“Welcome to Disney World”: When Shaquille O’Neal Drew Comparisons to Tom Hanks’ Character in Big to Explain How He Lived His Life

After failing to win a ring with the Boston Celtics in 2011, Shaquille O’Neal announced his retirement from the NBA. The four-time NBA champion decided to move to his Florida mansion along with his friend and former LSU teammate Dennis Tracey, who’s also his publicist and personal assistant.

O’Neal’s 12-bedroom, 15-bath mansion inside the gates of the Isleworth Golf & Country Club was the perfect party destination, as it boasted a massive swimming pool, a theatre, and a basketball court, and it sat along the shores of Lake Butler.

After nearly three years, someone is finally buying Shaq’s $16.5 million Isleworth Golf & Country Club mansion. https://t.co/H919kfD3cG pic.twitter.com/EvkucwG6de

— The Loop (@GoToTheLoop) January 29, 2021

The former Los Angeles Lakers icon ensured the house had every amenity he or his friend could dream of. In his memoir Shaq Uncut, he wrote,

“Once Dennis and I moved into Isleworth, we used to tell our friends, ‘Welcome to Disney World.’ It felt like it. I had everything I ever wanted.”

O’Neal explained that living in that mansion felt like a dream, and he had to remind himself that he was back in the real world once he stepped out of the gates of the Isleworth Golf & Country Club. Some of the amenities on the four-acre property felt like the whims of a young boy, which prompted someone who had visited the property to ask O’Neal if he purposely lived life with child-like enthusiasm. He replied,

“Sometimes I feel like the Tom Hanks character in the movie Big. But my life is not a movie. I never have to go back to Coney Island to find the fortune teller machine so I have to grow up again.”

As a child, everyone dreams of owning outlandish homes with impractical props and amenities. However, O’Neal had the cash and the courage to build a mansion that had everything he ever dreamt of. That said, O’Neal’s Disney World home apparently lost its charm after a few years as he put the house on the market for $26 million in 2018. He eventually sold it for $11 million in 2021.

Shaquille O’Neal’s fascination with technology

Much like his interest in building grand mansions for himself, Shaquille O’Neal has a child-like wonder for technology as well. He is easily fascinated by interesting gadgets and doesn’t mind spending exorbitant amounts of money on them. O’Neal admitted that he is addicted to shopping and even professed his love for a shopping website. On an episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, he said,

“I met the ultimate woman that will never leave you. I’m in love with this woman and she never tells me no. Her name is Amazon.”

O’Neal also revealed the shocking amount of money he spends on drones. Explaining how he got hooked on to the gadget, he said,

“My cousin Kenny bought me a $15,000 drone…I didn’t really knew how to fly em…but no matter where you are, you hit the ‘Home’ button and it comes back to you.”

O’Neal revealed he not only lost that $15,000 drone but he’s also lost “hundreds of $100 drones” that he’s bought off Amazon. The Hall of Famer has a net worth of $400 million and can afford to lose thousands of $100 drones. However, his penchant for spending money on them knowing he’ll break or lose it is hilarious.