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

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
The state created RCID and could at any time dissolve RCID. They didn't until now because both Florida and and TWDC valued their partnership. DeSantis and TWDC got into an argument over the law passed in Florida and DeSantis simply did what the state always had the power to do.

Whatever report the state produced two decades ago saying "district couldn't be dissolved in the face of a possibility of Disney being acquired and no longer owning WDW" show just how much the state and TWDC were indeed partners.

TWDC could always be acquired, and the state could not stop it.

If TWDC stays on its current path, I would not be surprised if it does get acquired.
Why not go and actually read the report?
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Meh. I don't buy this whole opinion of Disney has cratered thing. The most recent polls on this were taken right at the time of the don't say gay bill, so the poll may just have been a fleeting reflection of that controversy.

More importantly it hasn't been reflected in park attendance, merchandise sales, the box office, and Disney+ subscriptions. So some people may be mad at "woke" Disney, but they are still visiting the parks, their kids are still watching Mickey, and they're still going to see Avatar.
It also conflates all sorts of issues as being aligned. It’s ultimately just another version of the tired claim that every issue related to reputation is tied to “wokeness.” It completely misses that people can have a less favorable view of Disney because their last few movies haven’t been very good, because costs are too high, that they don’t treat workers well and that they’re not “woke” enough.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
The steps leading up the the dissolution of RCID very much are related to Disney’s reputation. The perception is Disney went woke, Disney’s reputation plunged and DeSantis jumped on that to dissolve RCID.

Disney’s reputation is down and wokeness is one of the reasons. DeSantis fighting Disney’s wokeness is one item that propelled him to a landslide victory in November.

DeSantis is going to make sure every little legal challenge gets framed as “Disney” in big bold letters. Doesn’t matter if it’s RCID or the residents of Bay Lake or Lake Buena Vista (both of which Disney effectively controls).

DeSantis will shout “woke Disney bad” every chance he gets. This alone could get him the Republican nomination.

A legal battle for the next 2 years is a political win for DeSantis.
This is not at all an accurate retelling of the events and completely devoid of context. Dissolving Reedy Creek Improvement District was not a one and done act of opportunity.
 

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
If Disney was the same beloved company it was a decade ago this fight never would have happened in the first place, that change in perception still surprises me more than the actual fight,

As Disney regains their popularity via goodwill things like eliminating parking fees, eliminating AP reservations, bringing back shows, etc the harder it will be for the Governor to continue his campaign against them.
 
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Dranth

Well-Known Member
I don’t see them caving in. They would be letting a hostile government tax them through the creation of an illegal district they have no say over. One that blatantly violates the state constitution. That would be putting themselves at the mercy of the very people already trying to screw them over who, by the way, can’t possibly be that interested in a strong Disney when they are out there bashing them in public whenever they get a chance.

They have been through these things before and will again. Most people will come back if they make the product worth it and the ones that won’t, I doubt they are a large enough group for them to care about.
 
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GoofGoof

Premium Member
I'm sure all of that will come up in debate as the bills go through committees during the Florida Session. I would expect amendments from both parties on it. I certainly agree their best long-term play is low profile. Every CM in Disney is entitled to their own point of view on parental rights bill. That doesn't necessarily mean Disney had to weigh in on it when their interests are the theme parks, cruises, and Vero Beach resort.
Well the debate when they passed the bill to dissolve RCID was certainly robust and well thought out :banghead::banghead::banghead:

You do realize that every corporation in America has taken positions on political issues, right? Why do people keep acting as if Disney is alone in doing this. The only difference in this case was a politician saw a way to benefit by attacking it….not for the benefit of anyone who actually lives in FL but for his own career goals and to line his pockets with political donations.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
A few years ago, I suspect the majority of Republicans loved Disney. Republicans will once again love Disney if it focuses on business.

After all, it wasn’t that long ago that loving corporate America was the Republican Party’s mantra.

From his public statements, it appears that Iger is not happy that the company got dragged into this. Iger is the one who said he wants to “quiet things down” “to the extent that I can.” It’s possible that quieting things down is one step (one of several) that Iger is considering to get Disney back on good footing.

