Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday threatened to build a state penitentiary next to Walt Disney World in revenge for the company’s attempt to circumvent the authority of its oversight board.
The Republican governor escalated his war on the Magic Kingdom by declaring that the state legislature, controlled by his party, will invalidate Disney’s legal maneuvers that effectively stripped his new board of directors of authority over the company.
And he promised more raids next week while he rains war on the amusement park behemoth to stop Mickey, Minnie and company from living happily ever after.
DeSantis went to Disney’s hometown to escalate his war. There he made his bombshell announcement that he was considering putting criminals next to the theme park, which millions of families visit with their children every year.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces that the state legislature will void Disney’s legal maneuvers that have effectively stripped its new board of authority
Walt Disney World and its other theme parks are located in a special tax district known as Reedy Creek.
In his comments, DeSantis noted the company’s agreement with the legacy board of governors regarding land development in the district.
Disney owns vacant land there. But so does the state of Florida, DeSantis noted, adding, “You know, honestly, I didn’t even think about that country.”
“People say, well, what should we do with this country?” he remarked. “People have said maybe you have another, maybe a state park, maybe try to do more amusement parks.”
Then he dropped his bombshell: “Someone even said maybe you need another state prison. Who knows?’
“I just think the possibilities are endless,” he said.
DeSantis has launched an all-out war against Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney World
DeSantis railed against Disney Corporation for trying to outmaneuver him when it struck a special deal with the old board of directors, which controlled it before the new board he appointed took over.
“They thought that they could create some kind of development agreement that would essentially make everything we’ve done null and void and give them permanent control in return.” Well, that won’t work. That won’t fly,’ he said.
He said legislation is in the works to repeal this agreement.
“One of Florida’s statutes gives the legislature the power to revoke development agreements in just these types of cases,” he said during the press conference.
“And so I’ve worked with both leaders of the House and Senate. There is a bill going through the Florida Legislature that will ensure that the agreements allegedly being entered into by Disney are revoked and the will of the people is established,” he noted.
“We will not have a single company serving as its own government,” he declared.
He said even if lawmakers didn’t revoke the agreement, the agreement would not stand legally, calling it a “sham agreement.”
And he goes one step further, aiming for a one-two punch against the amusement park giant.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he can build a prison on land next to Disney World – about Pinocchio in the 1940 prison in the Disney classic
The Reedy Creek Improvement District covers nearly 40 square miles and encompasses the entire Walt Disney World Resort
As DeSantis takes action on the state side, its new board of supervisors will this week consider a resolution that will bar Disney from using the two cities where its theme parks are located to retain control of its franchise.
“To try and put an end to the people of Florida, to show how arrogant they are,” the governor told iHeart Radio in Orlando Monday morning.
“In addition, our state control committee will meet on Wednesday. And they will unveil a range of initiatives designed to ensure Disney is held accountable, so stay tuned to those as well.’
The combo moves are part of the full-scale war DeSantis has started against the house Mickey Mouse built. His struggles against Disney have raised his national profile ahead of speculation he will announce a presidential bid this spring. He’s also made it a part of his “war on Awakened” by making the culture wars a core part of his strategy.
DeSantis hinted for weeks that such actions were coming.
“Additional legislative action will be taken in Tallahassee that will undo what they tried to do with the 11th hour, and then potentially arm the board with the ability to ensure that is done properly,” he said during an earlier this month Speech in Michigan.
For weeks he has been speaking out harshly against the company, urging Disney to buckle up. He’s also considering pocketing Disney, imposing a new hotel tax and tolls on roads leading into the park.
Disney and DeSantis clashed when the company opposed the governor’s “Don’t Say Gay” law — a state law that bans classroom discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity.
As part of that war, DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Florida legislature ended the self-government privileges that Disney World had enjoyed since 1967.
To strip Disney’s self-governing powers, DeSantis appointed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board to replace the Disney-controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District and oversaw the development of Disney World.
