Disney own a heck of a lot of land within the Walt Disney World area but what people don’t often realise is that a lot of this is natural wetlands, previously an area where Disney was not able to build upon.
Recently Disney requested and were approved to convert up to 350 acres of this conservation land into anything they deemed necessary to grow and improve the resort. This was allowed on the condition that Disney would added thousands of acres to their Wilderness Preserve.
Disney Need More Land To Build On
In turns out that for whatever reason the initial request that was approved wasn’t enough and Disney have now asked for an additional 225 acres of land, taking the total up to around 575 acres. Disney haven’t been forthcoming with their plans for the wetland areas only saying that:
”This permit modification continues our longstanding commitment to responsible growth and environmental stewardship in a way that will contribute to Florida’s conservation for years to come.”
The question is, where are these wetlands and what are Disney’s plans for it?
Well it would seem that the majority of it is located around the Magic Kingdom area and while Disney haven’t confirmed the land conversion could be anything from backstage areas to new attractions. While the prospect of a new area is exciting, I don’t think it is very likely at the Magic Kingdom anytime soon with the fairly recent New Fantasyland additions. Expect to see more backstage areas or an additional hotel.
The other big patch of land that has been requested for conversion can be found around the ESPN and Disney’s Hollywood Studios area. Now we all know that Disney has big plans for Star Wars and Toy Story for the park so it is possible that this land will be used for the planned expansions.
Of course it is also possible that Disney has early plans for another theme park for Walt Disney World, that would be amazing but I feel if they are committed to cramming Star Wars and Pixar into Hollywood Studios it seems very unlikely.
What do you think of this new announcement that Disney are planning on converting more of the wetland area? What do you think their plans are? Let us know in the comments!
Ryan has been attending theme parks since as long as he can remember and his first proper memory comes from when he was just three years old sitting in Main Street USA drinking a Nesquik milkshake from a carton while the piano was being played outside Casey’s Corner.
