Among the several dummy corporations used to buy property in Florida without people tying it to Disney, by far my favorite company name was M.T. Real Estate Investments (say that first part out loud). Ayefour Corporation was another good one (as the property is near the I-4 highway).

• 1959-ին Walt Disney Productions-ը Walt Disney-ի գլխաւորութեամբ կը սկսի տարածք. Բացառութեամբ M.T. Lott Real Estate.
• Lott, this window also refers to the process in which Walt bought up land for Walt Disney World. Disney was visiting Florida real estate agents and looking at possible locations for the future Walt Disney World Resort, he would do so under the pseudonym of Roy Davis.
• Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando Florida is the largest resort in the world at 100 km squared (39 sq miles). Some of the company names included M. Lott Real Estate Investments (“empty lot”), Ayefour Corporation (“I 4” because the resort is near Interstate 4) and many of them were owned by “Mr. Mouse.” In hindsight, it.
• In order to keep his purchase of 27,000 acres a secret, Walt Disney created fake 'shell companies' like Tomahawk Properties and the appropriately-named M.T. To keep his identity discreet. A famous Orlando Sentinel headline proclaimed 'We Say It's Disney!'

Tours at Disney are a fantastic way to experience the parks in a whole different way. The Keys to the Kingdom tour was so fun for this Disney nerd to learn more about Magic Kingdom, Disney and Walt himself. If you’re a Disney history lover who wants to go behind the scenes then The Keys To The Kingdom tour is for you!

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Keys To The Kingdom Cost & Details

The Keys to the Kingdom tour takes place in the Magic Kingdom, and you need a theme park ticket in order to do the tour.

The cost of the tour is $99USD. There are usually 5 start times: 8, 8:30, 9, 9:30, and 10am, although sometimes it is only offered at 8 and 8:30. You must call Disney Reservations to book the tour, it is not available for booking online.

The Keys to the Kingdom tour is adults only, because you will get to go backstage, or behind the scenes. You must be 16 years old to go on the tour.

The tour will last approximately 5 hours and lunch is included – more on that part later!

For more information, check out the Disney Website!

Why It’s Called Keys To The Kingdom

You might be wondering why it’s even called the Keys To The Kingdom, and it’s not because they give you a key! Disney believes there are 4 keys to a great guest experience; Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency. This tour aims to show you how all 4 of these keys work together so that you have the best guest experience possible. Safety is so important to Disney that it is the first key, however you might not ever see it with your own eyes. Courtesy makes sure the Cast Members treat you with respect and always help out where needed. Show is the most obvious to us the guest, because it is what we see while we are in the park: the sights, sounds and smells that immerse us in whatever land we are in. Efficiency is obvious when you visit the utilidors to see how cast members (and food, and merchandise, etc.) move throughout the park.

Keys To The Kingdom Tour Review

My first tip is to book the first tour possible. Booking at 8am tour means you will likely get into the park a little earlier than most people (depending on the schedule for Extra Magic Hours or Early Morning Magic that day). You may be able to get some photos in front of the castle will less people in your way! Check in for the tour will be at The Town Square Theatre and you must check in 15 minutes prior to your tour start time. You will be given a name tag, a headset so you can hear your guide, and you will be able to choose what you would like for lunch. We had about 20-25 people on our tour, so the group size wasn’t too big! Once you’re all ready you head out on the tour!

The rides and behind the scenes stops may be different for every tour depending on the day, crowd levels and the tour guide. I’ll share some of the places we stopped along the way:

We started our tour by heading down Main Street USA. Most people run down this street to get to the castle and all the exciting lands and rides that lay beyond. We spent a good amount of time talking about Walt’s dream and how important Main Street USA was to him. The use of perspective to make the castle appear larger, and the “drawing back of the curtain” by not being able to see the castle upon immediately entering the park.

One of the things that draws me to Disney is all the hidden details that you can miss by simply hurrying to your next FastPass. Details are everywhere, and our guide did a great job of pointing out Magic Kingdom’s secrets while we took the tour. For example the windows on the second floor of the buildings of Main Street USA may just look made up, but the names mean something in Disney history. We especially liked M.T. Lott – which is the fake name Disney used when buying property in Florida to avoid giving away his true purpose for the land. My husband liked the pun so much we made a T-shirt with the saying on it!

