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

[lazyboy97o]

New article from the Orlando Sentinel.

"State officials will not take over Space Mountain or other Disney World ride inspections soon, despite Gov. Ron DeSantis saying it would happen.

State lawmakers in the session that ended May 5 did not consider a bill for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to assume responsibility for Disney World’s ride inspections after DeSantis proposed doing that in mid-April amid his feud with the company over Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson appeared to support the idea at the time, but a spokesman for his office said this week that was not the case.

Brian Avery, an independent ride safety consultant, said Disney’s lawsuit against the governor and state filed the following week alleging political retaliation was a likely cause.

“I’m certain that the legal wrangling that is going on has possibly put some things in a full stop, or maybe a pause until they can regroup and maybe pick this up at a later date,” Avery said.

However, the state Department of Transportation will have the power to inspect Disney World’s monorail system, another measure DeSantis pushed for at the press conference on Disney property. DeSantis signed the monorail bill into law Thursday.

At the April 17 appearance, DeSantis said Disney has been “carved out” of amusement park safety regulations overseen by the agriculture department, but the department is “back in the game, so they’re going to make sure that that’s done.”

State law allows Florida’s theme parks with more than 1,000 full-time employees and their own inspectors to self-inspect their rides as long as they file an annual affidavit with the state asserting the attractions are in compliance with regulations. The major attractions regularly report ride-related guest injuries under a voluntary memorandum of understanding with the agriculture agency.

Speaking after DeSantis, Simpson said, “I stand here today in support of this legislation that will allow my department to conduct inspections when someone is seriously injured on an amusement ride. … We do that across the board for amusement rides everywhere, except large theme parks. Where a person is injured should not determine how the state responds.”

But Simpson’s office this week said his comments were not in support of DeSantis’ proposal to revoke Disney’s inspection exemption, but for a withdrawn amendment that would have allowed the department to inspect major theme parks’ rides after a complaint or reported accident.

Records show the amendment was filed April 14 and withdrawn prior to consideration on April 15, two days before the press conference.

“We have no legislative proposal or record that reflects your characterization of Gov. DeSantis’ position on inspections,” agency spokesman Aaron Keller said in an email.

The department will “continue to support transparency and ride safety on behalf of the millions of people that enjoy our amusement parks and rides throughout Florida,” he said.

DeSantis called for ride inspections at Disney alone, not including Universal, SeaWorld or other large Florida attractions.

Spokespeople for DeSantis and Disney World did not respond to requests for comment. The resort previously said it has been an industry leader in safety and was “instrumental” in developing the agreement that allows self-inspection and injury reporting."

Full article below.

DeSantis’ call for state to inspect Disney rides doesn’t fly

Florida lawmakers did not consider a bill for state inspectors to oversee Disney World’s ride inspections as Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed.

www.orlandosentinel.com

The article missed another possible reason for the lack of follow through, that CFTOD was given the authority to regulate ride safety.

 

[JohnD]

New article from the Orlando Sentinel.

"State officials will not take over Space Mountain or other Disney World ride inspections soon, despite Gov. Ron DeSantis saying it would happen.

State lawmakers in the session that ended May 5 did not consider a bill for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to assume responsibility for Disney World’s ride inspections after DeSantis proposed doing that in mid-April amid his feud with the company over Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson appeared to support the idea at the time, but a spokesman for his office said this week that was not the case.

Brian Avery, an independent ride safety consultant, said Disney’s lawsuit against the governor and state filed the following week alleging political retaliation was a likely cause.

“I’m certain that the legal wrangling that is going on has possibly put some things in a full stop, or maybe a pause until they can regroup and maybe pick this up at a later date,” Avery said.

However, the state Department of Transportation will have the power to inspect Disney World’s monorail system, another measure DeSantis pushed for at the press conference on Disney property. DeSantis signed the monorail bill into law Thursday.

