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

[lazyboy97o]

The day to day running of RCID is boring though, without the Gov standing in front of a RCiD fire station in front of cameras there’s very few people (outside this forum) who will pay much attention to what the new board actually does.

Maybe it’s just the eternal optimist in me but I still think this will amount to campaign fodder and not much will actually change. The fact the improvement district still exists, compared to the original bill dissolving it, leads me to hope it will.

This kind of ignores the new work required of the new board. They must undertake a complete regulatory review regarding issues with which they have no knowledge.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I can understand that point, to an extent. But as a Californian, I often marvel at how unregulated the WDW property was and continues to be from the state level.

There was still state and county oversight of WDW and RCID.

In fact, WDW/RCID regulations went beyond what the state required. Because WDW built up their parks before the state got their act together, the state followed WDW's regulations and standards.

This means that WDW was already superseding state regulations. So, the state taking over isn't going to suddenly mean WDW is going to run a tighter ship.

So.. there was no need for the state to 'take over' and provide 'appropriate oversight.' The state's oversight is more lax than what WDW was already following.

But WDW will continue to exist and operate, with much less government regulation and oversight than Disneyland has 3,000 miles to the west.

Here's the difference between the CA oversight and the FL oversight:

CA -- oversight is very stringent with high expectations

FL -- under the new RCID... oversight is a lot less stringent than CA, but more stringent than FL.

It's not about more inspections and paperwork.

 

[mkt]

I got a discount when I bought my GM car. That doesn't make me a GM employee. Companies contract out perks all the time.

This isn't close to GM discount in terms of a benefit. They get the same main entrance pass that CM's get, as if they were CM's themselves. Hell, their ID badges and nametags are made at the same location as Disney CM's, they use the CM credit union, and they share purchasing power for fleet purchases.

RCID isn't Disney, but it is Disney. Undoing it in the manner that Florida just did is like severing a limb with a machete and a bottle of bourbon.

 

[mmascari]

But the point is that WDW will continue on without the RCID.

The RCID is dead, like it or not

Perhaps you have not kept up. But, RCID isn't going anywhere. It is NOT being dissolved or eliminated in any way at all.

Unless you're viewing the name change as it going away. In which case, I hate to deliver the bad news, but changing a name doesn't make something no longer exist. Object permanence is an early concept.

The government in control of RCID is changing from one elected by the governed to one appointed by the governor.

A very different thing than eliminating the district. It's more closely related to say, replacing the mayor of Miami with a governor appointee instead of an elected official.

 

[flynnibus]

I can understand that point, to an extent. But as a Californian, I often marvel at how unregulated the WDW property was and continues to be from the state level.

You marvel at it because it's NOT TRUE. WDW is not some autonomous state - it's still regulated by the county and state. Just some local concepts that usually were defined at the city and county level have been managed by the district.

Your whole tangent about attraction regulation has nothing to do with RCID in the past - but everything to do with how states regulate amusements.. which is a topic across all 50 states. You (should) know that California is a standout when it comes to how they regulate amusements.

But don't you worry, in the new district charter they have catch-all phrases to add amusement regulation too if the gov appointees want. The difference is in California the regulations apply to all operators - not just a single one like they would here.

 

[mightynine]

Florida doesn't even come close to this level of state oversight at their WDW parks. Not even close.

I stand corrected.

 

[cranbiz]

The new board is about to find out that RCID's fire and building codes are more stringent than the state of Florida's. In fact, the EPCOT building code is what the new FL building code is modeled after.

 

[mkt]

The new board is about to find out that RCID's fire and building codes are more stringent than the state of Florida's. In fact, the EPCOT building code is what the new FL building code is modeled after.

They're not even qualified to read and understand building codes.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Do they not have town charters creating them within the state of FL as incorporated land? Or, whatever a village has.

What about that legal definition makes them "not real"? How would someone looking at the documents that establish Miami as a governing entity in FL distinguish that it is a real city while Bay Lake is not?


I got a discount when I bought my GM car. That doesn't make me a GM employee. Companies contract out perks all the time.

It's fine to argue my points, I lived it, I knew the reality of RCID.

RCID was only technically separate from WDW. In reality RCID was part of WDW.

This argument is moot now anyway. The party is over.

 

[flynnibus]

Undoing it in the manner that Florida just did is like severing a limb with a machete and a bottle of bourbon.

At least I scored this bottle in today's drop to help with the pain...

 

[lazyboy97o]

We know the 2 villages, Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista were/are not real towns/villages/cities.

