[fso301]

I remember hearing that Disney was some sort of Utopian socialist and his body remains on ice.

[wizr]

This was after Walt Disney died right? I think he would turn over in his grave.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

This is nothing compared to what Disney Corp. stole from the public domain in the 1978 federal copyright law.

[gaijin]

Good post, but the author is dripping with hatred for Walt Disney.

Isn’t the Daily Beast actually the ***WaPo*** dressed up in ribbons...?

[Sherman Logan]

The Disney “cities” are pretty much a legal fiction, assembled to allow Disney to operate its business without interference from local and county officialdom.

Too bad the state of Florida and the surrounding areas didn’t receive any economic benefit in return for this concession.

[jaz.357]

That swamp land was worthless. Would still be worthless if not for WDW.

Transformed central Florida to the business mecca it is today.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Garbage. Just sounds like sour grapes from the original land owners or their children that sold for the going price or government insiders that were shut out. What generally happens in cases like these, the government people and lawyers find out and buy up the land from the original people at the going rate. Then they turn around and jack the price up 10 or 12 times higher and control zoning, permits, etc. to ensure the sexual act is completed to their satisfaction.

[longtermmemmory]

OR Disney was far thinking enough to KNOW that governments were a tyrany and would be an endless source of problems.

Remember to this day anaheim is an “issue” in california.

They simply took out the banana republic local counties from the equation.

Imagine the moron local politicians who would be endlessly causing problems. Disney is free market control. If there was no demand for their product they would have failed.

There are issues but the author is to anti corporate to see the other side of the issue.

Florida would have had their capital city in orlando but for some back woods local good ol boy who wanted the capital to be inconvenient for the rif raf.

[liberalh8ter]

While what the author says is mainly true, he's framing a picture that isn't entirely correct. The land Disney acquired was swamp and the reason for the secrecy was to allow WD to create his vision without interference and to keep the landowners from jacking up the price. Also, there were some people who were privy to what was happening and they did purchase land outside of Disney's property.

This piece is written with the aim of demonizing Capitalism.

[PGR88]

The Disney Corp is America’s Ministry of Culture.

[Joe Boucher]

Prior to Disney that land wasn’t worth squat and Orlando and Kissimmee were barely cow towns.

[Future Snake Eater]

When Lucasfilm was shooting “Return of the Jedi,” they were being charged outrageous rates to do ANYTHING since the gougers figured anything to do with a Star Wars movie meant that bottomless pockets were involved. In order to combat this, the filmmakers used a fake title “Blue Harvest” a horror movie complete with hats, shirts, and a marketing tagline of ‘Horror Beyond Imagination.’

I can see Disney utilizing a similar principle in acquiring acres of land, even if the land is supposedly worthless.