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. The operation was designed around a simple concern: If landowners discovered that Disney was buying the property, prices could soar before the company had secured enough acreage.
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