Meeker mouse: After settlement with state, Disney will no longer dictate destiny in Florida
The Walt Disney Company will no longer control its own destiny in Florida. That is the bottom line of a settlement agreement reached Wednesday by the entertainment giant and a supervisory board appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which have been locked in a court battle since last year.
For more than half a century, the company acted as its own government within the 25,000 acres of land encompassing its Walt Disney World park borders in Orange and Osceola counties. It was remarkable power for a private enterprise.
That authority was eroded last year when the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature renamed a Disney-run special tax district and gave DeSantis the power to appoint its governing board members. Disney sued the DeSantis administration in federal court claiming its planned $17 billion investment in Walt Disney World over the next decade was at stake, as well as the 13,000 new jobs the investment would create.
Now, after a federal judge ruled against Disney in January, the company is pausing an appeal while it negotiates a new land development deal with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District governed by DeSantis’ handpicked board.
The settlement announced Wednesday also ends two state lawsuits related to the dispute.
DeSantis claimed victory against the company on Wednesday while speaking in Orlando at the Orange County state attorney’s office.
“A year ago, people were trying to act like all these legal maneuverings are all going to succeed against the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “And the reality is, here we are a year later and not one of them has succeeded. Every action that we’ve taken has been upheld in full.”
But there are nuances to DeSantis’ win. For one thing, the board governing the taxing district just got a little bit friendlier towards Disney, after its chairman, Martin Garcia, resigned on March 13. Garcia had been critical of Disney in its feud with the board.
DeSantis replaced Garcia with Craig Mateer on Tuesday. Mateer sold an Orlando baggage-handling company Bags Inc. for $275 million in 2018, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Mateer “is someone involved in the tourism industry,” said Richard Foglesong, a retired Rollins College professor who has written a book about Orlando’s relationship with Disney and is working on a second about its dispute with DeSantis. “And that raises a red flag.”
Foglesong said that when lawmakers looked again at the governing district last year, they determined “persons connected to the tourism industry couldn’t, shouldn’t be appointed to the board.”
“And yet this happened with him,” Foglesong said about Mateer. “And my guess is that’s one reason why Disney was willing to come back to the negotiation table and settle with the state. Because they saw the appointment of Mr. Mateer to that oversight board as a good sign that the board would be kind to Disney.”
Matthew Oberly, district director of external affairs, responded by email: “No, there is no conflict — it makes sense to appoint someone familiar with the tourism industry.”
Wednesdays’ settlement ends a longstanding feud over the state’s 2022 Parental Right in Education Act limiting what teachers can say about gender and sexuality in their classrooms that has been dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by opponents.
Disney had spoken out against the law and then sued DeSantis over what it claimed was retaliation for exercising its First Amendment right to express itself.
“The conflict was foolish to begin with,” said Foglesong. “It was dangerous for Disney to become involved in this kind of war... It has the possibility of turning their market against them.”
The governing board on Wednesday appointed Stephanie Kopelousos, a former legislative and intergovernmental affairs director for DeSantis, to become administrator of the Disney district. Kopelousos had worked closely with Disney during her tenure working for the governor, according to the New York Times. She replaces Glen Gilzean, who was appointed by DeSantis on March 4 as the Orange County Supervisor of Elections.
The news of the settlement was announced at Wednesday’s board meeting of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District by Vice Chair Charbel Barakat.
“I’m very much pleased by this development,” Barakat said. “With this settlement, which is complete and significant, we are eager to work with Disney.”
Walt Disney Resort President Jeff Vahle said in a statement the company was “pleased to put an end to all litigation pending in state court in Florida between Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.”
Vahle added it opened “a new chapter of constructive engagement with the new leadership of the district and serves the interests of all parties by enabling significant continued investment and the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and economic opportunity” in Florida.
Information from News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
Herald/Times staff writers Lawrence Mower and Romy Ellenbogen contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 27, 2024 at 2:26 PM.