WDW in S.C.

[WondersOfLife]

My father told me that South Carolina was one of the choices to put Disney World. One of the reasons it's not there is because the people of S.C. were too stupid (not disagreeing, I live here) not to have it there so they didn't create WDW there....is this true? I've seen it posted on a website before too, but I thought it was just somebody trying to spread a rumor.


- WondersOfLife

The last original pavilion. :king:

 

[Master Yoda]

Quite a few locations were considered for Walt Disney World but all of the scouting for its location was done largely in secret. This was to avoid a spike in property prices. I do not recall South Carolina being one of them, but I could be wrong. Even if it was Walt did not show up in SC, ask to build WDW, only to be sent packing.

If you get a chance check out the book Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World. It is all about how WDW came to be. It covers concept, property acquisition, construction, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Project-Future-Inside-Behind-Creation/dp/0615347770/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306436246&sr=1-7

There was a Disney park, Disney America, that was planed to be built in the 1990's in Virginia but opposition from citizen's groups eventually resulted in the project getting canceled.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Never heard of that, but my guess is that when Walt was looking he wanted a place that never got too cold any time of year, and where cheap land could be had, so maybe some parts of SC would have fit that profile back when he was looking.

 

[Epcotdad]

Yes its true, people in South Carolina are stupid just kidding

 

[dave&di]

yes its true, people in south carolina are stupid just kidding

:roflol:

 

[captainkidd]

Project Future? Wasn't it called Project X?

Another good (but confusing) book is Married To The Mouse. Doesn't shed an awful good light on the Disney Company though.

If I remember correctly, wasn't it St. Louis that was just about set in stone to be the site?

 

[devoy1701]

Project Future? Wasn't it called Project X?

Another good (but confusing) book is Married To The Mouse. Doesn't shed an awful good light on the Disney Company though.

If I remember correctly, wasn't it St. Louis that was just about set in stone to be the site?

The project itself was called Project X or the Florida Project, but the book is called Project Future.

 

[captainkidd]

Yeah, it was St. Louis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no-N0OBmt-w

http://www.theledger.com/article/20080802/COLUMNISTS/808030319

There's a bit of irony in the whole thing. It was a rude remark from the president of Busch about Walt's refusal to sell alcohol in the parks that basically killed the deal. Now, it's served in all parks except the Magic Kingdom. Also, as everyone knows, Busch went on to become a competitor to Disney with Sea World and Busch Gardens.

In any event, the entire story of WDW has always fascinated me. The story about a covert operation basically buying an entire city under dummy corporations and turning it into the most popular destination on the planet is simply genius.

 

[Rowdy]

Ocala, Florida was also a (highly) considered place. But the intersection of I4 and Turnpike lead Disney to his Orlando decision.

 

[WondersOfLife]

This topic must not be well known if it was kept a secret or doesn't exist.



My dad performed at the World's Fair and he actually got to see CoP!


- WondersOfLife

The last original pavilion. :king:

 

[unkadug]

My dad performed at the World's Fair and he actually got to see CoP!

That's kinda cool.


Back to your original topic:

There have been countless rumors of Disney looking at various sites around the US, so invariably some are going to be true and others are going to be myth.

I wouldn't say that SC wasn't looked at, but I highly doubt that the reason it was overlooked was Walt's view of the locals. After all, Orlando was nothing more than a cowtown at the time. :lol:



The closest I've heard to something along these lines was the snubbing of the people of Virgina towards Disney's attempt to build Disney's America Park. Now to me...that was kind of "stupid". :shrug: (I could be wrong on this, but I heard that the property the people were trying to "protect", is now a shopping mall!)

 

[Zummi Gummi]

If you get a chance check out the book Project Future: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Disney World. It is all about how WDW came to be. It covers concept, property acquisition, construction, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Project-Future-Inside-Behind-Creation/dp/0615347770/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306436246&sr=1-7

I will second the recommendation for this book. Excellent, excellent, read. Very informative.

