Yes, Disney had set his sights on the New Orleans area as a potential location for what we now know as the Walt Disney World Resort according to Nola.com. While this might sound like folklore, it's a story passed down through the years.

There is a persistent urban legend that Walt Disney originally wanted to build his "Florida Project" in New Orleans, Louisiana, specifically in the area now known as New Orleans East. The story goes that Walt was "shaken down" by local politicians who demanded bribes and high land prices, prompting him to leave in a huff for Orlando. However, historical records and Disney archivists generally dismiss this as myth. While Walt Disney certainly loved New Orleans—evidenced by the creation of New Orleans Square at Disneyland—Louisiana was never a top contender for the second park. Florida was the primary choice because of its year-round sunshine, existing tourist infrastructure, and the "Disney Highway" of the I-95 corridor that brought millions of travelers from the Northeast. While New Orleans might have been a "Fantasyland" possibility in the minds of local developers, Disney’s "stealth" land acquisitions in Florida were a calculated move based on geography and climate, not a reaction to a Louisiana political dispute.