At the April 17 appearance, DeSantis said Disney has been “carved out” of amusement park safety regulations overseen by the agriculture department, but the department is “back in the game, so they’re going to make sure that that’s done.”

State law allows Florida’s theme parks with more than 1,000 full-time employees and their own inspectors to self-inspect their rides as long as they file an annual affidavit with the state asserting the attractions are in compliance with regulations. The major attractions regularly report ride-related guest injuries under a voluntary memorandum of understanding with the agriculture agency.

Speaking after DeSantis, Simpson said, “I stand here today in support of this legislation that will allow my department to conduct inspections when someone is seriously injured on an amusement ride. … We do that across the board for amusement rides everywhere, except large theme parks. Where a person is injured should not determine how the state responds.”

But Simpson’s office this week said his comments were not in support of DeSantis’ proposal to revoke Disney’s inspection exemption, but for a withdrawn amendment that would have allowed the department to inspect major theme parks’ rides after a complaint or reported accident.

Records show the amendment was filed April 14 and withdrawn prior to consideration on April 15, two days before the press conference.

“We have no legislative proposal or record that reflects your characterization of Gov. DeSantis’ position on inspections,” agency spokesman Aaron Keller said in an email.

The department will “continue to support transparency and ride safety on behalf of the millions of people that enjoy our amusement parks and rides throughout Florida,” he said.

DeSantis called for ride inspections at Disney alone, not including Universal, SeaWorld or other large Florida attractions.

Spokespeople for DeSantis and Disney World did not respond to requests for comment. The resort previously said it has been an industry leader in safety and was “instrumental” in developing the agreement that allows self-inspection and injury reporting."

Full article below.

DeSantis’ call for state to inspect Disney rides doesn’t fly

Florida lawmakers did not consider a bill for state inspectors to oversee Disney World’s ride inspections as Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed.

www.orlandosentinel.com

Well, a bill about ride inspections did pass but it was about smaller amusement parks and came about after the tragic fall of a teen from a free fall ride in Downtown Orlando. It appears that, while an amendment specifically crafted for larger amusement parks (use your imagination) was tempting, Legislators resisted the urge.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Wording of the questions does play a HUGE role in how people perceive and answer the question.

Oh, that's just the tiny icing dot on the tippy top of the 20-layer cake. A close family member of mine- years ago - worked for a market research company. The company tried to be reputable, no sales ever, just product research. Most often, they gave volunteers a free sample, then did their best to assess how much the person liked the new product before it went to market.

For something like a cake mix or shampoo, that meant calling the person about a week after giving them the free sample. It always surprised me, but many people enjoyed volunteering. They were never paid for their time.

Myself though, I was involuntarily subjected to hearing hours upon hours of the same questions repeated over and over for weeks at a time. Like it or not, I learned a great deal though.

To get good market research, volunteers were asked - more or less- the same questions over and over in different formats. Multiple questions about the look of the mix would be interspersed with myriad questions about every aspect of the cake mix. The color questions (alone) went something like this:
What adjectives would you use to describe the color?
- of the mix before it was baked, after it was baked, while you were mixing it, when you ate the last slice. etc.
Rate the overall color of the mix on scale of 1-5
Do you agree with this description, "The cake mix makes me think of rich chocolate?"
And so on......


HOW the question is asked has a BIG impact on the response. Not only how the question is worded, but the TONE of voice used by the interviewer.

Time of day has an impact. Very surveys were often divided into two sessions: one had to be in the AM and the other in the PM.

Responses from one part of the survey were checked against others. Interviewees often gave mixed results. Sometimes said they liked everything about the mix, but still said they wouldn't buy it. Others did the opposite; they gave numerous critiques, but said they would to buy it.

People would often change their mind mid-survey. At the start of the questions, they might say the color was fine, but later confess it looked like dirt.

In short, I learned there are countless ways to skew market research (and polls).

