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

[GoofGoof]

Disney is the largest taxpayer in Florida. Also the biggest tourism generator. We live in the area & provide engineering services for new construction at WDW & can say absolutely they work at a higher standard than 99% of other industries here. Disney is a great neighbor & community partner, they support schools, the arts, environment. Everything they build exceeds state codes & is reviewed internally at least 3 times. They rarely make mistakes. This takes extra manpower/hours, but they pay their way. They're not taking from local taxpayers, quite the contrary. They made Central Florida what it is, even if their visitors are terrible drivers.
This fight stems from us having a bitter vindictive gov who has delusions he's king, & Disney dared disagree very publically w his petty bitter culture attacks, many based on falsehoods. Good for Disney. desantis has shown himself to be more than willing to hurt whoever he wants. This is not a good leadership quality. He won an easy race after barely winning his 1st run, but ppl are disgusted that he's let utilities & insurance ruin ppls lives &:he's coming for DocSec & Medicare. He's got skeletons, too, & will likely face some problems before '24.
Leave Disney alone ron. They're good for us.
BTW, The Villages has the same arrangement w the state as Disney, will he come for them next?

Don’t forget that Disney’s $18/hr is 63% above the required FL minimum wage. Lots of other businesses in the area will also have to raise wages to compete which benefits many citizens working in those types of jobs.

 

[orky8]

With the State's most valuable corporation. It's actually insane.

Disney is very much a CA company and it's not like Disney can just up and leave Florida. Most companies could relocate. Disney can pull back on Lake Nona, but they are kinda stuck - Disney World is not going somewhere else. And as we all know too well, it's not like they've been investing heavily in Florida the past 10 years anyway, unless you're talking about time shares.

 

[GoofGoof]

So basically, you won't read the contents of a linked legal and court documents that conflict with what you want to believe? I know, reading is hard sometimes.

Sometimes it’s even banned

 

[csmat99]

Maybe Disney should stay out of politics? It probably shouldn’t amaze me how ignorant so many of you are here.

The bottom line doesn’t lie and Disney is butt hurt right now. Universal can give them a pep talk.

Happy Easter !

Disney bottom line has nothing to do with WDW. WDW is actually cash cow. the issue was Disney +, covid shutting down movie income and overall inflation and economy in general. And all corporations are involved in politics since corporations started. They donate to politicians, they hire lobbyist for their causes and in this case they had every right to come out against a law that effects their employees in that state.

 

[MotherSquid]

I disagree. I dont think Disney is "butt hurt" today at all.

People on YouTube keep saying that Disney is in a "panic" right now. No...they are not. They are not worried, not scared, not concerned at all. Disney will remodel itself and adjust it's structure but it will 100% continue it's march forward. It's message will not be changed and it will not waiver on its goals. Disney does not "really" fear it's box office sales either. It's all about getting the message out and Disney calculates the acceptance and "cost" of their message delivery PERFRCTLY. Box office success and failure are calculated into their model....well in advance.

Disney is not affraid. They are literally fearless.

Disney 1st qtr 2023 earnings $23.1Bil, up $8Bil from 2020. They're laying off 7k ppl, 3% of staff but most big companies are laying off more. Facebook, YankeeCandle layoffs 15%. The DumpDisney movement online has 30k signers, 0.0004% of US. The DW haters are largely RW fringe extremists that suddenly see sex in movies they've enjoyed for years because desantis told them it's there. It's the Talibangecals getting their minority fearful & angry, to keep them popping off online. They won't beat Disney.
FTR, I'm 30 mins from Disney & haven't been there in 20 years. I'm not a Disneyphile, but know what's fair, like the deal Florida made to get them here, & have Disney stock that's doing very well long run. The Mouse will prevail & desantis will show himself as a bitter bully. His skin is VERY thin & Disney isn't afraid of his blustering.

 

[Riviera Rita]

Without Disney coming to Central Florida the region would still have cows and oranges as their major economic resource. I may be wrong, but taking the kids to see cattle grazing and oranges growing isn't at the top of people's vacation bucket lists.
Those who agreed to Disney creating the RCID had more sense in their big toes than Ronnie can ever hope to have, they knew the positive economic impact on the entire region allowing Disney to have autonomy over a small improvement district would have.

 

[Riviera Rita]

Disney bottom line has nothing to do with WDW. WDW is actually cash cow. the issue was Disney +, covid shutting down movie income and overall inflation and economy in general. And all corporations are involved in politics since corporations started. They donate to politicians, they hire lobbyist for their causes and in this case they had every right to come out against a law that effects their employees in that state.

Disney donated to GOP candidates and now it's unlikely they will again.

 

[mikejs78]

Maybe Disney should stay out of politics? It probably shouldn’t amaze me how ignorant so many of you are here.

That's a very unamerican sentiment...

Can all the people that say: "DeSantis this" or "DeSantis that".....just replace that name with "59.4% of Florida voters"

Love him or hate him....both are fine. He is literally a represntative of almost 60% of the voting citizens of Florida. He is doing what his voters put him in office to do.

