Walt Disney Chooses Orlando over Missouri

November 22nd, 1963: The United States in in shock as President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed in Dallas. That was also the day that Walt Disney flew over a vacant piece of land southwest of Orlando and proclaimed, “That’s It.”

That day may have also been the day that St. Louis lost an opportunity to have a Disney theme park along the riverfront. Many of the stories that have been told over the years about how Disney chose Orlando over Missouri are not entirely correct. Here is how “The Orlando Project” played out… including the Missouri story.

By the early 1960’s, Walt Disney was already a Missouri Legend. He had great success in animated movies, business, and a theme park in California called Disneyland that opened in 1955. One thing that always bothered him was that Disneyland couldn’t grow anymore because it was hemmed in on all sides. So, he began to look for locations around the country to build his newest theme park.

St. Louis Story

Disney always had an affinity for St. Louis since it was the biggest city in his home state. He even told friends and fellow executives that Missouri is where he wanted to build Disneyland 2.

St. Louis was a booming metropolis at the time with big plans for the future. Disney loved to study traffic patterns because he knew that where the traffic went, business would follow. The St. Louis riverfront was poised for growth because that was where highways crisscrossing the country all converged across the Mississippi River. This area was the convergence of Interstates 55, 64, and 70, along with Route 66 nearby, as well.

Not only that, but the land between the Eads Bridge and the Poplar Street Bridge was being cleared to make way for The Gateway Arch. The area Disney had in mind would also be a short walk away from downtown St. Louis and Busch Municipal Stadium, which was the home to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Riverfront Square

March 16, 1963: Disney flew into town to meet with city leaders and the headline in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that morning read, “Disney reveals ideas of large amusement unit on riverfront.”

Disney had long wanted to build an entertainment complex in his home state. When he came to Missouri to talk business that spring day in 1963, he had his plans in place and was ready to showcase what he named Riverfront Square.

The Beer Issue:

But his plans were met with resistance by locals, particularly August “Gussie” Busch Jr. Busch insisted that if a theme park was built there, Disney would have to sell beer. This is how Disney executive Joe Fowler explained the final meeting years later.

“[Riverfront Square] was only two blocks from Anheuser Busch Stadium. And of course [August “Gussie” Busch] was a great man in St. Louis. We had a big banquet the night before the final papers were to be signed. Walt was there. The Mayor of St. Louis was sitting beside me.

When Mr. Busch got up and he said, ‘Any man that thinks he can open and make a success of any amusement park and not sell beer or hard liquor ought to have his head examined,’ Walt was sitting beside me, and I saw that eyebrow go up. Sure enough we embarked the next morning. We had our own plane to go back to California. Walt said, ‘All right, fellas. No St. Louis.’ And that was it.”

Admiral Joe Fowler

Disney wasn’t necessarily opposed to the idea of selling beer, but he wasn’t going to be told what he could or could not do at one of his theme parks. At this point, sites in Niagara Falls, Washington DC, and suburban New York City were all on his radar.

The Florida Trip:

Walt still wasn’t sold on any one place, so he decided to visit locations in Florida where he had family. On November 21st, he drove to Ocala to check out the area. Ocala had family nearby, so he was very familiar with that part of Central Florida. He also considered building in Daytona Beach or further south in the West Palm Beach area. Then he toured areas along the west coast of Florida near Tampa.

Disney loved the year-round good weather but decided that he didn’t want to build near the beach because it was too much competition for tourist dollars — especially since the beach was free.

Disney boarded his plane to head back to California on November 22, 1963. He asked his pilot to swing toward Orlando and Ocala again. That’s when he saw it. From the sky, he could see thousands of acres of unused swampland. But he also saw an area where several major interstates and other highways were coming together, much like what attracted him to St. Louis.

That’s when he announced, “That’s It.” He put an X on the map, and that’s when the buying spree began.

The Day That Changed the World:

However, something else happened on November 22nd, 1963. When Disney’s plane landed in New Orleans, he was informed the President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. Once he got back to the west coast, he nixed the Missouri plan and focused all of his efforts on buying up land under various names in Orange and Osceola Counties in Florida.

The day that changed the course of American history also changed history for Florida — and Missouri. It wasn’t necessarily beer that killed Riverfront Square, but rather a combination of that, local politics, land availability, and a climate conducive to year-round tourism.

And the rest is history, all thanks to a Missouri Legend.

Further Reading:

No, Disney didn’t spurn St. Louis over beer.

Disney and Stadium Group Confirm They Have Ended Talks

Walt Disney’s Riverfront Square That Never Was