Submitted by jdward01 t3_126m75p in todayilearned
I think it’s safe to say they made the right choice. Not sure if NOLA would have been the right spot with the hindsight we have now.
Honestly it's pretty possible that Disney would not have let New Orleans fall into such disrepair. They can lobby with the best of them and would have had those levies fixed pronto in 1970 when the issues were discovered.
Someone, write an alternate history novel where Mickey Mouse stops Katrina.
You are talking about fixing the levies, but honestly The house of mouse sending its legions against hurricanes doesn't strike me as impossible.
This reminds me of this classic copypasta
> It is actual Muppets canon that Kermit the Frog, in some way, had a role in bringing down the Twin Towers in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
> In a Muppets Christmas film released in late 2002, Kermit is shown a glimpse of what New York City might look like if he had never been born. Among the scenery of this alternate reality NYC, we find none other than the Twin Towers proudly standing in the background. They were, of course, long destroyed in Kermit's normal reality. And yet, in the world without Kermit, the war on terror is missing its powder keg spark. Who would've thought that green piece of fuck could kermit a terror attack on US soil, but there it stands unimpeachable... We have concrete, canon proof of involvement. Why the world hasn't stopped and asked further questions is only further proof of a media cabal keeping this conversation away from the masses.
> The Twin Towers would still be standing if it weren't for Kermit the Frog. Al Qaeda was the puppet this time, and Kermit the hand within.
Ninja Turtles can also be blamed. There is and episode of the show where they stop Shredder from putting a force field around the twin towers
Spaceship Earth opens up and it’s just a really big fan.
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And Florida has become a rotting, gangrenous skin tag the rest of America is desperate to forget.
Walt Disney was not one to mince words when it came to matters of life and death. As he stood before Gerald Ford, the President of the United States, he made it clear that there was no room for half-measures. "Mr. President," he said, his voice filled with urgency, "we are running out of time. The levees must be strengthened, and they must be strengthened now. Lives are at stake, and we cannot afford to wait any longer."
Ford listened intently, his expression grave. "Walt, I understand your concerns, but the reality is that we are doing everything we can. We have engineers working around the clock, and we are dedicating more resources to this effort than ever before."
But Walt was not satisfied. "With all due respect, Mr. President, 'doing everything we can' is not good enough. We need a real commitment, a real investment in the future of this city. If we don't act now, lives will be lost, and the consequences will be catastrophic. I urge you to think of the people of New Orleans, of their families and their futures. We cannot afford to let them down."
The conversation went on for hours, but in the end, Walt's passion and conviction won out. Ford agreed to dedicate more resources to the levee project, and to work with Disney to ensure that the city was fully prepared for whatever the future might hold. Lives were saved, and the people of New Orleans breathed a little easier, knowing that they had a powerful ally in Walt Disney.
Yeah I was thinking the same when I wrote my last comment. We will never know! Interesting to think about what could have (potentially) been.
What could POSSIBLY go wrong, opening an amusement park in New Orleans???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Flags_New_Orleans
...oh.
What I remember hearing was that when he built Disneyland everyone and their mother knew it was happening and bought up a ton of the space around the park and crowded it up, so he didn’t want to repeat that with Disneyworld so that they could expand as they desired.
The legend is only true if a) one means the ownership of orchards around what is now Disneyland changed hands and b) if “crowded” means the orchards being replace by single family homes
I grew up in Anaheim. Being near a theme park or sports stadium sounds lucrative but it doesn’t always pay off if one lives near those “amenities”. Traffic and crowds rarely help the people living in neighborhoods near traffic and crowds.
It’s lucrative for businesses not for the people that live there. Hotels can make a ton of money being near big attractions
It was more so to keep the tourist traps and cheep motels out of site or at arms length, so to speak. Also, when Orlando sentinel broke the story, it was Disney buying up land the surrounding properties quadrupled in price.
Did NOLA remember to charge them a "leaving town" fee?
Watch out, Radioactive Man!
Up. And. At them.
Yeah but Walt had a time machine, and knew about Katrina.
So he avoided it.
Similar thing happened with Star Wars, during the production of The Empire Strikes Back everyone tried squeezing them for more money. That's why Return of the Jedi was produced under the code name "Blue Harvest".
Look at what happened to Six Flags New Orleans, after Katrina. The park was underwater for weeks. The initial assessment was that it would be closed for the rest of '06 and through the '07 season. but they then realized the damage was far too significant to fix.
They salvaged what rides they could but most of them are still standing and rotting.