Walt’s window faces the castle so he can always see his dream come to life.

Keys To The Kingdom Rides

You will get the chance to experience some rides at Magic Kingdom in a whole new way. The rides may change but they seem to stick to the same ones most times.

The Enchanted Tiki Room

Not technically a ride but a show, I’m a big fan of the Tiki Room. It opened in 1963 and was the first attraction to use Audio-animatronics. Fun Fact: Walt wanted the Tiki Room to be a dinner theatre, can you imagine hearing The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room multiple times while eating? Me either.

The Jungle Cruise

The next ride we checked out was The Jungle Cruise. Except this time our skipper was our tour guide, and it was a lot less punny. She explained to us the history of the ride (Walt wanted real animals!) and it was fun to see the ride from a different perspective.

Haunted Mansion

I was so excited to go on Haunted Mansion as part of this tour. It is one of my favorite rides and I already knew a lot about the history of the Haunted Mansion because of a book I read, but there’s always something new to learn. One of the most exciting parts was we got to get on the ride through the “servants quarters” aka the cast member area. You’ll have to go on the tour and see it for yourself!

Keys To The Kingdom Tour Lunch

For lunch we stopped at Tomorrowland Terrace, although the location seems to change and it is sometimes Columbia Harbour House or Pecos Bills. When you check in at the Town Square Theatre they will have a menu and you will select what you would like for lunch. At some point during your tour you will stop to eat, and the restaurant will have tables reserved for you. Your name will be with your meal as well as a little gift for doing the tour, we got pins! You won’t have too much time to eat, since what you really want to get back to is the tour.

Magic Kingdom Behind The Scenes

Here is the reason most people book the tour: you get to go backstage and “underground” in the Magic Kingdom! Of course we aren’t allowed to take any photos backstage, so you’ll have to use your imagination or see it for yourself. The first stop we made backstage was the parade float area, where we got to see some of the parade floats, including ones from special parades like the Christmas one. To my delight we also got to see some parade dancers practicing, I would have loved to join them!

Check out the Christmas Parade!

The second backstage area is the famous utilidors – that’s utility corridors – and they are the “underground” part of the Magic Kingdom. Fun fact: they aren’t actually underground, the castle is technically on level 2! When the park was built they couldn’t dig out because of water, so they built up instead. You might notice a slight incline when you walk up Main St USA , and this is why. The Utilidors, while they aren’t pretty are such an urban legend now they definitely are interesting. We saw a costume room, and got to see how cast members get from one area of the park to another without breaking the illusion. You can’t have a Tomorrowland cast member walking through Fantasyland! The utilidors have everything from waste removal to costuming to cast member cafeteria to warehouses. There are also many photos of Walt and other historical photos from Disney, including one of that horrible cake overlay during the 25th anniversary of Magic Kingdom! For someone who loves Disney history it was a dream come true.

Final Thoughts

I love taking any Disney tours, they are always informative and you get to experience the park in a new way. Have you ever taken a tour at Disney? Let us know how it was!

1. I REALLY want to do this. I did something similar at Disneyland, and it was amazing.

2. We loved doing KTTK last year. It was such a fun add-on to our adults only trip!

3. This is a bucket list experience for my family. Great review! Now I want to do it more then ever. 🙂

4. I’m dying to try this tour! I did Disneyland’s equivalent: Walk in Walt’s Footsteps. I absolutely loved it.

5. This tour is one that I would like to do. Being they will not allow folks under sixteen to participate, though, it might be a fe years before we consider it. It is too bad that they do not let parents decide if their child is old enough.

6. This is on my Disney bucket list!

7. so much fun!!

