Walt Disney quietly assembled more than 27,000 acres in Florida through secret transactions for about $5 million, averaging roughly $182 an acre; after the buyer’s identity emerged, the land became Walt Disney World
Walt Disney’s plan for what would become Walt Disney World began with a remarkably quiet real-estate operation. According to Disney’s D23 archives, the Florida Historical Society and the Walt Disney Company, Disney Productions spent about 18 months secretly assembling more than 27,000 acres in Central Florida before publicly acknowledging that it was behind the purchases….