Closed for storm sign was still up last year
Yup, apparently they're finally going to redevelop that land, but we'll see if it actually happens
Geez. Did Walt just want families to die in the heat? What was his other alternate site? King Ranch?
The house of the most magical place on earth
If you walk down main street in magic kingdom, names of those people/organizations are printed in the second story windows of the buildings/shops.
>names are printed in the second story windows of those people/organizations.
Why are those people two stories tall, and why do they have windows?
Fixed it. Thanks. Had a 5 year old pestering me.
Big fan of the Sean Baker film and had no idea that’s what the title was referring to.
That film was incredible.
I’m still a bit confused by the end? It’s a great movie but I just never got that part I guess
The ending is a bit strange. I always took the ending to be more symbolic and not literal.
I think it was the kid disassociating before she got taken away by CPS
Me neither. Such a good film, Willem Dafoe is brilliant in it. I was sure it was going to do well at the Oscars that year but it fell by the wayside.
Dafoe was great as always, but the little girl absolutely stole the show
That was a really tough year at the Oscars. Unfortunately there was just a ton of really good competition
That’s one of my favorite movies of all time. I grew up in shitty apartments in Orlando and that movie hits home in the most kind and honest way. It truly is a cinematic gem.
It's a really well made film. It's so earnest that it almost feels like a documentary at times.
It feels like a documentary of what I saw around me as a kid.
Personal top 5 film and probably the best child actor performance of all time.
Kramer vs Kramer is the best child actor performance for me
yeah lol it makes perfect sense now
Given how packed and sometimes sold out the two US parks are, I think there is demand for a third. Maybe in the middle of the country in like Texas or something. But Disney could very well be years deep into such a project and almost no one would know.
With the way the parks are, might as well build an identical replica right next to each other.
I've been (only somewhat jokingly) saying this for years. The last few times I went to Disney, I felt like a damned sardine. It wasn't fun. They need to build identical parks adjacent to each other. If your ticket number is odd you go to WDW1. If it's even you go to WDW2. Of course, Disney is making insane profits without having to do this, so there's not real impetus for it unless people stop going due to said sardine-ity killing the fun.
I’ve hit that point with the Lightning Pass system. It’s very pay to win, so the park is going to devolve into nouveau riche strutting around as working families sweat in line. I’m done with the mouse, unfortunately.
Even paying for the pass we had to wait over 2 hours in line for Millenium falcon.
Is it really unfortunate?
Were you going in peak times?
I went this past 1st of February and it was amazing. Even without fast passes and lightening lanes were never waited more than 30 minutes for a ride.
We stayed at Magic Kingdom until close one night and it was awesome because besides Main Street there weren't that many people in the park.
Last time we went on some random Thursday in mid Feb I think. I grew up close enough to go fairly often back in the 80s and there were crowds. But nothing like it is now. It was literally triggering claustrophobia at times for me. And I don't even mean waiting in lines. That was expectedly horrible. I mean just trying to walk around the park. Like, there was barely any free pedestrian space.
My parents went in Feb of 22 and they said something similar.
But when we were there in Feb of 23 they said it was drastically less crowded. So maybe last year was like COVID hangover vacations?
Maybe. My last trip was back well before covid. Probably around 2015 maybe.
Disney probably got burnt out on its expansion program, including trying and failing to build a theme park in Virginia.
Poor choice of location near the Civil War battlefield, but otherwise, not a bad thought…would’ve been popular otherwise.
The land were they were originally gonna put the park is now a bunch of suburbs
Yea, Dominion Valley off rt15
If we can't build things anywhere in Virginia that could be considered a "historic site", then basically the entire state should be off limits for new construction. And considering the planned Disney site is now subdivisions and data centers, I have doubts the site really had much historic value.
Not Texas. Montreal - Disney Canada.
Well both Universal and Legoland have announced they're building new theme parks in the Dallas, Texas area, I think the writing is on the wall
Sucks. San Antonio is a way better tourist destination than Dallas.
I don’t know man. Contractors can’t keep secrets for shit these days
> Maybe in the middle of the country in like Texas or something
Please no, let's get a park somewhere cooler this time around. All the theme parks are in some hot, sweaty location.
Not many destination holiday locations with abundant sunshine, Interstate access and cheap land to be found in moderate climates.
The parks are places that can operate year round
And to think the property in Orlando is actually 4 theme parks and 2 water parks. They still have enough land to triple what they've already built.
