Take a bus to Contemporary, hop on the monorail is an option.If I park at Disney Springs. Can I take a bus directly to the Magic Kingdom and avoid the parking fee? Asking for a friend.
Take a bus to Contemporary, hop on the monorail is an option.If I park at Disney Springs. Can I take a bus directly to the Magic Kingdom and avoid the parking fee? Asking for a friend.
The famous "EPCOT Building Codes" held by the RCID are more stringent than the International Building Codes (though not as big of a difference after the IBC was adopted near universally). This is important, not necessarily because Disney couldn't build to that standard if the RCID went away, but because Disney devised these codes so they could have an easy reference on how to build stuff when in initial design/engineering. It is much easier to have a standard workflow around standards you know rather than now having to deal with County inspectors who aren't as integrated or knowledgeable of your process.There absolutely are legitimate questions to ask about the District. I would recommend anyone who is genuinely interested in how the District has benefited Disney read Married to the Mouse by Richard Foglesong. I found it very telling that an article posted yesterday gave the impression that even he is leery of what is happening.
This is going to harm WDW, visitors to WDW, the state and mostly the taxpayers stuck with the bill.Has anyone actually seen a non partisan pros and cons breakdown?
I’ve read articles saying this will harm the state because $2 billion in Disney debt will instantly become Florida debt, I’ve also read articles saying this will harm Disney because they’ll pay upwards of $500 million more a year in taxes to the state.
I can’t find an unbiased article that has looked at everything and broken down if this will be beneficial/damaging to Florida, beneficial/damaging to Disney, or beneficial/damaging to both.
Not sure who said folks will pay thousands but it was not me, but its still not fair to the taxpayers to pay for a fight between the governor and TWDC. The worst part is, the law that started the fight will be overturned, RCID will still be gone, and the taxpayer will be stuck with the bill for no reason.No, I think the county budget will be impacted and thus there will be some impact to residents. How much so is entirely up to the counties. However the notion that people will suddenly be paying thousands more is absurd and a misapplication of the facts.
The EPCOT Building Code was created at a time when there was no Florida Building Code. It’s an example of how the District created more regulations, not removed them.The famous "EPCOT Building Codes" held by the RCID are more stringent than the International Building Codes (though not as big of a difference after the IBC was adopted near universally). This is important, not necessarily because Disney couldn't build to that standard if the RCID went away, but because Disney devised these codes so they could have an easy reference on how to build stuff when in initial design/engineering. It is much easier to have a standard workflow around standards you know rather than now having to deal with County inspectors who aren't as integrated or knowledgeable of your process.
Yep, I picked that book up as research for my History MA thesis. It's academic and thus fairly dry, but it's incredibly well researched.There absolutely are legitimate questions to ask about the District. I would recommend anyone who is genuinely interested in how the District has benefited Disney read Married to the Mouse by Richard Foglesong. I found it very telling that an article posted yesterday gave the impression that even he is leery of what is happening.
Yep, I picked that book up as research for my History MA thesis. It's academic and thus fairly dry, but it's incredibly well researched.
I would rather companies stand up for their employees' rights when they are under direct attack, thank you.Why oh why did Disney have to take a stick, walk right up to the political bee-hive and whack it like that? This was completely unnecessary and 100% self enflicted.
Disney, my God...please stay away from "all" politics. Stop "all" support for "all" politicians. You need to declare a NEUTRAL and non-poltical policy from this day forward. Do not try to be an "activist" entertainment company. This only leads to horrible outcomes and the deeper you go, the worse it will get.
Social politics are a quick-sand that you cant escape and it ends only with you greatly upsetting BOTH sides of whatever issue you are tangled in.
Politics is a VERY dirty business. Dont think that you can dive into it and somehow stay clean. That is 100% impossible. Just avoid the temptation....and stay as far away from it as much as you can.
Treat all your castmembers well. Do not get in bed with "any" politician. Do not publically alienate your customers or your shareholders...no matter how much you privately want to.
Be Switzerland......
Please! Give me a break! Like that has not been going on prior to this by all sides. Not breaking news! Personal agendas, everyone has one.So you’re okay with laws that target you for your political positions? Can we impose additional taxes on you and others who share your views? Or is it only okay to punish those you see as opponents?
We don't know, but we will find out now that RCID is going away.Has anyone actually seen a non partisan pros and cons breakdown?
I’ve read articles saying this will harm the state because $2 billion in Disney debt will instantly become Florida debt, I’ve also read articles saying this will harm Disney because they’ll pay upwards of $500 million more a year in taxes to the state.
I can’t find an unbiased article that has looked at everything and broken down if this will be beneficial/damaging to Florida, beneficial/damaging to Disney, or beneficial/damaging to both.
Something bad happening does not justify it continuing.Please! Give me a break! Like that has not been going on prior to this by all sides. Not breaking news! Personal agendas, everyone has one.
Actually there are other tax loopholes that Disney is benifiting from today that are certainly now under consideration. For example, that little Wholesale loophole that saves Disney millions in taxes every year: https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2011/05/28/mickey-hates-taxes-too/Disney Anaheim and Universal are pretty profitable without their own special districts.
There's nothing DeSantis can do to break WDW, which just had it's highest quarterly revenue ever.
How so? You, or anyoneYes it is homophobic. If you can’t understand why, explaining it to you would be impossible, and I would not waste a single keystroke trying.
Viewpoint discrimination- there's a new one...no, actually is what politics is all about. Discrimination against opposing views.So it's open fascism, then.
