There’s an ongoing battle to control the land that’s home to Disney World, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis isn’t done making moves yet.
Cinderella Castle
The Reedy Creek Improvement District that governs the land including and around Disney World was recently renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. CFTOD was given a new board — filled with members appointed by DeSantis — and since that board has been meeting, we’ve heard regular updates about legal action that could be taken against Disney or new rules that could be imposed in the district to strip Disney of some of its powers. And now, there’s a new update.
According to the Orlando Business Journal, Governor DeSantis had some things to say about Disney in a press conference on April 17th. DeSantis announced some planned actions against the company, including filing legislation that would place Disney’s rides and attractions under inspection and oversight by the state’s Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.
Obtained via ClickOrlando Livestream
“They are not superior to the law enacted by the people of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “[Disney’s agreements are] not going to work. That’s not going to fly.” The legislation that DeSantis is drafting will apply to theme parks within a special district — and Disney World is the only major Central Florida theme park that is located in a special district. This means that other spots like SeaWorld and Universal Orlando will remain exempt from state inspection regulations.
“Building inspection, safety — all these other things that they were exempt from, when everybody else has to follow…if these are not good laws then everyone should be exempt, you shouldn’t just say one corporation should be exempt — so that’s already been done,” said DeSantis.
Universal Studios Florida
“We’re also working with the legislature, we expect the legislature to provide a legislative amendment, provision. You know, this monorail is exempt. They exempted the Monorail from any safety standards or inspections…so they’re gonna go and make sure that the monorail is subject to oversight just like everything else would be in the state of Florida,” DeSantis added during the press conference.
EPCOT
Currently, Florida law states that “permanent facilities that employ at least 1,000 full-time employees and that maintain full-time, in-house safety inspectors” are exempt from state inspections. With DeSantis’s new legislation, that rule would be nullified for Disney.
DeSantis noted, “Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services…they have oversight over amusement park safety generally speaking except Disney’s been carved out of that over the years. Well, now they’re back in the game, so they’re gonna make sure that that’s done.”
Animal Kingdom
We’ll keep a close watch and see what happens next. The CFTOD board is set to meet on April 19th, so there could be more news to come and more information revealed. Stay tuned to DFB for the latest.
Click Here to See What Else DeSantis Said About Disney During the Press Conference
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This is a perfect example of why Disney should stay out of politics. Going out of your way to support a far left agenda in a solid red state will not go over well with the politicians in your state, hence the problems they now face by trying to outsmart the people who run your state. It’s a NO win for any one. Disney needs to bend the knee and works things out with DeSantis.
Getting Disney out of politics will get the politicians out of Disney! Works for me.
Sad pathetic little man whose ego is so much bigger than his ability. He’s anti free speech if it disagrees with his antiquated logic.
Floridians and indeed ALL Americans must become aware that these attacks on Disney by the Baby Governor of Florida (in his LAST term), are a desperate attempt to become a fascist dictator in the USA.
But Mickey and Minnie will stop it.
DeSatan will fail. Mickey will win.
I’m totally ok with making sure ALLL rides are safe with regular inspections, which Disney does extremely well. However … wow, I’m stunned at how much money he is willing to burn to make a point. As a taxpayer, that makes absolutely makes me uncomfortable hearing a politician burn so much money for vengeance. Someone needs to sit him down, take two steps back and breathe. This bullying is going too far and should in no way impact constituents 😬
I repeat. Using common sense.
Getting Disney out of politics will get the politicians out of Disney!
What a petty, pissy toddler this guy is being. And he got married at Disney!! God help him if he ever shows his face at Disney again…the crowds will eat him alive…. I almost feel bad for his family if they ever wanted to go there.
I presume Lisa had no problem with Disney participating in politics when they made contributions to political campaigns (especially for those on the right) But once they exercise their right to free speech on a political matter – suddenly they should shut up.
Hippocrite!
I suppose Jimmy doesn’t understand staying out of politics means both parties. So I’ll explain it for him, don’t get involved with left or right politics. Disney should be about entertainment, not CNN or Fox news.
By the way Lisa is a independent.
This sad, sad little man obviously puts all of his thought capacity – and vengeance – into thinking up ways to harass Disney. No wonder his state has a failing school system and punative taxes.
His plan must surely be to get single-issue potential voters so jacked up on his “pro-family” smoke screen that nobody asks him his stance on REALLY important issues like the fiscal condition, national defense, employment, trade, infrastructure, and things that materially matter to the well-being of our nation.
When is Disney going to play the Supreme Court card to put Ronnie in his place? My guess is that they already have a battle plan drawn out that contains about a dozen levels of what-if.
