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Another Highway in the Sky
Much is said about a high-speed magnetic levitation train (mag-lev) that was proposed for the region in the 1980s. Disney seemed to back it at first, then turn against it. One proposal had it as a way to get tourists from Orlando International Airport to WDW quickly and without contributing to traffic congestion. However, a reduction in traffic would also mean a loss of business to those businesses along the way. Once other stops were proposed, Disney could no longer support the project, because it could reduce the incentive for people to stay at a Disney hotel if they could get to EPCOT Center just as fast if they stayed elsewhere and took the mag-lev.

Disney, understandably, wanted people to stay on Disney property their entire visit, eating at Disney-owned restaurants and spending money in Disney-owned shops. Why make it easier to go elsewhere?

If it was going to have other stops, and with a requirement of unrestricted public access to those stations, the mag-lev was seen by Disney as being better for local residents as opposed to tourists. Disney nixed the idea of having it stop at EPCOT Center and instead offered a site in a cow pasture, far away from most of WDW. It made sense to Disney, as that is where the town of Celebration would later be built. Nobody else knew that and the idea came across as lack of support.

As I Was Saying…
This book comes across more as a collection of case studies as opposed to a narrative piece, held together with tedious descriptions of particulars most people, including most Disney fans, don't care about. It attempts to show that Disney has done enough harm to Orlando to question if the benefits Disney has provided to Orlando are worth it.

Foglesong repeatedly states that the mostly lower-wage cast members that make up the majority of the tourism (including Disney) workforce are more of a burden on the area than a contribution. Why? Because they are eligible for various forms of county public assistance. This is coming from a man who, in the first sentence of the Acknowledgments, says the book was made possible by two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Furthermore, no proof is cited that people with tourism-dependent jobs are the people using county assistance, nor does the author consider that perhaps it is the public assistance programs that are flawed and not necessarily the corporations doing business in the area. Nevermind that there would still be many lower-wage jobs without Disney, as there are anywhere in the country.

A heavy reliance on tourism is presented as a weakness of the Orlando area. This begs the question - is there something much better than tourism? Manufacturing, which was what the "movers and shakers" of the area were hoping to attract before Disney came along, increases the risk of pollution problems. Tourists fly in, spend money, and fly out, without making much of a demand on local services. Much of what the tourists receive in exchange for their money is intangible. In other words, they are taking a few souvenirs away, but they’ve left a lot of money behind.

Another source of angst for the author is the rise of such hot spots as Downtown Disney and Universal City Walk, and the addition of convention space at the resorts. To the author, such developments take away business that rightly belongs to downtown Orlando. Nothing much is said about Kissimmee.

The Agenda Revealed
With statements such as "growth no longer pays for itself" and "do the costs of growth exceed the benefits?", Foglesong is revealing that he has spent too much time in the ivory tower. He asks if it is fair to "create housing needs and traffic problems" and not provide mitigation for them. It isn't enough for Disney to provide jobs, to bring millions of tourists a year, to provide payroll tax revenue, to provide sales tax revenue (largely from tourists). Somehow, Disney owes everyone more than just a job and a paycheck (and often benefits) - it owes the surrounding area roads and houses.

Foglesong can't legitimately call for an end to the "imbalance of incentives favoring tourism", which amount to corporate welfare, while simultaneously asking corporations to provide welfare. He even calls for a "living wage" policy, which will only harm the very people he's trying to help. He reasons that Disney can't pack up and leave, so the local governments should now be at an advantage and should take it, as if there is any doubt that Disney has contributed more to Orlando than it has taken.

In Conclusion
The only thing that saves this book is the historical information it provides regarding the formative years of Disney's presence in central Florida and the insights into what has happened since. It provided information that I've been curious about for a long time. The author should be commended for what must have been painstaking research, even though I don't agree with his ideology.

If you can stomach the ideology, and you are extremely interested in the history of central Florida, or the history of The Walt Disney Company, or government-corporation relations, this book should be part of your collection. Otherwise, don't bother.

Pellman's Rating: 2 out of 4