I understand that Walt's parents got married in a small Central Florida town not too far from where WDW is today, and they lived there for a few years before moving to Illlinois where Walt was born. Is there any connection between this fact and why he chose Central Florida for his dream project?
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Question for the Walt Disney historians
- Thread starter retroeric
- Start date
wedway71
Well-Known Member
I dont think so. From what I understand Walt was looking for a place that had warm climates. He actually looked at different parts of the state including Miami. The biggest selling factor to Disney was the fact that Central Florida at the time was pretty much untapped and had alot of land.
He didnt want to make the same mistake he made with DL where just across the street was tacky hotels and places to eat.This way he could control the area around the park more and keep it more secluded.
He didnt want to make the same mistake he made with DL where just across the street was tacky hotels and places to eat.This way he could control the area around the park more and keep it more secluded.
brkgnews
Well-Known Member
As I understand it, the primary factors were weather (inland=no direct hurricane risk + generally warm weather all year long); land availability (unused swampy/wooded areas with dirt cheap real estate available in mostly large tracts); transportation (alongside two major transport routes).
I believe they hired out Stanford research to pick suitable locations all around the country, and Central FL was one of the finalists.
I believe they hired out Stanford research to pick suitable locations all around the country, and Central FL was one of the finalists.
Thanks... I did already know about the main reasons Walt chose central Florida. But at that time there were a lot of other possible locations that fit his criteria (warm climate, cheap land etc) so I thought maybe he learned about that specific region from his parents. Maybe if his parents had never lived there, WDW would be in a totally diifferent area.
TheKeeler7
New Member
Youv'e hit the nail right on the head. However Florida was not the first choice. St Louis got a lot of consideration. From what I have read Walt had no real connections to Florida, He always considered Marceline and Kansas City his family roots.
donvincenzo
Member
If you're interested in Walt Disney himself, I would recommend Neil Gabler's biography "Walt Disney - The Triumph of the American Imagination". It was a pretty long book, over 600 pages not counting notes and indexes. But it was very good. It is fairly new too, came out a year or two ago. Recently came out in paperback.....
fizzle75
New Member
Yeah, it's a great read. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through though. Neil Gabler's book is heralded as the most unbiased Walt Disney biography so far and supposedly gives us the most accurate picture to date of exactly who Walt was and what motivated him. If you're a true Disney fan you owe it to yourself to read this book.
Disneykidder
Well-Known Member
Sounds like a great read, Fiz, I have a vacation OFF FROM WORK next week so maybe i'll try to pick it up.
Wedway hit it right. Florida was a good location, far enough away from DL and had massive amounts of land that could be built upon in the future. Walt only knew of MK but had thoughts of the future involving more parks, hotels, etc,. There is still thousands of acres available. He really chose a great area!! (would have been better near my neighborhood, but ah well!!)
Wedway hit it right. Florida was a good location, far enough away from DL and had massive amounts of land that could be built upon in the future. Walt only knew of MK but had thoughts of the future involving more parks, hotels, etc,. There is still thousands of acres available. He really chose a great area!! (would have been better near my neighborhood, but ah well!!)
JarretttheGuy
Member
My Mother grew up in Florida in the 50s, she said that Orlando was a tiny TINY orange growing town, that there was nothing there, and the land was super cheep.
Disney's influence on that city is HUGE, it made that city.
Disney's influence on that city is HUGE, it made that city.
maryszhi
Well-Known Member
Thats what our relatives said. The oranges were a huge income and land was cheap because it was used to grow oranges. Today its mostly theme parks, as well as a tourist destination. If im not mistakeing i think there are a few orange groves near disney bc when we go we always pick them: and eat them. and i must say the fresh orange juice in florida is better and tastyier then it is in the carton they sell at the super market. Its like having cape cod potato chips in cape cod, crandberries in maine, exc. I hope i can go to college in florida so i can have the yummy orange juice all the time lol
brkgnews
Well-Known Member
Depending on which story you believe (heaven knows how many urban legends pop up surrounding Disney), it WAS going to be St Louis until a fateful meeting and some type of run-in with a August Busch, Jr. One version of the story says Busch told Walt something to the effect of "anybody who thinks he can run a succesful theme park and not serve beer ought to have his head examined." With that, so the story goes, Walt flashed his trademark raised eyebrow and Disneyland St Louis faded into the ether.
DisneyAnole
New Member
Lee's right. They were married in Kismet and lived in Acron, both of which are now ghost towns in Lake County. Acron was near the present-day town of Sorrento.
More trivial trivia: Walt's parents were the first couple to be married in Lake County.
More trivial trivia: Walt's parents were the first couple to be married in Lake County.
imamouse
Well-Known Member
Wasn't the original recommendation the Atlantic coast? Walt said that he didn't want to compete with the beach and sent the researches back to their drawing boards.
wdwmomof3
Well-Known Member
It's funny that you said this about the oranges. My husband picked up some oranges at the grocery store yesterday & they are Disney grown. They were in a Nemo bag. Have you seen these before? I live in Alabama and this was the first time I had seen them.
My little boy is doing a small report on Walt Disney. I found some good information on him here.
http://www.disneydreamer.com/walt/history.htm
Buried20KLeague
Well-Known Member
Busch ran the Loo back in the day (and pretty much still do), and wanted to sell beer in the park. Obviously, Walt wasn't into that. Politicians pushed for what Busch wanted. Walt went to Central Florida.
But of more interest is something I posted once before. I was downtown at a wedding reception a few years ago at the Missouri Athletic Club... Basically a very old, very up-scale and posh club downtown that more than 99% of the public never see the inside of. I was wandering around looking at the various pieces of art on the walls, ming vases, etc... When I passed by what looked like an old, framed sketch of something. I looked closer.
There's an original sketch of Disney's proposed park and how it laid out in relation to downtown hanging on a wall at the Missouri Athletic Club. I couldn't believe it. I needed a camera. Didn't have one. And of course, there's not a chance in Hades I'll get inside that building again anytime soon.
It was a very cool little discovery... But also a very frustrating one since there was no way for me to document it.
By the way... Judging by the drawing, and the notes along the sides, I don't think it was to be a full-fledged Disneyland like we might think of. It seemed to be more of a mini-park... Mostly themed to Lewis & Clark type, western expansion themes.
TheKeeler7
New Member
Disney actually still owns and farms some of the orange groves. I was told they do it for tax reasons.
bugsbunny
Well-Known Member
Studies found that about 90% of visitors to Disneyland were from West of the Mississippi. Having something on the East coast and within hours drives of major populations centers was a no brainer. I believe that New Orleans was also in consideration at one point as Walt was very fond of the area.
The story goes that after flying through Florida, he saw where 2 major highways crossed and thought that will be the place. He then sent one of his lawyers to investigate the site and start real estate purchasing. To cover his tracks, he would fly out of Orlando and then through other aiports priot to returning to WD in order to throw off anyone that might be catching on or recognize him.
I'm sure more WDW weenies can chime in at this point with more in depth history. I'll spare you the details and just tell you to check out the Walt Disney biography. Its pretty interesting.
Also, the original airport was actually a small Air Force base that was on the verge of closing. It was called McConnel Air Force Base, hence the modern day airport code of MCO. Back in like 1999, I think, my driver on the way to the airport pointed out a bluish ramshackeled building and said that was all that was left of the original airport and that it was the actual main passenger terminal. It was a decrepit building about the size of your average supermarket. They have since knocked it down and built over it as part of the airport expansion, I am told.