Gyro Gearloose – the Face of Epcot’s Future World
Everyone loves Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck, but how many of us include Gyro Gearloose in our list of favorite characters? Since making his debut as a resident of Duckburg in May, 1952 (“Gladstone’s Terrible Secret”, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #140), Gyro Gearloose has been synonymous with creative, STEM-type inventions.
Created by Carl Banks for the Walt Disney Company for comics and eventually a part of the Duck Tales series, Gyro Gearloose is actually a chicken. While the creative Gyro Gearloose is not one of Disney’s primary characters, here are 8 reasons he should be the face of EPCOT’s FutureWorld!
Gyro Gearloose Built EPCOT!
When Walt Disney first envisioned EPCOT, it was significantly different than how it stands today. Prior to his death in 1966, Walt described his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) as a model city for other cities. It would have outer rings for home residences, downtown areas for shopping, and areas of industrialization.
Transportation would consist of monorails, moving walkways, and underground “highways”. Industry intellect would be at the center of EPCOT. Before Walt Disney had a chance to take his ideas further, his untimely death meant that his true vision of EPCOT would never come to be. But Gyro Gearloose developed Walt’s EPCOT in 1961 (“Monsterville”, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories)!
Gyro Gearloose’s EPCOT was his vision of Duckburg of the future, and was contained within a weather-controlled dome, and contained moving sidewalks and slides for commuters, a high-speed monorail, air-cushioned cars (hovercrafts), computers, robots, and even a flying car! This kind of vision has all the makings of Horizons (now replaced by Mission: Space)!
STEM
Gyro Gearloose was practicing STEM long before STEM became a thing! When was that exactly? Well, 2001 is when the term STEM was first coined and gained significant popularity, although it operated under the term SMET for some time before that.
So how exactly did Gyro Gearloose practice STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)? When it comes to Science, Gyro Gearloose frequently creates inventions requiring chemistry or other science disciplines, such as the time he had to make a molecule mashiferator! His use of Technology is at the forefront of his development of robots and other gadgets, like a wak muffler!
His Engineering skills were put to the test in building his Alternate Life Machine, and of course Duckburg EPCOT! And his Mathematics skills are regularly used to invent all of the great gadgets that the residents of Duckburg have come to need!
World of Transportation
As a middle schooler visiting EPCOT for the first time, I was incredibly excited about the future, and the World of Transportation (now Test Track) did not disappoint! I was fortunate enough to visit EPCOT within 3 months of it’s opening, and GM had concept cars and wind tunnels showing the future of the automotive industry.
Unknown at the time, Gyro Gearloose had already invented floating vehicles and flying cars for use in Duckburg! His ideas for transporting residents of Duckburg around their city would be considered futuristic even by today’s standards, and would certainly have a place in the World of Motion!
Inventions, Inventions, Inventions!
As the only inventor in Duckburg, Gyro Gearloose is always tasked with developing the perfect invention, for everyone from Donald Duck to Scrooge McDuck! His inventions have included a smile suspender (for those days when the customers aren’t so nice!), flying shoes and lots of robots. Add to that a 1,000,000 volt power box to make himself stronger, and these inventions are at the heart of Journey into Imagination!
“Little Helper”
Every great inventor needs a helper, and Gyro Gearloose is no exception! Alexander Graham Bell had Watson, Dreamfinder has Figment, and Gyro Gearloose has “Little Helper”! Little Helper was invented by Gyro Gearloose from Donald Duck’s desk lamp. Little Helper has a light bulb for his head, and metal arms and legs that move. When Gyro Gearloose is in a jam from one of his inventions, Little Helper is always there to help! This kind of creativity is a perfect fit for Innoventions!
With all of Gyro Gearloose’s qualifications, I can’t help but wonder why he hasn’t been asked to be the face of Futureworld! …yet!!
Thanks to Jim Enright for writing this article!
I am a high school special education and STEM teacher in NH, where I live with my wife and three boys ages 14, 13 and 11. Between visits to Walt Disney World, I enjoy reading about all aspects related to Disney, collecting Disneyana, and finding ways to keep the Disney magic around me all the time. My favorite Disney experience is when I participated in the College Program and lived at Disney’s Vista Way!