomenon of $4-per-gallon changes that predilection remains to be seen.

(Photo credits: Utilidors, HiddenMickeys.org; monorail, Oren’s Transit Page.)

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  1. Randall Wood Avatar
    Randall Wood

    Pedestrian tunnels in Toronto.

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Pedestrian tunnels in Moscow and at Rockefeller Center inNew York.

    Peter Galuszka

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Where planning for Virginia’s transportation facilities seem deficient, it strikes me, is that we seem to be proceeding under the assumption that automobile paring should not be part of the plan: that it should be taxed, limeted, and otherwise restricted.

    Disney, on the other hand has recognized reality and incorporated it as part of the multimodal system.

    RH

  4. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    well.. I think it is the theater of the absurd to look to auto-centric Disney as a template for pedestrian-centric settlement patterns.

    It would be like pretending that all the goods that the perfect NUR needs and uses comes via underground tunnel on hand carts.

    Somewhere in every NUR – there exists big belching diesel trucks bearing the goods that are vital for life in that NUR.

    However, I will admit – if those trucks deliver to the “edge” of the NUR and the core is ped-centric – I don’t see that as a fatal direction either.

    Then that would mean what?

    that the “practical” NUR would be like some propose for a dense Tysons – a clear edge with ped inside and parking outside.

  5. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    It was interesting that Disney built the tunnels above ground and then covered them with fill from the lake dredging. This is a cool way to kill two birds with one stone: environmentally friendly, and cost efficient.

    It is a whole different deal to excavate tunnels under an existing city.

    But then they built all this other stuff on the fill, which is usually a no no. Generally you have to put footings on undisturbed soil. Maybe they drove pilings or used the tunnel construction as basements.

    The point is, that you can do a lot of stuff if you plan ahead – a whole lot cheaper that trying to teardown, re-build, retrofit, or (most expensive of all) restore.

    RH

  6. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    You could do this with METRO Tysons.

    Elevate the rail on mono-rail type supports and let developers build dual-level disney-type developerment that connects to the elevated rail.

    Let the developers pay the cost of what benefits them and let special district sales taxes pay for the METRO.

    there.. I’ve contradicted myself on using the Disney deal as a template.

    woe is me.

  7. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Disney Wrap

    Disney is in the business of serving visitors and it makes even more money by getting most visitors to come back several times.

    the two research trips S/P made to the Greater Orlando New Urban Region were a decade apart. A lot changed in that time.

    On the other hand over a decade since our last visit, Bacon saw what we would expect him to see plus some new wrinkles like the Greenhouse at Epcot.

    Jim is right that with intelligent design hydroponics and climate control is a lot cheaper for many items than shipping – and, of course, food security is better too. Some folks think the world could not eat without big trucks hauling food – that tastes like cardboard – long distances. That is not true. Google “Ag Urbanism Vancouver.”

    By in large Jim saw what he needed to and understood what he saw. A few notes:

    Utilidors:

    Right on re being a strategy to apply in Lewenz / Parallel Villages.

    Also see “All Aboard” column and Platform Ziggurats at METRO station area.

    There are lots of ways to skin the cat. Atlanta Underground was build by just raising the street level and leaving the old first (and in some places first and second floor) below grade.

    At METRO stations it is silly to dig tunnels or to superimpose a grid of streets. Multi-level urban fabric can be created as in Montreal, Toronto and elsewhere. Just require every building to have a connected lower level and then dig out a few tunnels under streets which often have utility corridors that have to be rebuilt when new structures are built anyway.

    See Macaulay’s great books of urban fabric. Larry Gross found out how logical alternative to one level “sub”urban spaces are by just following a logical sequence – much to his own dismay and embarrassment.

    Monorail:

    Again right on, an aging system that fits a niche. Like “Light Rail” it does not meet all needs, especially in the Core of large New Urban Regions as Seattle has demonstrated.

    Multimodalism:

    With the opening of more major theme parks (i.e. Animal Kingdom) apparently there is now more than one large autopark. That is because the 25,000 acres of Disney is afloat in 2,500,000 acres of scattered urban uses for which an Autonomobile is the only way to get around.

