Disney Sells Town Center of Celebration

[HennieBogan1966]

While I understand the concept, and wish it could work, that still doesn't answer WHO's idea Celebration was. The idea for EPCOT was Mr. Disney's. That I know. But is there any proof to suggest that he specifically had designs on expanding this idea into an actual city. As I understand from a dvd that my wife bought for me. His idea for EPCOT was to be used to stimulate ideas/creativity for cities of the future. NOT for Disney to actually design and build a city of their own, so to speak.
(btw - the information i refer to comes directly from a tv show Mr. Disney did when he brought his idea for EPCOT to the public.)

What I'm getting at here is that again we have an expansive idea which in theory and on paper seemed like a great idea. Problem is, again, it was a very risky proposition at BEST!! I for one would like to see The Disney Company return to its roots. I remain hopeful that there will be a return to great animation some day, with the return of Mr Roy Disney and Mr Stan Gold to the family.

While Mr. Eisener may have had his day, that day is now passed. By the way, Mr. Eisner came along in 84. I did some research, and found that the stock thru the mid 80's and into the early 90's remained in the range of about 10-12 $ per share. Now, if we was running the ship back then what was he doing? ANd clearly the growth that the company has experienced in the last 5-7 years I would think was spawned from well done animated features. NOT bad sequels. Anyway, off topic. I'll get off my soapbox now.

 

[prberk]

Originally posted by artvandelay
This could be a good sign. Hopefuly, Disney is starting to divest itself of comapnies that have nothing to do with family entertainment and theme parks.

T3Tech, is Phantom at the Bob Carr PAC in Orlando?

Sometimes divestiture is a good thing, but not always.

Not sure about Celebration in this case, but I do know that "the Florida project" was always meant to be a place to have residents and entertainment, but most important to inspire new technologies.

The Walt Disney Company has always used it enteratainment units, true, as a mainstay; but I do believe that it was also seen as something more than that all along. It was seen as an innovator in urban design and technology, going all the way back to the initial design of Disneyland. Florida's Magic Kingdom and ultimately the new technologies and infrastructure of the entire resort was seen as a major accomplishment that Disney was able to even teach and "sell" in seminars on magagement and design; not to mention potential for consulting.

So, I do not see the "divestiture" of the company into only "family entertainment and theme parks." Walt and his company, especially the Imagineers, have always been about more than that at their core -- well beyond Walt's death. Sometimes focusing on perceived "core businesses" sells a company short in the long run. If they had done that in 1955, the now-current "core business" of theme parks would never have existed -- because they would have focused only on their core business of films....

 

[PeterAlt]

Originally posted by HennieBogan1966
While I understand the concept, and wish it could work, that still doesn't answer WHO's idea Celebration was.

Celebration was Eisner's idea based on the principles of New Urbanism, which is not Eisner's idea. The idea for celebration came when Eisner ordered to watch Walt Disney's film, which outlined his plans for EPCOT, to his office (this was on Day 1 of Eisner's job as CEO). Sources say, he watched the film over and over again, and formed his own idea, which became Celebration. So, you can say that Walt Disney's original EPCOT somewhat inspired Eisner to come up with Celebration, although Celebration is nothing like EPCOT.

 

[PeterAlt]

Originally posted by HennieBogan1966
By the way, Mr. Eisner came along in 84. I did some research, and found that the stock thru the mid 80's and into the early 90's remained in the range of about 10-12 $ per share.

My family and I owned Disney stock during this time period. While it may seem like it stayed the same, it really didn't. It split multiple times. For example, at one time one share became four shares. I ended up quadrupling my money (in Disney stock) by the early 90's and sold my shares. My family still owns theirs.

 

[PeterAlt]

Disney's land

Without Celebrations, how many acres of the original 30,000 acres does the Disney Company still own in Central Florida? How much of it is developed? How much is still undeveloped?

 

[brisem]

A good thing about the Disney stock is the company would rather do stock splits than to have a high price. The old philsophy(sp) was keep the stock affordable for the average person.

 

[raven]

Re: Disney's land

Originally posted by PeterAlt
Without Celebrations, how many acres of the original 30,000 acres does the Disney Company still own in Central Florida? How much of it is developed? How much is still undeveloped?

A lot is still undeveloped and will remain undeveloped. Part of the RC idea was to preserve some of the land.

"At least 7,500 acres would be permanently kept in their natural state (the total number of acres set aside today is 8,300). Walt strongly believed in preserving the environment. "

You can read about the rest of this here:

http://www.wdwmagic.com/wdwhistory.htm

 

[PeterAlt]

Re: Re: Disney's land

Originally posted by raven
A lot is still undeveloped and will remain undeveloped. Part of the RC idea was to preserve some of the land.

"At least 7,500 acres would be permanently kept in their natural state (the total number of acres set aside today is 8,300). Walt strongly believed in preserving the environment. "

You can read about the rest of this here:

http://www.wdwmagic.com/wdwhistory.htm

In the mid-90's Disney bought another huge chunk of property (thousands of acres, I forgot exactly how much) of envirornmentally sensitive land that some other developer was planning to clear and develop. Disney made a deal with government officials that they would buy that land and preserve it in return that they could develop the 7,500 acres you mentioned above. The new (undevelopable) Disney property is not located adjacent to the rest of the property.

 

[Lee]

Last figure I heard place the currently owned Disney property at just over 40,000 acres.

 

[brisem]

r is the land from the parks?

 

[brisem]

sorry about the last posting--how far is the land from the park?

 

[lebernadin]

Originally posted by brisem
sorry about the last posting--how far is the land from the park?

If you're familar with the off-property hotel/restaurant road called 192, its directly on the other side of the major interstate highway(I-4) from "Disney property," as most people know it, is.

Also, you can edit your original posts to rephrase etc them with the icon at the bottom of each post.

 

[brisem]

thanks

 

[colliera]

Celebration WAS part of RCID

Back in 1993-94 the Celebration area was part of RCID but was ceded to the county as part of its formation. Also, Disney's involvement appears to have originally been projected to extend through 2020 with the option of a ten year extension.

See http://www.34747.org/images/Cel_DA.pdf

 

[BeachClub]

Does anyone on this site, LIVE in Celebration?

It has been my dream now for many years to live there...unfortunatly, cause of my husbands job, we have been unable to reloacate down there.

I was hoping to retire there....and have DISNEY all around me....I guess that bubble is now burst too!

 

[lebernadin]

Under the current rules, your avatar would not be allowed in Celebration. All cats must be extremely hairy.

 

[KevinPage]

The cat would be allowed, but you could not have it showing in your window without approval :lol:

Anyways, I live in Celebration and once I get in my car, the Magic Kingdom front gates (where parking attendants are) take me an average 8 minutes 30 seconds to reach. World Drive connects the Magic Kingdom with Celebration. It's actually quicker to reach MK than Downtown Disney (which mileage wise is shorter), as DTD is all lights, stop and go. MK is 1 straight road, no lights

Also, after visiting DisneyLAND for the first time ever last year, I realize why Walt was upset over not having enough LAND around the parks. No matter where you are, you will have tacky tourist crap set up shop right outside you, but even though there is 192 here in Florida, once you enter Disney property, it's all just trees and natural environment that helps you forget about the nonsense outside. By the time you reach any of the resorts or parks you are "ensconsed"