DeSantis Ends Disney’s Special Status in Reedy Creek

In the span of 72 hours, the Florida legislature introduced, passed and signed a bill stripping Disney’s hometown, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, of its status as a special tax district.

The bill goes into effect in June 2023 and ends Disney’s self-governing status, which allows the company to manage all municipal matters in the 25,000-acre district surrounding the Walt Disney World Resort, such as sewage, transportation, zoning and security.

It’s widely believed that Gov. Ron DeSantis made the move in retaliation for Disney’s opposition to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which passed in March. Disney had initially been quiet about the bill, aimed at curbing sex education in lower elementary grades, but proclaimed its opposition after employees staged a walk-out once the bill had already passed.

While the move to end Disney’s special status has political implications that reverberate far beyond Florida, it also leaves some very practical questions unanswered. For one, with Disney’s status dissolved, its property, duties and debt all transfer to the two counties in which it is located, Orange and Osceola counties, without adding any additional tax revenue — potentially leaving the residents of those counties with an overwhelming tax bomb.

Reedy Creek is an independent special tax district, which means it must pay taxes to the county government in addition to paying itself to run the town. Between 2015 and 2020, Disney paid an average of $45 million in property taxes to Orange and Osceola counties, and in 2021, it paid itself $105 million for local services, according to Scott Randolph, tax collector in Orange County. Once Reedy Creek is dissolved, the $105 million doesn’t transfer, but the counties will be responsible for all municipal services.

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Walt’s announcement drew big crowd, but details were thin

A clipping from the Nov. 16, 1965 edition of the Orlando Sentinel includes a headline
that reads: “Walt Disney to Build World’s Best Tourist Attraction in Mid-Florida.”

Counting down to the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World’s opening in October 1971,
the Orlando Sentinel begins a weekly feature looking at the construction and impact of the theme park on our area. See more Disney at 50 coverage at OrlandoSentinel.com/DailyDisney.

Walt Disney’s presence in Florida went from rumored to reported to reality as he came to downtown Orlando’s Cherry Plaza Hotel on Nov. 15, 1965 to announce his plans for 27,000 acres in Orange and Osceola counties. A clipping from the Nov. 16, 1965 edition of the Orlando Sentinel includes a headline that reads: “Walt Disney to Build World’s Best Tourist Attraction in Mid-Florida.”

There was an invitation-only presentation to government and business leaders followed
by a news conference described by Gov. Haydon Burns as the largest in Florida history.
An estimated 400 people crowded into the Egyptian Ballroom.

In this week’s Disney at 50, the Sentinel’s look at Walt Disney World of yesterday and
today, we present photos from that occasion.

The Cherry Plaza building stands today on East Central Boulevard. It’s now Post Parkside Orlando apartments and home to several businesses, including World of Beer, which faces Lake Eola. Back in ‘65, it housed offices for Delta Air Lines, Florida Symphony and an art gallery. Many civic organizations such as Elks, Parliamentarians and the German American Ladies met there regularly.

President Lyndon Johnson had stayed there overnight during his 1964 campaign.

In 1965, after Walt Disney spoke and answered questions, there still was confusion about just what was coming to Central Florida. Disney dodged specifics, saying planning was still in the works. It would be the same as Disneyland but entirely different, he said, and it would definitely not be called Disneyland.

He was crafty in other ways. Reporters trying to catch him checking into Cherry Plaza were disappointed. It was later revealed that he stayed at the Robert Meyer Motor Inn under an assumed name, perhaps his pilot’s name. That hotel, on the corner of Washington Street and Rosalind Avenue, was on the opposite side of the lake from Cherry Hill. Robert Meyer eventually was known as the Harley Hotel, which is now condos called Metropolitan at Lake Eola.

If you live there now, you can say Walt Disney slept there then.

Disney’s theme park division loses $2.4 billion

The coronavirus cost Disney’s theme park division $2.4 billion as Disneyland remains closed, cruise ships are docked and Disney World is open at a limited capacity, the company disclosed Thursday in its quarterly earnings report.