    I believe one can still take a bus from the Airport, they were talking about a shared-vehicle system at one point with Planned New Communities at the Stations along the way…

    However you get there, if you stay “on campus” at one of the resorts / hotels, you never need a car.

    Disneyland Paris (Euro Disney) which is served by TGV / RER show how a Disney project – or a group of Planned New Communities made up of Lewenz / Parallel Villages – could be essentially Autonomobile free.

    Celebration:

    What Jim’s friend says is largely true. You could, however, write a book – and several have – on what could have been – or still can be – changed. The bottom line is lack of Balance because all the things required to create Balance could not be turned in profit center from Disney’s perspective. (Failure to internalize all the costs.)

    The important thing about Celebration is the reality of Being There – walking down the street and feeling you are the star of a real life drama.

    In our next life we are going to be a tour director:

    What Jim said was right but if he had looked to the left would have seen… And when he saw that he would have had a lot more to write about.

    EMR

  8. Villager Avatar
    Villager

    Thanks Jim, for sending a link to this blog.

    Yes, at villageforum.com we have looked at underground or hidden roadways. In particular at one potential site the parallel village’s access road at the upper rear of the land, yet it has a deep water port at the bottom front, and the port will require large truck access. Disney’s mole hill (an above ground tunnel) is an interesting idea to mitigate the noise, safety and amenity deficiencies of large, fast vehicles in local zones where delivery must transit the village.

    In the parallel villages themselves, however, we propose a different approach where goods are delivered to village homes and workplaces. Outside the village gate, we build a motorpool and freight depot where goods get transferred to the 21st century equivalent of what the English called the milk float (see http://www.milkfloats.org.uk). In an urban area of perhaps 100 acres, it makes no sense to use a huge freeway-scaled vehicle engineered to drive (and crash) at 60 mph, when local delivery involves start-stop-start with a top speed of 7 mph. Also, gas or diesel engines make no sense as they either are idling most of the time, or the starter motor is getting lots of action and over time the mechanicals get trashed because they were not designed for that purpose. Think electric golf cart – makes a lot more sense – press pedal, motor turns, press brake, motor stops. It also makes no sense to bring in a van that might have a few boxes in the back, as often is the case with contemporary delivery. Here in New Zealand, our rural delivery post uses four wheel drive trucks, but our local delivery uses Honda farm bikes (the CT-110), bicycles and old fashioned shoe leather. The ideal solution is to receive goods at one place, then transfer them on to an appropriate sized local delivery vehicle that delivers everything on a route. For someone in a hurry, walk the ten minutes to the depot when the package arrives.

    However, there is a bigger issue that seems to be capturing the attention of the media and political leadership at the present. The question as to whether the price of oil is an aberration brought about by new money fleeing currencies, thus buying oil and food futures, or if in fact the era of cheap oil is over. If it is the latter, then Houston, we have a problem.

    By training and passion I am a historian, and the history of what President Bush called America’s addiction to oil, is fascinating. It began toward the end of WW-II when the political, military and business leadership contemplated a way to keep America’s economy booming after the war contracts dried up and the men returned home. But it was not until 1955 that the economic turbocharger kicked in when Senator Albert Gore Sr. (Dem) and Senator Prescott Bush (Rep) secured unanimous support for Gore’s Federal-Aid Highway Act 1956 that committed $10 billion for the interstate highway system (in today’s dollars worth about $300 billion).

    Last month one of the Congressmen who voted for that bill wrote a letter that was published in his local home town paper in which he said: “As a freshman congressman in 1955, I regrettably voted with my unanimous colleagues for the Interstate Highway Program. All of us acted on the shortsighted assumption that cheap oil was superabundant and would always be available. This illusion began to unravel in the 1970s, and it haunts Americans today. Oil lies at the epicenter of a critical energy crisis. Petroleum is a finite resource and is the most precious, versatile resource on the planet. Cheap oil played a crucial role in the development of American power and prosperity, and sustains the military machine that dominates the world today. Oil is now nearing a historic transition that will alter the civilization Americans have come to take for granted. ” The author of that letter was Stewart Udall, 88.

