While I highly doubt that the FLE was changed as a reaction to LEGOLand (or even WWoHP), I can assure you that Disney is keeping a close eye on things in Winter Haven. The local reaction has been extremely positive, and I was at the community open house event they held at the Orange Dome. There was a pretty good crowd waiting to get in over a half hour before the event started. The place was packed, and a few hours into the event when I left, people were still coming in. They have also sold several hundreds (the number may actually have been in the thousands, I don't remember where they released the number) of lifetime annual passes to Florida residents. While you may not be seeing a lot outside of the Orlando area in terms of marketing, I can assure you that within the Central Florida area, everyone knows about it and LEGO is making sure you know about it.
That park is going to surprise a lot of people when it opens, because they are underestimating the pull of the LEGO brand. It may not be a destination-maker on its own, but it will add a day to trips, or pull people away from Disney/Universal for a day. And at the very least, the current parks/resorts will be competing much more for annual pass money from Central Florida residents as a result of LEGOLand's presence.
Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled discussion...
I know it probably won't be done, since everything I'm reading says mid to late 2012, but I can dream.