Reedy Creek Improvement District

Benson Myers visits the swamp from which Disney World sprang

- Benson Myers, February 24, 2011

By the early 1960's, Disneyland was a roaring success. It had overcome its early financial difficulties and now welcomed tens of millions of guests.

Walt had big plans for his first park, but lack of money limited what he could do. With the proceeds from Disneyland in the bank, he now turned to what he could do next.

The land around Disneyland had once been wide-open orange groves and farm land, but gradually those spaces were occupied by hotels, shops, and urban sprawl. Walt didn't want that to happen with his next park. So he sent his people far and wide, looking for a place where he could expand and build upon his ideas. After much research and travel, Walt picked a site where the land was flat, uninhabited, and most important, cheap.

It was 1963 and Walt had just begun what he called The Florida Project.

The Florida Project

Robert Foster, a lawyer employed by Walt Disney Productions, traveled to Florida and set up several shell corporations under a pseudonym. These companies bore mysterious and confusing names like "Compass East Corporation", "Ayefour Corporation", and "Latin-American Development and Management Corporation".

At first, Foster was able to purchase land at $145 an acre. But soon, rumors began to spread about the true identity of the person buying thousands of acres of worthless swamp and cattle-grazing land. In May of 1965, the Orlando Sentinel published a story speculating that the mysterious buyer was, in fact, Walt Disney.

Almost overnight, the price of land around Orlando went up to over $1,000 an acre. By October 1965, Disney had purchased a total of nearly 28,000 acres. Compare that to the original 160 acres that had been purchased in California for Disneyland only ten years earlier. Walt disliked the many independent businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland. Now, with so many square miles of land in Florida, he could build to his heart's content and still keep a buffer between his new park and the outside world.

Walt also knew that things would be much easier if Disney had complete control of the civic and legal affairs for his property. In 1967, Walt Disney Productions petitioned the Florida legislature to grant it permission to establish an autonomous municipality on Walt's Florida property. The governor complied and on May 12 signed an order establishing the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District

Named after a natural drainage area on the property, the Reedy Creek Improvement District governs nearly every aspect of Walt's Florida property. Reedy Creek is "responsible to the owners of land within the District and the public to provide for surface water control and drainage, utilities and mosquito control; roads and bridges; land use regulation and planning; fire protection; emergency medical services; environmental services; data collection and evaluation; building and other construction codes enforcement and inspections; and interface with local, regional, state and federal regulatory agencies."

Despite its near total control of the property, Reedy Creek does not have its own internal police force. It can write only traffic tickets to Disney employees; peace officer services are provided by the Orlando and Osceola County Sheriff departments. Reedy Creek does, however, maintain an internal fire department and paramedic service for incidents on its property.

In addition, of course, Reedy Creek employees wear their own nametags, just as other Disney employees do. The Reedy Creek nametags come in two varieties: plastic and metal.

Reedy Creek Improvement District elects a Board of Supervisors each year to govern the affairs of the property. They are always senior officials of the Walt Disney Company, and they serve for a term of four years.

It's interesting to note that "Reedy Creek Improvement District" is the actual legal name for the entire Florida property. While most of the general public refer to the District as Walt Disney World, the Disney theme parks inside the property are only components of the Reedy Creek District and do not exist or act independently.

Developing Reedy Creek

Walt said of the Property, "Here in Florida, we have something special that we never enjoyed at Disneyland: the blessing of size. There's enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine."

Even with four theme parks, dozens of hotels, camp grounds, golf courses, and many other facilities, less than one quarter of the property has been developed. Walt's dream can continue for many years to come.

You might think that eventually all the land within the District will be developed. Not so, as Reedy Creek has set aside many thousands of acres to remain as undeveloped wilderness. Another important part of the District's mission is to protect and conserve the natural resources within its borders. The many species of plants and animals within the District thrive on its undeveloped lands.

So, in the end, the greatest contribution of the Florida Project to Walt's legacy is not the theme parks but rather the investment made to protect Reedy Creek's natural resources, an investment that Disney has carefully managed ever since Walt decided to build a resort in the middle of a swamp.

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