Florida has been home to Walt Disney World for decades, but why was the popular entertainment resort built there in the first place?
Walt Disney very intentionally chose Lake Buena Vista, Florida as the place where millions would flock to enjoy the resort. Sunny weather, an abundance of space (at the time), and well-connected roads did influence Disney’s choice of location. However, these were not the primary factors behind his decision. The area where Disney World resides, known as Reedy Creek, is a special zone that the company has benefited from for decades.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District is a special purpose district established through state law in 1967. The creation of Reedy Creek was the primary incentive for Walt Disney to choose the state of Florida as the home of the largest of his world-reknowned theme parks.
What makes the Reedy Creek Improvement District so special is that it gives the Walt Disney Company control over a zone that encompasses 25,000 acres of land. Within this zone, Disney has the right to bypass normal legal proceedings, and there are special tax exemptions.
In exchange, Disney had to turn Reedy Creek from an empty swamp to a place people could inhabit by providing services such as power, water, a road network, and fire protection. According to a tax collector, Walt Disney Company has charged itself roughly $53 million a year in taxes to pay off what it had to provide in the deal.
“The cooperation and commitment between the Reedy Creek Improvement District and Walt Disney World Company is as strong today as it was when the District was created in 1967,” according to the Reedy Creek website. “The result is an example of how a working partnership between business and government can be prosperous for both sides.”
As of June 2023, the Reedy Creek Improvement District Act that gave Disney special governing powers was dissolved by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. However, Walt Disney World still resides within the 25,000-district Reedy Creek District.
“The corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” DeSantis said during a news conference in 2023. “There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.”
The bill to dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District was signed into law by DeSantis in 2022 and took effect in June 2023. As part of the bill, there is now a five-person state board to oversee the municipal services that Disney once provided.
DeSantis said that his rationale for wanting to dissolve the special district was that it allowed the park to skirt certain taxes and building codes. In the 1970s, Florida needed Walt Disney World, but in the 2020s that is not the case, and DeSantis wanted to make that clear. As a result, he waged a war against the Walt Disney Company and removed their special powers within the Reedy Creek District.