 

[scottieRoss]

The site that shall not be named posted a story today about the new Digital Signage over World Drive. They also touched on the change from the Purple classic signage to the new Blue and Yellow signage. Made me do some deep thinking. And that can often lead to some scary thoughts. Once CFTOD realizes that they own the major roadways and the land surrounding these roads. I would think that they might realize that they also control the road signs.
Are we going to see an end to the pretty blue/yellow signs and see a switch to a different style. I do realize that they have to maintain comliance with the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices. But they do have the leeway to put their logo on an ugly sign.
And even more disturbing, can they change the signage:
Instead of Epcot and a pretty arrow, Can they change the signs to "Epcot (Not a city)" and an ugly arrow.
Or instead of 'Blizzard Beach' the road signs could say 'Blizzard Beach(If it is actually open)'
Oh the nightmares the CFTOD puts me through

 

[Prince-1]

But that may eliminate a majority of the population.

Maybe they mentioned it on the Real Housewives or the Kardashians?

 

[GoofGoof]

This is something I've been thinking about as well. We're all fairly interested in this fight, but we also regularly spend time on a Disney message board. The average American either hasn't heard about it, or doesn't care, because they don't really care about Disney and have bigger fish to fry, for example, economic concerns.

I agree that most people have no idea of the details of this case. I do think at a high level a lot of people have heard about the dispute but not all know enough to form an opinion or even care to. Based on some anecdotal conversations with some people who have no opinion on Disney good or bad and no real knowledge of this conflict outside of headlines, the one constant is the perception that it seems odd that the Governor of a state would attack the main driver of the state’s economy. That’s how the headlines come across and it’s concerning to a lot of people. They don’t know or care about the 1st amendment case or the original bill that started this but it concerns them that if he does this to FL’s “top company” what happens if he’s running the whole country. He has a lot of damage repair to do if he wants voters to back him who rank the economy as the top issue.

 

[mkt]

No new filings overnight. But for fun (and because my bonus was a little better than expected), I paid two law professors that are friends of mine and actively practicing attorneys (as well as political opposites, one a fiscally-conservative-Reagan-republican and the other a Bernie/FDR-socdem-democrat) a single hour each at their rate to explain to me how it works with the two suits, which takes precedence, etc.



And this:

And the other counselor and law professor replied in a much more concise manner:

The reason Disney sued first in federal court is to make a case that it’s a federal question and to have the state case removed to federal court.

Disney wanted to pick the forum, so they attacked first. It's a brilliant strategy.

Federal courts/federal jurisdiction is one of the nitpickiest most complicated subjects in law.

The gist is that Disney wants the case to be seen in federal court and FL in state court. And if Florida’s if lawsuit isn’t removed then they’ll both be seen at the same time, unless a party asks for the state case to be stayed pending the federal case.

Florida however can claim the same in federal court. FL can say hey federal court there’s no fed jurisdiction here or in the alternative there’s issues of Florida law that a state court needs to resolve first before you see this case

 

[Tha Realest]

Yet we all the the ‘gift’ you mention is basically worthless to the recipient and is just a way to facilitate something….

Yet the new district administrator is being paid twice the amount of anyone in governments orders of magnitude bigger than the district. Highest paid orlando employees were paid $220k in 2019.

This guy is getting 400k for a district that should be on cruise control….

Talk about suspect interests….

Ever take a peek to see how much Classe was paid over this time?

 

[tissandtully]

Ever take a peek to see how much Classe was paid over this time?

Less than the new guy. And it was the district's decision not the government's clown district forcing it upon them.

 

[Bullseye1967]

Ever take a peek to see how much Classe was paid over this time?

He made 262K his first year in 2017. I believe it was 312K for 2022 and I'm sure he was worth every penny!

 

[GoofGoof]

He made 262K his first year in 2017. I believe it was 312K for 2022 and I'm sure he was worth every penny!

