Most Visitors to Orlando have Never Been There

Few destinations are as tricky as Orlando. For millions who visit Disney, Sea World and Universal their trip never brings them to the city of that name. And this is no accident. When Disney announced it's imminent arrival in the mid sixties, the city leaders were happy, as well as determined that downtown Orlando would be protected from an onslaught of tourists.
Contrary to popularly received wisdom, Orlando was an extremely prosperous city before Disney arrived. It sat straddling the rich citrus producing region which generated tens of billions in revenue in the fifties and sixties. Other agriculture in the area, from vegetable and foliage industries, to massive cattle ranches south of town, brought in billions more. The city had a full-time professional orchestra before Miami. The aerospace industry and in particular, the Martin company, had brought tens of thousands of high tech workers to the area, some of whom really were "rocket scientists." They laid the foundation that has made Orlando one of the top high tech regions in the country.
So, not to see their beautiful city besmirched by hordes of station wagon driving, tee -shirt buying hordes of middle class American and international gypsies, the city leaders erected the International Drive Area and actively encouraged all hotels to be built there, safely removed from downtown, but close enough for the city to gain tax and employment benefits.
The net effect of this little trick is that it let's those of us who live in Orlando forget there are any tourists here at all . They're all safely segregated ten to twenty miles to the southwest of anything that was ever historically considered to be the city.
And what's left for us to enjoy is one of the greenest cities in the country built around the shores of a hundred park lined lakes and downtown neighborhoods blanketed by live oaks. For those hip tourists smart enough to discover the deception, the trip to the real Orlando is the best part of their vacation. And we like them to come. It's just that our litlle slight of hand allows us to filter out the hordes of folks whose idea of a great time is to stand in line at a really slick amusement park.
Those old guys back in sixties Orlando were a pretty savy bunch. Even now most people haven't got a clue what they did.