    Let us consider the implications, if what he says is true. We have developed a national and global infrastructure based on a shortsighted assumption that in fact is an illusion. Post-war American suburbs were invented to sell cars. In order to survive in the suburbs, the three basic needs of food, clothing and shelter now also require petroleum. Stop the trucks and the food chain to the supermarket collapses and millions in the East Coast would begin starving in weeks. Without cars, people could not get to work, to shops, to school or to visit with friends and family. Cut petroleum out of the farm business and the green revolution comes to a halt. Yet, Udall described petroleum as the most precious, versatile resource on the planet.

    Houston, we may have a real serious problem.

    Some commentators seem to suggest that the petroleum debate has no basis; that the left wants to restrict our right to drive with taxes and suppression, while the right says they will have to pry my stick-shift out of my cold, dead hand. Of course this is not helped by the fact that An Inconvenient Truth was made by Democrat Al Gore Jr, thus politicising environmental and scientific questions (there is a huge irony in that Gore-II is mopping up the effects created by Gore-I’s bill of 1956, but that is another story). No doubt some will marginalize elder-statesman Udall because he is a Democrat.

    For the moment, let us assume that Udall is right. The era of cheap oil is over and oil is the most precious, versatile resource on the planet. Does it make sense to burn it? Perhaps, for now, we must use it to keep air traffic going, but does it make sense to separate where people live from where they work and shop, so the mundane chores of daily life require burning this precious resource? Should we be building another suburb, another shopping mall or another industrial or glass block office in what once was a farmer’s fertile field?

    In 1945, President Harry Truman said “If we can put this tremendous machine of ours, which has made the victory possible, to work for peace, we can look forward to the greatest age in the history of mankind. That is what we propose to do.” That tremendous machine was based on petroleum. For the next twenty five years, until the first OPEC oil crisis, the First-World built its power and infrastructure on cheap oil.

    Are we now facing the end of that greatest age in the history of mankind? Did it turn out that we did not find new wealth, but instead mortgaged the future of our grandchildren? It is a long standing principle of conservatives that when they inherit wealth, they may benefit from the interest, but they must preserve the capital for future generations. Thus, I find it interesting that somehow this principle is not part of the debate over the role of petroleum fuelled transport. Yes, President Bush did say America is addicted to oil, but somehow using corn (that produces 18 gallons of fuel per acre, but requires 9 gallons of diesel to make it) seems to be more a concession to the farm lobby than a serious decision to enter detox.

    America’s tremendous machine has in large part been exported to China, but its intellectual capital remains. As Ed Risse wrote “The future will not be an extension of the past. Traditional (Business-As-Usual) strategies are not working now and will not work in the future.” It seems to me that we need another bipartisan effort to build a great civilization based not on a shortsighted assumption, but to use the remaining resources to bridge us to a great age based on (among other things) smarter land use.

    Disney’s mole hill roads are a novel idea, but they are based, I fear, on a shortsighted assumption that is proving to have been an illusion.

  9. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    “Jim is right that with intelligent design hydroponics and climate control is a lot cheaper for many items than shipping – and, of course, food security is better too. Some folks think the world could not eat without big trucks hauling food – that tastes like cardboard – long distances. That is not true. Google “Ag Urbanism Vancouver.”

    I would invite anyone who believes that a city of say a million folks can feed themselves with food grown in a bubble consult the Biosphere website or even better – go visit Biosphere and take the special “behind the scenes” tour to see the labyrinth of energy-gobbling equipment necessary to just keep things alive – much less produce a bounty of food sufficient to sustain even just a few people.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere

    one thing you notice about the tour of Biosphere are the things that are NOT there…

    like fields of wheat or corn or meat or even big enough fishes on a sustainable basis to be a food source.

