Editing EPCOT (concept) (section)

=== Location ===
Numerous locations were proposed for EPCOT, including [[St. Louis]], [[Niagara Falls, Ontario|Niagara Falls]], [[Washington, D.C.]], [[New Jersey]], and [[New York City]]'s [[Flushing Meadows–Corona Park|World Fair site]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Patches|first=Matt|date=May 20, 2015|title=Inside Walt Disney's Ambitious, Failed Plan to Build the City of Tomorrow|work=Esquire|url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/news/a35104/walt-disney-epcot-history-city-of-tomorrow/|access-date=October 20, 2020}}</ref> Disney also considered incorporating an experimental city into his plans for a [[Palm Beach, Florida]] development with [[RCA]] and investor [[John D. MacArthur]] in 1959.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mannheim |first1=Steve |title=Walt Disney and the Quest for Community |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |location=Oxfordshire and New York |isbn=978-1-138-26968-2 |page=67 |edition=First}}</ref> Eventually, [[Central Florida]] was chosen.<ref name=":0" /> Commenting on the choice, Disney said, "Here in [[Florida]] we've enjoyed something that we've never enjoyed at Disneyland: a blessing of size. There's enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we could possibly imagine."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Disney|first1=Walt|title=Florida Film}}</ref> The plans for "The Florida Project", officially dubbed Disney World, called for a [[Magic Kingdom|Disneyland-style theme park]] and resort area, EPCOT, an [[industrial park]], an [[airport]], and an entrance complex.

Disney quietly purchased undeveloped swampland in [[Osceola County, Florida|Osceola County]] and [[Orange County, Florida|Orange County]] using [[dummy corporation]]s to avoid [[price gouging]]. By June 1965, Disney had acquired 27,433 acres—twice the size of [[Manhattan]]—for an estimated $5.1 million (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|5100000|1965}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}).<ref name=":0" /> Walt Disney had planned to announce Disney World on November 15, 1965, publicly. Still, after the ''[[Orlando Sentinel]]'' broke the story of Disney's land purchase, Disney asked then-Florida Governor [[Haydon Burns]] to confirm the story on October 25. His announcement boasted that the new theme park would be, "The greatest attraction in the history of Florida."<ref name="WDW-Secret">{{cite web|author=Mark Andrews|date=August 6, 2000|title=Disney Pulled Strings So Mouse Moved In With Barely A Squeak|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2000/08/06/disney-pulled-strings-so-mouse-moved-in-with-barely-a-squeak/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910033232/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2000-08-06/news/0008050172_1_walt-disney-andersen-central-florida/2|archive-date=September 10, 2015|access-date=September 10, 2015|work=Orlando Sentinel}}</ref> The official announcement was made on the previously planned November 15 date, with Disney joining Burns in Orlando for the press conference.<ref name="WDW-Secret" /> Dissatisfied with the [[zoning]] regulations he had to deal with in [[Anaheim, California|Anaheim]], Disney developed the [[Reedy Creek Improvement District]] (RCID) for the [[property]]. With the approval of the [[Florida Legislature|Florida legislature]] and the governor, as enshrined in the [[Reedy Creek Improvement Act]], the District had most of the powers of a Florida county.