Golden Oak at Walt Disney World?

[Master Yoda]

Stuff like this scares me, and angers me. Walt and Roy bought all that land so that "there would be enough land to do anything they ever wanted." One might argue that since Walt really wanted to build a city of his own, these residential and commercial developments are in line with his plans - but I don't think his ACTUAL plan was to sell off the property to 3rd parties.

If you were to just glance at an aerial photograph of property, you'd think "Heck, they have PLENTY of land left." But that's not entirely true. While there are large portions of land scattered around property (some large enough to accommodate entire theme parks), they still can't develop everything you see.

Water management is a major issue for WDW, since they're sitting on a swamp with an obscenely high ground water table. For every square foot of concrete, asphalt or building they construct, they have to find somewhere to displace that water. Right now they're doing it all with canals and retention ponds, but you can only dump so much water into those waterways. Eventually you reach a point where you can't cover one more inch of your own land (since you can't displace water onto someone else's private property).

Since there aren't any new theme parks on the board, there's probably "plenty of land" but if they build one more park, that would pretty much max out the big chunks of land.

Selling off these large parcels for non-Disney stuff like 4-Seasons and Flamingo Whatever really makes me cringe....and I hope it doesn't come back to bite them in the a$$ someday.

Personally I am not too worried simply because I do not think we will ever see a 5th gate. As it sits right now there is more than enough to keep a family quite busy for 7 days and still have things left to do on their next trip. I feel a 5th gate would do nothing more than spread the same butter a bit thinner.

The way I always understood Walt's want for so much land was two fold. Not only to be able to build all he wanted but also to keep the parks secluded from reality. Right now WDW is about as big as it could be theme park wise. It could support a few more resorts and possibly another water park or a boutique park but from a theme park standpoint I think WDW is about maxed out. The seclusion aspect is still in full force and IMHO is in no danger of being compromised.

The 4 seasons is going up on a piece of land that would have never been used for anything other than a resort and we will be getting one heck of a resort out of the deal. Arguably it will be more luxurious than any resort on property and will attract some big spenders to WDW.

 

[Grizzly Hall 71]

The only 2 places left for a theme park (IMO) are north of Epcot and north of AK. Which would be the best place?

 

[Tom]

Personally I am not too worried simply because I do not think we will ever see a 5th gate. As it sits right now there is more than enough to keep a family quite busy for 7 days and still have things left to do on their next trip. I feel a 5th gate would do nothing more than spread the same butter a bit thinner.

The way I always understood Walt's want for so much land was two fold. Not only to be able to build all he wanted but also to keep the parks secluded from reality. Right now WDW is about as big as it could be theme park wise. It could support a few more resorts and possibly another water park or a boutique park but from a theme park standpoint I think WDW is about maxed out. The seclusion aspect is still in full force and IMHO is in no danger of being compromised.

The 4 seasons is going up on a piece of land that would have never been used for anything other than a resort and we will be getting one heck of a resort out of the deal. Arguably it will be more luxurious than any resort on property and will attract some big spenders to WDW.

I agree completely on the theme park issue. I don't predict we'll see a 5th gate, nor do I personally want one. I'd rather see more money invested in expanding the existing parks, specifically DHS and AK (since Epcot and MK are pretty much landlocked, aside from FLE).

As for the buffer space, there's really only one piece of land that could even accommodate a new park AND keep it secluded, and that's west of World Drive, between AK and MK. But like you said, I'd rather see them use that for something novel.

After Animation, I think they should be maxed out on resorts for a while. Sure, DVC can keep building (*cough* monorail resort *cough*), but since they can't fill the rooms they have, more rooms would only thin a different layer of butter

Back to the "buffer space" they wanted, I have a feeling Walt might be a tad disappointed with the placement of, and access to AK. AK makes me feel like I'm at Disneyland when approaching by vehicle. If you look left as you're heading down Osceola Pkwy, you can see everything on 192, which really defeats the whole purpose. Some rooms at AKL/Kidani can clearly see 192 and the shops and hotels out there.

I know they were trying to cram AK all the way into the corner to maximize space, but they could have planted a few more trees along the south property line, in my opinion. It's also very "industrial" down there, with the electrical substation and constant piles of excavated earth for some reason. Kinda trashy, and surprising to see at WDW.

4 Seasons will be nice, and the 8-million-dollar houses will probably be nice too (for someone other than me), but I hope they draw the line somewhere at selling off land. This trend can't continue.