ORLANDO, Fla. – Walt Disney World is part of the fabric of Florida, but did you know the theme park almost ended up in St. Louis instead of Orlando?
University of Central Florida History professor Dr. Jim Clark said Walt Disney had his eye on the “Show Me” state well before he began eyeing the “Sunshine State”.
But a fight over beer changed everything.
After successfully introducing the public to Disneyland in California, Clark said Disney was looking for a second location.
The animation mogul considered Niagra Falls and another area near Washington, D.C.
“They seemed to settle on St. Louis for a different kind of attraction, kind of incorporating the city and the Mississippi and Walt got into a disagreement with Augie Busch — the family that owned Anheuser-Busch, makers of Busch beer and Budweiser — and basically Augie Busch said to Walt, ‘Hey you are not coming to St. Louis if you are not serving beer,’ and he wanted the beer concession and Walt said, ‘We are not going to serve any beer or liquor in the Magic Kingdom’ and it kind of went downhill from there. And literally, they had the dinner the night before, Augie Busch made a comment, and they were supposed to sign the papers the next morning, and Walt called it off, so it was that close.”
Clark said Busch was greatly insulted.
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“That was his thing. I mean, he had the beer concession for the football teams, for the baseball teams, and here was this major thing coming to St. Louis telling him, ‘No, we don’t want your product in our theme park,’” Clark said.
But Disney wasn’t budging.
“Walt was worried that it was going to end up kinda like a carnival or a county fair or something like that and he did not want drinking in his park,” Clark said.
After things went downhill in St. Louis, Clark said Disney decided on Florida but still had to check out several locations before committing to Orlando.
“They looked at Palm Beach County and MacArthur, the billionaire, offered him three-thousand acres and Walt said, ‘No, that’s not enough.”
Then they narrowed it down to four sites.
“One was near Bradenton, the other near Daytona and Walt said he did not want to compete with a free attraction, meaning the beach... so those were knocked out,” Clark said.
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After that, Disney checked out Ocala and Orlando.
Clark said the Disney family had ties to Central Florida and that Walt’s parents were married in what is now the Ocala National Forest, so Walt knew the area well and chose to drive through it to scout its potential.
But Clark said his choice was made the next day when flying over Orlando.
“Where I-4 meets the turnpike he said, ‘That’s it.’”
After making that decision, Clark said it took a while for Disney to break ground because “he didn’t know the ground he was pointing out was underwater. He had to put in 16 feet of fill dirt to compensate for all the swamps.”
In total, Clark said it took another year to develop the land because the ground was so swampy.
To learn more about how Disney chose Orlando over other cities competing for the theme park check out Florida’s Fourth Estate. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.