News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

[CircusPeanuts]

There isn't a reduction of staff in the budget where these contracts were accounted for.

This just looks like the District trying to take more things out of the hands of Disney and do it themselves. Remember, District owns the garages, but Disney was operating them before. Sounds like the new sherrif is taking the money spent out of the hands of Disney and putting it to other vendors... just like they were doing in other parts of the budget like getting off Disney's communications network.

WDW did not and has not ever operated the garages. They have always been operated by the district with subcontractors for security and facilities/cleaning work. Disney has the security screening operating in space leased from the District, but can not go outside of that space.

 

[flynnibus]

WDW did not and has not ever operated the garages. They have always been operated by the district with subcontractors for security and facilities/cleaning work.

So it's just chance that the contracts are up for renewal this fall at this same time?

 

[Isamar]

After some googling I think RCID did contract out the garage staffing. (I found a guy on LinkedIn that says he’s the parking manager for “contracted employees”.)

 

[lazyboy97o]

You saying that because you know it... or because you think so?

The new budget doesn't show a reduction of staff to be replaced by these contracts.

The district setup a whole new Department for this year 'Security & Emergency Management' where they are housing these expenses.. where they call out their plan for this 2.2 million in outside contracting expenses -

And they also call out in the same presentation the transfer of 2.3 million of outside contracting services from the Facilities Dept to the new Security & EM department. And in prior years the Facilities Group only had 15 operating staff (non-management) total.

Doesn't look like they were performing these same tasks with District employees, but instead had outside sourcing and the budget for that has been transfered to the new department.

I haven't gone back far enough, but I'd wager those outside services before probably were contracted to Disney.

I don’t know the specifics of their duties, but there are people in the garages who wear Reedy Creek Improvement District shirts and name badges. There’s usually one or two near the entry portals (escalators and elevators) down into Disney Springs.

 

[afterabme]

So with the new company coming in, does that increase or decrease the chances of valet parking returning to springs? Or is it a misnomer at this point?

 

[CircusPeanuts]

So it's just chance that the contracts are up for renewal this fall at this same time?

The subcontractors in the garage have changed a few times since opening - not sure of the lengths of contracts, etc.

 

[CircusPeanuts]

So with the new company coming in, does that increase or decrease the chances of valet parking returning to springs? Or is it a misnomer at this point?

Valet was always on WDW property at DS and operated by the 3rd party company that does it at the resorts. Valet going away had nothing to do with the RCID debacle.

 

[Stripes]

Look closer at the Q Reports and the performance of Florida Parks and get back to me.

It wasn’t very long ago that the Florida parks were also doing incredibly well. There’s been a slight decrease but still doing well over 20% more business than pre-Covid. Furthermore, tourism tax dollars across Central Florida are down, suggesting that the softening demand is certainly not attributable to Disney.

 

[tissandtully]

It wasn’t very long ago that the Florida parks were also doing incredibly well. There’s been a slight decrease but still doing well over 20% more business than pre-Covid. Furthermore, tourism tax dollars across Central Florida are down, suggesting that the softening demand is certainly not attributable to Disney.

stop ruining their narrative!

 

[Stripes]

It's desperation, knowing they're running out of levers to pull.

If they are running out of levers to pull that’d be a good thing. Every single lever should be pulled.

 

[Brian]

You saying that because you know it... or because you think so?

The new budget doesn't show a reduction of staff to be replaced by these contracts.

The district setup a whole new Department for this year 'Security & Emergency Management' where they are housing these expenses.. where they call out their plan for this 2.2 million in outside contracting expenses -

And they also call out in the same presentation the transfer of 2.3 million of outside contracting services from the Facilities Dept to the new Security & EM department. And in prior years the Facilities Group only had 15 operating staff (non-management) total.

Doesn't look like they were performing these same tasks with District employees, but instead had outside sourcing and the budget for that has been transfered to the new department.

I haven't gone back far enough, but I'd wager those outside services before probably were contracted to Disney.

It's certainly possible they were contractors. I based my statement on the fact that they have RCID badges and nametags.

 

[afterabme]

It wasn’t very long ago that the Florida parks were also doing incredibly well. There’s been a slight decrease but still doing well over 20% more business than pre-Covid. Furthermore, tourism tax dollars across Central Florida are down, suggesting that the softening demand is certainly not attributable to Disney.

Sales tax collection is down across multiple Florida counties. Including Pinellas, Hillsborough, Broward, Monroe, and Miami-Dade.

Some counties ar even taking a second look at their project funded with TDT, because of the decrease.

Florida is no longer the big destination for revenge tourism like it was in 21 or 22.

 

[Lilofan]

Sales tax collection is down across multiple Florida counties. Including Pinellas, Hillsborough, Broward, Monroe, and Miami-Dade.

Some counties ar even taking a second look at their project funded with TDT, because of the decrease.

Florida is no longer the big destination for revenge tourism like it was in 21 or 22.

Not good, FL sales tax help fund tourist locations, education and social services and other areas.

