In October 2022, we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of EPCOT – a one-of-a-kind Disney park that is in the middle of a huge transformation.
It is a great time to look back to when it all started: 1982. Ronald Reagan was president, Michael Jackson released Thriller, and Thomas Tueful was a construction worker who helped to build EPCOT.
Let’s learn about the behind-the-scenes information from someone who helped EPCOT come to life.
Question: I understand you helped to build some of the structures at EPCOT. What was your life like at that time?
Answer: I was a 19-year-old construction guy! I could jump tall buildings. Party all night and work all day. Things have surely slowed down a bit. My mom had just passed the year before I started working, just after I graduated high school, so I worked a lot to stay distracted from some of life’s bumps.
Question: What projects did you work on?
Answer: I worked a lot in and around Spaceship Earth. I also worked quite a bit in the American Adventure, the Imagination pavilion, and the ticket buildings at the entrance to the parking lot and the entrance to the monorail.
Question: What was a typical day like?
Answer: A typical day involved flying into the parking lot in my Fruit Ice step box truck that was my transportation, work with 2 or 3 assigned carpenters to retrieve planks, or supply mud to masons. We would look forward to the food trucks for our lunch, or eat from our brown bags. We would pull lots of equipment by trolly system up on the roofs, wheelbarrows, buckets of mud, etc. We pu in full days of work.
Question: Was there anything unique about the work you did?
Answer: The uniqueness was the vastness of a job. Filling a large building like American Adventure with scaffolding so the ceilings could be reached and then walking around on the top floor of the scaffolding was cool.
Question: Do you have any favorite stories or memories about your work?
Answer: I have a funny story about one worker who we believed spent too much time at Johnny’s corner (the local watering hole) and we believe got some bad drugs. He came into work one morning insisting that everyone had to get out of the ball, Spaceship Earth because the Lord visited him last night and told him the ball was going to fall. We didn’t know whether to believe him or keep working. He was sent home for an extended time. So the question of the day was, “Will the ball fall?”
Question: Anything else you would like to share?
Answer: The work I did holds special memories. It’s great to revisit EPCOT and relive the memories. I’m grateful that I was able to contribute.
Do you know anyone who helped to build Disney World?