So today on the podcast, we continue our story of Walt's lost mini parks.

So far in our series, we have looked at a mini park that Walt wanted to develop in 1939

in Burbank, a set of regional kitty parks in the late 1950s, the park at Monterey developed with Del Monte properties, and various

versions of the second gate that Walt once envisioned for land just outside Disneyland.

And today, we're shifting over to Florida for the story of a mini park that was designed and partially built until

ultimately it became something else. This is a story that begins in Walt's final year of life

and then continues into the years after his passing. So, if you're ready, let's go.

In 2010, the world of cinematic theme parks changed when Universal Orlando opened a lushly detailed,

20-acre themed land wholly focused on one movie franchise, the eight-film Harry Potter series.

The land included an inventive attraction, restaurant, shops, and a massive recreation of Hogwarts Castle.

The Newland was a tremendous success, demonstrating that the public was interested in deeper

and more engaging film experiences inside of a theme park, in this case, spending hours

wandering through the world of Harry Potter, perhaps imagining

that you are a student at Hogwarts.

Disney quickly responded with a range of single IP lands, among them a 12-acre cars land

that opened in DCA in 2012, a 12-acre avatar-themed land that opened at Animal Kingdom in 2017,

and a 14-acre Galaxy's Edge at Hollywood Studios and Disneyland.

One movie or one movie series, one land.

But among major park designers, Universal Creative wasn't the

first to at least propose and partially build, a 10 to 20-acre area focused on a single

film or a single film series. Disney explored this idea back in the early 1970s with what might be described as an 11-acre

mini park just across the way from the Magic Kingdom. The gated area was going to be themed after

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