A tourism board created by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) gave an initial green light Wednesday to a major development deal valued at up to $17 billion with Walt Disney Co., the latest indication that the feud between Florida’s government and one of its largest employers has officially cooled off.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District voted unanimously in favor of the expansion, which will be one of Disney’s largest investments in its Orlando-area theme parks in years. A final vote will take place next Wednesday.
“We’re heading towards a brand-new day, and I think we’re all very excited about where this is going,” said the board’s vice chairman, Charbel Barakat. “I only wish we could have gotten here sooner, but I’m glad we’re getting here today.”
The détente between Disney and DeSantis has taken hold since the tourism board agreed to drop its lawsuit against the company in March. In exchange, the entertainment giant relinquished some control over its 25,000-acre property and dropped its own lawsuit over public records from the district. Disney is still appealing a federal lawsuit dismissed in January alleging that DeSantis violated the company’s First Amendment rights, but agreed to hit pause for the time being.
The planned developments in Florida include “up to $17 billion” over the next 10 to 20 years, according to an agenda published before Wednesday’s meeting. The development is governed by a 15-year agreement that Disney brokered with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board, which is composed of DeSantis appointees.
As part of the deal, Disney committed to ensuring that at least half of the project spending is with Florida businesses and to allocating at least $10 million over 10 years to affordable-housing projects. A proposal cited in the agenda designates 17,000 acres for the total project at Walt Disney World Resort.
Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, said the political calculations for DeSantis may have changed after he ended his presidential campaign and returned full time to Florida.
“The glare of the national spotlight of running for president has dimmed. And the fact that Disney is vitally important to the Florida economy reemerged into the discussion,” Jewett said. “You can’t afford politically or economically to be at war with one of the most important companies in your state. So I think that, finally, cooler heads have prevailed.”
The feud erupted in March 2022 when then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek criticized an education law championed by DeSantis that was dubbed “don’t say gay” by opponents. The governor then decried Disney for what he said were its attempts to “indoctrinate” children with “woke content.”
DeSantis led state lawmakers in dissolving a 50-year-old special taxing district called Reedy Creek, which had been created at the behest of Walt Disney when he started to build his sprawling theme park in Central Florida in 1967. The governor said the change was needed to “create a level playing field” and not treat Disney as a special entity.
“They are not superior to the laws that are enacted by the people of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at the time.
DeSantis formed his own board of handpicked appointees to run the replacement district, and for most of the past two years, the fight between the governor and Disney played out publicly.
Disney entered into an agreement with the outgoing Reedy Creek board to sharply curtail the power that the new DeSantis-controlled board would have over development. Meanwhile, DeSantis joked about having the power to build a prison on Disney property, or even a competing theme park. He made his fight against Disney a pillar of his failed run for president.
Disney sued the state in federal court, saying it had violated the company’s First Amendment rights to speak out against the government. The judge in the case ruled against the company, and Disney has until this month to decide whether it will appeal.
Meanwhile, the company is going ahead with plans that may include a fifth theme park in Florida.
“We all had to watch this play out, and it probably delayed some of Disney’s plans a bit, but ultimately, they both recognized that they’re stronger together and that’s what’s best for Florida,” said Republican former state senator Jeff Brandes, who voted against dissolving Reedy Creek. “Disney wants to spend billions of dollars in Florida to upgrade their facilities and their parks, and I think Florida wants them to do that.”
Disney representative Woody Rodriguez spoke in support of the agreement Wednesday, saying that it will enable the company to continue to make investments “to the benefit of all parties.”
DeSantis’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the deal between Disney and the tourism board.
Bob Iger, who returned as Disney’s CEO in 2022 while the feud with DeSantis was growing, characterized the governor’s actions against the company during the spat as “not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida.”
Since Iger came back to the company, he has overseen an expansion of its digital business through Disney Plus, with the company launching several successful shows and purchasing the streaming platform Hulu. It added more than 6 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2024, according to a recent financial report.
Its stock price is up nearly 12 percent in 2024.
But theme parks are still the best-performing part of the business, Iger told investors at a May 15 conference. The company’s domestic theme parks brought in $5.96 billion in the three months ending March 30, reflecting a 7 percent gain over the same quarter last year. Revenue from international parks surged 29 percent over the same period.
“I looked at the return on invested capital in our parks and resorts unit over my tenure really, and it was extraordinary,” Iger said. “Why not invest in the business that has the highest returns?”
Not all of Disney’s brick-and-mortar investments have panned out. It pulled the plug on an immersive Star Wars-themed Orlando hotel less than two years after it opened, and last May it scuttled a planned development at Lake Nona Town Center in Orange County over “new leadership and changing business conditions.”
Still, Iger has emphasized that Disney is looking at a few of its parks “to place some pretty big bets on.”
In September Disney announced plans to nearly double the amount of capital it devotes to theme parks and cruises, through a $60 billion, 10-year investment plan. It said it has more than 1,000 acres of land for possible future expansion and pointed to U.S. theme parks in Anaheim, Calif., and Orlando, as well as international locations including Paris and Tokyo.
The company has offered few specifics on what it plans to build. Theme park offerings in eight or 10 years could mirror which Disney shows or movies are popular at the time, Iger said.
Brandes, who likened Disney and DeSantis to a squabbling couple who will never get divorced, said both sides will now declare a win and move on.
“Everybody’s going back to their respective corners,” he said. “They know what’s best for everybody is for them to figure a way forward.”
