TERROR FROM TREASURE ISLAND

Chapter 4: Sirens

Wandering around for a bit, Nicholas had come through the islands jungle plant growth and soon of course he eventually waded through the growth and came across a old rustic gate; it was a old iron gate that had wording above it, the wording had read: TREASURE ISLAND in big bold letters written style of font that reminded of Nicholas of the old title card screens of old movies his grandpa had him watch when he was younger, the letters were written in cursive writing.

Soon of course Nicholas had stepped his way through the gates and soon of course worked his best to push past them which wasn't hard since the hinges on the gates door were rusted but squeaky since they still moved and weren't stuck in place, and soon of course as he looked up he had seen a old wooden sign that read ABANDONED BY DISNEY Nicholas pulled out his camera and snapped a picture of it and soon of course had continued onto his way through the location and soon eventually he walked around a bit and observed his surroundings as he had made quick observation of the location something about the place had felt a little off but abandoned locations always felt like that, so this wasn't completely weird yet.

An odd sight stood before him as Nicholas had come across a sight located in a wandering area of the abandoned park, the park itself had plant growth and weeds and trees the buildings and booths had been in serious judgement of harsh of conditions of whethering and some of them almost seemed to be in complete disrepair which was usual for abandoned buildings really so it wasn't anything new, but something about this place had felt special.

It was a old siren tower.

He had read about the history of the place when it was still running and functioning.

In 1959, Walt Disney Productions began looking for land to house a second resort to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955. Market surveys at the time revealed that only 5% of Disneyland's visitors came from east of the Mississippi River, where 75% of the population of the United States lived. Additionally, Walt Disney disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland and wanted more control over a larger area of land in the next project.

Walt Disney took a flight over a potential site in Orlando, Florida—one of many—in November 1963. After witnessing the well-developed network of roads and taking the planned construction of both Interstate 4 and Florida's Turnpike into account, with McCoy Air Force Base (later Orlando International Airport) to the east, Disney selected a centrally located site near Bay Lake. The development was referred to in-house as "The Florida Project". To avoid a burst of land speculation, Walt Disney Productions used various dummy corporations to acquire 27,443 acres (43 sq mi; 111 km2) of land. In May 1965, some of these major land transactions were recorded a few miles southwest of Orlando in Osceola County. In addition, two large tracts totaling $1.5 million were sold, and smaller tracts of flatlands and cattle pastures were purchased by exotically named companies, such as the "Ayefour Corporation", "Latin-American Development and Management Corporation", and the "Reedy Creek Ranch Corporation". Some are now memorialized on a window above Main Street, U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom. The smaller parcels of land acquired were called "outs". They were five-acre lots platted in 1912 by the Munger Land Company and sold to investors. Most of the owners in the 1960s were happy to get rid of the land, which was mostly swamp at the time. Another issue was the mineral rights to the land, which were owned by Tufts University. Without the transfer of these rights, Tufts could come in at any time and demand the removal of buildings to obtain minerals. Eventually, Disney's team negotiated a deal with Tufts to buy the mineral rights for $15,000.

Working strictly in secrecy, real estate agents unaware of their client's identity began making offers to landowners in April 1964, in parts of southwest Orange and northwest Osceola counties. The agents were careful not to reveal the extent of their intentions, and they were able to negotiate numerous land contracts with some landowners, including large tracts of land for as little as $100 an acre. With the understanding that the recording of the first deeds would trigger intense public scrutiny, Disney delayed the filing of paperwork until a large portion of the land was under contract.