Aaron Goldberg - Buying Disneys World

Buying Disneys World

Copyright 2021 by Aaron H. Goldberg

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author.

The book is not authorized, sponsored, or endorsed by the Walt Disney Company or any of its subsidiaries. It is an unofficial and unauthorized book and not a Disney product. Mentions of names and places associated with Disney and its affiliated businesses are not intended in any way to infringe on any existing copyrights or registered trademarks of the Walt Disney Company but are used in context for educational and journalistic purposes.

The author and publisher are not affiliated with or representatives of the specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book. The opinions and statements expressed in this book are solely those of the people quoted and do not reflect the opinions and policies of the specific companies mentioned.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, neither the author nor the publisher assumes responsibility for errors or omissions.

Cover design by Rob Yeo Design

Interior layout and typesetting by Sue Balcer

Published by Quaker Scribe Publishing

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

First printing 2021

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7336420-5-7

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-7336420-6-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020924501

Visit the author on the web: www.aaronhgoldberg.com

Follow Aaron H. Goldberg on Twitter & Instagram at @aaronhgoldberg

For my late mother, Susan,
who always encouraged me to dream big

Contents

Chapter One
The Golden Touch

Chapter Two
Living with the Land

Chapter Three
A Little Bit of Florida in California

Chapter Four
Theres a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow

Chapter Five
The Blessing of Size

Chapter Six
Never a Dull Moment

Chapter Seven
Horizons

Chapter Eight
Fabricating the Fiefdom

Introduction

To the cast, on the eve of Walt Disney Worlds opening day, may I thank all of you for your spirtyour cooperation and the fine job all of you have done in getting ready for our opening. Years of planning and long hours of work have brought about this historic moment. It will be an experience none of us will forget. At this time I think it is appropriate that we remember Walts comment: You can dream, design and build the most wonderful place in the world but it requires people to make the dream a reality. You, the cast, are responsible for making Walts dream come true yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Roy O. Disney, Chairman of The Board

O n the evening before Walt Disney World opened, Roy O. Disneys words above, along with the words from his younger brother, Walt, illustrated the Disney brothers appreciation and recognition for their employees during their companys grandest and most challenging project to date.

Although, at times the brothers were difficult to work for. Walt was perhaps more of an ardent task master than Roy, but both men expected a tremendous amount from their employeesand from themselves.

Brothers first and business partners secondor maybe at times it was the other way aroundthe two men often squabbled with each other and had a few legendary fights that strung on for months at a time.

Ultimately, they always resolved their differences and came together to innovate and shape the world of entertainment.

Walt and Roy were geniuses in their respective fields: Walt, a legendary dreamer, entertainment industry maven, and pop culture influencerdecades before the concept even existedand Roy, a fiscal and financial mastermind, uncomfortable in the spotlight but certainly comfortable with the bank ledger (as you will read later, Roy opened the gates to Walt Disney World basically debt free).

Buying Disneys World is the story of the brothers last project together, which culminated in the creation of Walt Disney World.

On the surface, this book tells the interesting and detailed story of how Walt Disney World came to bewhich at times reads like a spy novel.

However, just below the surface, theres a peripheral story of how one mans dream evolved into another mans dreammost likely a scenario neither man envisioned at the onset of the project.

Walt was always the driving force behind his and his brothers projects, while Roy, creatively speaking, was often just along for the ride. As Roy reflected in 1970:

We were novices and operating on a shoestring. We really did not know what we were doing. He did the dreaming. I did the building.

We learned with Disneyland. That was the start of this idea Walt had. As we went along, he got other ideas, and I guess I really never doubted that we would someday be here at Walt Disney World.

That is, I may not have known where it would be located and there were lots of times I wasnt even certain of what it would be, and told Walt so, but I figured that someday something would happen, and so a few years after opening Disneyland we began formulating and financing some of Walts ideas, and so here we are.

When the Disney brothers began acquiring land in central Florida, Walt was in his sixties and Roy was in his seventies. A little more than a year after the Disney World project was announced to the public, Walt passed away, on December 15, 1966he was sixty-five years old.

With Walt gone, Roy took over his brothers final dream. He put off his retirement and oversaw the project, ensuring that at least part of Walts vision for the land they purchased in Florida came to fruition.

At the peak of construction, in 1970, the Vacation Kingdom, as it was then called, was the largest private construction project in the United States.

With more than 10,000 workers on siterepresenting just about every type of building and construction tradenearly ten million cubic yards of earth were moved to create the necessary infrastructure for a theme park and two cities.

The workers then curated, sculpted, and transformed what was, just a few short years earlier, 27,443 acresthe property runs twelve miles long and seven miles wideof swamps, orange groves, and cow pastures into the worlds most visited theme park and resort.

The construction stories and technological advancements featured at Walt Disney World when it debuted are quite interesting, and we will get to many of them toward the end of the book.

However, the story we are really interested in isnt about the thousands of people who helped shape Disneys land in central Florida. Its about the handful of people who acquired the acreage for Disney and the covert process they went through to obtain it.

The key players involved in this top-secret mission were well connected in the business world and in the world of espionage.

An integral member of Disneys land-acquisition team was a high-ranking CIA operative who, just a few short years prior, was rumored to be the paymaster behind the Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba.

This savvy and influential CIA agent became the de facto leader for the group of Disney executives and attorneys who orchestrated and executed a nearly perfect plan to keep Disneys identity a secret from the public.

Staying true to Disneys storytelling roots, these men wove a tale of mystery with aliases, shell corporations, and meandering travel itineraries in an effort to scoop up thousands of acres without disclosing who was buying the property and what it was going to be used for.

Once their clandestine land acquisition was complete, the project was far from over. There was more wrangling and finagling to do.