Disney decided Orlando was the perfect location for his new park. In November, Walt Disney himself flew over one of the potential sites in Florida, Orlando. Florida was already the top state in terms of tourism, and the Florida climate would allow the new theme park to be open year round.

īy 1963 WED Enterprises set their sites of Florida as the location for their 'Project X' (later renamed the 'Florida Project'). Although the exact reasons for this falling out are not clear, it is commonly accepted that among the reasons was the fact that Busch family wanted Disney to sell beer in the park, which he refused to do. Despite the fact that Disney developed significant plans for the theme park, negotiations with St. Louis, where Disney had plans to build 'Riverfront Square,' a five-story, fully enclosed theme park which would have a St. One of the original locations Walt considered was St. With this goal in mind, Walt began to scout for a new location where he could build a 'Disneyland East'. To solve this problem, Walt wanted to have control over much more land than he could in Disneyland. Also adding to Walt's frustration, was the fact that the area around Disneyland had become rundown by local businesses hoping to capitalize on Disneyland's success. The success of the Disney attractions at the 1964 World's Fair in New York, showed Walt that Disney could be a huge success in the East Coast market. According to research done by the Disney Company, although 75% of the American population was located east of the Mississippi River, only 5% of Disneyland's visitors came from that region. Coming off the success of Disneyland (which had opened in 1955), Walt wanted to bring his next theme park to the East Coast.

This history of the Magic Kingdom began in 1959, when Walt Disney began to look for a place to build a second theme park. Haydon Burns announcing Disney's Florida Project to the public.

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