What if Florida takes over WDW ?

[lowlight]

Fandom is a weird thing. If this were Exxon, would there be so many people defending a greedy and evil corporation?

 

[LuvOrlando]

Noone should be able to carve out their own fiefdom - the end.

 

[randumb0]

This is an incredibly unwise decision. I guarantee the state has not thought about all of the nuances that are involved.

Disney’s Reedy Creek gets new name, DeSantis appointees under bill​

The measure renames Reedy Creek as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

Outstanding debt, contracts and tax collection would not be affected, according to the bill, backing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ statements that Orange and Osceola counties would not be responsible for Reedy Creek’s $1 billion debt.

The 189-page bill also changes how the five members of the district’s Board of Supervisors are selected. The governor would appoint those members subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.

Disney’s Reedy Creek gets new name, DeSantis appointees under bill

 

[GAN]

This is an incredibly unwise decision. I guarantee the state has not thought about all of the nuances that are involved.

Disney’s Reedy Creek gets new name, DeSantis appointees under bill​

The measure renames Reedy Creek as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

Outstanding debt, contracts and tax collection would not be affected, according to the bill, backing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ statements that Orange and Osceola counties would not be responsible for Reedy Creek’s $1 billion debt.

The 189-page bill also changes how the five members of the district’s Board of Supervisors are selected. The governor would appoint those members subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.

Disney’s Reedy Creek gets new name, DeSantis appointees under bill

Seems like an incredible waste of time and tax payer money if you ask me. Disney is going to ride this thing out -they know the Governor won't be in office forever ...which explains why Disney isn't saying much. But I'm not usually paying Florida taxes so no worry to me...

 

[GAN]

Noone should be able to carve out their own fiefdom - the end.

Most property owners would disagree with you ...did your state tell you what kind of paint to color your home?

 

[GAN]

https://www.rcid.org/about/

This is a good synopsis of why Reedy Creek was created in the first place. Over time as the surrounding area developed it shifted to more like most CIDs, that is to maintain your property at levels higher than the standards of the surrounding areas. Disney, unlike many CIDs which are smaller have maintained their utilities and services.

If the local counties were to take over these services with dissolution of RCID (I don't think they will and an agreement would occur) look at the value of these facilities and how much the County would have to pay to purchase these top notch facilities with ground leases. Prohibitive. Disney is holding all the cards there.




False.

Disney has more scrutiny on it than most. Before any disturbance of land for new builds they will jump through hoops for possibly years on any one project. Everything you can imagine from water and soil testing happen and hundreds of pages of documents are submitted to the South Florida Water Management District for approval. In addition to that to disturb land they must set aside new land that will remain undisturbed. That land area is called the Disney Wilderness Preserve and currently has approximately 12,000 acres of protected lands.

After SWFMD approves they must go through ALL the permitting process with the local counties governments. All of this happens after the initial project is approved by Reedy Creek. There is likely no business in Florida that has such a rigid approval process.

Note: All this is public information, projects and paperwork are mostly available online to read. SFWMD is the entity that protects the Everglades. https://www.sfwmd.gov/who-we-are


I'm sure there is a way they can dissolve it if they really want to but with anything be careful what you wish for. CIDs are formed by the BUSINESSES in agreement with the local/state government. I do not believe a State can force a CID on anyone. So if they dissolve it, Disney can opt to not re-apply. At that point we likely won't see much change on property because it is private property and Disney has ability to control their own amenities and destiny. The government they would answer to is Orange and Osceola Counties and they are likely to continue to be an ally to Disney since they would be the ones to absorb the costs of the things like emergency services, water, power ...

And then there is the bond .... that would go back to the State to pay??? I mean they dissolved the holder of the bond so ... ?



The Fire Department has been understaffed for too long and the Skyliner was their breaking point. From Disney's perspective they have the backup and support of the two counties they are in, mostly Orange. Just like we see Orange County Sheriff all over the parks and property ~ they work in conjunction. The fire department would likely see no service changes unless Orange Co decided they wanted to increase services. As fast as offsite is being built, I think we'd see more stations just off property that would support Disney and surrounding area. The question is what does Reedy Creek pay them in salary & benefits vs say Orange or Osceola County because they would now work for them. I think their salary would go down.

Honestly I hope Disney is doing all their planning for the dissolution of the district and how they will operate without it. Let the bond go back to the state, and start discussing with the Counties how the transition of emergency services will happen and what agreements they will make regarding water, power etc since Disney owns the "equipment" so perhaps there is just an agreement of self servicing that would happen that keeps their local taxes about the same. The need for Reedy Creek is not as strong now as it was when they developed it, they are still private property and still very much in control of their future. I think one of the bigger items is Disney has been selling land but because it was within Reedy Creek they had control of the application, permitting, design etc ... ex: Flamingo Crossing. They might now have to become long term land lessor like Disney Springs hotels.

