New Court Documents Show Disney Did Try Underhanded Tactics To Save Magic Kingdom Expansion

It seems that a lot of what was previously reported has turned out to be true when it comes to Disney dealings with the defunct Reedy Creek Improvement District and Governor Ron DeSantis. According to deposition testimony, Disney allegedly did it to save their Magic Kingdom expansion.

A new article by Gabrielle Russon in Florida Politics further proves prior accusations and emails about potential self-dealing and plots to help Disney keep control of the governing district inside Walt Disney World.

What happened?

Back in 2022, Disney employees urged then CEO Bob Chapek to call out Florida for their pending Parental Rights in Education Bill, nicknamed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Chapek reportedly called it out against the recommendation of Disney Board Chairman Susan Arnold.

This kicked off a feud with the Florida governor that led to the dissolution of Disney’s special district, the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Disney had owned the Reedy Creek Improvement Districts since the 1960s, when they agreed to come to Florida. It essentially allowed them to do whatever they wanted as a city. The governing board (Reedy Creek) was long known to be run by Disney, even though the members were elected.

As we have previously reported, Disney scrambled and tried to make special restrictive covenants with the Reedy Creek Improvement District Board to allow them to continue running everything, even if DeSantis changed the board.

The Business Insider previously reported in 2023.

“And in setting the expiration terms of the agreement, Disney invoked an obscure property law known as Rule Against Perpetuities, setting the date for “twenty one (21) years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles IIII, King of England living as of the date of this Declaration.”

“This essentially makes Disney the government,” Ron Peri, a member of the board, said during a meeting on Wednesday. “This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure.”

What do the depositions say?

The depositions focus on three people: Disney World Chief Counsel John McGowan, Disney Master Planning executive Todd Rimmer, and former Reedy Creek District Administrator John Classe.

(Remember McGowan because he will come up in an old email later.)

Throughout the deposition, the men made it clear that Disney had concerns that DeSantis would retaliate over the “don’t say gay” debacle and make it harder for them to do what they wanted.

McGowan said,

“Everybody understood that we were on the cusp of Reedy Creek being overtaken by a board that we assumed, turns out correctly, was going to be a hostile board.

Everybody understood that it was in the best interest of Disney, Reedy Creek, the legacy of Reedy Creek, everything that Reedy Creek has accomplished as a special district promoting tourism in the district, that it would be in the best interest to protect the ability for tourism to continue to be expanded in the way it’s always intended to be expanded.”

Disney devised a plan to keep their rights before the board could be dismissed.

McGowan further admitted that the Reedy Creek attorney Ed Milgrim was on board with the plan to block out DeSantis’s board when asked about Milgrim’s position on the matter. Remember, Disney was to be controlled by Reedy Creek, yet the governing board’s attorney was doing what Disney’s attorney said.

Deposition attorney Nicole Moss asked McGowan,

“What do you recall Mr. Milgrim saying to you?”

McGowan testified,

“That he agreed that that was the right thing to do,”

He further testified that they had a deadline of getting the plan through before the new board came in. 

“There absolutely was a deadline….The appointment of the new board” 

McGowan further stated that the obligation was to,

“The obligation to protect Disney and Reedy Creek from a hostile board.”

To do so, McGowan drafted the document, then refused to put his name on it because it would look bad.

“My recollection is that putting my name on the document would … raise the (attention) of the next board and that they would use it as a false narrative that it was something shoved down the district’s throat.” 

This is relevant because emails were leaked that seemingly proves this to be true.

In the email, McGowan (Walt Disney World Chief Counsel) tells Edward Milgrim (Reedy Creek’s attorney) that having his name on the document could be an issue.

Another point was that Milgrim wanted an agenda and talking points to present this plan to the Reedy Creek board.

McGowan wrote the talking points for Reedy Creek District Administrator John Glasse, giving as little information as possible. He said that they deliberately gave them a “less in more” overview that did not present all the information about what they were voting on.

“It’s a complicated transaction. It would really muck up the discussion to have that kind of detail at this point in the board meeting. That was my take on it.”

Disney needed to retain control, and that was the purpose of the midnight hour covenant.

Todd Rimmer, Master Planner Executive, explained why Disney wanted to retain control.

“I understood that it would be beneficial to provide certainty to the company. The uncertainty of what a new board might choose to do with land development regulations and the comprehensive plan gave the company uncertainty in whether they could proceed with development in a timely fashion, and so a development agreement would lock in those development options.”

Florida Politics points out that this deal allowed Disney to sell land at fair market value to the governing board for them to build the infrastructure Disney needed to expand. Meaning they would have to pay Disney and pay for Disney’s infrastructure instead of seizing it to build the necessary infrastructure.  It also gave Disney control over what their buildings looked like.

Essentially, it allowed Disney to do what they wanted, but required the new district to pay for all the infrastructure they would need for expansions and upkeep.

Basically, everything that came out about the underhanded nature of this deal proved to be mostly true.

What a mess that turned out to be.