But looking ahead, executives expect the next few months to be busy in Orlando since about 77% of the park reservations are booked for the next quarter, including an almost completely full Thanksgiving holiday.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the reopening is going well enough for Disney World to raise occupancy from 25% to 35%, adding he believes it is still possible to maintain 6 feet of social distancing among visitors with the higher number of people allowed inside.

For the company, it’s a hopeful sign as Disney theme parks try to rebound from the global pandemic.

“We’re very pleased by how we have become adapt at operating under these constraints,” Chapek said during Thursday’s earnings call. He said Disney has a proven track record of running theme parks with new strict safety rules several months into the pandemic reopening.

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Disney fires back at Elizabeth Warren’s letter blasting the company’s 28,000 layoffs

Walt Disney Co. is fighting back after Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote a scathing open letter this week that slammed the company for reinstating pay for senior executives who had taken salary cuts during the coronavirus pandemic and other financial decisions benefiting shareholders before the company revealed massive layoffs.

The company said in a statement, “Senator Warren’s misinformed letter contains a number of inaccuracies.”

Warren, D-Mass., wrote to Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Bob Iger, the former CEO turned Disney executive chairman, critical of the company’s compensation to executives and how it has treated workers.

“In the years leading up to this crisis, your company prioritized the enrichment of executives and stockholders through hefty compensation packages, and billions of dollars’ worth of dividend payments and stock buybacks, all of which weakened Disney’s financial cushion and ability to retain and pay its front-line workers amid the pandemic,” Warren wrote.

Warren also expressed concerns about the company terminating Florida workers and blaming the layoffs in California on “public health measures, which were implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.” Disneyland remains closed without an opening date. Disney World theme parks reopened in mid-July.

Disney’s statement responded with, “We’ve unequivocally demonstrated our ability to operate responsibly with strict health and safety protocols in place at all of our theme parks worldwide, with the exception of Disneyland Resort in California, where the State has prevented us from reopening, even though we have reached agreements with unions representing the majority of our Cast Members that would get them back to work.”

Walt Disney Co. announced last month it was laying off 28,000 people across its theme park division.

The company later disclosed details about how it would affect Orlando, revealing nearly 6,700 non-union Disney World employees are losing their jobs in December.

In addition, about 8,860 hourly part-time union employees who had been furloughed will be laid off, according to the company’s largest union coalition, which said those workers can get recalled when the company eventually needs them again.

The layoffs in Florida amount to about 20% of the company’s pre-coronavirus workforce of about 77,000.

Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort is laying off 1,100 employees

With the professional athletes gone, Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort is laying off about 1,100 employees because of low occupancy and canceled events in another hit to the tourism industry because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The layoffs are coming after Major League players stayed there this summer.

The Marriott hotel between Epcot and Hollywood Studios called the economic impact “historic, swift and devastating” as it alerted the state as a requirement under federal law for mass layoffs.

The entire Swan portion of the hotel had been home to MLS teams who were staying there in the “bubble” in July and August as they played in a tournament at ESPN Wide World of Sports.

NBA players also became guests at other Disney hotels when the league restarted play in Orlando amid the pandemic.

Even though all Orlando’s theme parks are open, September has been a brutal time for the industry as thousands of employees have recently been let go or placed on indefinite furloughs.

New notices filed this week showed 5,400 Universal employees are furloughed and 1,900 employees at SeaWorld’s Orlando properties are now permanently laid off after being furloughed since March.

The Swan and Dolphin warned the economic impact will carry over into 2021.

The 1,136 positions are in multiple departments of the hotel, including 256 banquet servers, 41 cooks, 67 housekeepers and 88 loss prevention officers. The notice said the layoffs are permanent and effective Nov. 13.

Included are about 135 union employees represented by Teamsters Local 385 who work primarily as servers, housekeepers and laundry attendants. Those employees may be among the first to return if the hotel reverses course and brings back jobs.

At 11%, metro Orlando had the highest regional unemployment rate in the state in August, according to a report released Friday.