Nice explanation!

 

[GreatLakes]

The Disney Dish did a good episode on why this is nothing more than political posturing. The RCID is not something that can simply be dissolved due to the long legislative history and initial charter. This is nothing more than saber rattling and Disney should just ignore it or remind the state that they don't have the power to do what they are trying to do.

 

[randumb0]

The Disney Dish did a good episode on why this is nothing more than political posturing. The RCID is not something that can simply be dissolved due to the long legislative history and initial charter. This is nothing more than saber rattling and Disney should just ignore it or remind the state that they don't have the power to do what they are trying to do.

They're not dissolving it, they're just taking it over

 

[lowlight]

Disney is going to ride this thing out -they know the Governor won't be in office forever ...which explains why Disney isn't saying much.

This whole thing started because Disney couldn’t shut up.

 

[HopperFan]

They're not dissolving it, they're just taking it over

Right now they are making a lot of noise. This isn't simple, this is a hostile takeover.

CIDs are a positive for everyone, the district, the neighbors, the local governments, the businesses and homeowners located in them ... that is why there are so many and in many states they are are becoming commonplace for new developments. AND there is literally zero basis for the takeover. I guarantee the counties want no part of this.

Disney lawyers are busy getting ready, bring on the court cases, should be a fun show. I hope they fight to dissolve it because they'll be fine without it, and lessons will be learned.

 

[GAN]

This whole thing started because Disney couldn’t shut up.

So punish them because they took a stand for a good number of their employees….. okay, they‘ll find out if it was a good decision eventually.

 

[lowlight]

So punish them because they took a stand for a good number of their employees….. okay, they‘ll find out if it was a good decision eventually.

Corporations stand for nothing except for money. Everything else is lip service.

 

[HopperFan]

If you don't believe in the corporation, it's mission, it's business methods and it's belief system ... walk the walk ... don't give them any of your money.

 

[GAN]

Corporations stand for nothing except for money. Everything else is lip service.

It may be lip service, but it was the lip service their employees were looking for. Any business leader knows they need to keep the employees happy, and it could be said that Disney hadn’t necessarily done a great job recently. So clearly they felt it was time to step up. Assuming that Disney didn’t take this entire situation into consideration before they made their public comments is foolish -they understood exactly that this was the likely result.

 

[GreatLakes]

They're not dissolving it, they're just taking it over

No they aren't. I'd sooner believe OJ will "find the real killer".

 

[john7994]

This whole thing started because Disney couldn’t shut up.

History definitely reflects only the best outcomes with policies of appeasement ... while were at it ... give me your lunch money!

 

[georgina]

I don't think it was just for the employees that Disney took their stand. There is a misread of the shift in the majority of American's attitudes on these matters over the last few decades. I have a gay sister, my son has a trans friend. I am still supportive of Disney though not a fan of Florida in general.

 

[bcla]

They're not dissolving it, they're just taking it over

Legally the law that was passed last year dissolves the district, as well as maybe 5 others. It really doesn't do it any other way than dissolve these special districts that were enacted before a certain date and that haven't has a newer law modify them.

What's going on is that they're really just planning on replacing RCID with a newer district where the board is only answerable to the Governor of Florida. Right now the board is answerable to the citizens of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake. I'm trying to keep the politics out of it, but yes it would basically give the Governor all the power to control this special district when previously it was under the control of Disney, which got to choose all the citizens of those two communities.

If they simply allow the district to dissolve without a replacement, the obligations all revert to the counties and would be really, really messy - especially dealing with how to do things across county lines when there was previously a single quasi-governmental entity.

I don't expect this to be easy nor cheap, nor any law being the end of this. I guess that's as far as I'm going to go on this.

 

[nancipants]

As a local, this political grandstanding is very frustrating. I would prefer our state leaders focus on more important issues like housing and insurance costs.

 

[bcla]

Right now they are making a lot of noise. This isn't simple, this is a hostile takeover.

CIDs are a positive for everyone, the district, the neighbors, the local governments, the businesses and homeowners located in them ... that is why there are so many and in many states they are are becoming commonplace for new developments. AND there is literally zero basis for the takeover. I guarantee the counties want no part of this.

Disney lawyers are busy getting ready, bring on the court cases, should be a fun show. I hope they fight to dissolve it because they'll be fine without it, and lessons will be learned.

I would say that Disney's was rather unique. I've looked into this, and some analysis would seem to indicate that the government might not be able to just dissolve the current district and insert a new one in its place where the board is appointed by the Governor. They have two incorporated cities, and they might legally have first dibs on assuming the power of the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Even then, I expect that the issue of the bond debt might be the key. The bond debt is an obligation of this district and it's not clear that the state can interfere with that obligation.

https://www.rcid.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/RCID-Charter.pdf