In 1938, Walt Disney joined up with Bing Crosby to embark on his first foray into a real estate development. After he suffered a polo accident that resulted in neck pain which plagued him for the rest of his life, Walt was looking for a sports related enterprise to occupy his spare time. He and Bing Crosby teamed up to build a sports enterprise that would rival New York's Madison Square Garden and offer a more year round sporting experience in Los Angeles' more temperate climate.
The World War, however, put a damper on those plans. With every resource being put towards the war effort, a sports enterprise was seen as too frivolous. The process intrigued Walt Disney, however, and the idea of a sports garden morphed into a Magic Kingdom.