Walt Disney Resort
Walt Disney Resort
It was on November 22, 1963 when the company founder first flew over the tract of land just outside Orlando, Florida that would go on to become his second theme park. He wanted to have an amount of land for his new attraction so large that it better isolated visitors from the real world. After all, popular legend among company employees says that one family left Disneyland early because they could see rush hour traffic building up on the Santa Ana Freeway from the Skyway ride. He did not want that to happen again.
He decided that this would be an ideal home for the second park. It was a prime piece of real estate, located right at the intersection of Florida’s major freeway routes. Cunning businessman that he was, Disney created a number of dummy corporations to purchase the land he wanted in smaller tracts so as to avoid a burst of land speculation and keep prices down. The first five acre lot purchased in 1964 was done so by Ayefour Corporation – a pun on Interstate 4. The next year, two larger tracts were bought for $1.5 million by seemingly foreign companies, such as Latin-American Development and Management Corporation and Reedy Creek Ranch Corporation.
In most cases, buying land for the Florida Walt Disney Resort presented few obstacles. Primarily swampland, its owners were by and large happy to get rid of it. Mineral rights to the land were owned by Tufts University, meaning that at any time, Tufts could come in and order the theme park closed in order to obtain minerals. However, the Walt Disney Company was able to ensure the transfer of these rights.
On October 20, 1965, after most of the land for the park had already been purchased, the truth about the dummy corporations was leaked to the Orlando Sentinel. Disney subsequently organized a press conference to announce the plans for the new resort
Disney died in 1966, almost five years before his dream had been established in Florida. However, his brother Roy postponed his own retirement in order to carry out his younger brother’s vision. Construction of the resort continued over the next five years. On October 1, 1971, the theme park was officially opened to the public. Following the dedication ceremony, Disney’s widow Lillian was asked what she thought of the newly completed Walt Disney Resort. “I think Walt would have approved,” she replied.
Walt Disney Resort
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In 1955, the first Walt Disney Resort opened in Anaheim, California. It was extremely popular, but despite its success, market research revealed that only two percent of visitors that came to the resort were from east of the Mississippi River. It was failing to attract people from the region where three quarters of the American population actually lived. Founder Walt Disney was also unhappy with many of the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland and wanted more control over a larger area of land.
It was on November 22, 1963 when the company founder first flew over the tract of land just outside Orlando, Florida that would go on to become his second theme park. He wanted to have an amount of land for his new attraction so large that it better isolated visitors from the real world. After all, popular legend among company employees says that one family left Disneyland early because they could see rush hour traffic building up on the Santa Ana Freeway from the Skyway ride. He did not want that to happen again.
He decided that this would be an ideal home for the second park. It was a prime piece of real estate, located right at the intersection of Florida’s major freeway routes. Cunning businessman that he was, Disney created a number of dummy corporations to purchase the land he wanted in smaller tracts so as to avoid a burst of land speculation and keep prices down. The first five acre lot purchased in 1964 was done so by Ayefour Corporation – a pun on Interstate 4. The next year, two larger tracts were bought for $1.5 million by seemingly foreign companies, such as Latin-American Development and Management Corporation and Reedy Creek Ranch Corporation.
In most cases, buying land for the Florida Walt Disney Resort presented few obstacles. Primarily swampland, its owners were by and large happy to get rid of it. Mineral rights to the land were owned by Tufts University, meaning that at any time, Tufts could come in and order the theme park closed in order to obtain minerals. However, the Walt Disney Company was able to ensure the transfer of these rights.
On October 20, 1965, after most of the land for the park had already been purchased, the truth about the dummy corporations was leaked to the Orlando Sentinel. Disney subsequently organized a press conference to announce the plans for the new resort
Disney died in 1966, almost five years before his dream had been established in Florida. However, his brother Roy postponed his own retirement in order to carry out his younger brother’s vision. Construction of the resort continued over the next five years. On October 1, 1971, the theme park was officially opened to the public. Following the dedication ceremony, Disney’s widow Lillian was asked what she thought of the newly completed Walt Disney Resort. “I think Walt would have approved,” she replied.
Walt Disney Resort
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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