    It’s Science Fiction – and the folks that run it will admit it up front that it is an experiment that succeeded in telling them that – to this point – that approach is not sustainable <--- NOTE THIS WORD! It might be that some day – major, fundamental changes – fundamental transformation – will force changes to how we grow, harvest and transport food but not in the near future, not in our lifetimes and probably not in our children’s lifetimes. My primary objection is that.. IF fundamental transformation is based on things like biosphere-type food systems as a response to the transportation of food – we are not only not there yet – we are far, far away… and I do question what is it ..that citizens who want fundamental transformation would petition government to do much less change government itself. I DO think that changes in settlement patterns – to evolve to more efficient versions IS possible especially if fundamental transformation is affected by the price of gasoline. I’d only point out though that perfectly dysfunctional settlment patterns continue to exist and grow in countries where gasoline is $8 a gallon and more. Surely if Fundamental Transformation is affected by the cost of energy – would we not see SOME changes in access and mobility and government structures by now in those places where energy is 3 times more costly that in this country? As usual, I have more questions than answers and a high blather to word ratio.. sorry about that.

  10. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    First a note for Claude:

    Very good thoughts.

    For what it is worth, I have been collecting pictures of large (“over the road”) delivery vehicles in places like Main Street Warrenton and Main Street St. Michaels. They are a rolling crime.

    Regional rail-head distribution and delivery vehicles designed for streets, not roads makes a lot of sense.

    My second job (my first one was as a community news reporter for a pulizer prize winning newspaper) was a stawberry picker. We picked Lake 5 strawberries until 2 PM then the farmer took them to the Belton, Montana depot to put on the train. They arrived in time for breakfast in Minn / St Paul. I am not sure if it was the next day but it was a lot faster than shipping them by truck and a lot cheaper than shipping them by air.

    The forces to accelerate consumption based on cheap fuel that Claude discusses has to be Fundamentally Transformed.

    In 1968 we proposed to the Puerto Rico Planning Board staff that PR develop a shared vehicle system serving the San Juan Region with an extension to Ponce and that it run 24 hours a day with freight, mail and package delivery running at night.

    Since METRO opened we have suggested repeatedly that it haul packages at night to distribution pods for delivery by foot and small vehicle the next day.

    So far no takers.

    EMR

  11. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    One other thought on application of “mole hillse” to Lewenz / Parallel Villages:

    Even though it was cost effective for Disney, with a modest scale Lewenz Parallel Village it may not be.

    They had to get rid of a lot of dredge spoil, they had a lot of land to move and store fill …

    And they had cheap fuel for the earthmovers.

    By the way did they build full lower-level system under all the new theme park elements or just the first two?

    EMR

  12. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Larry Gross said:

    “I would invite anyone who believes that a city …”

    No one said anything about a “city.” As classically defined no “city” has existed for 50 years on the planet. In the Commonwealth there have been no “cities” for a century. There are places called “The City of ____” but that is a different issue. No one is talking about “feeding a city.”

    “…. of say a million folks can feed themselves with food grown in a bubble…”

    Larry has set up a strawperson to beat with a big verbal stick.

    “… consult the Biosphere website or even better – go visit Biosphere and take the special “behind the scenes” tour to see the labyrinth of energy-gobbling equipment necessary to just keep things alive – much less produce a bounty of food sufficient to sustain even just a few people.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere

    Bass’s Folly in the Arizona desert is worth a visit. It has a lot to say about the cost and usefulness of setting up a “earth station” on Mars but little on the topics discussed in this string. Last I heard they were thinking of selling off some of the site for McMansions.

    “One thing you notice about the tour of Biosphere are the things that are NOT there…

    “like fields of wheat or corn or meat or even big enough fishes on a sustainable basis to be a food source.

