The drama between Disney and DeSantis is far from over.
After the entirely governor-appointed board discovered that Disney and the previous Reedy Creek leaders entered into an agreement that stripped the board of its powers, they threatened legal action. Then, DeSantis ordered an investigation into the agreement, and now he’s escalating his threats even more.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District (now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District) is under attack once again. Governor DeSantis recently penned a letter indicating that “immediately before the enactment of House Bill 9-B, the RCID Board of Supervisors attempted to enter into last-minute development and restrictive covenant agreements” with Disney “designed to usurp the authority of the CFTOD Board.”
He insists that an initial view of counsel indicates that the “RCID board’s actions appear to suffer from serious legal infirmities, including, among other things, inadequate notice, lack of consideration, improper delegation of authority, and ethical violations, such as conflicts of interest and self-dealing.”
Because of this, he has ordered the Chief Inspector General to investigate any possible “legal or ethical violations” by the previous board.
And now, DeSantis has taken things a step further by threatening Disney World by looking into its hotel taxes and potentially imposing tolls on roads that lead into the property.
According to Politico, DeSantis spoke at an event on April 6th at Hillsdale College, a conservative liberal arts college in Michigan, and indicated that more immediate actions were on the way.
“They are not superior to the people of Florida,” DeSantis said during the event. “So come hell or high water we’re going to make sure that policy of Florida carries the day. And so they can keep trying to do things. But ultimately we’re going to win on every single issue involving Disney I can tell you that.”
DeSantis claims that Disney “tried to pull a fast one on the way out the door,” despite the fact that the prior board’s actions were discussed in public forums and published in accordance with the Florida Sunshine Law.
If you visit the District’s Board of Supervisors website, you can see agendas and minutes from the previous Board’s meetings. In the agenda for the February 8th meeting (which is where the agreement at issue was signed), there are documents showing that the meeting was noticed in the Orlando Sentinel.
“That story’s not over yet. Buckle up. There’s more coming down the pike,” DeSantis added.
He could be referring to comments he made about the new board he appointed potentially developing property it owns that is adjacent to Disney property. He also claimed that the Florida Legislature “was prepared to void the development agreement that had been approved by the outgoing board.”
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) has hired multiple law firms to go after Disney and this agreement, including Cooper & Kirk, which includes attorney Adam Laxalt, who was DeSantis’ roommate when he was training at the Naval Justice School in 2005.
Whether DeSantis’ threats will come to fruition or if he’s just trying to rile up his fanbase ahead of a potential presidential bid, we’ll have to wait and see. We’ll be keeping an eye on the drama between Disney and DeSantis, so stay tuned to AllEars for more.
Learn More About the Investigation into Reedy Creek Here
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He got married at a Disney World btw.
Taking on Disney as a threat to the people of Florida. It’s so sad and absurd.
What a vindictive moron. Total dictator and a Trump 2.0
As he should….
Please remember Governor DeSantis that Disney World is one of your largest employer and the biggest tourist attraction in Florida. Please also remember you do not have a state tax, maybe that’s something to think about before arguing with Disney.
Does desantis not realize that tolls and taxes will only come back to haunt him? If people decide it’s too expensive to get to the parks and stop going, layoffs and job terminations are the next step. Maybe Disney should just begin to look for new locations outside of Florida to relocate the parks. Maybe right outside of Atlanta to make the parks accessible to airports.
As a Florida resident, I see this as a complete wasteof time, driven by ego and power. All this time should be spent on issues like insurance and affordable housing
Cannot wait til Disney puts all of its massive legal resources in play to snuff out Desantis’ kindergarten-like temper tantrum…what a disgrace..
DeSantis is anti busness
He needs to keep his nose out of everyone business he think he is boss hog
Sad to think he is the laughing stock of Florida
DeSantis is having a tantrum because he got owned by a smarter opponent. Laws are not allowed to target a single company, and even if they could this would be a pretty clear violation of Disney’s First Amendment rights. Anything DeSantis does here will crumble over time in the courts, and Disney is playing the long game. Where’s my popcorn?
The best governor in the country!!
So what is to stop Disney from just shutting down operations and laying off thousands of workers. What impact would that have on the economy of florida?
Disney’s bottom line. The theme parks are keeping the company afloat and WDW is a large part of that. Disney can’t afford to shutter WDW.
