“I remember as a kid we had relatives in Orlando (before disney) it was a sleepy little town full of orange groves, a real nice place,”
I remember all the orange groves back in the 1970s when it was just Magic Kingdom and Sea World. I went back to Orlando a few years ago for the first time in over 20 years and could not recognize the place.
I think this might be what you’re referring to.
Excerpt from WIKI:
On February 2, 1967, Roy O. Disney held a press conference at the Park Theatres in Winter Park, Florida. The role of EPCOT was emphasized in the film that was played, the last one recorded by Walt Disney before his death. After the film, it was explained that for Disney World, including EPCOT, to succeed, a special district would have to be formed: the Reedy Creek Improvement District with two cities inside it, Bay Lake and Reedy Creek, now Lake Buena Vista. In addition to the standard powers of an incorporated city, which include the issuance of tax-free bonds, the district would have immunity from any current or future county or state land-use laws. The only areas where the district had to submit to the county and state would be property taxes and elevator inspections.
The legislation forming the district and the two cities was signed into law by Florida Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. on May 12, 1967. The Supreme Court of Florida then ruled in 1968 that the district was allowed to issue tax-exempt bonds for public projects within the district, despite the sole beneficiary being Walt Disney Productions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World