It is a town started by Disney in 1994 as an experiment in planned urbanism. Disney owned a piece of swampland near the parks and basically were given the option of use it or lose it by the county so they used it!! At first only natives of Florida could buy and there was so much interest that there was a lottery to decide who could buy the homes in the first phase. It has grown and expanded out of all proportion since then and now comprises a town center ( quite touristy), four villages ( North, South, East and West) and two new beigbourhoods Aquila Reserve and Artisan Park. The last neighborhood Artisan Park is now under contructon. Anyone ( who has the money and it isnt cheap) can now buy but you cannot rent short term. Disney, who always said they were into conceptualism and not property management, sold up a few months back, but I live in the town and believe you me, nothing has changed.

It got a reputation of being Stepford Wives-ville from some as it is very clean, all the houses are pastel coloured and have white picket fences and there are a lot of rules and regulations about blinds, plants etc so the houses all look nice. There are also " mushrooms" in the street that play muzack, it snows at Xmas, leaves fall in the fall and there are numerous quite touristy events including craft fairs, street parties, carriage rides etc on in town. But it is just a lovely place to live, so friendly and so safe feeling and just so pretty. Worth a visit especially at Xmas and Halloween when the inhabitants go wild with the decorations. Small town main street America at its best. And yes I am very proud of it!!!