I have no idea what a good salary is for a district administrator so hard to say whether he was over or under paid. The bigger point is that the taxpayers of the district controlled who was on the board through an election process and the board decided who to hire and how much to pay them. So if the salary was too high or the person unqualified the taxpayers could and would change that. Flash forward to today and the taxpayers have zero say in who is hired, what they are paid and what their qualifications are. So while $400K may actually be an acceptable salary for someone with years of experience as a district administrator, the taxpayers of the district should have some say in who is hired. Instead the corrupt board hires someone with no experience who is a political ally of the Governor, a friend of the program. That’s one of the many problems with this whole thing.

“Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely.“

 

[tissandtully]

This article mentions DeSantis and Disney and it doesn’t look good for him

What GOP Voters Have Told Me Since Trump’s Indictment — The Atlantic

They’re open to an alternative to the former president, but his rivals can’t touch him.

apple.news

 

[GoofGoof]

This article mentions DeSantis and Disney and it doesn’t look good for him

What GOP Voters Have Told Me Since Trump’s Indictment — The Atlantic

They’re open to an alternative to the former president, but his rivals can’t touch him.

apple.news

Some relevant quotes from the attached:

Criticism of his culture-war crusade against Disney has come up as well. “Everything about that is why I’m not necessarily a big fan of him,” said Wesley, a Republican from Maryland. “I get the impression that he very much governs to the people on the internet more so than the people in his state.”


Colleen, a Republican from Georgia, called DeSantis’s war with Disney “a little goofy,” saying, “It’s Disney World! Leave it alone.” Informed about DeSantis’s suggestion to build a prison next to the theme park, Ruth—a Michigan Republican—exclaimed, “Why would you do that? That’s terrible.”

As others have pointed out here in the past, the majority of Americans probably have little actual knowledge of the details of the DeSantis vs Disney dispute, but if it’s presented the right way it’s easy to see how a rival could use it against him. The prison line was an attempt to play to the base and show strength but it’s easy to see how most Americans would not support that kind of a statement. It’s easy for DeSantis supporters to say it was just a joke, but most people aren’t following this as closely so when presented with the fact that he did say it the reaction is generally poor.

 

[tissandtully]

Some relevant quotes from the attached:

Criticism of his culture-war crusade against Disney has come up as well. “Everything about that is why I’m not necessarily a big fan of him,” said Wesley, a Republican from Maryland. “I get the impression that he very much governs to the people on the internet more so than the people in his state.”


Colleen, a Republican from Georgia, called DeSantis’s war with Disney “a little goofy,” saying, “It’s Disney World! Leave it alone.” Informed about DeSantis’s suggestion to build a prison next to the theme park, Ruth—a Michigan Republican—exclaimed, “Why would you do that? That’s terrible.”

As others have pointed out here in the past, the majority of Americans probably have little actual knowledge of the details of the DeSantis vs Disney dispute, but if it’s presented the right way it’s easy to see how a rival could use it against him. The prison line was an attempt to play to the base and show strength but it’s easy to see how most Americans would not support that kind of a statement. It’s easy for DeSantis supporters to say it was just a joke, but most people aren’t following this as closely so when presented with the fact that he did say it the reaction is generally poor.

I’m kind of shocked that messing with Disney was the line for these people lol

 

[James Alucobond]

I’m kind of shocked that messing with Disney was the line for these people lol

It’s a very prominent, publicized example of how he doesn’t actually espouse traditionally conservative values. Why wouldn’t that be a line for people who want a sensible candidate?

 

[RamblinWreck]

Sorry, but I would say that most people who watch/read any type of news knows exactly what's going on in Florida.

Many people posting in this thread are only vaguely aware of the situation and just have the spun up short version from whatever politically slanted source they heard it from.

 

[RamblinWreck]

I’m kind of shocked that messing with Disney was the line for these people lol

I don’t think it’s because it’s Disney.

I think it’s just because they’ve actually heard about it.

 

[MrPromey]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_ThrowerMany people posting in this thread are only vaguely aware of the situation and just have the spun up short version from whatever politically slanted source they heard it from.

