Posted
By Ken Storey
on Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 11:28 AM
click to enlarge
Concept art for two of the hotels at Flamingo Crossings
When Walt Disney World was first proposed in the late 1960s, the area around what is now Disney Springs was to be a mixed-use development with residences and offices within a short walk or PeopleMover ride of the commercial district. Just like its sister city, Bay Lake, where EPCOT was to be located, those plans were never realized. Instead, Lake Buena Vista became just another corner of the massive vacation resort.
In the early 1990s, the idea of a planned community in the shadow of the Vacation Kingdom was revived when the Celebration community opened on land in Osceola County that was once part of Disney World. A year after its opening, Orange County vowed to create its own Celebration-style communities and earmarked 23,000 acres on the west side of Disney World as what is still known as Horizon West.