Disney World Board of Supervisors, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District: The Walt Disney World Controversy

There is a lake in Florida. Board members picked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee the governance of Walt Disney World said Wednesday that their Disney-controlled predecessors pulled a fast one on them by passing restrictive covenants that strip the new board of many of its powers.

The current supervisors of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District said at a meeting that their predecessors last month signed a development agreement with the company that gave Disney maximum developmental power over the theme park resort’s 27,000 acres in central Florida.

Disney is at odds with the governor of Florida over a law that prohibits the education of sexual orientation and gender identity through third grade and only in an age appropriate manner in older grades. In March of last year, as outrage against the legislation spread nationwide, Disney released a statement vowing to help get the law repealed or struck down by the courts.

The controversy is central to DeSantis’ political narrative of a leader who is unafraid to battle corporate giants, even one as iconic and vital to Florida as Disney. It’s a saga that he often shares at events across the country and is featured prominently in his new book as he lays the groundwork for a national campaign.

Disney had held control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District for 55 years before the new supervisors took over. The new board members held their first meeting earlier this month and said they found out about the agreement after their appointments.

“We’re going to have to deal with it and correct it,” board member Brian Aungst said Wednesday. It is a subversion of the will of the voters and the Legislature. It completely negates the power of this board to govern.

The company said that all agreements signed between Disney and the district were approved in public and that they were in line with the law in the state of Florida. Documents for the February 8 meeting show it was noticed in the Orlando Sentinel as required by law.

Five years ago, Disney became the first employer in central Florida to commit to a minimum wage of fifteen dollars per hour.

Disney costumed performers, bus drivers, cooks, lifeguards, theatrical workers and hotel janitors are all covered by the agreement.

If it’s approved, the average hourly wage will go up between $5.50 and $8.60 by the end of the five-year contract.

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The new board was appointed by the governor and it is considering legal action over an agreement between the board and Disney before the state took over.

The lack of consideration, restriction of the Board’s ability to make legislative decisions and giving away public rights without compensation are some of the overreaching documents that warrant a new board’s actions and direction.

The board had political allies, including the wife of the new chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and a pastor who once said tap water could be making people gay.

At last month’s signing ceremony for the bill that gave him control of Reedy Creek’s board, DeSantis declared, “The corporate kingdom finally comes to an end.”

However, it may be a while before the new power structure has control, if Disney gets its way. One agreement signed by the outgoing board – which restricts the new board from using any of Disney’s “fanciful characters” – is valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England,” according to a copy of the deal included in the February 8 meeting packet.

The stealth move by Disney prompted allies of DeSantis’ chief political rival, former President Donald Trump, to suggest the governor had been out-maneuvered.

“President Trump wrote ‘Art of the Deal’ and brokered Middle East peace,” said Taylor Budowich, spokesman for the Trump-aligned Make America Great Again PAC. Ron was out- negotiated by Mickey Mouse.