Disney property in Lake County

PeterAlt

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Did you know that, in addition to the thousands of acres Disney owns in Orange and Osceola counties, Disney owns thousands of additional acres in Lake County, outside the RCID boundaries?

When I used Google Earth to try to locate this land, I found the signature "hidden Mickey" unmistakably identifying it as Disney property! Here's a screenshot of it.
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The property is not contiguous to the rest of WDW, but it's still very close. It's close enough to one day even be an annex of WDW and possibly even host additional resorts, shopping areas, and (dare I say) even theme parks. Here's a wider satellite image using Google Earth, with the property on the top left and the Magic Kingdom area including the Seven Seas Lagoon on the bottom right, to give a better idea of the size of the property and where it is in relation to the rest of WDW.
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lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure this land was purchased to maintain Disney and the Reedy Creek Improvement District's conservation requirements since Celebration was in development.
 
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PeterAlt

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, how many acres is that? When you include the land at the western edge, subtract Celebrations and all the other parcels they sold off, how many acres do they really own now?
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
PeterAlt said:
So, how many acres is that? When you include the land at the western edge, subtract Celebrations and all the other parcels they sold off, how many acres do they really own now?
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Not near as much as Uncle Walt bought back in the 1960s. I believe the conservation requirements are a set acreage based on the original land holdings, not a floating percentage.
 
Clever Name

Clever Name

Well-Known Member
PeterAlt said:
So, how many acres is that? When you include the land at the western edge, subtract Celebrations and all the other parcels they sold off, how many acres do they really own now?
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The Disney Wilderness Preserve is about 15,000 acres. This is the land that was donated to met their conservation requirements.

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiative...sweprotect/the-disney-wilderness-preserve.xml

Also Disney owns a lot of land in Florida (and elsewhere) under assumed names. After all Disney has a huge real estate business.
 
PeterAlt

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Clever Name said:
The Disney Wilderness Preserve is about 15,000 acres. This is the land that was donated to met their conservation requirements.

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiative...sweprotect/the-disney-wilderness-preserve.xml

Also Disney owns a lot of land in Florida (and elsewhere) under assumed names. After all Disney has a huge real estate business.
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The Disney Wilderness Preserve is in south Oseola County, not even close to WDW. It is no longer owned by Disney. It was donated to a non-profit nature group.

Disney at one time was a big real estate company. During the early 1980's, they bought a real estate company called Arvida, that owned huge amounts of acres all over Florida. My aunt and uncle bought a home from one of their developments and Mickey, Minnie, and Donald were there for the press event announcing the development. This was in Boca Raton. Later, in 1984 or 1985, Michael Eisner sold Arvida so the company could focus on movies and theme parks. I don't know if Arvida owned any Central Florida property. If they did, I've often wondered if Disney divested those properties for incorporation into WDW before selling the company.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
PeterAlt said:
The Disney Wilderness Preserve is in south Oseola County, not even close to WDW. It is no longer owned by Disney. It was donated to a non-profit nature group.

Disney at one time was a big real estate company. During the early 1980's, they bought a real estate company called Arvida, that owned huge amounts of acres all over Florida. My aunt and uncle bought a home from one of their developments and Mickey, Minnie, and Donald were there for the press event announcing the development. This was in Boca Raton. Later, in 1984 or 1985, Michael Eisner sold Arvida so the company could focus on movies and theme parks. I don't know if Arvida owned any Central Florida property. If they did, I've often wondered if Disney divested those properties for incorporation into WDW before selling the company.
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Acquiring Arvida was part of the creation of the Disney Development Corporation that was responsible for planning, building and managing Celebration.
 
Clever Name

Clever Name

Well-Known Member
PeterAlt said:
The Disney Wilderness Preserve is in south Oseola County, not even close to WDW. It is no longer owned by Disney. It was donated to a non-profit nature group.

Disney at one time was a big real estate company. During the early 1980's, they bought a real estate company called Arvida, that owned huge amounts of acres all over Florida. My aunt and uncle bought a home from one of their developments and Mickey, Minnie, and Donald were there for the press event announcing the development. This was in Boca Raton. Later, in 1984 or 1985, Michael Eisner sold Arvida so the company could focus on movies and theme parks. I don't know if Arvida owned any Central Florida property. If they did, I've often wondered if Disney divested those properties for incorporation into WDW before selling the company.
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Under the terms of their agreement with the state TWDC must set aside a certain amount of land for the sake of water, plant, animal and environmental conservation. People assume that those constraints apply to the WDW property but there are specific loopholes. Disney can develop WDW property that has been previously declared as reserved for conservation if they dedicate other Florida property in a like manner. That was the main reason for the Disney Wilderness Preserve.

Suffice it to say that Disney owns more than enough "other" property within the state to offset any development opportunities that might arise within WDW. The only real problem they face is from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in regard to certain plants, animals and habitat. In those cases they must walk carefully.
 
PeterAlt

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Clever Name said:
Under the terms of their agreement with the state TWDC must set aside a certain amount of land for the sake of water, plant, animal and environmental conservation. People assume that those constraints apply to the WDW property but there are specific loopholes. Disney can develop WDW property that has been previously declared as reserved for conservation if they dedicate other Florida property in a like manner. That was the main reason for the Disney Wilderness Preserve.

Suffice it to say that Disney owns more than enough "other" property within the state to offset any development opportunities that might arise within WDW. The only real problem they face is from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in regard to certain plants, animals and habitat. In those cases they must walk carefully.
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Yes I know. The Lake County property is not the same property you're talking about.
 
PeterAlt

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Now, this property is not annexed by the RCID or Bay Lake, which means that it is under the zoning rules of Lake County. If Disney were to build on it, it would have to go through Lake County for zoning or they could annex it into the RCID and Bay Lake.

I'm not sure if the RCID alone has the power of zoning. I'm pretty sure zoning is done through either municipalities they "own" within the RCID - Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista. Also, the Lake County land is not contiguous to the RCID boundaries. Florida law prohibits annexation of properties that are not contiguous with the body annexing them. Which means that the RCID can not annex it as is. And, if it could, it must also be annexed by Bay Lake before Disney could have zoning control over it.

Now, Disney, through the RCID, also acquired a huge junk of property at the western edge of WDW in recent years. That property has been annexed into the RCID. The property stretches north and gets very close to the Lake County property. All they need to do is acquire a small amount of property to connect the two. Once they do that, they can annex it and they can extend Bay Lake over it as well. If they ever do that, WDW will be a three-county resort!
 
PeterAlt

PeterAlt

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
lazyboy97o said:
You're again reaching for nothing.
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Hey, it's fun!

Besides, up until a few days ago I had no clue that they owned this. Such a huge piece of unaccounted for land warrants full blown speculation. Even if it's reaching for nothing, speculation is always a lot of fun - just because there is still that remote chance and the fact that there are things unknown about it.

Note: I refrained from speculating about a seventh gate!
 
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