The FL GOP is pretty clearly engaged in viewpoint discrimination, which is at the heart of almost all of its most recent legislation impacting RCID, state universities, state public schools, and potentially even Twitter now; punishing political opponents, real or perceived, due to feeling they "took the wrong side" on an issue (e.g. wanting to punish Twitter for not allowing Elon Musk to take over, DeSantis's "it's actually about fiduciary responsibility!" PR being a very, very tiny fig leaf).
Which is not to say that Disney is the "good guy" here, either: RCID was a pretty massive giveaway when it happened, and there's tons of cases to be made for doing away with it. However, "do it because the company that supported me for years and initially didn't come out against our explicitly homophobic legislation, but then changed course due to a near-mutiny from its employees" is not the context under which RCID should be revoked, given the larger long term implications, which are explicitly fascistic in nature.
Any decent state court would find against this legislation due to said viewpoint discrimination, but this is Florida, the politics of which are broken on basically every level through gerrymandering and a host of other issues (which, admittedly, are not all exclusive to Florida).
That said, the silliest part of all of this is the very notion that Disney is "woke". First off, "woke" is the new "socialism"; a term used quite liberally by people who have no earthly idea what it even refers to, beyond "something I don't like or which makes me uncomfortable for reasons I refuse to adequately explain."
Disney, shock of shocks, is only firmly committed to one thing: making greater dividends for its shareholders. That's it. I'm sure there are artists and creators within the company who have more ambitious artistic goals and want to express themselves through their work, but as a corporate entity Disney only cares about "how do we maximize returns and increase shareholder value from last fiscal year's numbers?" Disney will appeal to different communities through its movies and content because it has made the very straightforward calculation that doing so will result in greater financial returns than not doing so. Disney doesn't set the cultural zeitgeist; it goes where the zeitgeist goes, and if that was away from respect and tolerance for marginalized communities then Disney would likely do little to nothing to stand athwart.
I mean, hell, look at Disney's marketing towards some foreign markets, where they go out of their way to minimize the presence of LGBT+ characters or even actors of color (the infamous Force Awakens poster in China that nearly erased John Boyega); Disney is no different from literally any other company, and the idea that they're "pushing a woke agenda" is code for "Disney is trying to appeal to a market I don't like, and again I refuse to expound on why I'm not comfortable with them." They want money, and they'll change positions to make more money as they see fit.
So yeah, this is a fight between a corporate entity whose only principle is "more money, pls" and a state government engaged in explicitly fascist politics. I don't intend to "cheer for" Disney so much as call out authoritarian governance for what it is.
How was the District used to oppose the state?Not saying I agree or disagree with the Florida Body Poltic's decision, however, if you use the special privilege the government afforded you to oppose that government, don't be surprised when that same government removes that special privilege.
The squeaky wheel gets the lubricant now it's time to replace it with a proper working wheel.How so? You, or anyone
Viewpoint discrimination- there's a new one...no, actually is what politics is all about. Discrimination against opposing views.
It's funny that people think "discrimination" is always illegal. Discrimination is only illegal when it is against protected classes -race, color, creed, religion, gender, and most recently, sexual identity/preference.
People are discriminated against every single day, legally.
Not saying I agree or disagree with the Florida Body Poltic's decision, however, if you use the special privilege the government afforded you to oppose that government, don't be surprised when that same government removes that special privilege.
Chapek has been running roughshod over everything to enrich himself and thought he was untouchable- he found out different. Ironically, giving into a small, internal, boisterous minority caused the wheels to come loose.
So I work in local government management and decided to look up exactly what RCID does, how it contracts with other agencies for services, what services it provides itself, etc. to determine what the district provides and what would change in the event of it going away. It is my opinion that the actual money for the services wouldn't be a massive hurdle, though it would be a major political and bureaucratic challenge (and a somewhat minor, but real, fiscal challenge) to integrate the taxing district into the 2 counties. The biggest hurdle would be the provision of services and the amount of debt servicing required to ensure WDW remains smoothly operated from a utilities and roads maintenance point of view.
The district itself is a over $150m+/year entity that employs hundreds of people who are organized in such a way to provide services in the manner they have been doing for decades. As someone who has negotiated many types of services between governmental entities for mutual aid, utility rates, and much more, it is not as simple as Orange or Osceola counties taking over the services provided by RCID. This process can take years. the RCID do have an exceptionally large debt service (which was my initial reaction to the $2b in debt), as they have $750m in principal to pay. My guess is that the $2b number is what they are authorized to borrow, which is different than actual debt holdings. However, despite the debt doing a number on the fund balance (over the third of money in the general fund budget goes to debt servicing), I am positive that they have extremely low interest rates (like under 1%), as I'm sure the district has an excellent credit rating and has refinanced the debt continuously to get the most favorable rates. Still this would be the largest fiscal challenge and I think a relatively unique situation on who would be holding the bag on those debts at the end of the day. It's not everyday a taxing authority this large (though at the end of the day not THAT huge) gets dissolved.
I won't go over every service in detail, unless that would be helpful. However there are a number of things that likely wouldn't change, while others will provide for massive bureaucratic headaches. For example, they already contract with Orange and Osceola Counties, as well as the Florida Highway patrol for policing. That would likely continue. But large services provided directly by the district, such as street maintenance and Fire/EMS (which employs nearly half of the Districts employees), would need to be integrated in a rather quickly into either/both counties services.
HB1557 is NOT about parental rights. There were already laws on the books protecting your rights as a parent.Private companies should not get involved in politics and taking positions on laws that were designed to protect my rights as a parent. Keep your personal opinions on social matters to yourself. My children will learn the values of MY FAMILY, not yours. Schools are supposed to teach ACADEMICS, not social structure and other communist motivations.
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