HISTORY
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The
Reedy Creek Improvement District was created by the Florida
Legislature in 1967 to provide a full range of governmental
services to an undeveloped Central Florida site nearly twice
the size of Manhattan. The enabling legislation for the District
provided it with many of the responsibilities of a city or county,
including emergency services, water control, public utilities,
land use, building codes and financial responsibility for the
issuance of general obligation and revenue bonds.
During the past 40 years, the 25,000 acre Reedy Creek site has
been transformed from pasture and forest into the Walt Disney
World Resort. Original plans for development within the District
included a theme park and hotels, a ‘prototype’
community of the future and a permanent greenbelt. The first
phase of the project – the Magic Kingdom – opening
in 1971, accompanied by several hotels, two golf courses and
the first link of the monorail system. A shopping village and
additional hotels opened in 1975. A second theme park –
EPCOT Center – was added in 1982 as a showcase for technologies
and cultures of the world.
The late 1980s and early 1990s were periods of accelerated expansion
in the District, with the addition of Disney/MGM Studios Theme
Park, two water theme parks and nearly 10,000 hotel rooms. Another
7,000 hotel rooms, along with new golf courses and expanded
restaurant and shopping areas were built between 1994 and 1997.
The late 1990s brought new attractions with the opening of Disney’s
Wide World of Sports in 1997 and Disney’s Animal Kingdom
in 1998.
Today, many of the dreams and visions embodied by the earliest
plans for the District and Walt Disney World have been realized.
There are four major theme parks, over 25,800 hotel rooms in
26 resorts, renowned golf and athletic attractions and an abundance
of retail and entertainment areas. Permanently protected streams
and wetlands provide aesthetic beauty, a sanctuary for wildlife
and a lush backdrop for the District’s attractions.
Yet the need for the District’s services is no less urgent
as vision becomes reality. Over two-thirds of the land within
the District boundaries remains undeveloped, much of it capable
of supporting new development. As the District becomes integrated
into the expanding Orlando metropolitan area, regional issues
like transportation, affordable housing and water quality are
being more directly addressed. The Florida project has been
described as “a community of tomorrow that will never
be completed but will always be introducing and testing new
materials and systems.” Thus, the current development
is hardly the ‘final’ image of the District, but
only the next chapter in its continuing evolution.
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