Orlando Research Paper

In policy making oftentimes decisions are made that seem like a good idea on paper, but in reality these decisions have many unintended consequences. I believe this is what occurred in Orlando. The “movers and shakers,” of Orlando believed that bringing in an attraction like Disney would help Orlando grow economically. While economic growth did occur in the short term, it severely pigeonholed the town in the long term. Over the years Disney has helped create a large amount of service jobs, but the quality of these jobs is low and in essence doesn’t provide much if any social mobility for employees. Disney also opened the door for other competitors and many other theme parks and attractions have made Orlando their homes, such as Universal studios.

Many individuals believed brining in Disney would economically improve Orlando and provide new amenities. This belief created such a high desire to bring Disney in that they failed to use their ideal locations a leverage. In failing to realize the high value of their city due to the intersecting highways, the city of Orlando allowed Disney world to essentially operate as their own autonomous city. In the short term this move was beneficial for Disney and Orlando because Orlando got a booming enterprise in its city and Disney got away with building its park however it wanted, with its own infrastructure. Despite the short term positive, overall Disney’s autonomy within Orlando has harmed citizens more than helped them, because Disney views its land as a commercial asset. Disney chooses to exploit this commercial asset for profit rather than designing things that could be better for the Orlando community as a whole. Essentially granting Orlando autonomy lead to inefficient use of land for the citizens of Orlando as a

In addition to those issues Disney also pigeonholed the town as an expensive tourist destination. Many competing entertainment industries flocked to Orlando because Orlando was now a theme park destination. While none of the other entertainment industries dominate Orlando quite like Disney, they do compound a problem that was already an issue with just Disney World. The issue at hand is that Disney is now completely a tourist centered economy. Tourist economies are huge sources of income during times of economic success, but theme parks are expensive tourist destinations and when the economy is down, Orlando’s economy is hit extra hard. During economic hardship most families are not able to go to Disney or another theme park, which really hurts Orlando’s economy because they have nothing else to fall back on. Orlando’s lack of economic diversity creates a situation where the city is totally reliant on the theme parks and the state of the economy, rather than having the ability to generate its own income. This issue of increased competitors for Disney world further limits citizens job options and also lessens the amount of land that can be used for businesses other than theme