I am glad Gov DeSsntis is making things right at Disney World. I think DW thought they could play a game or few with him. Well buckle up DW, the Governor isn’t playing your game anymore.
I love how he includes that the people of Florida are upset by what Disney has done, but I don’t know many true Floridians like myself that are upset with Disney. It’s quite the opposite actually. You want to hurt the people of Florida, and the tourists that the state thrives off of, because of your political agenda, not ours! He was absolutely fine with Disney until the spoke out against the stupid bills put in place that are supposedly to help guide the youth and shield them from the real world.
“inadequate notice, lack of consideration, improper delegation of authority, and ethical violations, such as conflicts of interest and self-dealing”
Gee I wonder if that could be described for anything DeSantis has done?
This is an absolute waste of Florida’s resources. Law makers need to check their egos and do what’s best for their constituents. This is very immature. Anyone who thinks this guy is fit to be our president… wow.
Desantis! Did you build Disney? Did you create the most wonderful place on earth? Stop trying to act like they owe you. Nobody owes you anything, not even an explanation.
Ron DeSantis for President! Then maybe we can finally get the egotistical fool out of Florida so we can just live our normal lives in peace. PLEASE!
DeSantis needs a reality check if it wasn’t for Disney a Florida would be mosquito infested swamp
DeSantis is out of steam here. He is out of his element. Maybe there should be an investigation about one of the attorney firms hired…a friend and prior roommate, paid for with public / government funds.
Dude crawl under a rock and hibernate. You need to step down and leave dusney alone.face the fact you are not liked and u are messing up Florida with ur stupidity…
For a political guy, he is petty. There’s other stuff wrong with this state.. but you focused on Disney..what happened…they had no more Mouse Ears??..leave disney alone
Aren’t his (DiSantis’s) threatened actions discriminatory?
This is exactly what I said! By raising taxes to only Disney hotels & toll roads only t Disney. The Disney lawyers will tear apart his discriminatory retaliation for using their first amendment right. He is a child throwing a tantrum put a binky in his mouth to quiet him down.
Governor had his feelings hurt because a mouse was smarter than him. The Governor’s dictator-like behaviors are becoming painfully obvious.
DeSantis is going to fall like a ton of bricks. Ever hear of the big fish in a small pond? That’s DeSantis. One he meanders out into all of America he’ll find that fascism and authoritarianism aren’t popular in a Democracy.
DeSantis is going to screw this up. If he keeps up the retaliation I would not be surprised if Disney just shut down Disney World.
Not sure though at this point which is worse. Disney for ruining the Disney World experience for everyone but the wealthiest or DeSantis for bullying and retaliating everyone who expresses an opinion he disagrees with.
The so called Free State of Florida is not free anymore.
Disney should close down and move. The climate is identical in southern GA, AL, MS, LA, and I am sure that every one of them would welcome Disney with open arms and willing taxpayers. Disney does not need a fly named DeSantis buzzing around its head, and it is only money that keeps Disney there. Eventually it just will not make financial sense to stay. The shareholders will demand a permanent solution. Florida needs Disney much more than Disney needs Florida.
isn’t this one thing that the governor said he would not do, place the burden of more money coming out of the pocket of floridans and visitors to florida? the decisions that disney makes and the decisions that the governor makes will impact the residents and the visitors in florida.
It’s such a relief to Florida taxpayers that their state government has the resources and time to fight this pointless, petty distraction instead of, you know, actually governing the state. If this is Desantis ‘ style, imagine how he would be if he won the presidency. He’d be too busy going after MSNBC and CNN to actually get anything done! No better than Trump…
So his solution it to make the guest suffer by having they pay more? He is such a man-child.
What’s with this guy, talking about somehow he is acting on the will of Floridians, he sure isn’t acting on my behalf. Fix the other problems in the state, why go after Disney.
Does the governor not have anything better to do? Putting toll roads will not discourage people from visiting they’ll just find other ways to get there.
Our poor childish Gov, have hurt feelings. now with his poor impulse control,he’s making a fool of himself again with this Disneymadness. Raise teachers pay, hands off all unions, expand medicade, govern for all floridians
Little Ronny is delusional if he thinks adding taxes will hurt Disney. That will be passed on to the millions of voters visiting. Disney should immediately post signage everywhere stating “You just paid X% more in taxes thanks to Ron. Remember this when you vote!” Maybe even have it denoted on all itemized bills as the Ronny Tax.