Two recent developments. After posting Grandpa’s to-do list, Stephen figured out that Grandpa was referring to Michael T. Lott on the last line of his note, and that “eticket59” was the code to access a project of particular significance. As explained in the footer of an email, by adding a slash and this code to the URL of the Lott Family Construction website, we were able to uncover the original Tomorrowland blueprints. Yeah. Exactly.
Stephen had a pretty interesting theory about those notations in the corners of some of the blueprints:
|
Secondly, Benjamin (and Zach and Fred!) asked Michael about grandpa and got this in reply:
Dear Benjamin,
Oh, yeah. I think he was a writer or some such. I think we chatted at the Fair a bit… but that’s all I really remember.
Yours truly,
Michael T. Lott–
Lott Family Construction, LLC
1309 North Aurora Street
Ithaca, NY 10605(607) 218-5820
–
This e-mail and the information it contains may be confidential and privileged and is intended solely for the use of the named addressee. If you have received this message in error please inform the sender immediately, delete all copies, do not disclose the contents to any other person or take any action based on them. If you’re a client and need to access your files online, type our website, a slash, then your project code to view your documents.
I’m kind of tripping out right now. Michael might have known Grandpa? And they were both together at the World’s Fair? Geez. Small world. (Yeah, I said that. Because it’s true!)
When I set out to make this film, I thought a little research and a couple of interviews would answer the few questions I had about Grandpa. But the questions are only leading to more questions. And, as many of you have long suspected, it’s becoming clear that Grandpa was more than just a teller of stories; he was in the middle of one!
More and more I feel like making this film and sharing Grandpa’s story is the best thing I can do. Feels good. Feels right. So right that I even get the sense that Mom could be on board. Little by little, here and there, I’ve been bringing up Grandpa. And she hasn’t freaked out. In fact, sometimes, she even responds! So, it must be a sign. Right?
Amelia, I am hooked and going to MK tmro to check the COP and more importantly the peoplemover! I am so hooked and looking forward to helping us discover more about your grandfathers story.
Amelia, I am hooked and going to MK tmro to check the COP and more importantly the peoplemover! I am so looking forward to helping us discover more about your grandfathers story.
Good luck!
Glad I could help out. Your grandpa did some amazing things and met some if the most influential people of the 20th century. If any of these devices exist, it could change everything, the world even.
Hey Amelia this is Sean, from what a gathered from this last post. I looks like Mr.Loft and your grandfather could have either been working on either Tomorrow land here at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom. I might be the Magic Kingdom since at that time during the 64 Worlds fair he was already working on Disneyworld and Epcot. I keep looking to see what I can find out.
Wow! Lots of me developments tonight! I wish could add something and say I found a connection at Disneyland today but that is not the case. Your Grandpa was a very clever man!
Thanks for your help at Disneyland Katherine, I don’t think that we are finished there just yet. Tomorrowland holds the clue, as the record stated “…the keys to our ideas will always be on display in Tomorrowland”
Maybe he means the key to the map, ie. The borchures they hand out upon entry.
The dog in the Pirates of the Caribbean’ ride holds keys as well.
The blueprints definitely look like the Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
Yes, that is definitely a blueprint of Tomorrowland from Disneyland, California.
Wow, I’ve been working overtime at my job, don’t check this place for two days, and SO much has happened. This stuff is astounding! Great job guys. And Amelia, you’re Grabdpa sounds like he might be of some great importance(more than he led you to think). I can’t wait to see what’s next!
I go away for a couple of hours and come back to find all this new info! Amelia, have you thought about maybe contacting and interviewing some other people besides your Mom?
All of this is very intriguing (and amazing!) Amelia!
It would seem that your grandfather had not only some involvement the Disney attractions at the world’s fair, but was possibly also involved with the 1959 expansion of Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
Yeah, Fred, it does seem like that.
“So right that I even get the sense that Mom could be on board. Little by little, here and there, I’ve been bringing up Grandpa. And she hasn’t freaked out. In fact, sometimes, she even responds! So, it must be a sign. Right?”
