Disney issues statement in response to court case dismissal against Ron DeSantis and CFTOD and vows to 'press forward'

Jan 31, 2024 in "Reedy Creek Improvement District"

Posted: Wednesday January 31, 2024 3:05om ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Following today's significant legal development in which a U.S. District Court in Florida dismissed a lawsuit filed by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other state officials, Disney says that it is "determined to press forward with our case."

In a statement released following the court case's dismissal, a Disney spokesperson told WDWMAGIC:

This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law, and it will not end here. If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with. We are determined to press forward with our case.

Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Chairman Martin Garcia released the following statement:

I'm delighted that this lawsuit, which was nothing more than a distraction, is now behind us. Our board and the district will now continue to make the appropriate changes to operate and function as an independent government agency to promote transparency and accountability while bringing more prosperity to more people in Florida.

Team Disney Orlando

Earlier this afternoon, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida dismissed the lawsuit filed by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other officials. The lawsuit challenged legislative changes that stripped Disney of its control over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD), alleging that these changes were retaliatory and violated Disney's First Amendment rights. The court ruled that Disney lacked standing to sue the Governor and the Secretary of Florida’s Department of Commerce and dismissed Disney's claims against the CFTOD board members on the merits, stating that a facially constitutional statute cannot be challenged based on alleged unconstitutional motives of lawmakers.

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MR.Dis8 days ago

To give an example, I am retired from JP Morgan Chase, the provider of Disney Visa charge cards. I was eligible to purchase WDW and Disneyland tickets thru a portal for 20% off the rack rate. I do not know if that is still the case. While I was an annual pass holder purchasing thru DVC, I would purchase tickets for my kids when they visited WDW with their families. It was a significant savings.

flyakite8 days ago

Should anyone be interested and would like to attend:

michmousefan21 days ago

cranbiz22 days ago

Not really a distortion of facts. Yes, RCID was a legally a separate entity from TWDC. In reality, it was controlled by WDW, which is why DeSantis had a hard on for getting revenge on TWDC for "don't say gay" and other woke policies by trying to revoke the district. He couldn't do that for many reasons so he got the law changed to appoint his own governing board. As we know, that really did fail miserably and there is now a board that is not antagonistic towards Disney. There is a charge for those benefits to the third party entities in some way, shape or form. WDW doesn't give anything away for free. RCID (and many third party operating participants) pay for those benefits (usually at a very reduced rate). So, in the case of RCID, Disney paid for those benefits through it's tax assessments because RCID has no income of it's own except for income received from it's taxpayers (of which TWDC is it's largest and majority taxpayer). So, what I said was true. WDW paid for the benefits granted by RCID to it's employees and RCID, by granting those benefits paid WDW back for them. This keeps everything legal. Yes, CFTOD wanted to stick it to Disney by refusing to pay WDW for those benefits, which in turn stuck it to the employees. RCID and CFTOD employees were never WDW Cast Members, they were employees of RCID or are/were employees of CFTOD.

LAKid5322 days ago

It takes little time to release a completed report. Unless that report didn't say exactly what you wanted it to say....

LAKid5322 days ago

Governor's office receives a FOIA (govt in the Sunshine) request... "What's sunshine?" 🙄

LAKid5322 days ago

🤫

LAKid5322 days ago

Florida statute says state records are open to the public. It doesn't say how quickly agencies have to provide the info. When I worked for various state agencies, we tried getting the requested info as quickly as possible. If it was a state legislator or governor's office, yesterday wasn't fast enough. 😉

LAKid5322 days ago

Bingo

Chi8422 days ago

So they had to ferret it out as opposed to the government releasing it to the news agencies. That’s understandable. Those requests can take a surprisingly long time to fulfill.

Stripes22 days ago

WKMG submitted a public records request. That request was just recently fulfilled and the document released. WKMG hasn’t said when they submitted the request.

Unbanshee22 days ago

Lol, you must be new here. The state doesn't like to "live in the sunshine" when it comes to matters that the esteemed governor finds personally difficult

Chi8422 days ago

The memo is dated June 21. Reporting on it the day after Christmas seems to be the definition of “old news.” Although it could be that Florida dragged its feet releasing it for some reason.