Val Harpster

recorder: Andrea Perkins

July 2, 2001

Text: Celebration, U.S.A. Living in Disney’s Brave New Town, by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, 1999.

"Hinterlands" from Burning Chrome, by William Gibson, 1987.

Objectives: 2. To identify, describe, and criticize:

1. high tech – Zeus Box
2. low tech – community planning for lowering transportation needs
3. utopia – Walt Disney’s vision

Summary: Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow (EPCOT) was

Walt Disney’s vision of a futuristic community where "twenty thousand

Sources:

Frantz, Douglas, and Catherine Collins. Celebration, U.S.A. Living in Disney’s Brave

New Town. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1999.

Gibson, William. "Hinterlands", Burning Chrome. New York: Arbor House, 1987.

Wilson, Craig. "Celebration puts Disney in reality’s realm." USA Today no publication

Welcome to CELEBRATION Florida. 6 Aug. 1999. The Celebration Company.

29 June 2001 <http://www.celebrationfl.com/press_room/faq05.html>

1. Will social welfare be taken care of or will the poor simply be "eliminated"?
2. Is high tech monitoring by the "Zeus box" worth the loss of privacy?
3. If "Zeus" can tell the marketing media all these things about you, think of the information that other agencies can gather about you through electronic data. Do you feel all this data is being used wisely?
4. What if the internet sites you visited or the people you talked to were considered to present the wrong image, what then? Shades of Big Brother!
5. Celebrity . . . utopia or dystopia? In other words has Mickey become a rat?

Styles: Classical, Victorian, Colonial Revival, Coastal, Mediterranean, French

Apartments started in the $750 range 1 bedroom/1 bath

Townhomes $125,000-$190,000 (Basic) $190,000-$300,000 (Luxury)

2-3 bedroom 2.5/3.5 bath lots 28 x 100 22 x 130

Cottage House $150,000 - $230,000 3-4 bedroom 2-3 bath lot 45 x 130

1,700 to 2,450 square feet

Village House $200,000 - $315,000 3-4 bedroom 3-4 bath lot 70 x 130

2,200 to 3,200 square feet

Estate House $350,000 - $750,000 4-6 bedroom 4-5 bath lot 90 x 130

3,400 to 6,000 square feet

The Rules – (enforced by "the Disney porch police" until ¾ occupied)

1. No picture windows and no entry doors other than the builder issued ones
2. Six styles of homes from 30’s and 40’s no two alike within 3 houses of each other
3. No frontal driveway access, garages and drives allowed in rear only
4. Color choices on exterior must be approved, color could not be repeated on the same side of a street within three houses unless the color was white.
5. Front yard hedges and fences must be 3 ½ feet or under
6. Minimum of 25% of front and side yards had to be planted in "other than grass"
7. No more than 2 different species of ornamental tree
8. No more than 5 different species of shrub or hedge
9. No more than 4 different species of ground cover
10. Grass no more than 3 ½ inches tall (argument over lawn care caused domestic dispute call to police and he moved, she and children stayed)
11. Windows coverings must be white on side facing street
12. No sheets to temporarily cover windows, special white paper shades
13. Fake dormer windows painted black to look like unlit room
14. Windows left uncovered must provide pleasant interior views…no packing boxes
15. No more than 2 vehicles per house on street or alley
16. No exterior TV antennas or satellite dishes unless affixed discreetly to the house
17. Only one garage sale per year per house
18. Only one political sign (18" x 24" max) for 45 days prior to election only
19. No "For Sale" signs
20. Disney retains veto power with the "community association" as long as it owns a single piece of property…it owns all the downtown business lots and buildings

1. AT&T donated hardware and installation for the intranet for town residents along with free internet access.
2. Permitted to use the town as a testing laboratory for new comm. technology and services (good middle class, computer savvy, trusting people who bought into the ultimate company town). Everything from laser surgery for varicose veins to "smart cards" were tested. (Smart cards move toward a cashless society.)
3. Freebies for participation: Tandy PC, H-P printer/fax/copier, Nokia cell phone, latest AT&T phone (with built in directories, caller id, reminder calendar, clock etc.) All basic services related would be covered also. Value $3,500 . . .all free.
4. Catch 1: use all gadgets as your primary household device for a year and participate in a survey every few months.
5. Catch 2: "We will be monitoring your usage of these devices through the Zeus box."
6. Zeus keeps track of phone calls, internet sites visited and downloads info to AT&T every few days.
7. Surveys took a psychological twist: "Given the opportunity would you watch an execution live on the Internet?" "If you could lie and cheat on the Internet without getting caught, would you?" "Have you ever been embarrassed by anything you have done on the Internet?" The survey could not be dumped to print!
8. AT&T called the technology panel a $12 million blunder for the company

Eight months after it began AT&T pulled out, contracts with Disney severed and all associated employees fired. Zeus boxes were removed from all homes.

Question: If you could live anywhere, would your answer be somewhere like Disneyland?

• Disney has bought into the idea that people don’t like to think
• Gave overview of the "Disney" theme, created "Disney town" named Celebration
• community started as a utopia (clean, safe, etc.)
• various quotes about the town itself

They made it economically impossible for poor people to live there (see price listings).

Wanted Celebration to be a sample of homecoming; the company controlled everything; they kept thing secret; list of rules only given to homeowners (reviewed rules in handout). Example: man and wife fought over who was going to keep the lawn at required 3 ½".

The biggest problem is the Zeus Box:

• Had to be used instead of your own computers

• Had access to all personal info; who you’ve called, all transactions made

• Invasion of privacy

• Loss of freedom

• Dr. White commented on gated communities on internet searches about

• Val said that finances limited the number of blacks and hispanics, mostly anglo

• Melissa said this is already going on everywhere, they already have access to our personal information.

• Laura said on the internet if you put certain words in you are sending a red flag.
• Val said that this also happens on the phone lines, husband’s job security clearance makes caution advisable in what you say or do, it’s all traceable.
• Melissa commented about the "Privacy Policy" if you don’t fill out the cards people still get your information

Comment by Val: "Disney’s way or the highway." Ending question: "Is the mouse turning into a rat?"