Definitely!
You really should make a film about your grandpa. Thanks again for letting us in on your family history.
Sure, I’ve thought about it. For as long as I knew Grandpa, though, I never really saw him hang out with anyone outside of Mom and me. And even then, he mainly kept to himself, up in his apartment above Mom’s garage. Michael seems like he might have known Grandpa, but I cannot for the life of me get him to respond to my requests for an interview. And Wallace? There clearly appears to be a connection between his work and Grandpa’s, but the man seems pretty evasive in general.
We’re slowly piecing it all together, Amelia. Don’t worry! Does your mom have any memories of your grandpa inventing things, perhaps?
I send a email asking Michael about your Grandpa a couple of weeks ago with the PHOTO of him, your grandmother and your mother attached. But I got the same reply about chatting a bit.
Agreed! Michael Lott defaintely knows more then he is telling. Your grandfather he has mentioned working with Lott on previous occations, and then his checklist confirms that he was working with him on the Tomorrowland “eticket59″ project, so his “I think he was a writer” and “we chatted at the fair” routine is just hot air. As for Wallce, I haven’t quite figured him out yet, but I am convinced that we haven’t heard the last of him!
I think most of the folks we’ve been discussing with are definitely letting on less than they know. They certainly are tight lids.
Amelia,
These descriptions of the items in the patents sound AMAZING!
Portals to other worlds, hologram virtual worlds (like the Holodecks in Star Trek – WHAT!?), and some sort of crazy transit (supra-transit and extra-orbital).
The recordings talk about ‘Free Energy’, new sources of energy, and an amazing way of life. Technology allowing us to save lives, and protect nature!? Regenerating life using DNA!? Advanced robotics!
What is this? It sounds like ‘the city’ that Walt and the staff were setting up. Was the concepts of Tomorrowland not really about the future, but preparing people for a whole new way to LIVE? A totally different world.
Where could it be? On Earth? Far away? Maybe just Florida?
Of course, Nixon would be interested in seeing this amazing other world. It’s no wonder he got involved.
I want to get my hands on one of those (Proximity Immersion Nodes (P.I.N.s)!
If this technology did truly exist, it sounds amazing. But something must have happened. I don’t understand with this technology, how Walt could have passed away?
I have so many questions, but so few answers. Amelia, this discovery could change the face of history as we know it!
Wallace MUST have gone, he must have been there. I want to meet him, and find out what or where this is or was.
-Hastin
well you can at least ask him question on the 6th, and then meet him @ D23 expo!
You have effectively summed up my thoughts about all of this since I listened to those words on the recording late a few nights ago. It really has me racing, and so much could have or has come from it.
As far as Wallace, by the way, he mentions he was a kid during the fair, so I’m not sure how much he may know.
Yeah, this stuff does seem like kind of a big deal. If we could get in touch with Wallace, that would be awesome.
I tried to get him to meet up with me at Disneyland yesterday but no luck!
He seems content to be aloof and isolated from requests and inquiries. Maybe he may become more cordial sometime soon.
I tried to contact him about all this and ask him point blank about the patents and codes but he did not answer
Speaking of codes, Lott is definitely hiding something. Those fatal errors are specific blocks; more or less, the website is specifically like that. Any time else you go to a wrong page, you get a different page. Maybe there’s a further level of security? I want to see what the 37mb file is…
Is anyone else having trouble opening some of the documents on the Lott site? “Fatal Error”– sounds Dangerous!
I sent an email to Lott asking him about it, we’ll see what he says
Can anyone add any insight into the “Drawn By” names on the blueprints? I see “FS” and “Stoos”. Mean anything to anyone?
There’s one more name on the fantasyland extension file. From somebody named tauoularis.
It looks like it might be Dean Tavoularis, he was a artist at the Disney studios up until 1965.
To the best of my knowledge I can’t think of an imagineer who has those initials, but coming from someone who has worked in the construction/design industry, this is abnormal, a lot of companies will outsource to architectural firms to get this work done, that could be one explanation on why those initials don’t ring a bell.