I agree with Lisa. I live in Central Florida and she captured the essence of how many of us feel with her statements. Having said that, it’s time now for Governor DeSantis to assume the role of statesman and sit down with Mr. Iger and reach closure to this matter. Regardless of the initial public statements by Chapek that started this brouhaha, Disney’s assignment of Reedy Creek’s responsibilities back to itself, has enabled Disney to hold special privileges that no other theme park in Florida holds concerning land use and regulation. I do not think this is fair to Universal and others. Reedy Creek was originally designed to allow Disney to develop WDW quickly, with very little oversight, regulation and approval from the county governments where it resides. Reedy Creek’s original purpose has been satisfied, save for the municipal debt it incurred and the bonds it must repay. There are no winners in this now. Only losers if they keep dragging it out, tit for tat, back and forth.
I agree with Jimmy!
Agree 100% with Jimmy. And it’s not Disney’s position that’s extreme. The extreme position is trying to erase the presence and visibility of the LGBTQ community. In any case Desatan’s threats make no sense. If he’s that concerned with theme park ride safety then why single out ONLY one park with an excellent safety record and let the others continue to self regulate? I wish Disney would take this tyrant to court for discrimination because they exercised their right to free speech and for slander for the accusations of being groomers. So far every arrest for child assault possesing child porn, or grooming has been for someone on the right of the political spectrum.
Free speech doesn’t punish, or even change anything. It is an opinion that others may or may not share. Any person has the right to publicly state their lack of support for someone they don’t agree with. That alone does not force major change either way. Everyone can just go on about their business after the sides are heard.
Some individual politicians CAN change how laws “punish” specific entities who use Free Speech to state their opinions. Opinions alone can’t change things, positive or negative in anyone’s eyes. “Punishment laws” can and do for no legitimate reason in plenty of cases in Florida.
It’s not about “the will of the people of Florida” anymore. (Who didn’t have much say in the matter, it seems.) With his teasing of a presidential run, his voice now matters to everyone in the country. Since he can’t get a clue, I’ll give him one. You’re messages are roundly laughed at outside of the Gulf States.
If DeSantis is doing so poorly why are people flocking to the state to get out of blue states?
Friends, the original conflict here stems from Chapek’s very aggressive and challenging commentary on Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill. This bill never stated extinguish the existence of LGBTQ people. It said children 5, 6, 7 and 8 years old are too young to be taught sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. Some teachers in Florida were bringing extracurricular material for students and in some cases, bringing in 3rd party LGBTQ advocates to discuss these topics with little children. Florida said not any more. Chapek , and now Iger, say that is perfectly acceptable. I do not think the State of Florida is unreasonable or extreme in passing the Parental Rights in Education bill. Disney is within its rights to speak up, but they are defending a morally bankrupt position. It shocks me that Walt’s family oriented company would take this stand. Sometimes the news doesn’t cover the full story, hence me providing some background. I am ready for this situation to be resolved. My family are AP holders. We like Disney World. We like the Cruise Line. My daughters worked at WDW. We are long time DVC owners. We are loyal Disney guests. I am ready for it to be over. At one time I thought DeSantis had the moral high ground. Now he looks petty. Time to resolve it. Both sides look foolish the more it drags on. Both sides are accountable to their marketplace for the position they have taken; voters for DeSantis and Guests for Disney. Disney is already seeing impaired box office receipts for its latest creative releases containing gratuitous LGBTQ content. DeSantis is seeing big donors back away. Resolve it, gentlemen; like gentlemen, like Walt and Roy would have.
Hi Pris .
We didn’t find out about this crackpot’s true vindictive, childish, anti-First Amendment nature (One man’s opinion. Maybe I read him wrong. Wink, wink…) until we moved here three years ago. We left a Mid-Atlantic state to move to FL without regard to political map color. We were Republicans living near the D.C. Capitol beltway with dear friends all across the political, ethnic, religious, economic, occupational, and lifestyle spectrums – and our new friends here, three years later, look just the same.
I don’t imagine that the majority of people who have moved here during his tenure based it on political color palate, but on no state payroll taxes (Surprise! We just pay them here under different names.), weather, property values, property taxes, political unrest in their former countries, and maybe, just maybe, The Mouse. State leadership (or non-leadership) changes, and would be a pretty shaky reason to uproot and relocate.
I remind you all…Disney is not in politics. To be in politics you must be voted into a position of public political representation or service. Disney has not been voted into Florida government. If you are referring to Disney or anyone else commenting, endorsing or criticizing government and are opposed to that option, then perhaps you are unhappy with this country altogether and would prefer a more authoritarian style of leadership. A two (or more) party system may not be the type of balance you seek.