The year was 1965. Residents of Central Florida were baffled by a string of mysterious land acquisitions in the area – acquisitions totaling nearly 30,000 acres. Rumors began to run rampant. Who was buying all of this land? What would it be used for? Why did they need so much?

Ultimately, the answer would be found by a woman by the name of Emily Bavar Kelly, a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel. Ms. Kelly was invited out to attend a media event in celebration of Disneyland’s 10th Anniversary. During the event, Ms. Kelly asked Walt Disney if he was behind the mysterious land purchases. Walt immediately denied that he was involved, and began spewing out a multitude of facts about Central Florida and why it would not be a good place to build a park. He talked of how many tourists visited the area in a year, he knew what the average rainfall was during the summer, and he even referred to the city of Orlando – a city which at that time was pretty much unheard of – as being in Central Florida. Ms. Kelly became suspicious of the fact that Walt was able to rattle so many facts and figures off the top of his head for an area that was not very well known. She surmised that he had to be behind the massive land purchases. Ultimately, it would be her article that would blow the top off of the secret buyer, and let the world know that Walt Disney was creating a whole new Disney world in Florida.

But how is it that Walt Disney was able to acquire so much land in Central Florida? Why did he need so much land? To answer this, you have to take a look back at the original Disneyland. In researching possible sites to build Disneyland, Walt turned to an economist named Harrison “Buzz” Price to help him find a location that would be easily accessible to people. Buzz provided Walt with several locations, with the city of Anaheim being marked as a future center of growth in Southern California. And grow it did!

In the ten years after Disneyland’s opening, all of the land surrounding Disneyland was bought up, and developed into motels, retail shopping centers, restaurants, food marts, etc. With so many of them so close together, all of them were competing for the business of the Disneyland guests. The result was gaudy neon signs lining the streets. By all accounts, Walt hated it. Here he was trying to create a place where people come to escape the real world, but outside of that fantasy world, he had lost control, and the magic faded away. He vowed that the next time, he would do it better.

When Walt first conceived of building something on the East coast, he had to convince his brother and longtime business partner that it would be a good investment. When he went to his brother and told him how much land he wanted to purchase, Roy thought he was crazy! Why would he ever need so much land? But Walt, ever the salesman, replied back to Roy by asking him how he would like to own more land around Disneyland. Roy immediately replied that they should go ahead and acquire the extra land.

But getting the land would be the hard part. Walt knew that if anyone found out that he was looking to purchase land in Central Florida, the prices would skyrocket overnight. They would need to proceed very carefully, and very quietly.

Walt created subsidiary companies with misleading names to purchase up the land. One company was reportedly named the “Aye-Four” company (as I-4 runs through the center of the property). Walt installed a group of people to oversee the purchasing and assure that the secret was kept safe from the public.

The secrecy was of utmost importance. When Walt insisted that he fly out to Florida to see the land for himself, his advisors insisted that he not do so. He was so recognizable that they feared he would blow the cover just by showing his face. But, in typical Walt fashion, he ignored the advice and did things his way. So, when he was walking from his plane and a person shouted out, “Hey, aren’t you Walt Disney?” Walt was quick to reply, “No! And I’m tired of people mistaking me for him!” For the time being, his secret remained safe, and the land prices stayed low.

At this time, most of the land being purchased was swampland. As it did not look very appealing, it was sold very cheaply. By the time Walt’s cover was blown in 1965, he had already acquired nearly 27,000 acres of land – much of it for around $100 an acre. As expected, once the mystery buyer was revealed, the prices skyrocketed. But Walt already had more than enough on which to build and still have a natural buffer zone.

Walt’s plans for the Florida land included another Disneyland-style theme park, which eventually took the form of the Magic Kingdom park. But the theme park was not supposed to be the main draw. Walt had something far grander in mind. He called it EPCOT – the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

Walt’s EPCOT was not the Epcot theme park that we know today. Epcot was supposed to be a living, working community utilizing the latest research in urban planning to build a community of radial design that promoted walking or the use of electric transit systems rather than automobiles. The EPCOT that Walt envisioned was to sit almost exactly where the current Epcot theme park was eventually built. It is interesting to note that a small portion of the original model of Walt’s vision of EPCOT is still visible on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority at the Magic Kingdom park.

After Walt’s untimely death in December of 1966, many wondered of the Florida Project would continue at all. It was Roy O. Disney, Walt’s brother, who took over and made the decree that the project would indeed continue. It was also Roy who changed the name of the resort from Disney World to Walt Disney World, so – as Roy put it – the public would always remember that this was Walt’s greatest dream.

Roy Disney, in his mid-seventies and ready to retire, postponed his retirement to see his younger brother’s last great dream through to completion. At the time, it was the largest private construction project to ever take place. Five years later, Walt Disney World opened with just the Magic Kingdom park, the Contemporary hotel, and the Polynesian hotel. Plans for EPCOT had been put on hold indefinitely, as without Walt’s guidance and creative oversight, the project had lost direction, and was becoming prohibitively expensive. It was determined that they would first open the Magic Kingdom and use the revenue from that to eventually revisit the EPCOT project.

Roy, now in his late seventies, dedicated the Magic Kingdom park on October 25, 1971. Just two months later, Roy died, having never been able to retire.

So, the next time you walk under the Main Street Train Station and out into Town Square, try to remember the man who the park was built to honor, AND remember the man who spent the last years of his life working to see his little brother’s greatest dream come true.

Until next week… I’ll see ya real soon!