Coming to Orlando, the first glimpse of Disney life comes to play when locating the Disney Ears off I-4. This is when you know you are close to the magic. What is also close, is the community called Celebration.
Did you know Walt Disney himself wanted to construct a city created the way he imagined? Indeed, however, slightly after releasing these exclusive plans, he passed away leaving only the blue prints to this “magical” community. It was up to Michael Eisner who finally made these dreams of Disney come to fruition.
Founded in 1994, Celebration in Osceola County, Florida, is not actually a town, but a community. Built on 4,900 acres, with almost half being dedicated to conservation. Which means the lakes, the trees, and wild life will most likely be always there. Not much will change as the architecture details are very strict. No new homes will be built if not approved by the councils master plans.
Disney’s idea of Celebration is similar to EPCOT. If you didn’t know, EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. The thing is, however; that when Disney passed away in 1966, the plans of EPCOT, being a town, went away as well.
The Completion of Celebration
Fast forward to Michael Eisner’s reign as Disney’s CEO (around 1990), that is when he took control of the blueprints. Eisner finally decided that they will help build the community Walt Disney himself would have liked to see.
A couple differences were noted after the completion of building Celebration. For example, Walt Disney wanted all the infrastructure, schools, and utilities be run under his control. What ended up happening was the residents were able to have a voice and they were allowed to take control of schools and essentially the Master Plan.
Today, Celebration is a wonderful community but is not considered a “Town”. It is owned by home owners and Investors. It is a place to live, work, and play. You will find friendly businesses, bike paths, good dining, and a lot of entertainment.
Moreover, Celebration is just about 10 minutes away from Disney World. It is still a relatively small community with about 8,500 residents. The average price of the home is $450,0000. And doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
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