The rumor that ran the mill, pt. 1
How some lil' rumblings changed the tide for Project X in May 1965
It’s spring 1965, and Disneyland is gearing up for it’s “Tencennial Celebration” that’ll take place in a few short months. The 1964 film Mary Poppins just won four Academy Awards (after securing a whoppin’ 13 nominations), and two new live-action films, The Monkey’s Uncle and That Darn Cat!, are on the docket for release later in the year. Four now-classic Disney Parks attractions - the Carousel of Progress, Ford Magic Skyway, “it’s a small world”, and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln - just kicked off their second six-month stint at the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, and plans for an updated Tomorrowland are stacked on Walt’s desk. Ah, what a time.
From the outside, it might have appeared that things were simply business-as-usual for the Walt Disney Company.
Almost six decades later, we know that couldn’t be further from the truth.
By late May 1965, Disney officials had already secured - by means of actual title or agreement options - over 25,000 acres of Central Florida property that was comprised of swamps, grazing cattle, and citrus groves. Up until this point, any public speculation or news regarding the collection of land acquisitions for an East Coast Disneyland were fairly low key. Sure, there were certainly curious rumblings throughout the state and local communities but since the purchases were made through various regional-based “dummy” corporations (i.e. Reedy Creek Ranch, Inc., Bay Lake Properties, Inc., Tomahawk Properties, etc.), any guesses as to who was moving into Orlando were as good as the next.
That all changed, however, on May 20th, 1965 in a front-page article of the Orlando Sentinel that loosely suggested Walt Disney as the possible buyer.
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