How Disney came to Florida: Secret land buys, rumors & a last-minute press conference

ORLANDO, Fla. — Due to a change in when elections were held, W. Haydon Burns was Florida’s governor for only two years, but that was all the time he needed to help bring Walt Disney World to Florida.

In 1963, Walt Disney flew over land near the interchange of Interstate 4 and the newly built Florida’s Turnpike, selecting the area of orange groves and marshland as the new home for his east coast theme park.

But Disney didn’t own the land, at least not yet.

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“Land was especially important because of their experience in Anaheim and their experience at Disneyland where they did not buy enough land,” said author and Disney historian Rick Foglesong.

In the months that followed, unknown companies started buying up land in the area.

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Fall season is in full swing on Main Street, U.S.A. in Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort From Aug. 10 to Oct. 31, 2021, the fall season is in full swing on Main Street, U.S.A. in Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. This fall brings colorful, whimsical décor and a new Halloween-themed event, “Disney After Hours Boo Bash.” The specially ticketed, after-hours event will feature special character cavalcades, trick-or-treating, spooky food and drinks and more. And, as part of “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” that gets underway Oct. 1 on the Walt Disney World Resort’s 50th Anniversary, the festive pumpkin decorations will receive a magical transformation inspired by the enchanting story of Cinderella. (David Roark, photographer) ((David Roark, photographer))

“A reporter for the Orlando Sentinel was keeping watch on land purchases in southwestern Orlando and the metropolitan area and would report on the different groups buying them and there began to be gossip and rumors about who was buying the land,” Foglesong said.

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One rumor was that it was the Ford Motor Company purchasing the land. That rumor turned out to be a joke when the person who initially made the claim said the reason Ford was buying the land was so it could grow hay for its Mustangs.

Bit by bit, things started to come into focus and on Oct. 24, 1965, the Orlando Sentinel ran a banner headline declaring, “We Say: ‘Mystery’ Industry is Disney.”

With the cat out of the bag, Walt Disney and his older brother Roy Disney traveled to Orlando to make it official, holding a news conference with the governor.

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