*not abnormal
Good point. However, while Disney was around, they hadn’t outsourced much. In this case, though, Lott family construction was involved. Maybe someone ping Michael and see if he has info?
So, where are the figures that the descriptions of the special projects refrence? I would like to see the figures for Project Signal Flag, Project Mark 0, and Project Auto Apparatus.
You need to look at the Patents for each one. US2861806 – Auto Apparatus; US2942516 – Mark 0; US3241419 – Signal Flags. The #’s that you see in () on the blueprint descriptions, reference the #’s on the diagrams in the Patents.
Yeah, I hadn’t had a chance to reference that; thanks for reposting Stephen.
So from looking at the new plans from Lott and the existing patent information, it looks like Mark 0 is Circlevision, Auto Apparatus is Flight to the Moon (LOVE the “Caballeros Principle” – made my day!), and Signal Flags are the holographic curtains from the Carousel of Progress (did that later go into the area shown on that plan?)
I would say that is correct. I enjoyed the “Caballeros” reference too.
Guess I’ll spend some time looking more into those; spent all morning at CoP
Derek – none of those are there anymore! So I don’t know that there’s much for you to track down along those lines – but thank you for the kind offer!
Hah! No, I meant the details in the found documents. I know none of those exist!
What were the codes being tried on the phones yesterday? I can’t find them for the life of me. I want to try something.
I tried the codes from the Tam: 0L1N# 0B1G# 01BC# 0G1W#
don’t know if this is pertinent to the discussion but if anyone is interested, i found this piece posted on disney history institute’s website. it pertains to the parade for the 1959 Tomorrowland grand opening. http://www.disneyhistoryinstitute.com/search/label/1959
So I’ve been riding CoP a few times (trying to line up the audio) and i haven’t seen anything yet. I keep riding just to see; also, I just happen to love this attraction and it makes me feel I’m in the presence of so many amazing, creative minds. I’ve gone over the record audio a few times just to get a sense of things. I really believe that side B is for the ford magic skyway; but as far as i remember, there is no record or recording of any sort of it. I’ve seen, and have some outside or beamway photos/video, but that’s all.
I’m very jealous – I would love to be riding CoP right now! Thank you for your research, and you never know – something might come to you! By the way, it’s been almost a year since I’ve been there, so I don’t remember – it just has plain curtains now, right? Not the cool holographic ones?
I just had to get out there and see. It was definitely interesting watching the show with the altered audio, but besides the little notices folks have made (lightning/thunder, etc) I wasn’t able to make out much… I just feel like I’m missing something. Maybe it just is part of the special audio intended as a souvenir. In any case, that being said, I would like the other three (or two, considering the last scene changed) scene’s alternate audio, because obviously, it ends there. It’d be nice to find the next volume.
In any case, I watched as closely as I could.
I’ve started to really long for this future being alluded to in these documents. Out really is fantastic, and would truly make for an amazing world. As it says in the audio, not this world, but in another, I assume with this tech released to the public. I love the bit about trusting everyone with the tech; gives me hope. But i remember that this is still alternate reality, and as fast as we know, some of this isn’t possible yet… but it makes me dream…
do you suppose “portals” may refer to the interior door/stairs that was inside the CoP?
heres a composite of 4 of the maps from the construction site.
i hope its useful.
I found a picture of Hobbyland – http://www.disneybymark.com/2011/11/25/hobbyland-lake/ and the Yacht Club/Bar – http://www.disneybymark.com/2011/11/08/the-yacht-club-in-tomorrowland/
Megan – did you take a look at the aerial photo? to me, the layout of tomorrowland in the photo looks similar to the ’59 blueprints.
Yep, I sure did – it all seems to match up, though, so I can’t quite figure out what we’re looking for. What do you think, Jody?
Megan – as Kara said, the layout is almost identical except for the star with the Flags was moved/replaced by the Roto-Jets (Astro-Jets).