 

[monothingie]

It wasn’t very long ago that the Florida parks were also doing incredibly well. There’s been a slight decrease but still doing well over 20% more business than pre-Covid. Furthermore, tourism tax dollars across Central Florida are down, suggesting that the softening demand is certainly not attributable to Disney.

Through metrics reported in the media, we've heard that Spring 2023 was down 5-10% from Spring 2022 and Summer 2023 was down 20-25% from Summer 2022.

Other type destinations such as DCL and the other cruise lines out of Port Canaveral are experiencing record bookings. Port Canaveral has moved more people through it this year than ever before.

Even with the different economic conditions between 2023 and 2019 and the current inflation crisis, people are still spending on leisure travel, but the spending behavior is different. The difference now is that people are being more selective in their vacation planning. A major factor in this is perceived value. Amazingly DCL as expensive as it is compared to their competition is still seen as a value and experiencing unprecedented demand. Unfortunately it seems that WDW is not as desirable as a destination as it had been for the various reasons. This is directly attributable to Disney (WDW). This also affects USO and other surrounding attractions as well because out of state guests choosing not to visit WDW will be less likely to visit other Central Florida attractions on their own.

 

[Stripes]

Through metrics reported in the media, we've heard that Spring 2023 was down 5-10% from Spring 2022 and Summer 2023 was down 20-25% from Summer 2022.

Other type destinations such as DCL and the other cruise lines out of Port Canaveral are experiencing record bookings. Port Canaveral has moved more people through it this year than ever before.

Even with the different economic conditions between 2023 and 2019 and the current inflation crisis, people are still spending on leisure travel, but the spending behavior is different. The difference now is that people are being more selective in their vacation planning. A major factor in this is perceived value. Amazingly DCL as expensive as it is compared to their competition is still seen as a value and experiencing unprecedented demand. Unfortunately it seems that WDW is not as desirable as a destination as it had been for the various reasons. This is directly attributable to Disney (WDW). This also affects USO and other surrounding attractions as well because out of state guests choosing not to visit WDW will be less likely to visit other Central Florida attractions on their own.

Have you considered the possibility that DCL, just like the other cruise lines, are still in the midst of the “revenge travel” phase? Cruises returned far later than when WDW reopened.

Again, WDW is still well above pre-Covid levels.

 

[mikejs78]

Through metrics reported in the media, we've heard that Spring 2023 was down 5-10% from Spring 2022 and Summer 2023 was down 20-25% from Summer 2022.

Other type destinations such as DCL and the other cruise lines out of Port Canaveral are experiencing record bookings. Port Canaveral has moved more people through it this year than ever before.

Even with the different economic conditions between 2023 and 2019 and the current inflation crisis, people are still spending on leisure travel, but the spending behavior is different. The difference now is that people are being more selective in their vacation planning. A major factor in this is perceived value. Amazingly DCL as expensive as it is compared to their competition is still seen as a value and experiencing unprecedented demand. Unfortunately it seems that WDW is not as desirable as a destination as it had been for the various reasons. This is directly attributable to Disney (WDW). This also affects USO and other surrounding attractions as well because out of state guests choosing not to visit WDW will be less likely to visit other Central Florida attractions on their own.

These discussions really aren't relevant to this thread. Please don't derail the conversation here. There are plenty of other threads where WDW's softening demand can be discussed.

 

[monothingie]

Again, WDW is still well above pre-Covid levels.

That is factually not true…unless you are comparing 2022 to 2012.

“The 2022 TEA/AECOM Theme Index Report is out, and once again, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom tops the list as the world's most-visited theme park, attracting a reported 17.13 million visitors in 2022. That's a 35% increase over the previous year's attendance, though still down from 2019's 20.96 million.”

Similarly EPCOT, DAK, and DHS also recorded fewer visitors than in 2019.

 

[monothingie]

These discussions really aren't relevant to this thread. Please don't derail the conversation here. There are plenty of other threads where WDW's softening demand can be discussed.

Disney touted their economic importance as a PR move in hopes of gaining leverage in their dispute with the state and governor. It does not derail the conversation to point out that Disney’s own actions have been far more detrimental to the well being of the Florida Economy which Disney now suddenly seems to care about for their own self-serving purposes in this idiotic dispute they can’t seem to get themselves out of.

 

[Isamar]

The Court Minutes for Disney continuance motion are online now but they don’t really tell us anything new. (I don’t know how common ex parte discovery motions are, so I can’t say whether there’s any significance to her mention of them.)

 

[James Alucobond]

Disney touted their economic importance as a PR move in hopes of gaining leverage in their dispute with the state and governor. It does not derail the conversation to point out that Disney’s own actions have been far more detrimental to the well being of the Florida Economy which Disney now suddenly seems to care about for their own self-serving purposes in this idiotic dispute they can’t seem to get themselves out of.

This makes no sense. Up or down in terms of how well they're doing, they are still tremendously economically important to the state. The job of RCID/CFTOD is to support their ability to contribute to Florida's economy, not hinder it. Even if we suppose Disney is damaging their own business in some way, adding CFTOD woes on top of that only compounds the problem. What exactly are you suggesting they do here?