Its NOT "Disney vs DeSantis"....it's really "Disney vs 60% of Florida voters"

Getting 60% of the vote doesn't entitle someone to ignore the FL and US constitutions.

You’re telling me that Iger doesn’t use Walt Disney’s name to his advantage, which, really…can be an abuse of power?

Nope. It's not. Iger abusing power would be if he did something wrong or illegal regarding people who worked for him. Government abuse of power is misusing or overstepping the powers of government, both of which happened here.

 

[LAKid53]

Don’t forget that Disney’s $18/hr is 63% above the required FL minimum wage. Lots of other businesses in the area will also have to raise wages to compete which benefits many citizens working in those types of jobs.

Which won't reach $15/hour until September 2026. It currently stands at $11/hour.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Whether Disney should or shouldn't "stay out of politics" is up to Disney, its board, its shareholders and your vote as a customer is your wallet. That's how America works and has always worked.

 

[GrumpyFan]

Whether Disney should or shouldn't "stay out of politics" is up to Disney, its board, its shareholders and your vote as a customer is your wallet. That's how America works and has always worked.

BRAVO!
If I may just add to this, ”It is their right as is everyone else’s as guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution”.

 

[LAKid53]

Whether Disney should or shouldn't "stay out of politics" is up to Disney, its board, its shareholders and your vote as a customer is your wallet. That's how America works and has always worked.

For those stating "Disney should stay out of politics", please include in your statement FPL, Big Sugar, Comcast, Publix, Amazon and every other major corporation with a presence in the state that sends hundreds of lobbyists to Tallahassee during this time of the year. To influence (actually write) legislators on legislation beneficial to their clients.

 

[Tha Realest]

Disney 1st qtr 2023 earnings $23.1Bil, up $8Bil from 2020. They're laying off 7k ppl, 3% of staff but most big companies are laying off more. Facebook, YankeeCandle layoffs 15%. The DumpDisney movement online has 30k signers, 0.0004% of US. The DW haters are largely RW fringe extremists that suddenly see sex in movies they've enjoyed for years because desantis told them it's there. It's the Talibangecals getting their minority fearful & angry, to keep them popping off online. They won't beat Disney.
FTR, I'm 30 mins from Disney & haven't been there in 20 years. I'm not a Disneyphile, but know what's fair, like the deal Florida made to get them here, & have Disney stock that's doing very well long run. The Mouse will prevail & desantis will show himself as a bitter bully. His skin is VERY thin & Disney isn't afraid of his blustering.

Welcome to the boards! Might want to check out the TOS

 

[Kamikaze]

You’re telling me that Iger doesn’t use Walt Disney’s name to his advantage, which, really…can be an abuse of power?

Iger isn't an elected official...

 

[Disney Glimpses]

For those stating "Disney should stay out of politics", please include in your statement FPL, Big Sugar, Comcast, Publix, Amazon and every other major corporation with a presence in the state that sends hundreds of lobbyists to Tallahassee during this time of the year. To influence (actually write) legislators on legislation beneficial to their clients.

You raise a good point. There are a lot of Florida businesses that signed the letter against HB 1557 yet he's only attacking Disney.

 

[afterabme]

For those stating "Disney should stay out of politics", please include in your statement FPL, Big Sugar, Comcast, Publix, Amazon and every other major corporation with a presence in the state that sends hundreds of lobbyists to Tallahassee during this time of the year. To influence (actually write) legislators on legislation beneficial to their clients.

This is 100% correct. There is not one major company in Florida that does not use lobbyists. Even MLB has been lobbying for legislation that would classify minor-leaguers as exempt from Florida's wage laws.

 

[castlecake2.0]

Can all the people that say: "DeSantis this" or "DeSantis that".....just replace that name with "59.4% of Florida voters"

Love him or hate him....both are fine. He is literally a represntative of almost 60% of the voting citizens of Florida. He is doing what his voters put him in office to do.

Its NOT "Disney vs DeSantis"....it's really "Disney vs 60% of Florida voters"

Sorry where was that referendum on the ballot?

 

[Chi84]

Troll? Maybe you should look at my Bio. You just ruined your credibility…

Why should we waste our time looking up the bio of someone trolling the thread? I don't care if shows you're Bob Iger, it wouldn't change the quality of your posts here. If you don't want to have discussions with anonymous people, maybe stay away from the internet.

 

[GoofGoof]

You raise a good point. There are a lot of Florida businesses that signed the letter against HB 1557 yet he's only attacking Disney.

An inconvenient truth.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Can all the people that say: "DeSantis this" or "DeSantis that".....just replace that name with "59.4% of Florida voters"

Love him or hate him....both are fine. He is literally a represntative of almost 60% of the voting citizens of Florida. He is doing what his voters put him in office to do.

Its NOT "Disney vs DeSantis"....it's really "Disney vs 60% of Florida voters"

I don't see it that way.
60% of Florida voters did not pick a fight with TWDC.
60% of Florida voters did not dissolve RCID.