Disney tried to open one in.Virginia and got significant amounts of pushback so they stopped
I think the politically correct term for 'dummy corporations' is now 'real boy corporations'. Corporations are people too, you know.
do they get good boy points?
if they bring the tendie plate back to the dishwasher without being asked to.
so, no.
so thats why there is no hunny mussy in the Magic Kingdom
If that's true, where are their Jiminy Cricket like consciences?
Heee-haw!
On pleasure island with the rest of the jackasses…
In the original story when the cricket tries to warn Pinocchio he smashes it. So you know, corporations just try to stay true to the source material.
OH! Another one to add to my arsenal when someone tries to come at me with "I'm not racist, I just think they should stick with the source material" when BIPOC actors and actresses are hired for lead roles.
Like Little Mermaid. SHE WAS A MYTHOLOGICAL FISH. Also, when she got legs and feet - she was in constant pain as part of the price. She also didn't get a Disney HEA - she turned to sea foam!
Is that you, Subway?
Nice
Those who live in the area have experience with the “hidden” side of the manner that Disney operated then, and even in more recent years. One friend lives in the area near Cape Canaveral, usually called Cape Kennedy at that time. They heard of land being bought up, and figured it was related to the space program and speculated that it was driven by NASA expansion during that time. Later, when Walt Disney World opened, the area saw tremendous growth, which later dissipated with the shrinkage of the space program.
Sadly, when we last visited relatives in the Orlando and Space Coast area, (especially the Cape Canaveral area), there was widespread foreclosures and abandoned houses in some neighborhoods where contractors, engineers and technicians from NASA and companies like Hughes and Martin Marietta once lived.
Yeah I'm a pretty big fan of the space race and learning all about that stuff and was so psyched to check out the space coast when I got a chance to. Outside of Kennedy Space Center there really isn't much to see and it's pretty depressing tbh. Really rundown, gave Scooby Doo ghost town vibes.
Cocoa Beach is still pretty vibrant.
Right lol people are being way overblown about this. satellite beach, Melbourne, the list goes on.
Who the fuck still uses a payphone?
Sorry, I’m trying to connect the dots: what’s the “hidden” side? It seems like you’re implying that Disney killed the Space Coast? I’m not sure that tracks. I’m from central Florida and very familiar with the way Disney operates politically and economically in the area, and I don’t see the connection you’re trying to make.
You may be more familiar than most of the impact Disney has on the region. “The hidden side” was referring to the secretive 1960’s purchase of land, mentioned in the wiki article linked. It was later “revealed” to be part of the Disney project.
Not implying that Disney killed the Space Coast, either. That seems to be the result of changes in investment for the Space Program, and contractors who worked in engineering jobs related to the Space Program.
That growth returned with the Artemis program in addition to commercial space industry using KSC.
I've heard stories of the post-Apollo era where laid-off engineers would simply pack up everything, leave the house keys in the mailbox, and just drive away.
In our friends’ neighborhood, it is roughly 30-40% empty houses, some of which have been empty for years. The realtors stopped putting signs out front. Some houses got taken over by squatters that hook up the electrical system to generators.
There is currently a huge trucking/ logistics company trying to buy up thousands of acres in my rural county. There is massive protest against it due to the inevitable increase in semi-truck traffic on local roads.
The logistics company uses “dummy” corporations to buy the land so locals don’t actually know they own it/ how much they have already accumulated. They’ll also transfer the deeds to other “dummy” corporations. Some of the LLCs have pretty funny names. Many are registered in a different state.
This is totally legal and sneaky.
The American Way
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They tried to buy up land in Virginia in the 90’s to build another resort but word got out what they were trying to do and it fell apart. Not to mention some of the ideas of what they wanted to do involved white washing American history to the point it was quite offensive.
Probably didn't help that it was close to a Civil War Battlefield which caused historians to take action against them.
I saw another comment that said the proposed site is all subdivisions and housing now so that may have just been a convincing argument to win at the time
Disney reportedly bought 500 acres of land in lapeer Michigan recently. The locals are absolutely convinced that it's for a new Disneyland and all in a frenzy lol
I don’t know much about US geography and climatology but isn’t Michigan fucking cold and not the best place for a theme park?
