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

[durangojim]

If the RCID were to be dissolved, almost all guests wouldn't notice a difference.

Thank you! Then from now on I will view this thread for entertainment purposes only!

 

[lazyboy97o]

Cool, then it sounds like Disney won't be especially harmed if RCID is dissolved so everyone should stop complaining about it.

The far bigger complaint is with the motivation and making tax payers pay for Disney’s infrastructure.

 

[GimpYancIent]

That’s why I’m curious how this will proceed, who will be the face of the fight?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Cool, then it sounds like Disney won't be especially harmed if RCID is dissolved so everyone should stop complaining about it.

They won’t be. With the Chapek way of a business it may work in their favor financially.

If the RCID were to be dissolved, almost all guests wouldn't notice a difference.

Like everything at WDW that’s debatable. Eventually there may be enough declines in upkeep that the average guest notices. That remains to be seen though and would take some time.

The point isn't that Disney is dangerous. The point is why should Disney be given different status than Universal, Sea World etc.

Because Disney is operating something completely different than universal and sea world. It really isn’t comparable with another operation in the USA.

 

[the_rich]

That's just it - they didn't just make this up out of the thin air in the past few weeks by throwing darts at a board of things that could hurt Disney, like some folks seem to believe (or want people to believe, because I suspect some of them know better).

Those who have wanted this just saw this as an opportune time to jump in and do it, but parties wanting to do away, or reset, these types of ancient special districts have wanted them dissolved for many, many years. The Florida that gave all these considerations a half-century or more ago is not the Florida today. Those that want rid of these just found a certain political time and place that was amenable to the opportunity and they took it.

That's why a lot of the back and forth here is pretty preposterous, assuming that this was some thoughtless way to take a jab at Disney - this was very well planned, the people behind it know exactly what they want and why, and what the consequences will be.

They've said they are specifically targeting disney. So they should be getting rid of the 1800 plus other special districts too.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That's just it - they didn't just make this up out of the thin air in the past few weeks by throwing darts at a board of things that could hurt Disney, like some folks seem to believe (or want people to believe, because I suspect some of them know better).

Those who have wanted this just saw this as an opportune time to jump in and do it, but parties wanting to do away, or reset, these types of ancient special districts have wanted them dissolved for many, many years. The Florida that gave all these considerations a half-century or more ago is not the Florida today. Those that want rid of these just found a certain political time and place that was amenable to the opportunity and they took it.

That's why a lot of the back and forth here is pretty preposterous, assuming that this was some thoughtless way to take a jab at Disney - this was very well planned, the people behind it know exactly what they want and why, and what the consequences will be.

Can you provide some examples of the proponents of this previously calling for the end of the District? Why are they saying this is about Disney’s recent actions?

 

[KrzyKtty]

I also read that with the disillusionment of RCID that the absorbing county will have to absorb not only the district, but their debt. The article said RCID has almost a billion dollars in debt that the taxpayers would have to absorb.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I never claimed they were exempt from safety standards!

Someone made an analogy of Chick-fil-a and I extended THEIR analogy by applying health and safety standards to Chick-fil-a as an example of special treatment. I never made any claim that the particular type of special treatment Disney receives is exemption from safety standards.

Disney gets special treatment, period. I believe that's wrong.

If that's not your claim then your analogy fails because the example you gave would have an obvious harm to consumers and makes no sense from a legal standpoint. RCID doesn't harm anyone in any way and made sense because it benefitted the state and counties by trading a certain level of self-governance in exchange for Disney paying all of the costs associated with making the land usable. Taxpayers still benefit from RCID today because Disney continues to foot the bill (via RCID) for infrastructure improvements such as roads (both maintenance and the construction of new roads/improvements to existing roads).

 

[lazyboy97o]

But it does change who the overseers are in a lot of categories and decisions.

And in the case of building and fire regulations, the county’s reputation is less strict.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The far bigger complaint is with the motivation and making tax payers pay for Disney’s infrastructure.

Again, if the end result of this would be "taxpayers paying for Disney's infrastructure," Jeff Vahle, Josh D'Amaro, and Bob Chapek would be dancing down the street right now.