Which is why we see people showing up, almost a thousand pages in with the same basic arguments that have been discussed, refuted, and debunked ad nauseam in this thread, already.

The problem there is, how do you handle it?

Do you patiently repeat what you've said dozens of times before, let it go, or become snarky?

If you just repeat, you're wasting your time (and the time of anyone else who's been following) in the discussion.

If you let it go, you leave that person and potentially others who stumble in late and don't bother to read back, the impression that what they're saying is actually accurate and has merit.

If you become snarky (guilty), you effectively stop adding constructive dialog to the conversation.

I've been giving this some thought and am thinking the best approach might be a short response and some links to earlier posts.

Something to the effect of "Already discussed ad nauseam. See here, here, and here for examples of why this is wrong, doesn't matter, or is being misstated." and then just sort of ignoring that person's response after that.

Then again, it isn't the job of any of us to necessarily educate strangers which reminds me of the story of the little girl on the beach with the starfish.*

In this situation, I'm not so sure the perspective of the adult is the wrong one.

I don't know.

*The original of this is of a young man rather than a little girl and more wordy and a lot more meditative, as written. While a little unfair to the original author, I kind of prefer one version or another of the counterfeit/adaption.

 

[GrumpyFan]

Which is why we see people showing up, almost a thousand pages in with the same basic arguments that have been discussed, refuted, and debunked ad nauseam in this thread, already.

The problem there is, how do you handle it?

Do you patiently repeat what you've said dozens of times before, let it go, or become snarky?

If you just repeat, you're wasting your time (and the time of anyone else who's been following) in the discussion.

If you let it go, you leave that person and potentially others who stumble in late and don't bother to read back, the impression that what they're saying is actually accurate and has merit.

If you become snarky (guilty), you effectively stop adding constructive dialog to the conversation.

I've been giving this some thought and am thinking the best approach might be a short response and some links to earlier posts.

Something to the effect of "Already discussed ad nauseam. See here, here, and here for examples of why this is wrong, doesn't matter, or is being misstated." and then just sort of ignoring that person's response after that.

Then again, it isn't the job of any of us to necessarily educate strangers which reminds me of the story of the little girl on the beach with the starfish.*

In this situation, I'm not so sure the perspective of the adult is the wrong one.

I don't know.

*The original of this is of a young man rather than a little girl and more wordy and a lot more meditative, as written. While a little unfair to the original author, I kind of prefer one version or another of the counterfeit/adaption.

This thread needs its own FAQ section.
But, seriously, it would be great if someone could put together something along those lines as well as a timeline of all the events around RCID.

 

[seascape]

Which is why we see people showing up, almost a thousand pages in with the same basic arguments that have been discussed, refuted, and debunked ad nauseam in this thread, already.

The problem there is, how do you handle it?

Do you patiently repeat what you've said dozens of times before, let it go, or become snarky?

If you just repeat, you're wasting your time (and the time of anyone else who's been following) in the discussion.

If you let it go, you leave that person and potentially others who stumble in late and don't bother to read back, the impression that what they're saying is actually accurate and has merit.

If you become snarky (guilty), you effectively stop adding constructive dialog to the conversation.

I've been giving this some thought and am thinking the best approach might be a short response and some links to earlier posts.

Something to the effect of "Already discussed ad nauseam. See here, here, and here for examples of why this is wrong, doesn't matter, or is being misstated." and then just sort of ignoring that person's response after that.

Then again, it isn't the job of any of us to necessarily educate strangers which reminds me of the story of the little girl on the beach with the starfish.*

In this situation, I'm not so sure the perspective of the adult is the wrong one.

I don't know.

*The original of this is of a young man rather than a little girl and more wordy and a lot more meditative, as written. While a little unfair to the original author, I kind of prefer one version or another of the counterfeit/adaption.

I agree with you. At this point until the court case starts or an injunction is issued we are all just repeating the same posts. I hope that there is some new news soon but until then we have to wait and hope the court rule the way we want.