Florida doesn’t have villages. It has cities and Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista are legal municipalities no different than any other city in Florida.

 

[mmascari]

they use the CM credit union

I use the Navy Federal Credit Union, yet I am not and have never been in the Navy.

Just because they contracted and shared those different services does not make them the same entity.

Undoing it in the manner that Florida just did is like severing a limb with a machete and a bottle of bourbon.

This is definitely true. It's a trusted partner that's been subjected to a hostile takeover.

 

[lazyboy97o]

This is the sad thing, I think we all agree the original purpose of RCiD changed, I think we’d all even agree the state had the right to change it given the purpose changed and it “could” be abused… but it wasn’t abused and it benefited everyone.

It’s a solution to a problem that never existed.

Except the purpose didn’t change. Read the enabling legislation. Read the state Supreme Court decision. There’s nothing there about EPCOT. It’s all about tourism development.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Disney has not abdicated its First Amendment rights.

If the new board goes off the rails, Disney can still fight back on these grounds.

It becomes monumentally harder when it’s over something like water management or building safety that the district has wide authority to control.

 

[GimpYancIent]

It's fine to argue my points, I lived it, I knew the reality of RCID.

RCID was only technically separate from WDW. In reality RCID was part of WDW.

This argument is moot now anyway. The party is over.

Exactly! The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District or CFTOD for short is here and the term RCID is obsolete. Time to work with the reality.

 

[GoofGoof]

Legoland Florida did a nice job with the solar farm creating shade for the preferred parking area and not destroying any forests or green space like Disney's did for theirs (and no CDD needed). I heard it was a little more expensive to do it that way to cover the parking lots. It will be interesting to see if the new board pushes for projects that might be a little more expensive but actually be more beneficial overall to the environment, traffic flows through the district, etc. I'm pretty much expecting no noticeable change at all.

Based on the backgrounds of the new board members I don’t think “better for the environment“ will rank anywhere near the top of their list of priorities. I also don’t think they could force Disney to add solar to their parking lots if Disney didn’t want to. As far as traffic flow I’m not sure there will be much of an impact. I can’t see any reason the new board would oppose trafic improvements unless turning lanes or overpasses get lumped in as “woke” in the future.

On the solar over parking, it’s more than a little more expensive. Cost is the main obstacle. To build over a parking lot you need substantially larger supports that are higher off the ground and also strong enough to ensure nothing falls on people or cars below and are typically made of steel. Solar panels in a field use far less expensive supports. Disney has the blessing (and curse) of owning thousands of acres of land they cannot develop but some can be used for solar panels. If you don’t have the land and you still want solar rooftop or over parking may be the only option. That being said it’s possible for Disney to recover the extra cost by charging a premium for shaded parking so not sure why it hasn’t happened yet.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

This kind of ignores the new work required of the new board. They must undertake a complete regulatory review regarding issues with which they have no knowledge.

They're not even qualified to read and understand building codes.

Genuine question… was the previous board qualified?

I always got the impression RcID was just an extension of Disney, comprised of 5 people Disney hand picked to rent some mobile homes on Disney property and then appointed to the board.

Were they highly trained infrastructure specialists or just random people that would look at the plans the Disney lawyers and engineers handed them and be a rubber stamp?

 

[mkt]

Florida doesn’t have villages. It has cities and Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista are legal municipalities no different than any other city in Florida.

I present to you the Village of Key Biscayne, FL.

Village of Key Biscayne, FL

keybiscayne.fl.gov

 

[mmascari]

RCID was only technically separate from WDW. In reality RCID was part of WDW.

Those technicalities matter. They're not just some hand waiving. They're contract and legal structures that the entire structure functions under and according to. If Disney had screwed up under those technical matters and sold off a bunch of land kept within the district boundaries for housing, that would have create an entire new voting block. The details matter.

This argument is moot now anyway. The party is over.

Nothing went away. Only control. Possibly a worse outcome than the district being eliminated.

It's exactly the same as if the governor replaced the mayor of Miami with an appointee.

 

[mkt]

Genuine question… was the previous board qualified?

I always got the impression RcID was just an extension of Disney, comprised of 5 people Disney hand picked to rent some mobile homes on Disney property and then appointed to the board.

Were they highly trained infrastructure specialists or just random people that would look at the plans the Disney lawyers and engineers handed them and be a rubber stamp?

The 5 people were usually executives or higher management, so they at least had some experience in operating a tourist destination, or at least as a competent administrator.