It’s identical. I can’t help but keep looking back at the “Flag of Nations”. When you lay the blueprints out, it is literally the center of that expansion site. I wonder if that is significant to her grandfather’s involvement
The flags on display here is actually what’s called the “Court of Honors” and at the time they were the 48 flags of the states.
I think what is important about the flags is that Wallace intentionally chose certain state flags for his map of Tomorrowland because obviously all 48 couldn’t be drawn there. The ones that he chose to add have to mean something…
Those flags were moved to the entrance of Tomorrowland in 1956 when that area was occupied by the Astro-Jets.
I agree that the flags he chose have significance but that would be a different point on the map in 1959.
ahh okay. Thanks for clarifying, Amber.
There was previously some discussion on the meaning of the state flags on here – I can’t seem to find the comments now, but there were theories that they could hold another patent number based on the respective states’ order of admission to the union. I will keep looking, but I don’t know that anything ever came of that line of discussion. It does seem like they must have some significance, though!
Megan – Delaware is where the Walt Disney Company is legally incorporated.
Interesting! The last one definitely looks like Delaware – I don’t remember all the others, but perhaps they are places with significance to the Disney company, then.
Not sure about the first one. But the others are Alabama, New Mexico, Texas, Massachusetts and Delaware. But what’s the significance behind this?
I think the first one is either Nebraska or New Hampshire. tried to decipher using entry into union. Got
3722472861 (if first flag is Nebraska) &
922472861 (If first flag is New Hampshire)
They are not patents.
Letters don’t make an anagram either. hmm….
about the flags on Wallace’s map: they must have something to do with the Space program (NASA) Texas – LBJ/Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas; Massachusetts – Pres. JFK’s home state, i think he was president when NASA started; Alabama and New Mexico – all I can think of is the route the Endeavour Space Shuttle took when it was flown from Cape Canaveral to Los Angeles – I think it flew over these two states as well as Arizona (Gabby Giffords’ husband was an astronaut who flew the space shuttle).
oh, sorry, i forgot to add that the Endeavor flew over both WDW and DL during that special flight last year.
Good call, Jody – there are major NASA research facilities in New Mexico (White Sands) and Alabama (Huntsville), too – so you definitely seem to be onto something, especially with the focus on space travel in the Lott blueprints!
Megan – just thought of something else – the records, perhaps it’s not the recording that’s important. maybe it was the way it was recorded – the two alternative grooves – Tesla and his alternating currents – perhaps that record was from a Tesla invented recording device. well, it’s something to think about.
Amelia, you and I were looking for the Yacht Club at the same time! More nautical flags, I see….
Amelia – I just read the article by Bob Gurr on Micechat.com. Towards the middle of the article, he mentions this: When Walt Disney started me on the Disneyland Monorail project in late 1959, Roger Broggie Sr. and I made a trip to Germany for discussions with the Alweg Monorail Company.”
-I was researching the history of the name Moreau and found that Disney was inspired by a symbolist artist named Gustav Moreau. This man may be a relative of yours. (http://artsofinnovation.wordpress.com/2007/03/)
-E-Ticket was the name of a magazine produced by Disney.
-A new ride opened at the Hong Kong park with “Mystic Magneto-Electric Carriage” This ride uses technology related to Michael Faraday’s, who is known as the Father of the age of electricity according to Disney. (http://mountainearsorg.ipage.com/wm/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=215:dq-1294-professor-wonderful-relating-stories-of-michael-faraday&Itemid=12) Flux and Capacitance! (Is this the Michael we are looking for?) A character ‘Dr. Faraday’ is in the Flight of the Navigator. Disney released a record about Faraday in their ‘Great Men of Science’ record series.
-When looking up Medallion Cities I found some of the weird symbols in photos…
Porabola @ http://www.imagineeringdisney.com/blog/2010/7/22/a-look-at-the-progress-city-model-then-and-now.html
Lines @ http://epcotexplorer.tumblr.com/post/27984569088/pictures-of-progressland-the-artistry-of
Those are done on the photo to represent what is still left of the progress city model. After many years, the model from the Carousel Of Progress has been downsized, and what’s left is on display on the path of the Peoplemover at WDW. What you see here was someone posting a reference of what is still visible.