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Culture September 8, 2019

Left: Disney World's Magic Kingdo under construction prior to its 1971 opening. Right: A window on Main Street commemorates M.T. Lott Real Estate Investments. Sources: Chip HIRES / Contributor / Getty; mainstreetgazette.com

How did Walt Disney grab so much land in central Florida? Disney World may be the most popular tourist destination on the planet today, but in the early '60s it was a secret project, involving sneaky real estate purchases by companies that couldn't be traced to the Mickey Mouse operation.

Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955, and had been a huge hit, and entertainment pioneer Walt Disney was looking to build something bigger and better. He considered building a second location in New Jersey, but climate stood in the way, as a New Jersey park would have to be seasonal. Disney also considered St. Louis as the potential location for an indoor park. During this time, he also had been eyeing Florida.

On a flight over Orlando in a borrowed plane, Disney noticed two things: a highway system to handle the many visitors he anticipated, and lots and lots of land.

Post-Disneyland Plans

While Disneyland had been a success, Disney wanted this new amusement park to be much more. He envisioned something closer to a planned community, avoiding the cheap hotels and neon that had sprung up around Disneyland.

For Disney to open the Disney World that Walt envisioned, the company needed to buy the land, thousands of acres of it. The initial goal was to acquire 10,000 acres of land, a purchase that had the potential to be quite expensive, especially in light of Disney’s success. Disney was concerned that if landowners learned their identity, the landowners would drive up prices and make the project prohibitively expensive.

They Had To Shop In Secret

Early on, Disney set up a team within the company, delayed hiring top officials, numbered internal memos so they could keep track of them, and set up secret phone relays. They also hired a man to act as their intelligence agent in Orlando: Paul Helliwell, an ex-military intelligence officer turned lawyer. Disney kept everyone in the dark, including the Florida government.

Disney’s lawyer, Bob Foster, hid his identity as well, adopting the pseudonym “Bob Price” in order to scout for land. In addition, to ensure that his identity was kept a secret, he did not fly directly from Florida to Los Angeles, stopping instead in St. Louis, prompting rumors that St. Louis-based McDonnell Aircraft was the mystery buyer.

Hiding Their Identity

To cover their tracks, Disney created shell companies. Most had names that sounded legitimate, such as Latin American Development and Management and Bay Lake Properties. Other companies had names that were more playful, such as M.T. Lott Co. and Retlaw (Walter spelled backward).

Helliwell’s firm was the intermediary between these companies and the landowners to complete the sales. Because sellers didn't know the identity of the buyer, they were willing to part with their land -- largely swampland considered to have little value -- for as low as $80 an acre.

A Reporter Breaks The Story

Of course, people started to notice the massive land purchases and began to speculate about the identity of the mystery buyer. At one point, there was a rumor that it was Ford. People noticed that men from California were frequenting Orlando businesses, and one waitress recognized Walt Disney and questioned him. He made up a story about his parents. After Disney met an Orlando Sentinel reporter, Emily Bavar, the newspaper released a story on October 21, 1965, predicting that Disney was the mystery corporation.

The Shell Companies Are Honored On Disney World's Main Street

By that point, Disney had purchased 27,000 acres of land at an average price of $200 per acre. Once the truth was out, the price per acre rose to $80,000 per acre.

Walt Disney did not live to see his dream realized; he died on December 15, 1966, before construction began on Disney World. The shell companies live on, just like his legacy, in the windows above the Crystal Arts store on Main Street. 'M.T. Lotts Real Estate Investments' is listed as the company name; Donn Tatum (a real Disney executive who took over as CEO when Roy Disney died) is listed as president. The names of the actual shell companies are listed as 'Subsidiaries.'

Experts debate the ethics of what Disney did -- all their maneuverings, after all, had the effect of concealing the land's true value from those who rightfully owned it. But had those sellers known the true identity of 'Bay Lake Properties,' they might have raised prices so high that the park would be prohibitively expensive to build. Fans of Disney World would argue that the complex has served the greater good. Whatever the case, Disney World is there, and has plenty of room to grow, as the various parks and properties only use about half of the land Disney managed to amass.

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Tags: Disney Disney World Disneyland Walt Disney

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M. T. Lott Disney

Cyn Felthousen-Post

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M T Lott Disney