Special Session of Florida Legislature scheduled for next week on Reedy Creek Improvement District

As the uncertainty over the future of Walt Disney World’s Reedy Creek continues, the Florida legislature has scheduled a special session to discuss, among other topics, the government takeover of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District.

After months of uncertainty, Florida lawmakers will meet in special session next week to consider a plan to reverse their decision to dissolve Walt Disney World’s special taxing district and instead approve a state board to oversee it.

If approved, it would avoid a showdown between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis, and resolve an issue that would see Disney at risk of losing the special governing privileges it has held for 55 years.

According to memos from Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner on Friday, February 3, lawmakers will convene in special session starting Monday, February 6, to consider a state-run board for Disney’s Reedy Creek, as well as several other items legislators are expected to discuss in special session.

It is unclear how a state-directed oversight board would work and what kind of financial control or power it would have over Reedy Creek, and Disney.

Walt Disney World and new CEO Bob Iger have remained largely silent on the issue, issuing no official statements on the looking uncertainty of Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Rumours though, have indicated that Disney have been in talks behind the scenes in an effort to retain the majority of the current RCID structure while allowing DeSantis to claim victory over what he see's as a woke culture at Disney.

Ahead of the special session, DeSantis said on Thursday, February 2, that lawmakers would convene next week to “make sure that Disney doesn’t have self-governing status anymore.”

The Reedy Creek Improvement District is a special purpose district created by state law in May 1967 that gives The Walt Disney Company governmental control over the land in and around its central Florida theme parks.

At the time, the land Walt Disney wanted to build his Kingdom on was little more than uninhabited pasture and swamp, but Orange and Osceola Counties did not have the services or resources needed to bring the project to life, so the state legislature worked with Disney to establish the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

This allowed Disney to get the money and resources needed to build Walt Disney World without constantly going through local governments, and turning the pastures and swamps into what we now know as Walt Disney World Resort.

Through the act, landowners within the district, including Walt Disney World, are solely responsible for paying the cost of providing municipal services. That is, local taxpayers do not have to pay for these services.

The district essentially acts as its own county government and encompasses the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista.

Disney currently has responsibility for providing municipal services like power, water, roads and fire protection – but are freed from dealing with legal red tape or paying taxes for services that benefited the broader public.

So will we see a compromise that works for both sides? We thinks so, but right now it's still up in the air, it will be interesting to see what happens next week for sure