I have sent a message to Bob Gurr about Michael Lott and the big projects that occured at Disneyland in 1959. Awaiting response…
I was just looking at Wallace’s Tomorrowland map again. Did anyone else notice the blue and yellow dots on the maps? They are around the Art of Animation and 20,000 Leagues museum.
The blue and yellow dots signify telephone [blue] and restroom [yellow] locations.
Katherine and I checked them out yesterday at Disneyland and they seem to just point to actual restrooms and telephones for now.
Thanks you two for taking the time to check them out! I think we’ve found the three locations we were meant to find w/Wallace’s map.
thank you katherine and christina for checking them out and letting me know.
Thanks for mentioning me! These blueprints are really interesting!
I’m confused. Did someone hack you, Amelia?
I’m sorry. I am posting my comment again. It ended up in the wrong grouping. Amelia, did someone hack you? I am confused.
yes someone was posing as Amelia, but you didn’t miss anything, her comments will now be highlited as you see below
Thank you Stephen. Sorry, Amelia. Hope all is right. I was the first person who mentioned the Gurr article today , but it ended up with the fake Amelia response that disappeared. It’s weird I got caught up in that. I’m not fake , though.
What I find most interesting about these blueprints are the backwards number on the them. I’ve tried using them as a phone number but no luck so far.
on most blue prints the are stamped on the other side with the project number. That is what it looks like that is.
On the blueprints I checked out the backwards number corresponds to the record number on the front of the blueprint in the little Disneyland Inc. box. Seems to be a way to organize the blueprints to me
So, just to connect the dots:
Auto Apparatus: Time/Space Travel Training Device: Rocket To The Moon. According to the web, the attraction has a pre-show with “Audio Animatronics” manning a “Control Booth” (perhaps more real than we ever thought!) Did the show have reclining seats? Because that was a thing that was discussed in blueprints.
Signal Flag: Travel Portals (Time, Space, or Otherwise): CoP Holographic Curtains. This doesn’t take too much thought to imagine – what with the crazy colors pulsating to the music, especially in a show that “revolves around” time travel! For all we know, those “Audio Animatronic” scenes are more real than we realize…
Mark 0: Projection System involving a Car, which responds to pre-recorded or live stimuli: Circle-Vision. Consider that the attraction was sometimes called CirCARama. Perhaps this means that the car which hosts the circular projector could, conceivably, go live and show a real-time 360 view of… stuff… I mean, if these portals actually existed it would probably make filming films like “America The Beautiful” infinitely easier – you could pass from Williamsburg to Times Square instantly! It could have even, conceivably, been a live show.
I started thinking that as well today, riding on the CoP. In a way, these are all actualities, and may even possibly be happening in front of us In any case, there’s definitely a way in which things are being taken, restored, and brought to life before us, through the magic of the technology that actually exists there.
I apologize if this was already posted but I did some research on the signal flags flying over the submarine voyage ride. Left side top to bottom appear to be 1, 4, 1, 9
and on the right “you are running into danger”, ?, 3, 2, 4. Does anyone see any help here with what we are trying to figure out? The ? is for the white pennant-can’t find what that is signalling other than “Surrender” or “Truce”?
Received a reply from Lott on the broken files. Here’s his response.
I don’t blame Lott. No one should be doing the snooping, unless for a good reason.
Oh noez
I also emailed Michael and he sent me this:
Hi Chloe,
I remember one night we were working on some last minute tweaks to ‘small world’ when we heard this gosh-darn awful racket coming from this back room, and I didn’t know there even was a back room! It was this big hum, like the biggest engine you ever heard of. Everything was on a need-to-know, and I felt lucky to be in the know to know there was a need-to-know!
Yours truly,
Michael T. Lott
–
Lott Family Construction, LLC
1309 North Aurora Street
Ithaca, NY 10605
(607) 218-5820
–
This e-mail and the information it contains may be confidential and privileged and is intended solely for the use of the named addressee. If you have received this message in error please inform the sender immediately, delete all copies, do not disclose the contents to any other person or take any action based on them. If you’re a client and need to access your files online, type our website, a slash, then your project code to view your documents.
