Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will escalate his war against the Walt Disney Company on Monday when he announces tough new measures that will keep the theme park from living happily ever after.
The Republican governor will announce the state Legislature will void Disney’s legal maneuvering that effectively stripped DeSantis’ new oversight board of authority over the company.
‘The legislature is able to come in and nullify these agreements under these circumstances,’ DeSantis told the radio show Good Morning Orlando on Monday.
‘We are actually going to run a bill during this legislative session that is going to formally nullifying what is needed, and make sure that people understand that you don’t get to put your own company over the will of the people of Florida.’
He will fire his latest shot in Disney’s home town. He’ll make the formal announcement later Monday in Lake Buena Vista, the city where Disney World resides.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to announce state Legislature will void Disney’s legal maneuvering that effectively stripped his new board of its authority
And he’s going even further, going for a one-two punch against theme park giant.
As DeSantis takes action on the state side, his new oversight board will debate a resolution this week that will keep Disney from using the two cities its parks reside in to maintain control over their franchise.
‘For them to try to do an end run around the people of Florida to shows how arrogant they are,’ the governor told iHeart radio Monday morning. ‘We are also going to have our state control board meet on Wednesday. And they’re going to be unveiling a series of initiatives designed to make sure that Disney is held accountable and so stay tuned for those as well.’
The combo moves come as part of the all-out war DeSantis has begun against the house that Mickey Mouse built. His battles against Disney have elevated his national profile ahead of speculation he will announce a presidential bid this spring. He’s also turned it part of his ‘war on woke’ as he makes the culture wars a centerpiece of his strategy.
DeSantis has hinted for weeks such actions were coming.
‘There will be additional legislative action taken in Tallahassee that will nullify what they tried to do with the 11th hour and then potentially, you know, arm the board with the ability to make sure that this is run appropriately,’ he said earlier this month during a speech in Michigan.
For weeks now he’s talked tough against the company, telling Disney to ‘buckle up.‘ He’s also contemplated hitting Disney in its wallet, imposing a new hotel tax and tolls on roads leading into the park.
Disney and DeSantis clashed when the company spoke out against the governor’s so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law – a state law prohibiting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.
DeSantis has launched an all-out war against Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney world
As part of that war, DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Florida legislature terminated the self-governing privileges that Disney World had held since 1967.
To take away Disney’s self-governing power, DeSantis appointed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board to replace the Reedy Creek Improvement District controlled by Disney and oversaw development at Disney World.
Before the newly-appointed board took control, Disney officials and the old board cut a deal allowing the company to sidestep the new board’s control, using an obscure legal clause that name-checks King Charles III.
Additionally, Disney secured approvals for the next 30 years on zoning, infrastructure and air-rights that the company might need if it chooses to expand its theme park – meaning it can do so without approval from DeSantis’ hand-picked board.
DeSantis and his team pushed back against talk the governor had been outmaneuvered. DeSantis demanded a state investigation into the old board’s actions.
And the new board appointed by DeSantis is looking to exert its authority over development in Disney World and the two cities controlled by the theme park giant.
The two cities within the Reedy Creek district where Disney’s park sits – Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista – have a combined population of only 53 people. All of the residents are believed to have close ties to Disney.
Some expect Disney to use its control over the two cities – which have city councils and mayors – to maintain authority over its theme parks.
The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom are inside the city limits of Bay Lake, while Disney Springs is in Lake Buena Vista.
But the new resolution, seen by the Orlando Sentinel, gives control of Disney development to DeSantis’ new Central Florida Tourism Oversight board.
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‘The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s authority over comprehensive planning, zoning, land development regulations, environmental protection regulations, and platting and subdivision regulations shall control within the entire District, including within the jurisdictional limits of the City of Lake Buena Vista and the City of Bay Lake,’ the resolution states.
The proposal is on the agenda for the board’s April 19 meeting.
As DeSantis takes action on the state side, his new oversight board will debate a resolution this week that will keep Disney from using the two cities its parks reside in to maintain control over their franchise
Disney is showing no signs of backing down, as both sides heat up the war of words and prepare for what is likely to be a long and costly legal battle.
CEO Bob Iger earlier this month blasted DeSantis for being ‘anti-business and anti-Florida’ at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. He accused the governor of retaliation against the company.
Iger also told Time magazine he’s willing to sit down with DeSantis.
‘If the governor of Florida wants to meet with me to discuss all of this, of course, I would be glad to do that,’ he said.
Disney World is the largest employer in central Florida, with close to 75,000 employees, drawing 36.2 million visitors in 2021, according to the Themed Entertainment Association.
DeSantis, in his radio interview on Monday morning, wouldn’t say either way if he’d meet with the Disney CEO.
‘At the end of the day, you know, they need to understand that they are not going to live under a different set of rules as everybody else. I mean, that’s just the reality. And I think that the fact that they tried to do the secret agreements at the end, yes, they’re gonna fail. But the fact that he would try that tells me that they haven’t got the message yet,’ he said when asked about a sit down.
Disney made a whopping $7.4 billion from its parks for the most recent quarter of the 2022 financial year – up 70 percent from a year earlier, when it was recovering from COVID shutdowns.
The theme park is now charging for some of its formerly free features, including its Genie+ app ($15) and parking ($30). Even the price of its iconic Mickey Mouse ears has increased by over a third since 2021, from $29.99 to $39.99.
The company averaged 18 million annual visitors to Disney World before the pandemic – a room at the park’s value hotel, Pop Century, today costs roughly $168 – up more than $70 from 2013, when a room at the resort would cost you $95. That’s an increase of more than 77 percent.
Ticket prices at the park – now over $100 – have increased at roughly double the inflation rate over the 2010s.
Disney World in Florida sits in what is called a special tax district, known as Reedy Creek. The setup allowed the company to self-govern as a de facto county – controlling fire protection, policing, road maintenance, and development planning.
Because of the deals Disney made with the old board, DeSantis’ new board can’t do much more than maintain the roads and control basic infrastructure.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has offered to have a sit down with Ron DeSantis
Disney maneuvered to protect itself from DeSantis’ new oversight board with an obscure legal clause tied to King Charles III (above)
The deal Disney made states that the provisions will remain in place until ’21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England living as of the date of this declaration’.
This ‘last survivor’ is one-year-old Princess Lilibet of Sussex, who lives in California.
The so-called ‘Royal Clause’ is used by lawyers to avoid rules against contracts which last in perpetuity. The British Royals were selected because information about their family tree is readily available, and because the family generally have ‘longer life expectancy,’ according to law firm Bricketts.
Often used in relation to trusts and options to acquire property, the legal maneuver was created to circumvent laws that last in perpetuity, and to maximize the possible length of time for which trusts in particular could remain in force.
In this particular case, that time period – if not overturned – could be a considerable number of years, with Charles’s youngest living descendant, Princess Lilibet, only one-year-old.
