Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground, Disney World, Orlando, Florida
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ~ Romans 15:13
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR NIECE, RACHEL! Rachel is the daughter of Blaine’s younger brother, Bruce. She keeps herself very busy working and living in Georgia. We were able to actually see her when we had Thanksgiving with Bruce and Donna this year. It’d been several years, so it was great to see her (and her dog) again!
We had some time this morning, so we took a short bike ride before we left. It’s good we went when we did, because we encountered all kinds of traffic on the sidewalk/bike path on our way home. But it was a nice ride to the Wilderness Lodge and back.
We left our campsite at 10:50am. Now you’re probably wondering why I put that bit of non-essential information in the post today, but there’s a reason, just not the normal one. You see, each time we leave, I note the time, so we know how long it took us to get from Point A to Point B. Fortunately for you, you only see that as a total time and mileage notation. But today was different. If you notice, I said we left our campsite at 10:50am. We didn’t actually leave Disney until 11:25am. Why, you might ask? Because we got to the designated area to hook up your towed vehicle (a single-file line along the side of the road), and there was a family in front of us that had no intention of going anywhere for a good, long while! The guy was working on his water filter for cryin’ out loud, which has absolutely nothing to do with anything needed for driving. After we practiced patience for quite a while, Blaine final went and asked the guy if he needed any help. Of course, he declined. Which is pretty much what we were expecting, given the circumstances.
And then the reason for the delay came walking up in the grass from behind us. His kids. About five of them. Ambling along from the pool. But even with their arrival, he still was in no hurry to leave. And the line behind him continued to grow, with people even using the unhook area across the street to hook up! I guess the kids had to change clothes? Shower? Eat lunch? Anyway, when he finally started moving, we noted that after all that, he’d left one of his basement doors open. He slowed down to an almost stop – halfway in the road, mind you – and a middle-school-aged boy jumped out, ran back and closed it, and jumped back in, as they were driving away.
We had to follow them out, and down the road for quite a while, all the while wondering if their towed car was going to swing out into on-coming traffic. They’re not supposed to do that. They’re supposed to remain ridged behind the motorhome. Sheesh!
They may own a million-dollar coach, but they sure don’t know how to use it! Just makes me even more grateful for Blaine and the lifetime experiences God gave him for this journey we’re on!
And one more bit of trivia I learned about Disney World. This time from Popular Mechanics of all places! An article written by Sophie Weiner last January:
In 1965, Walt Disney began buying land for a new theme park in Florida. The success of Disneyland, and the subsequent sprawl of trashy businesses around it, made Disney aware of the potential for a second park on the East Coast, and fueled his desire to control a larger area of land. He got his wish in Central Florida, which was hardly developed in the mid-’60s, mostly consisting of swampland and orange groves.
Disney, with help from lawyers who were unaware of who their client was, and shell companies, was able to acquire the 27,000 acres that make up Disney World for only $5 million dollars, a bargain even in 1965. Once the land was secured, the campaign for total control over the area began.
Disney petitioned the Florida legislature for a special district that would allow the corporation control over sewage, roads, building permits, and many other facets of municipal control in the area. They got it, and in 1967, the Reedy Creek Improvement District was created.
This district, including the two municipalities inside it, Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, give the corporation an unprecedented level of control. Only landowners in the district can vote to on governance for the district, thus giving Disney the upper hand in decision making. The powers granted are far-reaching–for example, Disney can issue their own liquor licenses to themselves. They largely do not use surrounding counties infrastructure, instead building their own water, fire departments, transportation, and emergency services.
Disney World is what it looks like if you give a corporation full control over an area of land as big as San Francisco. It’s worked out great for the company, which counts on the park for 14% of its $2 billion yearly earnings. And it’s been a boon for Florida as well–the park turned Central Florida into an economic powerhouse and tourism destination. It’s also a huge source of employment for people living in the area, with 62,000 employees at the park alone. (FYI – they now have 75,000! Remember?)
It’s harder to quantify what else the park has done, both in terms of environmental impact and loss of taxes for the surrounding counties and state. But the story is certainly a fascinating peek into what you can get away with as a multi-national Fortune 500 corporation who annexes a piece of land large enough to hold a major city.
Lake Louisa State Park, Clermont, Florida
Blaine found us a gorgeous site right on a lake! Not directly on Lake Louisa, but another called Lake Dixie. There are actually 10 lakes in the area, and at almost 3,600 acres Lake Louisa is by far the largest.
Once we were set up, we were able to eat lunch at our picnic table and enjoy the view!
We even set up to “work” outside, blogging and researching the Park. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stay long because the clouds came in and the wind picked up and the temperature dropped dramatically!
At 8:00pm, we heard what initially sounded like loud thunder. It was the Magic Kingdom fireworks! Can you believe it? 29 miles and 45 minutes away and we could still hear them loud and clear! We didn’t go out to look for them because we just weren’t feeling that energetic tonight, but maybe tomorrow.
And PRAISE THE LORD FOR MY HUSBAND!!! Just when I was thinking I might have to give up the blog because if the time it’s been taking me to insert pictures since the site made changes to it’s format, he took the time to discover how to make it work! (This actually happened on 2/16, but I wanted to let you know now!) Soooo grateful!