You know, I meant to say something in one of my earlier posts – the Matterhorn is really prominent on Wallace’s map, and over the years has moved back and forth on maps from being considered Tomorrowland to being considered Fantasyland. Also, the autopia track on Wallace’s map is much longer and loopier than the one on Lott’s plans. I’m not sure what the significance of either of those things is – thoughts?
What?
I emailed him about the broken files in the Eticket59 project. I’ll let you know when he responds!
I think most can attest to how hard he is to communicate with. I’ve asked him a lot with various addresses, and he only picks up on specific things. He is proud of his work and I would be too.
Huh? The D23 expo doesn’t start until the 9th.
The Yacht Bar is also on Wallace’s map! Not being too familiar with the actual Tomorrowland at Disneyland – is that something that’s there now, or is something in its place? How about the flight circle area where Hobbyland is marked? I have been as$uming those are real things that are there…but do any of you who have been recently know?
I believe the Yacht Bar is now the Tomorrowland Terrace and Hobbyland is where there is the spinning water ball is (Sorry! I don’t know any other way to describe it.). Can anyone else confirm this too?
I found a bit of info on Hobbyland, courtsy of DLDHistory;
http://dldhistory.com/dldhistory/asp/2k13attract.asp?Page=3&Ident=556&MediaType=Image
I’ve never been, but most info points to hobbyland being a filler area for ten years. It had model boats and airplanes that would travel around the shallow hobbyland lake. However, in 1966 it was replaced with a sidewalk
Amelia, do you think Hobbyland or the Yacht Club had special significance for your grandfather?
Hobby land was in Tomorrowland from 1955–1966, it was a bunch of booths underneeth metal canopy’s
Actually, the D23 expo starts on the 10th.
Oops….I just made a comment with a mistake. Indeed, the Expo starts on the 9th. I have no idea why I said it started on the 10th, so please ignore my last comment.
True, but in this case we’re heavy on scrutiny lol. I’d noticed that fantasyland addition too; I’d a$sumed it was the Matterhorn
Amelia, thanks for posting the article from Gurr; I always love to listen to his words. He’s apparently awesome to talk to, and as a fellow aspiring mechanical guy, I’d love to have the chance to talk with him. I might take you up on asking questions, but it was still great to see him speak about another of my loves: aircraft.
I asked Bob Gurr a question after his micechat article. I asked him about his trip to Germany and if Amelia’s Grandfather might have been along (since a 4 day trip to Germany appears on Carlos’ to-do list back in 1959).
Something sounds suspicious to me about that post from Amelia, she has never told us to do something before
I wonder if we are falling behind schedule, and she posted because the Bob Gurr article was up and we were supposed to have found it. Or it could just be someone else messing with us. The poster did seem a lot more familiar with Disneyland and a lot less hesitant to discuss it than Amelia’s usual tone.
I agree, and she’s never really asked us to look into things that we didn’t noticed first (like yacht club and hobbyland). Is the game trying to deter us or get us back on the right path?
It might have been a deterrence, but I didn’t mind it; I like to read about Bob Gurr.
Guess we’re too slow
It’s also disappeared, so it could be a$sumed as such lol… Ah well.
For MY grandpa? Honestly, I would have no idea. Sorry. :\
Amelia, are you going to the D23 Expo? A lot of imagineers and even Wallace are gong to attend! You should come too. August 9-11th!
Sorry, Derek. Wasn’t me. :\ But I definitely look forward to learning more about Mr. Gurr.
Today Amelia had a few tweets about being named after Amelia Earheart and that it was her grandfather who decided to name her that. Maybe Gurr’s plane article has more significance than we thought. The fact that he’s commenting back makes me think so.
Huh. That is a pretty good way to put it. I just hope we aren’t confusing poor Mr. Gurr!
oh I would feel terrible…I hope he knows what this is about, I’d hate us to just be confusing such an amazing man in his golden years