It's true! The Reedy Creek Improvement District is something totally unique within the US. I think they got away with it because it was Walt and his business an

It's true! The Reedy Creek Improvement District is something totally unique within the US. I think they got away with it because it was Walt and his business and social acumen were already known, even his environmentalism (trash control, buried power lines, PeopleMover, etc.). Disney showed Orange and Osceola counties that they could actually run a city better than the "real" governments. A drive through that area today will confirm they were right! Everything changes when you get inside the Disney property, even many miles from the parks and resorts. The landscape, signage, safety stuff, zoning, parking, all kinds facilities (electrical, sewer, water) are handled much better than in the neighboring cities run by traditional governments. In practice, the "city" of Disney World and its surrounding hotels has a permanent (though rotating) population bigger than many real cities and the Company runs everything that one would find a regular city.