There was a lot of speculation in Orlando about the identity of the company that was buying so much land, but Demetree says even her father was kept in the dark. "And that was the wetlands that they had been complaining about." "He saw that wetland and said, 'Right there is Tom Sawyer's island,'" Demetree says. But, as she heard the story, that's one of the things that appealed to Walt Disney when he flew over the area in a private plane. Her father and uncle were uncertain they would ever find a buyer for the property because of all the wetlands. "At that time, Orlando was more of a cow town and literally when you'd come down Orange Blossom Trail, you could smell the orange blossoms," Demetree says. In the mid-1960s they agreed to sell more than 12,000 acres of swampy undeveloped land to a company whose identity remained secret. Mary Demetree, a native of the area, is CEO of a real estate company her father and uncle founded. The grand opening dedication ceremony included a parade down Disney World's Main Street on Oct.
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