It’s about time! The year-long battle between The Walt Disney Company, Govenor Ron DeSantis, and the State of Florida has come to an end.
The news came down today via the Orlando Sentinel. Disney will have to settle with Florida instead of allowing a judge to decide who controls the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
The new deal will invalidate all development agreements made by the allegedly Disney-controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District before February ’23. Also, Disney’s attempts to obtain public records (e-mails, texts, etc.) of the CFTOD’s board members are binned.
Although this does not negate all of the litigation currently in the legal system, it terminates what seems to be the most prominent dispute between the mega-corporation and the Sunshine State.
Florida and the Mouse appear to be attempting an amnesty. The CFTOD’s vice chair, Charbel Barakat, extended an olive branch, saying, “With this settlement, which is complete and significant, we are eager to work with Disney.”
Likewise, the Walt Disney World Resort president, Jeff Vahle, sounds eager to get on with business and partner with the new board. Vahle released a statement that explained the current settlement “opens a new chapter of constructive engagement with the new leadership of the district and serves the interests of all parties by enabling significant continued investment and the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and economic opportunity in the state.”
In 2023, DeSantis moved to dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District and Disney’s special exemptions, allowing the company to act independently without government oversight. In its place, the governor installed the CFTOD, with a board full of DeSantis-friendly members.
The governor’s actions resulted in the FDOT taking over inspection duties of Disney’s monorail system. While the outcome of the inspections has not been published, it will be interesting to see what the state found. I really want to know why all the passenger cars smell terrible.
[Source: Orlando Sentinel]
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