food IS a theme park
Disney’s battles regarding the Reedy Creek Improvement District (now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District) are far from over.
©Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board Livestream
Lately, we’ve seen the Board of Supervisors for the District criticized for their removal of Disney Annual Pass benefits, important changes proposed for the District, and a countersuit filed by Disney against the DeSantis-appointed District board. But now we’ve got more updates.
The DeSantis-appointed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) Board is not backing down from its fight against Disney, according to new details revealed at the recent meeting.
©Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board Livestream
The board is engaged in legal battles against The Walt Disney Company — they announced a lawsuit against Disney in May of this year, and Disney recently filed a countersuit against the board. These lawsuits don’t come cheap, as is evident in the Board’s budget plan for fiscal year 2024.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) held a board of supervisors meeting on August 23rd. During the meeting, members of the district met to express their comments and concerns regarding a long-held Reedy Creek District employee benefit that is set to be taken away under the new board.
Reedy Creek Improvement District
For context, Reedy Creek employees previously received free access to the Disney World parks as an added benefit for working in the district. The collective cost of these passes and peks was worth about $2.5 million, per the Central Florida Torusim Oversign District. In an effort to cut costs and create a 2024 budget for the district, the CFTOD met to discuss its reasoning for eliminating this benefit. Here’s what they had to say.
2023 has been the year of ups, downs, and lots of changes for Disney, and even Orlando.
Reedy Creek Improvement District
Earlier this year, the Reedy Creek Improvement District underwent a lengthy battle with Florida Governor Ron Desantis, which resulted in the District being restructured to become the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. The new District consisted of a Board of Supervisors hand-appointed by Governor Desantis himself.
UPDATE: According to WESH 2 News, Glen Gilzean resigned from his position on the Florida Commission on Ethics in favor of keeping his job as the District Administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly the Reedy Creek Improvement District).
There’s been a new development in the drama between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) board, and Disney.
Disney vs. DeSantis
The trio are already involved in a number of lawsuits, with Disney suing Gov. DeSantis (claiming the governor violated the company’s free speech rights) and the Board suing Disney because of agreements the company made with the previous Reedy Creek District board. The Board is now claiming that some perks Disney gave to previous Reedy Creek District employees are “unethical,” calling them a “scheme” that “raises significant questions regarding self-dealing.” [Read more…]
The battle between Disney and the Reedy Creek Improvement District (now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District) continues, and this latest development adds one more layer to the mix.
Reedy Creek Improvement District
Disney is already facing off with the District in two different lawsuits — one filed by Disney against members of the District Board of Supervisors and Governor Ron DeSantis in Federal Court, and another filed against Disney by the District Board in State Court. And now the State Court case has seen an important update.
UPDATE: According to WESH 2 News, Glen Gilzean resigned from his position on the Florida Commission on Ethics in favor of keeping his job as the District Administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly the Reedy Creek Improvement District).
Disney World went through some big changes this year.
Walt Disney World
Following a battle with Governor Ron Desantis, the Reedy Creek District was transformed into the current Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, whose Board of Supervisors has been appointed by Desantis himself. But now, one member of the oversight district might have to resign, according to a statement made by an ethics lawyer today.
The Walt Disney Company has been dragged into the political campaign sphere despite not actually being able to hold public office.
Disney vs. DeSantis
In early 2023, Disney filed a federal lawsuit against DeSantis and members of the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, arguing that Disney’s constitutional rights had been violated. The company has alleged DeSantis waged a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power” against it to punish it for speaking out. But now, DeSantis seems to have “moved on” from the conflict overnight.
The battle between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly Reedy Creek Improvement District), and Disney continues — and there have been some NEW developments.
Disney vs. DeSantis
Earlier in 2023, Disney filed a federal lawsuit against DeSantis and members of the board of the District arguing that there has been a violation of Disney’s federal rights. Basically, Disney has alleged that DeSantis has waged a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power” against Disney to punish them for their political views. We’ve seen a number of actions taken in the federal case over the last few months, but now there’s something NEW to tackle.
Disney is involved in a variety of lawsuits right now — on everything from Park Passes to the Reedy Creek Improvement District — but we’ve got a big update on one important one.
Reedy Creek Improvement District
A lawsuit was previously filed by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (the new name for the Reedy Creek Improvement District) against Disney in state court in Florida. This lawsuit claims that certain agreements Disney entered into with the old Board (which the new Board claims stripped them of their power) are null and void. The Board is suing to ask the Court to declare the old agreements invalid. Disney previously filed a motion to dismiss this lawsuit (essentially get it thrown out of court) for a variety of reasons and now we’ve got an update as to what will happen next.
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