New Theme Parks & Hotel Rooms — How the Reedy Creek Dissolution Is Impacting Disney’s Future Plans

The future of Disney’s level of control over its land in Orlando is still very much up in the air, but the Company is preparing for future legal battles NOW in a critical way.

For months, we’ve been covering all of the latest updates about the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) — the district that has essentially let the Walt Disney Company function as its own county in Orlando, giving it a great amount of control over the land on which it operates. But all of that control could be in jeopardy thanks to a law passed by the Florida legislature (and signed by the Florida governor) that will dissolve the RCID in June of 2023 unless some other action is taken. And while much of the future of the RCID remains unclear, Disney’s not leaving future developments totally up to chance.

The RCID Drama — The Basics

In case you’re not aware of the RCID drama, let us get you up to date! (If you’ve been keeping up with this news, you can scroll to the next section for the big update.)

Basically, for over 50 years the land on which Disney operates its theme parks in Orlando has been controlled by the RCID. It’s a special Florida district that was created a loooong time ago. The owner of the majority of the land that falls under the District is Disney so that gives Disney a LOT of control when it comes to picking board members, etc. for the RCID. And that leads to lots of control over the land in general on which Disney operates.

Essentially, think of the RCID (in a way) as its own local county. It can do a LOT of things like issue bonds, approve building codes, and more. But, the RCID could be dissolved soon.

When the Florida Parental Rights in Education Bill (what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) was passed into law in Florida, Disney issued a strong statement against the bill and said that it would work toward the bill’s repeal. That was met with heavy backlash from the Florida governor and other Florida politicians.

Soon after Disney’s statement, the bill to dissolve the RCID was swiftly passed and signed into law in what some view (and have expressed) as an act of retaliation against Disney.

Under the law, the district will be dissolved by June of 2023. But the bill does allow for districts impacted by it to be re-established.

Thus far, we’ve seen some politicians indicate that their belief is that the RCID could essentially be reestablished and give Disney many of the same powers. But, to make DeSantis “look good,” Disney could be stripped of some powers (like the ability to create a nuclear power plant) and/or a Governor-appointed representative could be added to the Board of Supervisors.

But, Governor DeSantis’ office hasn’t indicated that it’ll be all that easy. Instead, they seem to indicate that Disney will be stripped of WAY more control and Florida would take control. The powers of the District could also be revised, the selection process for the governing body could be revised, and there could be other changes.

At this moment, the future of the RCID is very much up in the air. So what’s Disney doing right now to protect their parks? Something very important!

The Big Update

There are 2 cities that fall under the RCID — Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake, Florida. On January 11th, both of these cities held a meeting on various agenda items. You can actually see the Lake Buena Vista agendas here and the Bay Lake agendas here.

During the meeting, they considered adopting a proposed ordinance that would impact Land Development Regulations in their cities. According to the Wall Street Journal, officials from both cities “approved a resolution to consider changing land-use regulations to accommodate the district’s comprehensive plan.”

Basically, the RCID adopted a comprehensive plan some time ago that provides for potential future developments. The updated 10-year plan was adopted back in May of 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Within the plan, the District leaves open the possibility for future developments within the District. Specifically, the plan opens the door for the potential development of 1 new MAJOR theme park (something along the lines of the 4 existing parks), 2 new MINOR theme parks (things like water parks or even something like the ESPN Wide World of Sports), and new hotel rooms.

Essentially, approving the plan for that future development was just the first step in any of those developments taking place. Getting land use regulations updated to allow for those developments is step 2. During that January 2023 meeting, the 2 cities within the District approved a resolution to consider changing the land use regulations so that they can allow for the future developments discussed in the comprehensive 10-year plan.

Will any of those future developments actually become a possibility? Maybe…or maybe not! The key here is more that Disney is making sure all of its doors are as open as possible for that future development to happen if they choose to move forward with it.

But why worry about that now? Well, there’s one big reason — the uncertainty of the RCID. If the RCID is ultimately dissolved and a district is created that gives Disney LESS control over its land, and that impacts the cities that fall under the RCID, then that could present more challenges to Disney in getting resolutions like this one passed.

Instead, it’s likely “better” for them to get things like this passed NOW when a more “friendly” group of officials is in place, rather than take the risk of who they could be dealing with in the future.

It’s like creating a contingency plan. If all of the proper approvals go into place now with the land use regulation adjustments, then Disney could be in a good position moving forward in case it does want to build that new major theme park or make more hotel rooms.

What Will Happen With the RCID?

The future of the RCID is very unclear. As we mentioned above, some had suggested that it could essentially be recreated with little changes. But DeSantis’ office seems to indicate differently.

Taryn Fenske, the communications director for DeSantis, sent an email recently that said “The corporate kingdom has come to an end.” Fenske continued, “Under the proposed legislation, Disney will no longer control its own government, will live under the same laws as everyone else, will be responsible for their outstanding debts, and will pay their fair share of taxes.”

The RCID does pay taxes so that wouldn’t necessarily be a huge change, but the “no longer control its own government” line seems key here. We expect some big announcements could be coming soon as the June 2023 date rapidly approaches.

Stay tuned for the latest updates and click the links below to see ALL the Reedy Creek news.

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