 

[WDWJoeG]

Again, if the end result of this would be "taxpayers paying for Disney's infrastructure," Jeff Vahle, Josh D'Amaro, and Bob Chapek would be dancing down the street right now.

And their stock would be spiking on the great news and upcoming huge savings!

 

[Brian]

Of course it was created for the needs of Disney, because there wasn't the infrastructure available in the Orange County area swamplands to service such a giant business.

Walt bought enough land so that WDW could be, in effect, its own town. Remember, The Florida Project was not about the MK (in Walt's mind), but about building a futuristic, idea planned community: EPCOT.

The idea was that the whole of the land would be EPCOT (with a nearby amusement park called The Magic Kingdom).

And by having their own, in effect, town; Disney didn't have the headaches they had in Anaheim where town neighbors complained about the noise of fireworks. And if Disney didn't comply, they would stack the town council and force WDW to comply by statute.

Today's situation is different than back then, but, for as large as WDW is, its useful for them to manage their own governmental services through the RCID.

So we agree that today's situation is different, and the WDW of today would certainly not be possible if not for the powers granted to the RCID.

Where I respectfully disagree is that RCID is needed to continue operating WDW. You rightfully pointed out EPCOT (the plans for the "city of the future"), much of which had never been done before in the world. This would require a well-oiled machine of local government to get the plans off the ground, something that the counties couldn't possibly pull off, even in the 70s. Not only that, but they did absolutely need RCID's bond issuing authority and various municipal powers to create the infrastructure needed to support the plans, akin, on a much smaller and less involved scale, to how CDDs are established for most new ground-up Central FL residential communities taking over our beloved citrus groves and cow pastures.

Since EPCOT never happened, and since the primary infrastructure is already in place and can easily be financially and logistically maintained (if forced to) and expanded when necessary by Disney, who owns the land it occupies already, I see little reason to continue affording them the special powers they were granted.

Of course, it is useful to have those powers, but they, just like Universal and the many other tourist attractions nationwide that don't have them (including Disneyland), can get along just fine without them. My position is that no company should exclusively enjoy those powers, at least not in perpetuity. That said, I would have wanted to see dissolution happen decades ago, not as a thinly veiled political jab.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Again, if the end result of this would be "taxpayers paying for Disney's infrastructure," Jeff Vahle, Josh D'Amaro, and Bob Chapek would be dancing down the street right now.

Then why don’t you tell us these big regulatory exemptions.

 

[flynnibus]

And in the case of building and fire regulations, the county’s reputation is less strict.

So lets stop talking in absolutes and acknowledge that yes it is an advantage in some areas, and less in others.

Yet, the areas where it's less advantageous, they are also WITHIN THEIR POWER to change. So... clearly it's not been that big of a burden to their end game.

 

[kalel8145]

They are both the same thing. Under the first amendment they are allowed to say what they said.

I'm not saying that they can't say what they want. Don't put words in my mouth. They went after the legislation. I believe the quote was something like our goal as a company is for the law to be repealed by the legislature or be struck down in the courts. We are committed to supporting the national and state organizations to achieve that.

 

[FigmentsFangirl]

Im curious, what is "tech Firm Censorship" ?

 

[AdventureHasAName]

Then why don’t you tell us these big regulatory exemptions.

You speak as if the state legislature and county governments have no ability to implement new rules and regulations. And everyone knows that they can and that they will.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

Again, if the end result of this would be "taxpayers paying for Disney's infrastructure," Jeff Vahle, Josh D'Amaro, and Bob Chapek would be dancing down the street right now.

That assumes that they don't see the benefits that come from that tradeoff.

 

[Tamandua]

And their stock would be spiking on the great news and upcoming huge savings!

Yeah. Disney stock has been hammered since all this came up. It's down 2% just today. This isn't good news, folks!

 

[lazyboy97o]

You speak as if the state legislature and county governments have no ability to implement new rules and regulations. And everyone knows that they can and that they will.

Once again, the District is not exempt from state law. The District is also not exempt from many county regulations.