Iger has a lot of issues to resolve in less than 2 years. Does he want a public fight with DeSantis to be one of them? (DeSantis will continue to make this very public as he already has.) If Iger decides to fight this, it will still be in the courts when Iger is scheduled to leave in less than 2 years.

To me, this only makes sense if Iger believes a DeSantis appointed board intends to stick it to Disney. I don’t see this happening. A strong Walt Disney World is good for Florida business.

Once DeSantis is gone, I suspect Disney will once again have a friendly state legislature to work with.

Again, I predict that if Disney waits out DeSantis, they’ll control the new RCID in 3 to 5 years.

I dunno. Maybe it makes sense for Disney to fight now. After all, Disney is the wronged party.

But sometimes the best way to win a fight is to not fight at all.
Iger had no problem making political statements. This idea that he was some neutral party is just more revisionist nonsense. More than anything he would have made Disney’s opposition clear from the beginning. The whole reason it became an issue in the first place is because people expected Disney to speak up, which is the exact opposite of the current narrative that Disney was expected to keep quiet. When Chapek started, the narrative was that he was the conservative who was going to make Disney less political and less “woke”. He was fighting with Iger to be less political. That’s exactly what he tried to do that blew up. Now suddenly it’s Iger who is going to change the direction he very much set.

Why would a DeSantis board not try to stick it to Disney? That’s their entire reason for existing. They have no other purpose besides punishing Disney. The whole reason we’re talking about a potential new district is because Plan A wasn’t thought out and doesn’t hurt Disney. Then there was the apparent Plan B of a protection racket “compromise” that got canned when it was not reported as a win for DeSantis. So now we’re on to Plan C that’s more completely designed to stick it to Disney.
 

GoofGoof

Premium Member
A few years ago, I suspect the majority of Republicans loved Disney. Republicans will once again love Disney if it focuses on business.

After all, it wasn’t that long ago that loving corporate America was the Republican Party’s mantra.

From his public statements, it appears that Iger is not happy that the company got dragged into this. Iger is the one who said he wants to “quiet things down” “to the extent that I can.” It’s possible that quieting things down is one step (one of several) that Iger is considering to get Disney back on good footing.

Iger has a lot of issues to resolve in less than 2 years. Does he want a public fight with DeSantis to be one of them? (DeSantis will continue to make this very public as he already has.) If Iger decides to fight this, it will still be in the courts when Iger is scheduled to leave in less than 2 years.

To me, this only makes sense if Iger believes a DeSantis appointed board intends to stick it to Disney. I don’t see this happening. A strong Walt Disney World is good for Florida business.

Once DeSantis is gone, I suspect Disney will once again have a friendly state legislature to work with.

Again, I predict that if Disney waits out DeSantis, they’ll control the new RCID in 3 to 5 years.

I dunno. Maybe it makes sense for Disney to fight now. After all, Disney is the wronged party.a

But sometimes the best way to win a fight is to not fight at all.
I would argue that none of this probably matters a whole lot in the long run. It’s easy for people to rant and rave on social media that they hate Disney now but few will act on it. They won’t skip Marvel and Star Wars and Pixar movies, they won’t stop watching sports on ESPN or shows on ABC (they still have shows right?;)) and the ones who went to Disney parks will still go. I will point to the NFL as exhibit A. How many people ranted that they would never watch football again after the players started taking a knee? How many followed through? How are the NFL’s ratings? The buzz often far exceeds the actions.

On the topic of whether Disney could have avoided this, I don’t really think so completely. They could have handled it better but ultimately this is the new norm for our society. Companies are being forced to “take a side” more and more and often they are faced with a decision of you are either with us or against us. This happens from both sides. People say they want Disney and other corporations to focus on business and ignore social issues but shouldn’t that go both ways? Why can’t their customers ignore their social positions and focus on whether they entertain them? I don’t agree with some of the political positions Chic-Fil-A has taken, but damn they make a good chicken sandwich. People need to get over it and most actually do when it comes to action even if they claim to be highly offended online. Remember too that at the end of the day Disney had no influence or bearing on whether the original law they opposed passed or was overturned so the “great harm” they caused is highly overstated.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
I would argue that none of this probably matters a whole lot in the long run. It’s easy for people to rant and rave on social media that they hate Disney now but few will act on it. They won’t skip Marvel and Star Wars and Pixar movies, they won’t stop watching sports on ESPN or shows on ABC (they still have shows right?;)) and the ones who went to Disney parks will still go. I will point to the NFL as exhibit A. How many people ranted that they would never watch football again after the players started taking a knee? How many followed through? How are the NFL’s ratings? The buzz often far exceeds the actions.

