Central Florida Tourism Oversight District appointed by Ron DeSantis formally declares Disney's agreements with Reedy Creek to be null and void

Posted: Wednesday April 26, 2023 10:30am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board of Supervisors met today and declared the February 8, 2023, Development Agreement and Declaration of Restrictive Covenants entered into by the Reedy Creek Improvement District and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts void and unenforceable.

The Ron DeSantis appointed board met today to nullify Disney and RCID's February 8 agreements

Earlier this week, the board released pages of legislative findings regarding the February 8 agreements that the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District say makes them null and void.

Signed into effect on February 8, just as the Florida House passed the legislation to take control of Reedy Creek Improvement District, the new Developer Agreement gave Disney significant control of the RCID land and prevented the new board from making any changes to the agreement.

Chair of the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board Ron Garcia said during the meeting, "Disney picked the fight with his board. We were not looking for a fight." He continued, "Factual and legally, what they created is an absolute legal mess, and it will not work."

Today's vote to approve the findings now directs the litigation counsel to have Disney's agreements with Reedy Creek declared void and unenforceable and stricken from the public records of Orange and Osceola Counties.

Disney has not yet publically commented on these recent developments, and it remains unclear if it will challenge today's decision.

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flyakite23 hours ago

JohnD7 days ago

Disney Oversight District to Issue $175 Million in New Bonds for “Extremely Busy” Development at Walt Disney World (from BlogMickey) https://blogmickey.com/2025/06/disney-oversight-district-175-million-new-bonds/

JohnD11 days ago

Maybe it's short-term or good for one day. Doesn't work. Just saw this on Monday. You shared on Friday.

mkt13 days ago

Sadly, nothing in that surprises me. What Florida has become unfortunately and sadly reminds me of my years and Latin America. And not in a good way.

Batman'sParents14 days ago

There ya go: https://archive.ph/5rP8Z

JohnD15 days ago

Is there a non firewall version of the link?

flyakite15 days ago

In case anyone is curious, this Orlando Sentinel article discusses Craig Mateer, who is currently on the CFTOD Planning Board and was previously on the Board of Directors for 7 months. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/05/26/at-this-tallahassee-hotel-the-public-isnt-invited-desantis-advisers-are/ If someone can attach a non-firewall link, that would be appreciated.

mktMay 02, 2025

The free speech claim was federal, the land use claim was state.

mikejs78May 02, 2025

The federal case was not predicated on FL free speech law, it was based around 1st amendment jurisprudence and the US Constitution contract clause. The state case was based around state law but not speech state law.

Bullseye1967May 02, 2025

I am not sure of the actual filing and I will admit that I am too lazy to look through all the filings you posted, Thank you, but I think it was a claim on FL law and not Federal. The Sol on "free speech" in FL is 3 years, but it is not limited in USC, And if this is right, it was what I quoted above. The clock is ticking. A federal court can not take action on a state law case if SoL has expired.

JoeCamelMay 01, 2025

Saved them a bunch of cash

Chi84May 01, 2025

The State was happy with the way things were. For many, many years.

mikejs78May 01, 2025

My gut says that beginning in 2027 there will be legislation that slowly picks away at CFTOD and gradually returns control to Disney. It won't happen all at once - but I bet it will happen.