Disney on Wednesday capitulated in its long-running legal battle against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — handing a victory to the Republican in the high-stakes fight over a $17 billion planned development at the company’s theme park near Orlando.
The Mouse House agreed to a settlement that gives up its self-governing powers over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which was dissolved by DeSantis in 2022 after the company opposed his “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Disney had controlled the special tax district for decades.
As part of the deal, Bob Iger’s Disney also agreed to drop a lawsuit over access to public records and defer briefings in a federal lawsuit it filed against DeSantis as the two sides try to reach a consensus on a new development agreement for Walt Disney World, among other matters.
“This agreement opens a new chapter of constructive engagement with the new leadership of the district,” Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle said.
DeSantis took a victory lap after the stunning turn of events, saying his administration was “vindicated” by the settlement with one of Florida’s biggest employers following the two-year feud.
“A year ago people were trying to act like all these legal maneuvers were all going to succeed, and the reality is here we are a year later, not one of them has succeeded,” DeSantis told reporters in Orlando.
“Every action that we’ve taken has been upheld in full, and the state is better off for it.”
But Disney could also claim a victory of sorts after DeSantis agreed to appoint board members to the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District who are seen as sympathetic to the company.
Since the takeover last year, the district has faced an exodus of experienced staffers, with many in exit surveys complaining that the governing body has been politicized since the changeover.
Just this month, the district’s administrator, Glen Gilzean, left to become a county elections supervisor at half the $400,000 salary he was earning at the district, and the district’s DeSantis-appointed board chairman, Martin Garcia, departed the following week.
In their place, DeSantis on Tuesday appointed Orlando businessman Craig Mateer to the board and board members on Wednesday approved former DeSantis advisor Stephanie Kopelousos to be the district’s new administrator.
Mateer, a donor to DeSantis campaigns, previously had been appointed by the governor to the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority and the Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system.
Kopelousos was director of legislative affairs for DeSantis.
She also had served as secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation under then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and was a former county manager in northeast Florida.
Garcia was a vocal critic of Disney and his replacement by Mateer, who is well-known in Orlando tourism and business circles, may have made Disney comfortable enough with the board to reach an agreement, said Richard Foglesong, a Rollins College professor emeritus who wrote a definitive book on Walt Disney World’s governance.
Board member Charbel Barakat said the board was looking forward to taking a more cooperative approach with the entertainment giant.
“We are eager to work with Disney,” Barakat said after the settlement deal was approved.
