With its candy-colored town center and a touch of Walt Disney magic, the master-planned community of Celebration tries to live up to its name. The town was inspired by Walt Disney's 1966 dream for an experimental prototype community of tomorrow, also known as EPCOT. While EPCOT became just another theme park within the Mickey Mouse empire, Walt Disney's dream for a pedestrian-friendly utopia became a reality -- complete with schools, hospitals, and businesses -- in the mid-90s under then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
But perfection, at least the appearance of, comes with a price and lots of rules. The development has strict town-wide policies in place for its 3,500 residences -- such as limitations on political signage during elections and rules regarding lawn plants as stipulated in a "Declaration of Covenants," a lengthy agreement that requires the signature of every Celebration homeowner.
The town really is a "celebration of all the best aspects of American urbanism and architecture," insists Jacquelin T. Robertson, a principle at Cooper, Robertson & Partners, a firm which undertook a joint venture with prestigious Robert A.M. Stern Architects to design and oversee the construction of the estimated $2.5 billion plan in 1994.
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