Celebration is, as most TPI readers probably know, the town that Disney carved from Walt Disney World property in the mid- to late-1990s. Development continues there, even though Disney sold its share of the development to other companies a few years back.
The lure of buying into "Disney's town" drew speculators like ants on a picnic, driving prices far beyond those for similarly sized units in unincorporated Osceola County. (Though Disney promoted Celebration as a "town," it does not exist as a political entity. It is also unincorporated land, ceded back from Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District to Osceola County.)
With the real estate bubble bursting all over the country due to the elimination of too-easy mortgage money, "flippers" and other speculators in communities such as Celebration have been left holding the bag. From personal experience, I know that a significant number of properties in Celebration are unoccupied. And that many were, and remain, for sale.
But 50 percent? One out of every two? That number is stunning. [Full disclosure: my mother sells real estate in Celebration. So I'm feeling juuuust a little bit conflicted here.] What are our Orlando-area readers seeing?
Trouble in the (former) swamplands? Now, that's a shocker, ain't it?
A bit of fever-dream perspective can be found in an old (and, heck, aren't they all? Will there EVER be another issue? Darned if I know . . .) issue of DeScope that found the connections between Walt's familial ties to agrarian socialism, the future fair nightmare of The Firesign Theatre, and living the good life in Central Florida splendor. All this is pre-housing bubble, so go figure . . .
http://www.descope.com/features/waltsepcot.html
Yours,
-- E "Eddy" Edwards
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By the Public Relations of The Disney Machine. I work in a Major retail store..And when collecting the information on customers..I enter their zipe code and It always comes up as Kissimmee..not the town of Celebration but Kissimmee, Fl.
Dont get me wrong here its a wonfderful development, But its time that everyone admits thats all it is ..A subdivison in Kissimmee..Nothing more.