Board members selected by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to oversee Walt Disney World’s special governing district say they have been made ineffective by a contract with a royal clause.
Disney controlled the Reedy Creek Improvement District until new legislation gave the governor authority over who runs it. This came after Disney opposed the state’s controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
However, the new board says it has been stripped of many of its powers by restrictive covenants that cite King Charles III. It is now hiring lawyers to settle the issue.
“We’re going to have to deal with it and correct it,” board member Brian Aungst said at a public meeting (via BBC).
The previous Disney-controlled board approved a development agreement on 8 February, the day before the Florida legislature voted to give DeSantis control of the district.
The new Central Florida Tourism Oversight, which is run by a five-member board named by DeSantis, says the agreement passed by the former board gives Disney total power of development of the theme park area.
According to the declaration, the agreement is valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England”.
In a statement, Disney said “all agreements signed between Disney and the district were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums”.
New board hiring lawyers
Disney made an enemy of DeSantis after criticising Florida’s ‘Parental Rights in Education’ bill, which was signed by the governor in April 2022.
“Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” the Walt Disney Company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Disney has reportedly eliminated its metaverse division just over a year after announcing it, in the first of a planned three rounds of layoffs.
Images: Disney
