"Future Perfect"

In 1985, the future looked like this.

A massive silver geodesic sphere rises perfectly centered against a clear open sky, the gentle curve of a monorail arcing around its edge, a striking glass sculpture catching the light in the foreground. Almost no one in sight.

EPCOT — which stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow — was conceived as a realization of Walt Disney's own vision for a city of the future. It was to be an actual city where people would work, live, and play, highlighting the best of urban planning and new technologies. After Walt Disney's death, the company opted against building a city — and without Walt's creative vision, the leaders felt it too uncertain a project. What opened instead, on October 1, 1982, was something different — a theme park built on the radical optimism of human potential, celebrating new technology and the promise of a better tomorrow.

This image was captured just three years after those gates first opened. The optimism is still palpable. The sphere still gleaming. The future still wide open.

Grand, serene, and completely ahead of its time.