|
Relax. That loud noise that you’ve been hearing coming from Florida’s coastline is NOT Hurricane Ivan. But — rather — a collective sigh of relief from the staff of Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. “What’s with all the sighing?,” you ask. Well, late last week, it was reported that the damage that Hurricane Frances caused to this beachfront hotel was so severe that the Mouse was going to have to shut down its Vero Beach operation until at least September 30th. Since then, Disney Company management has actually had a chance to inspect the hotel. Which is why Mickey has now asked reporters (nicely) to amend their earlier stories about this Disney Vacation Club facility. You see — as of right now — it looks like repairs could be complete at the Vero Beach Resort by as early as this coming weekend. Which means (Provided — of course — that a fourth hurricane doesn’t suddenly rise up out of the Atlantic and immediately set its sights on Florida’s Eastern shore) that this 175-room hotel could be once again be open for business sometime during the week of the 20th. Which — as you might understand — makes Mouse House managers very happy. Of course, some of the really old Disney Company vets (You know, the guys who’ve been working for Mickey since the 1960s & ’70s?) have recently been heard to mutter: “Thank God we didn’t go forward with that Palm Beach project and/or develop that oceanfront property that we once owned in Melbourne.” What’s that? You say you’ve never heard about these beach-related other projects that Walt Disney Productions once considered for construction in the Sunshine State? Well then pull up a chaise lounge, my friend. And — as we both keep a weather eye out for any funnel clouds coming out of the Caribbean — I’ll fill you in on one of the more fascinating tales from Disney World’s “What Might Have Been” file … The time is early 1959. “The Happiest Place on Earth” is less than 3 1/2 years old. And — though Walt Disney still keeps insisting that “There will be only one Disneyland” — the truth of the matter is that Walt’s operatives are already out there. Scouring the United States for possible construction sites for Disneyland II. The only problem is … Walt Disney Production is currently cash-poor. Though the Anaheim theme park is already making money hand over fist, not all of that dough actually belongs to Disney. A good portion of those funds has to go to the companies who helped fund Phase I of Disneyland’s construction (I.E. ABC & Western Publishing). Plus there are all those park-related bank loans that Walt still has to repay. So — in order to make a second Disney theme park a reality in the not-so-distant future — Walt was going to need some new financial partners. Which was where RCA, NBC and billionaire insurance John McArthur came in. This (on paper, anyway) seemed to be the “Dream Team” for making Disneyland II a reality by the mid-1960s. At the time (1959), RCA was desperate to get in bed with Walt. You see, RCA owned NBC. And the National Broadcasting Company had grown tired of regularly getting its butt kicked by all of ABC’s Disney-related programming. Which is why that Burbank-based network was wooing Walt big-time back then. Anyway … With the hope that they’d soon be able to convince Disney to drop the American Broadcasting Company and come on over to the National Broadcasting Company, RCA was making all sorts of outrageous promises to Walt. Like agreeing to underwrite all of the production costs of a brand new weekly Disney television series. One that would filmed entirely in color. Plus General Sarnoff’s operatives promised to throw open RCA’s research & development department to Disney’s Imagineers. So that Walt could make use of all of that corporation’s snazzy state-of-the-art technology in his theme parks. Speaking of theme parks … With the hope that this incentive would make RCA’s deal absolutely irrestible to Disney, General Sarnoff also offered to put up most of the money necessary to build a second Disneyland. As well as introduce Walt to a man who’d agree to kick in a primo piece of real estate to build this East Coast theme park on: billionaire John McArthur. To call John McArthur eccentric would be an understatement. I mean, here was a guy who’d made millions — billions! — off of the insurance game. Who had a fleet of personal aircraft. And yet John lived in this simple one-story tract house in North Palm Beach. Plus he LOVED to go skinny-dipping. Speaking of Palm Beach … That was where that primo piece of real estate was actually located. 