 

[WondersOfLife]

(I could be wrong on this, but I heard that the property the people were trying to "protect", is now a shopping mall!)

:brick: :hammer: :dazzle:


- WondersOfLife

The last original pavilion. :king:

 

[Kamikaze]

T\
The closest I've heard to something along these lines was the snubbing of the people of Virgina towards Disney's attempt to build Disney's America Park. Now to me...that was kind of "stupid". :shrug: (I could be wrong on this, but I heard that the property the people were trying to "protect", is now a shopping mall!)

Condos mostly, but I believe there is a shopping area as well.

The complaints were two fold:
1) Traffic - Eisner put this to bed by saying they would pay for any needed road improvements/fixes for 10 years.
2) It was a civil war battlefield and therefore 'sacred'. Didn't matter that the entire eastern seaboard can be considered the same.

In the long run, the project would probably have been bad for TWDC. Its just a shame they don't build the ideas into the existing parks. A lot of the attractions ideas were not bad at all.

 

[Master Yoda]

The closest I've heard to something along these lines was the snubbing of the people of Virgina towards Disney's attempt to build Disney's America Park. Now to me...that was kind of "stupid". :shrug: (I could be wrong on this, but I heard that the property the people were trying to "protect", is now a shopping mall!)

From my understanding the majority of that is now the Dominion Valley Country Club.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I cannot say with certainty, but a part of me wants to say that Harrison "Buzz" Price had made mention of briefly looking at the area around Hilton Head, but he looked at sites across the East Coast.

Project Future? Wasn't it called Project X?

Another good (but confusing) book is Married To The Mouse. Doesn't shed an awful good light on the Disney Company though.

The project itself was called Project X or the Florida Project, but the book is called Project Future.

Project Future was a later stage after it was determined to go forward in Florida. Emerson discusses it in his book.

If I remember correctly, wasn't it St. Louis that was just about set in stone to be the site?

St. Louis was a very different project from what was being considered for "Disneyland East" and EPCOT. The St. Louis project was much smaller and entirely indoors, more like a DisneyQuest with actual attractions or the Regional Entertainment Centers that Jay Rasulo was pursuing as head of Parks & Resorts.

 

[wm49rs]

The closest I've heard to something along these lines was the snubbing of the people of Virgina towards Disney's attempt to build Disney's America Park. Now to me...that was kind of "stupid". :shrug: (I could be wrong on this, but I heard that the property the people were trying to "protect", is now a shopping mall!)

Not a shopping mall, but there has been some development near the Manassas/Bull Run Battlefield, but nothing on the level that a new Disney park would have brought into the area. And traffic along I66, and Rte. 29 (which runs through the battlefield) would have been even more of a nightmare than it is now.

Disney could have built a park in Northern Virginia; they simply chose the wrong site. Moving to the west of Dulles Airport would have given them the needed space to not only build the park, but to develop the infrastructure around it.

 

[tigsmom]

We usually drive to WDW and almost always stay in Santee SC and on one trip we met a man whose grandfather had owned quite a bit of land and Walt had approached him about selling for a "new project", the man refused to sell the family farms...there is an outlet mall on quite a bit of that property now :shrug:

 

[s8film40]

We usually drive to WDW and almost always stay in Santee SC and on one trip we met a man whose grandfather had owned quite a bit of land and Walt had approached him about selling for a "new project", the man refused to sell the family farms...there is an outlet mall on quite a bit of that property now :shrug:

If the story you heard were true he would have been approached by a stranger working for some unheard of company and probably would have never even known that he turned down the sale to Disney.

 

[tigsmom]

If the story you heard were true he would have been approached by a stranger working for some unheard of company and probably would have never even known that he turned down the sale to Disney.

Just know what I was told and I thought Walt did some scouting himself?
If it were a rep maybe the old man thought it WAS Walt :shrug: