You needn't have revised the beginning history of Disney's presence in Florida. The state did not "practically give" Disney a single square inch of land. In fact, Disney himself set up a big series of shell companies to purchase many many acres of productive citrus groves (not swampland like Disney likes to say) from unsuspecting private land owners at base prices. The state had nothing to do with either the selling or the buying. Disney's name was left out of almost all of it, mostly to keep price speculation down and the purchases as secret as possible. Much of the land was purchased from a certain Dr Phillips, a name well known to most Orlando residents, as he was at one time the developer of the largest grove acreage in Florida. There were a number of ideas who was buying the land, including Ford for a possible new production plant, and IBM, as a relatively unknown growing side industry in Orlando included technical support for the space industry just east of us. There was also speculation about the feds buying for some unknown purpose, maybe a new military base. There were all sorts of wild ideas, Disney among them.CentralTexasCrude wrote: ↑Sun Apr 24, 2022 11:32 pm Totally disagree. What, 55 years ago, Florida practically gave Disney several square miles of their state, allowed them 5 decades of low tax status and other perks. It was good for Disney and it was good for Florida. I wonder what profit Disney World has accrued over almost 6 decades ($500 Billion?). Not Florida's fault Disney (and many other Corps) went all political and "woke". Once these Corps decided to go down that path and stick their noses into things that shouldn't concern them, they are fair game. The "woke" culture seemed so easy a few years ago. Now they'll see the costs. They need to learn the lesson. STFU, make and present your products and see if the public will buy it. That's it. That's your whole existence- nothing else.
Walt's idea was not so much a theme park or two (there are now four theme parks that make up WDW), but his own city: Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, ie EPCOT. This was supposed to be a fully functioning closed city of people who would live and work there, and not the current theme park with the shiny geodesic dome in the middle. In Florida, cities in part are their own taxing and development districts, and for Disney to have his own city, he'd need that district. And the state did not hesitate to give him one. As it turned out, EPCOT did turn into just another theme park, but there are two fully functional cities (actually small towns) inside the district, so it isn't a complete bust. Disney has used the district to their full advantage, as their park infrastructure and the speed which it can be built is beyond anything the county could provide. You can easily see that when you drive along a road inside the district, see how clean and smooth it is, and how different the road is when it leaves into the county. How fast Disney can get a structure planned and built, as they have their own planning and code department. And they build way beyond state and local code. They have their own fire department (they contract with the Orange County Sheriff's Dept for actual police), and their own electrical and plumbing departments, and much more. Without the district, none of that is possible, Universal and SeaWorld have nothing like it, and is a big part of Disney's success here in the Central Florida region.
And another thing, isn't this what you wanted with Citizen's United? Giving corporations their full 1A rights like any individual citizen, without any of the drawbacks of having those rights? This isn't just the story of the state's largest employer in a fight with the governor. It's the story of a company that has basically dictated its presence in the state by working both sides of the aisle from the beginning. They give to both the Republicans and the Democrats, but now much more to the Republicans, and have the largest lobbyist organization in the state, above even the NRA and agricultural interests. Just last year, DeSantis and the state legislature was perfectly willing to give Disney a special carve-out on a state media provisions bill. Do you subscribe to Disney+? You helped pay for that. Disney gives out campaign checks, hotel rooms, park tickets, and all sorts of special favors to the state and local governments, which should be illegal and unethical but somehow isn't. Those campaign checks go in large part to the very same people who put this "Don't Say Gay" bill up for DeSantis' signature, and they were very happy to take them.
DIsney has for years had a significant part of their employee base in LGBQ+ folks. It's a wonderfully free place to be openly different. Their annual Gay Days gives a good injection of income every year into Disney and the local economy along with a veneer of shiny happy people. Yet Disney cuts checks to the legislature that concerns itself with a "woke" company. They weren't worried about that "woke" company before, until Disney cut off the check writing and gift giving for slapping at a good portion of their employees. In fact, the legislators reveled in it, all fat and happy as long as the checks and gifts keep coming. But the moment Disney stops with all that... Well, now you see the aftermath.
My own belief is that DeSantis and the legislature will forgive and forget soon enough, the DSG bill will be gutted or reversed, and everything will go back to normal. Likely Disney will keep their district, or a court will let them keep it. In the current environment, neither Orange or Osceola County can assume the district and its dept, and the legislature will not allow those counties and Disney to negotiate a new and similar district.
What? Is that the dressing in costumes or the prancing between rides part?