12,000 acres of land on the north side of the city, within easy access to Interstate 95. It seemed like a dream deal to Disney. McArthur would provide all the land. RCA would kick in most of the cash necessary to construct the theme park, as well as provide all the technological expertise necessary to make the Anaheim original look like a kiddie park in comparison to Disneyland II. The four (Well … Three, actually) partners would split all of the profits equally that this project would generate. All that Walt would have to do was provide the Imagineers (who’d then have to design the second “Happiest Place on Earth”) as well as the Disney name. So why did this seemingly perfect plan fall apart? Well, it wasn’t because of anything that Disney did. From everything I hear, Walt was actually eager to built Disneyland II out by I-95 in Palm Beach. It was RCA that eventually put the kibosh on the project. “So why did RCA back out of the deal?,” you query. Well, the electronic company had some real financial setbacks in late 1959 / early 1960. As a result, RCA no longer had the cash flow necessary to fund its part of the Palm Beach plan. Which is perhaps why the whole Disneyland II project collapsed in late 1960 / early 1961. (Mind you, RCA’s financial problems back then may not have been the only reason that General Sarnoff ultimately opted out of the Disneyland II project. You see, about this same time, Walt began talking up EPCOT. And the head of RCA … Well, he wasn’t really interested in building a city of the future to the north of Palm Beach. General Sarnoff just wanted to make some quick money off of a Disneyland clone.) Anyway … In spite of pulling the plug on the Palm Beach project, General Sarnoff must have stayed on reasonably good terms with Walt. For Walt Disney Productions did eventually shut down its weekly anthology series on ABC — “Walt Disney Presents” — on September 17, 1961. Only to have a very similiar television program — “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” — pop up on NBC one week later. But still … There were clearly a few folks at WED who still felt that Walt Disney Productions missed out on something really special when the company didn’t get to build Disneyland II down by Palm Beach. After all, back then, what Florida vacation was considered complete without spending at least one day at the beach? Which perhaps explains why — in the 1971 Walt Disney Productions’ annual report — the following paragraph popped up:
This annual report included an aerial shot of this pristine piece of beachfront property. This beautiful photo — which showed gentle whitecaps lapping against a sandy shore — features a caption that read:
Sounds like a pretty snazzy addition to WDW’s already impressive line-up of attractions, doesn’t it? So what actually became of this project? To be honest, I don’t know, folks. By that I mean: The Brevard County beach project seemed to be something that Disney Company execs were very, very excited about in the early, early 1970s. At the very least, the Melbourne, FL. property rated an additional mention in Walt Disney Productions’ annual report for 1972. Which read:
Which — again — makes the Melbourne, FL. acquistion sound like a very promising project. But then — by the time the 1973 version of Walt Disney Productions’ annual report rolls around — the Mouse stops talking about its Florida beachfront property. You can search that publication from cover to cover. But you still won’t find word one about Disney’s land holdings in Brevard County. “So what happened to this pristene piece of beachfront property?,” you ask. Well, I’ve chatted with a few longtime WDW employees. And they offer up some pretty interesting theories as to why Mickey may have eventually opted to get rid of its land holdings in Melbourne, FL. You see … Well … By the time 1973 rolled around, the Mouse wasn’t all that fond of the idea of any WDW guests wandering off property. By that I mean: Sure, some of these folks might have actually eventually found their way over to Disney’s beach in Brevard County. But still others might have opted out of making that 80+ mile. hour-and-a-half long drive out to Melbourne. And — instead — dropped by the soon-to-be-opening Sea World of Florida (Which initially opened for business in December 1973). Or — worse yet — drove on down to Tampa to check out Busch Gardens. No, Walt Disney World didn’t want to risk letting any of its guests drive off-property. It was far better for the company’s cash flow if these folks (More importantly, their wallets) stayed within the 47 square mile boundaries of “The Vacation Kingdom of the World.” Which is why (according to the WDW vets that I’ve spoken with) Walt Disney Productions probably decided to eventually sell off this beautiful stretch of sand along the Atlantic Ocean. Opting instead to build a place where WDW guests — if they were really looking for a fun place to swim while they were vacationing in Central Florida — could do so without ever leaving property. And that project — my friends — was River Country. Fort Wilderness’ “Ol’ Swimmin’ Hole” which first opened for business in June of 1976. As to why Walt Disney World’s first water park supposedly closed for the season in October of 2001 and never ever re-opened again … Well, that’s a story for another time. Speaking of time … Your time’s running out if you want to take part in JHM’s “Ghost of the Shell” contest. We’ll only be accepting entries through midnight Friday. So — if you’d like a shot at winning that “Ghost in the Shell” DVD and/or one of those five “Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence” posters — send an amusing e-mail featuring the phrase “Ghost in the Shell” to jim@jimhillmedia.com.
Hey. That’s kind of appropriate, don’t you think? A story about Disney’s abandoned Florida beachfront projects wrapping up with a mention of a “Ghost in a Shell.” Not bad for someone who’s operating on only five hours of sleep, don’t you think? Your thoughts? |
The Beach you’ll never reach: Disney’s abandoned plans for Florida’s Eastern shore
