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  • 2021-11-02 (xsd:date)
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  • Was EPCOT Built on a Sinkhole at Disney World? (en)
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  • Yes, EPCOT has a sinkhole. As the Disney vloggers The Mouselets mentioned on TikTok, the Walt Disney World Resort theme park is hiding a huge secret under part of the property in Orlando, Florida. The video claims there's a large space between two key areas of EPCOT because that's precisely where a sinkhole was observed before the Disney World park opened in 1982. To learn more, we jumped back in time to newspaper archives from 1981. On May 19 of that year, the Orlando Sentinel printed that Disney officials denied the rumor of a sinkhole where EPCOT was being constructed. Fast forward 31 years to when we learned more about the EPCOT sinkhole rumor from D23, the official Disney fan club. D23 is perhaps best known for its official, biennial event that showcases the world of Disney. On Oct. 5, 2012, the Orlando Sentinel reported that longtime Imagineer Marty Sklar shared fun facts in a prerecorded presentation. Sklar had worked for The Walt Disney Company since 1956 and eventually served as vice chairman and principal creative executive for Walt Disney Imagineering. The Sentinel went on: And he recalled a big obstacle to building EPCOT: a sinkhole between Future World and World Showcase. 'I still don't think we found the bottom of that,' Sklar said. We were unable to find a recording of the presentation on YouTube. However, we did uncover further reporting. According to silive.com, a publication that covers news about Staten Island, New York, Sklar also mentioned a man named John Tishman, who was referred to as a pioneer of construction management. According to the story, his firm built EPCOT and the original twin towers for the World Trade Center. Sklar died in 2017 after having made a lifetime of contributions to The Walt Disney Company. In sum, it's true that there's a sinkhole under part of EPCOT at Disney World. The data we used to make this determination comes from a credible figure in Disney history who described the EPCOT sinkhole at an official company function in 2012. We were unable to find any official information about the sinkhole's size. We reached out to Disney World for further comment, and will update this story if we receive a response. (en)
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