I mean it's not a harsh environment but we have 4 seasons and get snow. Any outdoor amusement parks are seasonal for sure. And 500 acres is a tiny piece of land for a Disney park. So yes you're correct. My comment was more an indictment who heard a rumor that doesn't even make sense and are no freaking out thinking their rural lame area is about to taken over by Disney
Frozen was pretty popular
A Disney park in Lapeer of all places would be hilarious
This article says thats not accurate.
https://us103.com/ixp/84/p/disney-did-not-buy-land-in-lapeer-what-you-need-to-know/
Of course it's not accurate, anyone with common sense would know that. Unfortunately common sense isn't a common trait of the citizens of lapeer County
And not sure where you are from.....but if you went to lapeer you would quickly see how dang absurd this rumor is. It's just a weird little hillbilly town
Oh. That explains the title of one of the most beautiful and horrible movies ever made.
Good podcast on the origins of Disney and Walt himself if anyone if interested. They dive into the land acquisition strategy as well.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5wmmcMV23LQVk0PKBgUyXK?si=-hpsYBqbSMO_tUBd_VwgKQ
Somewhat related, How Disney won the latest battle in Florida governor DeSantis’ culture war.
One of my favorite quotes:
>The agreement limiting the board’s powers is effective for perpetuity or — should that be successfully challenged in court — at least “until 21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England living as of the date of this Declaration.”
Happy reading!
Howard Huge
I knew of a family who had homestead a property smack in the middle of Florida's Disney World today. They refuse to sell at any price. They were threatened and bullied into submission. They promised to make their lives a living hell in ever way imaginable. Told to me, back in the day.
/r/thathappened
Interesting! TIL today. Thx
Check out the book Project Future if you want a super detailed dive into how WDW came to be. Well worth the read.
That’s just over 40 square miles. Kinda nuts.
My family's land was part of this buy out. The story I was told, the dummy corps were based in Jamaica.
I also heard that since the land they bought was swampy they let construction companies dump excavated dirt there to fill in.
Yes, that is how you reclaim land in a swamp.
They dig water channels to lower the water table and drain the swamp. They then backfill with whatever solid material they can find and let it compress over a few years. Because it's still a swamp, any organic material quickly rots away, leaving nice fertile soil behind.
Boston harbor was reclaimed with literal trash. The city dumped all it's garbage into man made dikes to back fill and create the land. What is now the highest property prices in New England.
A hero if you make it, a criminal if you dont.
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Why are they shitty?
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Oh. Your mad about imaginary things
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It was worse than you think. Disney hired ex-CIA operatives to set up a puppet government that they used to control land development. This why Disney still has its own fiefdom in Florida.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-cia-helped-disney-conquer-florida
You are a fear monger. By that logic airport districts are also puppet governments They aren’t “puppets” they are literally a part of government. They aren’t some crazy bad thing.
Headline Translation: Rich White Dudes outmaneuvered other Rich White Dudes to claim stolen land.
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Subsistence existence people don't form corporations - that was begun by rich white dudes.
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>This discussion is about Disney cheating subsistence farmers out of their homesteads. Try to keep up.
We mentioned rich white dudes who form corporations - your effort to focus a discussion on something irrelevant to the topic appears willful, so it's simple to read the thread & see how full of shit you are. U.S.A., you are.
Stolen land….in florida
This is scummy and should be illegal.
Before Disney, the Orlando area was relatively small and the area he bought up was unused swampland that nobody was interested in at the time. The only reason for the shell companies was to prevent a massive burst of people buying up land specifically to thwart their efforts, or force them to pay an outrageous amount to keep their plans intact.
If Disney hadn't moved in and renovated the area Orlando would not be the place it is today. Florida itself would not have received the ungodly amount of tourist money that is also spent in businesses and properties outside of the parks. And they would still have Dinseyland in California, regardless.
And developers buying large chunks of land is not unusual. The only noteworthy factor at all, is because we know what it grew to be.
IIRC, this is what happened at his California park. Bunch of non-Disney things popped up all around the area. He wanted his own magic place so he secretly bought up land in Orlando.
After it became known that it was Disney, there still was a rush to buy up property around it but Walt planned on that. The land had a large buffer zone to the actual parks. So anything built around the disney owned land wasnt going to be near anything.
No, nothing wrong with it.
The alternative would be never having stuff like Disney world or corporations lobbying the government for compulsory purchases. People were happy to take their money when offered, it's a bit bullshit to turn around and complain that if you knew that you could hold them hostage that you would have.
Turns out people get rich by stealing
How is this stealing?
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It's just typical Reddit logic, anyone who earns money is stealing.
Foxhound199 t1_jea8pjx wrote
I learned recently their first choice was near New Orleans, but as soon as officials got wind of it it, they started demanding more and more fees. That might explain some of the secrecy.