Thread by @JLHomni

You asked so here are a few thoughts on Reedy Creek:

Below is a beautiful rendering by Ed French of Walt Disney World at its statistical zenith* during its 20th anniversary in 1991.
This was the convergence of several pivotal events in my life & the life of WDW Resort.
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It was then at the year at the ripe old age of 11 that started my intensive study of Walt's company which 31 yrs later has yet to cease.
Among my first tween-age discoveries was the marvels of WDW's government forensically titled the "Reedy Creek Improvement District"
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This definitively essential piece of legislation is THE reason Walt Disney World exists at all in any form in any state.
Beyond Walt's long-term intentions, the RCID took the wilderness of FL & transformed it into the most spectacular destination resort on the planet.
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The tiny town of Orlando could never have financed or constructed the infrastructure needed for the (then) 10 million+ visitors per year to the resort.
Nor could its building inspectors have the advanced knowledge needed to facilitate the building of a Vacation Kingdom.
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The RCID created the revolutionary "E.P.C.O.T. Building Codes" that (contrary to current belief) have code requirements that exceed those of the US government while allowing innovative architecture such as Castles to the sky, truly miraculous geospheres and so much more.
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I could go on and on about the many wonders that the RCID made possible but after 20 years of working with the company with equal time in its parks and resorts I have to be honest and state that for the last 25 years it's been horribly mismanaged.
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Without any truly independent oversight & long-term strategy beyond frequently re-locating wildlife preserves, the RCID hasn't provided Disney with a responsible growth plan. The zoning & approval of projects almost never considers the community impacts on Central Florida.
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Had some oversight existed, WDW guests would be having a substantially more satisfying experience now. There would be no need for Genie+, FP+ nor any other virtual queuing system. Hotels would be well-staffed & the surrounding businesses would be significantly better off.
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What does RCID have to do with all this? ZONING
It's safe to assume that sometime in the last 25 yrs of proposing over 5x more hotels than theme parks while also stripping parks of true capacity someone might have raised objections to these "Improvements" of the District.
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The massive imbalance of places to stay (hotels) and things to do (parks) has created a negative feedback loop where the resort struggles to fill rooms solves this problem by offering strategic discounts, bouncebacks, and free dining to stay full.
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This overpopulates parks that, while changing or enhancing existing offerings, haven't increased their overall capacity to entertain in many decades precipitating the creation of demand management systems that just present the illusion of a solution.
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This condition is the direct cause of 100's of indirect symptoms that have glacially decreased guest enjoyment, increase Disney's operational costs, and exacerbated Cast Member stress for half of WDW's 50-year existence.
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I'm by no means suggesting that Orange or Osceola Counties could have done it any better, but the RCID hasn't really done its job well either and the results although wide spread have become practically invisible.
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Now, thanks to a series of truly absurd events, the RCID faces potential obliteration. And the Disney "community" is treating the dissolution like a Russian invasion, or the dissolution of Walt Disney World itself.
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As if some Orange/Osceola oversight and Disney truly paying its fair share of taxes will shut down the world's #1 tourist destination. Walt Disney World is not going anywhere and its parks will continue to operate.
So please (for once) spare us the unjustified drama.
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I'm in the extreme minority but dissolving the RCID might just be the BEST thing for everyone...
For the state, for its residences, for the guests and even for The Walt Disney Company.
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For those who think I'm crazy for saying this, consult any world traveling Disney fan whose been to Anaheim, Paris and/or Tokyo. They will tell you these resorts better run, maintained and developed than WDW, and none of them have an RCID equivalent.
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WDW's development in the last 25 years has proven the principle that "Art thrives on restrictions". Without any oversight, WDW has devolved into what I heard it referred to as the Walmart Super Center while the rest of the world enjoys Nordstorms-level experiences.
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The instant rebuttal to this damning charge I (and many others) would give is to justify the low density of quality with the size of WDW and just how spread thin everything is. But almost no one asks why WDW makes more money than all those others and gets less for it?
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If anything, I don't think that dissolving the RCID goes far enough because the answer to that question is WDW finances A LOT of the company's initiatives that exist far outside of the State essentially taking guests' dollars to improve things they don't get to enjoy.
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As for what will really happen in the next 11 months? Anyone claiming to know the exact course of action shouldn't be taken too seriously. But I would like to dispel a few rumors, starting with the tax burden....
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@RonDeSantisFL has made it Very Clear "don't let anyone tell you that somehow Disney's going to get a tax cut out of this they're going to pay more taxes as a result" there will be NO shifting of TWDC taxes to Orange/Osceola county residences.
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Because of the language of the law, the ONLY entities absorbing the tax burden are "whoever" ;-) owns these homes in Bay Lake (L) and Lake Buena Vista (R)
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Also in that same video @RonDeSantisFL has made it quite clear that despite the circumstances he would have dissolved the RCID when he came into office regardless of any past or current actions of TWDC.
To him (and others) this is about unfair advantage NOT retaliation.
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In case I wasn't completely clear at the beginning of this post, I LOVE The Walt Disney Company with all my heart and soul.
And that is the reason why I stand against anyone inside or outside the company that puts its future (and perhaps importantly) its legacy into peril.
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I will never join any absurdly broad #BoycottDisney effort and I am ashamed of ALL my favorite non-Left influencers for their lack of nuance in this issue.
To them: While your intentions are righteous (!), your cancel culture-like approach is very very wrong.
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I have a lot more to say about this, but for now, I'll leave it to Walt to give some sound advice to the RCID and the company that bears his name:

"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."
— Walt Disney
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Statistical Zenith*

I misspoke as the park technically had its greatest value between July & October 1992.

The proof for this is found in my economic study of the Magic Kingdom (the results are similar in other parks if not worse)

jlhomnimedia.com/mk-econ