November 15, 1965:

At 2:00 p.m., Walt and Roy Disney, accompanied by Governor Haydon Burns, speak to the press in the Egyptian Room of the Cherry Plaza Hotel in Orlando and officially launch the Disney World project in Florida. (Site preparation will begin in the fall of 1967 and the park will open in October 1971, unfortunately five years after Walt's death.) Only days after this announcement, the price of land surrounding the property that the Disney organization purchased for supposedly $180 an acre - will shoot up to an amazing $80,000 per acre! As of this day, Disney planners have acquired about 27,443 acres (or 43 square miles) at a cost of just about $5 million.