Developing Disney World

Walt Disney wanted to accomplish a giant task when he imagined Disney World. He wanted a utopian escape from the outside world and to fully immerse guests in the magic of his creation. Was the effort necessary? Was it worth it? Walt Disney thought so, but there are drawbacks to what is possible with dreams this large.

Disney World is made of up 47 square miles of Florida swampland. Twice the size of Manhattan, the land was purchased by Disney in multiple, small consumptions under unidentifiable names to ensure the project’s secrecy. The announcement of the Disney development was not announced until much later. Under the alias “Project Florida” Disney himself developed much of the plans to create his world in the Florida swamplands.

Disney paid for the multiple acres of land because of his mistakes when building Disneyland. Disneyland is built on 160 acres of land in Anaheim, California. Once the park opened, Disney lost all chances of expanding due to land being purchased for hotels and gift shops surrounding the park. This was not a mistake Disney planned on making again.

Walt Disney World still has the opportunity to expand. Of the 30,000 acres purchase by Disney, only 7,100 acres are currently used for the four parks and its resorts. The four current parks lie in the center of the land, and Disney wanted to ensure that from any height on a ride, from a resort or during transportation guests will not be able to see the outside world.

There are seemingly drawbacks of building Disney World in the middle of a swamp. First, is the consistency of the land where the large parks are built. Since it is swampland, much of Disney’s property has been affected by infrastructure problems due to the lack of solid structure. The park management is quick to fix these issues, but the land environment does not have the support needed for the weight of the parks.

Secondly is the wildlife. Since Disney World was built in their natural habitat, much of the wildlife has been seen near the parks and their resorts. Disney has a wildlife management team to keep guests safe, but there have been incidents where guests have had unwanted interactions with wildlife including the death of a two-year-old during an alligator attack in June of 2016.