Seeing is how Disney's animated movies are doing less than other studios children's and family offerings, and Universal's Theme Parks are seeing better growth. I don't think your people won't act on where they want to spend their money has much merit.
 

Dranth

Well-Known Member
Seeing is how Disney's animated movies are doing less than other studios children's and family offerings, and Universal's Theme Parks are seeing better growth. I don't think your people won't act on where they want to spend their money has much merit.
The number of people who act long term when it comes to company political positions is a rounding error for most large companies. If that were not the case much of the middle of the country and the South East US would have banned Disney 20 some years ago, never wear Rebox, Nike, Addis’s, New Balance, drink Coke or Pepsi products, fly on most airlines, watch nearly any movie released in their lifetime and so on. Same goes for the other side who get upset over Hobby Lobby or Chick-Fil-A but then end up right back in those stores in a month.

Now if you are talking about people moving on due to quality, sure, that happens all the time. However, those same people tend to come back when or if things improve.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Now if you are talking about people moving on due to quality, sure, that happens all the time. However, those same people tend to come back when or if things improve.
That is fair. You are right about many boycotts. At the same time, they are the only thing that works when they are actually stuck to. A lot of this riff raff that is going on is not on a level that will keep going, so that makes sense.
The big issue here is, shooting yourself temporarily, when you are not putting out good quality hurts majorly as that is the time when you need the "loyalty" the most.
 

Tonto

Well-Known Member
Disney could do a lot more for central florida... frankly it's time they did.
Really??? Florida would have next to no economy if it wasn't for Disney and what they started 50 something years ago. The money this company has brought into the state is uncountable. I get what you are saying, but its lacking some honesty.
 

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Seeing is how Disney's animated movies are doing less than other studios children's and family offerings, and Universal's Theme Parks are seeing better growth. I don't think your people won't act on where they want to spend their money has much merit.
Less than a year is not exactly the long run :)

On that point, Disney had 3 of the top 4 and 5 of the top 10 grossing films of 2022 if you count Spider-Man which was technically Sony. They may not have been animated films but why would that matter? People say they are done with Disney then drop $20 to see little blue men or a Superhero movie. As far as parks I’m not sure Universal’s success has much to do with people quitting Disney. As I said, it’s a nice story and people want to believe it, but doesn’t make it so.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Less than a year is not exactly the long run :)

On that point, Disney had 3 of the top 4 and 5 of the top 10 grossing films of 2022 if you count Spider-Man which was technically Sony. They may not have been animated films but why would that matter? People say they are done with Disney then drop $20 to see little blue men or a Superhero movie. As far as parks I’m not sure Universal’s success has much to do with people quitting Disney. As I said, it’s a nice story and people want to believe it, but doesn’t make it so.

Spiderman was pre this political drama.

I don't think many people who are invested in Avatar 2 did know that Fox, including Avatar is now Disney. That is recent to the lameman. Avatar 2 also grossed much less than anticipated, but that again in truth probably speaks to quality. Not relevant to the political non supporting basis though.

The bigger picture is that neither Spiderman Homecoming or Avatar 2, Black Panther had the political statements that have had people boycotting as plot points or character development. They do not need to boycott the company, but not supporting the products that deal with it have been evident. Lightyear and Strange World are no coincidence. No matter what your opinion on it, they were less profitable because of their direct association with the content.

You are right though. Universal's achievements over Disney have been in quality more than politics. Although staying out of the limelight with it did not hurt them at all.
 
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celluloid

Well-Known Member
Miami has entered the chat

The City of Miami has more than double (and close to triple) the GDP of both Orange and Osceola Counties combined.

Yeah, those arguments that FL, if not for Disney would be nothing should only ever really say Central FL, when they say all of Florida it is a gross exaggeration. It certainly helps but it is not the big winner.

FL would still have some of the best beaches and produce in the world. It would be different, but by no means desolate.
 

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