    “It’s Science Fiction – and the folks that run it will admit it up front that it is an experiment that succeeded in telling them that – to this point – that approach is not sustainable <--- NOTE THIS WORD!” So why did Larry bring up Bass’s Folly? “It might be that some day – major, fundamental changes – fundamental transformation – will force changes to how we grow, harvest and transport food but not in the near future, not in our lifetimes and probably not in our children’s lifetimes.” A lot of Tiger Riders are hoping you are right. However, we do not think your grandchildren will admire you for your foresight on this issue. “My primary objection is that.. IF fundamental transformation is based on …” STRAW-PERSON ALERT!! No one said the imperative for Fundamental Transformation was based on any one factor, especially not on “biosphere-type food systems” which no one we know is advocating. “… things like biosphere-type food systems as a response to the transportation of food – we are not only not there yet – we are far, far away…” Not so far as you and other Tiger Riders hope as we will note in an upcoming post. “and I do question what is it ..that citizens who want fundamental transformation would petition government to do much less change government itself.” You have not been reading carefully but you now have enough straw to take a nice nap. “I DO think that changes in settlement patterns – to evolve to more efficient versions IS possible especially if fundamental transformation is affected by the price of gasoline. “I’d only point out though that perfectly dysfunctional settlement patterns continue to exist and grow in countries where gasoline is $8 a gallon and more.” The idea that “perfectly dysfunctional settlement patterns continue to exist and grow…” is a false impression promoted by the believers in the Euro Sprawl Myth. “Surely if Fundamental Transformation is affected by the cost of energy – would we not see SOME changes in access and mobility and government structures by now in those places where energy is 3 times more costly that in this country?” Settlement patterns in these location were never the same as in the US of A, they did not change as much as the Euro Sprawl Myth advocates like to suggest and after 1973 they have made Fundamental Changes for the better. “As usual, I have more questions than answers and a high blather to word ratio.. sorry about that.” You hold the key to cutting down your blather to word ratio: Did you Google “Ag Urbanism Vancouver?” Have you visited the farmers market in Berlin across form Kaufhaus Des Westens (KaDaWe)? How about the one in the Centroid of Munchen? Have you read Jac Smit’s book “Urban Agriculture?” If you want to lower you blather ratio, the ball is in your court. It may help to just admit that there is no way to justify 12 ½ Percenter decisions. Just say you had no choice at the time, you will be forgiven. And speaking of 12 ½ Percenters and Ag / Urban Balance. Here is a Regional Metrics application: There are about 10,000,000 +/- citizens in the Washington-Baltimore NUR and let us say 3.5-Mil Households. Of those 437,500 are 12 ½ percenters. At an average of 5 acres a lot that is 2.1 Million acres of land that could be reclaimed by Subdivision Recycling. Let us be conservative and save half of the reclaimed land for Openspace and open land. Since the urbanized area already has no Balance and far too low intensity and flux to be sustainable, there is no need to find new land to develop. Most of the large lot subdivisions were hacked out of land that was, or could be, productive Ag land so there would be a million acres of land that is close to the market for Ag products. A lot of crops could be raised on that million acres, perhaps even some organic waste used to power small, shared vehicles, directly or indirectly … Just a thought. EMR

  13. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    “City Farmers” !!!!!!!

    EMR .. they have trashed your vocabulary!

    🙂

    Where to begin or end…..

    my basic approach to just about anything – contradictions are logical cockroaches…

    as long as we ignore them or try to hand-wave them away – we disrespect our own theories and beliefs…

    I can see a path to a future that you describe – honestly… EMR

    but I don’t understand what the roadmap needs to be and I don’t understand exactly what you would advocate for.. in the here and now..as the first steps necessary to make choices to head in the right rather than the wrong direction.

    Contradictions are logic cockroaches.

    If you are content to let them exist – then you have to question what else you are content to let exist that also does not make sense.

    It’s true ..we may not understand all of what we need to but understanding IS a necessary condition before one makes choices and takes action…

    Here’s a test for you.

    go to a full-service urban farmers market – and take a poll as to what is sold there in terms of where it was grown…. AND the means for which it was brought there.

    Most farmers markets that I’ve seen have big belching trucks… some with far away names on them…others.. with the names of airports or ports on them….

    Are there vibrant urban places in this world where virtually all of the food sold in it’s farmers markets come from within it’s NUR clear edge?

    How about this. Can you rank the top 10 NURs in terms of the those with the highest percentage of locally-grown food – and more important – what is it about their current access and mobility is fundamentally different that the 10 lowest rated NURs?

    cockroaches EMR.. cockroaches..

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