A tourism board appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave an initial approval to the Disney expansion.
A tourism board created by Gov. Ron DeSantis gave an initial greenlight 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 détente between Disney and DeSantis has been gathering momentum 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
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.
Disney entered into an agreement with the outgoing Reedy Creek board to sharply curtail the power 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.
DeSantis’s office did not return requests for comment on the development deal between Disney and the tourism board.Bob Iger, who returned as Disney’s CEO in 2022 while the feud with DeSantis was growing,DeSantis’s actions against the company during the spat as “not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida.”
Still, Iger has emphasized that Disney is looking at a few of its parks"to place some pretty big bets on.”
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