GoofGoof
Premium Member
I don’t think Disney felt RCID wasn’t worth saving. I think if given a choice they would have kept it as is and moved on. They were not given a choice. When they determined it was likely they were going to lose the district (remember the original plan was to dissolve the district and move control to the counties) I’m sure they began planning for this. The original plan may have even been to sign a similar development agreement with RCID and then when the district was dissolved and control went to the counties the contract would be assigned to the counties.This is pretty close to what I have been saying all along: RCID wasn't worth saving. Disney could have fought to retain control, but the messaging would have been hard to control and painted them in a negative light. It wasn't worth it to Disney.
The development agreement was smart because it is a far more defensible position for Disney to take. Now they are arguing that they should be free to do what they want on their own land, rather than arguing that they should control their own government.
The point is that the main thing Disney was concerned with was having control of developing their own property as they saw fit to continue to provide entertainment to guests. It’s all political buzz words when people claimed Disney wanted a quasi-government or a tax break or some unfair competitive advantage. RCID was never any of that. Disney could care less about running a municipality they just wanted control of their future development which they mostly have now with the contract.
The bigger question people should ask is why is DeSantis so desperate to void that contract? If the whole reason to seize control of the district was to stop Disney from controlling their own government that mission was accomplished with the development agreement in place. Done deal. Both sides get mostly what they claim they want. The truth as we all know it is the move had next to nothing to do with stripping Disney of controlling their government. He wants to control Disney. He wants to dictate what their content is. He wants to punish them for speaking out and for being inclusive.