Why was Disney World built on swampland? Many people ask this question while visiting the popular tourist attraction and are met with different answers. Let’s get into what made Walt Disney decide to build on swampland rather than on the dry ground.
It is easy to see why Orlando is the first choice for most people choosing a tourist attraction. The area is already a tourist haven, and you can always pick out a visitor when you see them. Orlando was mostly swampland when Walt Disney was actively looking for a place to build Disney World.
So, why was Disney world built on a bog, yet it’s one of the liveliest vacation spots in the world? Was building Disney World right on top of a swamp even necessary? The answer to these questions is pretty simple. The Interstates: Walt needed roads where he was going.
Disney Needed an East Coast Presence
Before building Disney world, Walt had already thought about his options. Survey results showed him that only two percent of visitors to Disneyland came from east of the Mississippi. He and his associates had previously considered building Disney world in Niagara Falls. However, this plan was abandoned because they wouldn’t have been able to stay open all year round due to the harsh winters.
As a result, the southeast became the only option for Disney world. He set his eyes on Florida because of the cheap swampland and flew above the state to find suitable locations. On the day of JFK’s assassination, November 22, 1963, Walt looked down to see the point where Interstate 4 would cross the Florida turnpike, at the time under construction. At that moment, Walt knew he’d found the perfect location for his Disney swamp.
It would be easy for visitors to access his park through the nearby airport and the cross-point of two major thoroughfares.
Name Dropping And Disney World
At this point, although Walt had already found a place to build Disney World, there was another issue he had to solve. The insanely cheap $180 per acre price of the swampland would go up in an instant if he started making inquiries about buying the land in his name.
To avoid this, he purchased the land by creating various fake companies and then bought the land under their names. However, this plan of purchasing land for Disney World worked for a little while. The Orlando Sentinel discovered the plan and published a story revealing that Walt was behind the purchase of thousands of acres of land in Osceola and Orange counties.
Walt was right about the money since the prices in some places shot up to $80,000 per acre. Some Main Street shop windows in the Magic Kingdom show acknowledgment to the dummy corporations Walt used. An excellent example of them is M.T. Lott Real Estate Investments. Some windows also pay tribute to real people vital in the company’s early days or were unique to the Disney World family.
Little Known Disney Facts
It might seem like Disney World has always been there, but many wonder, “when was Disney World built?” The first ground breaking was in 1967 and it opened for business in 1971. So, how was Disney World built on a swamp? Well, it wasn’t, not really. They scooped out material from what was to be the Seven Seas Lagoon, made it into a vast dirt mound, and then built Disney World, the theme park we know today, on the top.
You’re walking on the second floor of Disney world when you walk into the Magic Kingdom. The first floor is full of buildings and tunnels under your feet that allow cast members to move around the place without you seeing them.