Before the newly appointed board took control, Disney officials and the old board struck a deal that allowed the company to evade the new board’s control by using an obscure legal clause bearing King Charles III’s name.
Additionally, Disney secured zoning, infrastructure, and air rights permits for the next 30 years that the company may need if it wants to expand its theme park — meaning it can do so without approval from DeSantis’ handpicked board of directors.
DeSantis and his team pushed back against talk that the governor had been outmaneuvered. DeSantis called for a state investigation into the old board’s actions.
And the new board appointed by DeSantis wants to exercise its authority over the development of Disney World and the two cities controlled by the theme park giant.
The two towns in Reedy Creek County where Disney Park is located — Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista — have a combined population of just 53. All residents are believed to have close ties to Disney.
Some expect Disney will use its control of the two cities — which have councilors and mayors — to maintain authority over its theme parks.
The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom are within the Bay Lake city limits, while Disney Springs is in Lake Buena Vista.
But the new resolution, seen by the Orlando Sentinel, puts DeSantis’ new Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board in charge of Disney’s development.
“The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s authority over overall planning, zoning, land development regulations, environmental protection regulations, and plating and subdivision regulations applies throughout the district, including within the jurisdictional boundaries of the City of Lake Buena Vista and the City of Bay Lake,” states in the resolution.
The proposal is on the agenda for the April 19 board meeting.
As DeSantis takes action on the state side, its new board of supervisors will this week discuss a resolution that will bar Disney from using the two cities where its parks are located to retain control of its franchise
Disney shows no sign of retreating as both sides stoke the war of words and prepare for what will likely be a long and costly legal battle.
CEO Bob Iger blasted DeSantis as “anti-business and anti-Florida” at the company’s annual meeting earlier this month. He accused the governor of retaliating against the company.
Iger also told Time Magazine that he was willing to sit down with DeSantis.
“If the governor of Florida would like to meet with me to discuss all of this, of course I’d be happy to do so,” he said.
Disney World is the largest employer in Central Florida employing nearly 75,000 people and attracting 36.2 million visitors in 2021, according to Themed Entertainment Association.
DeSantis would say nothing in his Monday morning radio interview if he met with Disney’s CEO.
“At the end of the day, they have to understand that they are not going to live under different rules than everyone else. I mean, that’s just the reality. And I think the fact that they ended up trying to make the secret deals, yes they will fail. But the fact that he would try that tells me they haven’t gotten the message yet,” he said when asked about a seat.
Disney made a whopping $7.4 billion from its parks in the final quarter of fiscal 2022 — up 70 percent year-on-year as it recovered from COVID shutdowns.
The theme park now charges for some of its formerly free features, including the Genie+ app ($15) and parking ($30). Even the price of the iconic Mickey Mouse ears has increased by more than 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 budget hotel, Pop Century, costs about $168 today — more than $70 more than it did in 2013, when a room at the resort would cost $95. That’s an increase of more than 77 percent.
Ticket prices for the park — now over $100 — rose at about twice the rate of inflation in the 2010s.
Disney World in Florida is located in what is known as a special tax district known as Reedy Creek. The facility allowed the company to self-govern as a de facto county, controlling fire safety, 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 sit down with Ron DeSantis
Disney maneuvered to protect itself from DeSantis’ new board of supervisors with an obscure legal clause tied to King Charles III (above).
The agreement Disney has reached says the provisions will remain in effect until “21 years after the death of the last surviving descendant of King Charles III, King of England, who is alive at the time of this declaration.”
This “last survivor” is one-year-old Princess Lilibet of Sussex, who lives in California.
The so-called “King Clause” is used by lawyers to avoid rules against contracts that last forever. The British royals were chosen because information about their family tree is readily available and because the family has a “longer life expectancy” in general, according to law firm Bricketts.
The legal maneuver often used in relation to trusts and property acquisition options was created to circumvent laws that apply in perpetuity and to maximize the possible length of time that trusts in particular could remain in effect.
In this particular case, that period – if not waived – could be a significant number of years, with Charles’ youngest living descendant, Princess Lilibet, being only one year old.