Did Polling Change Disney’s Mind about Reedy Creek?
When The Walt Disney Company found itself in a tiff with Florida’s elected officials, everyone expected a legal showdown.
Then, when the state’s representatives filed the paperwork for changes in the Reedy Creek Improvement District charter, Disney adopted a conciliatory tone.
Many fans expressed annoyance if not outright fury over Disney’s choice to play nice.
Some fans wanted a fight, as did many of those same Florida elected officials.
However, a new report from The Wrap suggests that Disney may have reason to lay down its arms and accept the new normal.
Did polling change Disney’s mind about a Reedy Creek fight? Here’s what we know.
About the Reedy Creek Fight
Last year, Florida legislators did more than threaten Disney with the dissolution of Reedy Creek Improvement District.
The representatives voted for this action as well. Once the governor signed the bill into law, Reedy Creek’s time as an entity appeared limited.
In the summer of 2023, Reedy Creek should have dissolved, replaced by a new district under the control of Florida’s government.
Since the 1960s, Disney has acted autonomously with almost all its Central Florida developments. This one action threatened to end everything.
Thankfully, Florida’s politicians weren’t idiots. They understood that their new legislation hadn’t involved much research.
The thing about government entities that are 50+ years old is that they’re rooted in everything that surrounds them.
As we later learned, dissolving Reedy Creek was a very bad idea. Taxpayers in Central Florida would have owed $1 billion for expenses Disney had incurred.
For the body of a year, Florida officials weighed ideas for ending Reedy Creek without absolving Disney of $1 billion in debt.
Ultimately, nobody could uncover a viable solution around that problem. In fact, it proved integral to the continued existence of Reedy Creek.
Now, Florida officials have once again voted against Disney. However, the new terms don’t include the dissolution of Reedy Creek.
Instead, Florida has renamed this entity as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which sounds imposing. In truth, it’s a half-measure.
Disney maintains virtually all its existing abilities in the district. The catch is that Florida’s government decides who sits on the board of the new entity.
Given the way the situation looked a year ago, that’s an optimal outcome for the Mouse. In fact, most initial headlines suggested Disney had won.
Since then, the headlines have changed to entice more clicks, but that’s the gist. Status quo isn’t sexy.
Did Disney Underreact to the New Legislation?
Frankly, Disney journalists have written too much about Reedy Creek, as it’s proven to be mostly overblown.
In fact, even this article from The Wrap includes a section called, “It’s all theater,” something I’ve said multiple times here.
Still, people keep asking about Reedy Creek and what Disney plans to do about the problem.
Again, I don’t perceive anything about the change as a problem, at least not in the short term. Disney has maintained most layers of control.
How much Florida’s government interferes in the future will decide whether the move proves troublesome later. For now, I describe it as much ado about nothing.
As such, what people perceive as Disney underreacting to the lawsuit better reflects the fact that not much happened.
That’s not what many people believe about the situation, though. So, we keep providing updates whenever something new arises.
In this instance, a reporter for The Wrap has acquired surprising internal polling data from Disney.
This new information explains a lot about Disney’s borderline apathetic reaction to the legislative change.
Did Polling Change Disney’s Mind?
According to The Wrap, Disney performed internal polling to determine whether it should push back against Florida’s government.
Again, many attorneys believe that Disney could win a court case against this new legislation, as the representatives said too much about the rationale for their actions.
While Disney is usually quite litigious, it hasn’t threatened any such action here. Why is that?
Apparently, Disney’s polling suggested that it has two demographic weaknesses developing.
You can probably guess one of them. There’s an old maxim that people grow more conservative as they get older.
The data from the 2022 United States election suggests that people aged 50+ are 10-14 points more likely to vote Republican than Democrat.
Not coincidentally, Disney’s polling suggested that it had dropped in popularity in the 50+ demographic.
That makes sense from the perspective that certain headlines recite what Florida’s Republican governor prefers they say. So, those news cycles reinforce and repeat the criticisms of Disney.
Disney could probably live with losing a small part of that demographic. One of the open secrets in marketing is that the 18-49 demographic matters more than all the rest combined.
That brings us to the real problem Disney faced. The same polling indicated a second, more alarming weakness.
Parents with small children indicated that Disney’s constant theme park price increases had alienated these potential customers.
In short, Bob Chapek’s decisions as CEO had been as Bob Iger had feared. They had pushed some members of that coveted 18-49 demographic away from Disney.
If Iger and his team chose to battle Florida’s government in court, it’d face another wave of negative headlines.
Some of them would be political in nature, but virtually all would mention the price increases at the parks. Disney absolutely did not want that stigma.
What Happens Next?
Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle posted a PR statement about the new Reedy Creek changes.
Those words suggested that Disney plans to work within the confines of the modified district rules.
Disney’s polling spelled out that path as smarter than publicly waging war with Florida’s governor, who probably spends the next year or so running for President of the United States.
However, Disney possesses another motive here, one casually mentioned by The Wrap and also something I stated here last week.
The change in Reedy Creek’s panel composition comes with a hidden benefit for Disney…and potentially a lucrative one.
Disney couldn’t develop that land for fear of losing control of the vote in Reedy Creek. Now that this panel is someone else’s responsibility, options open.
According to The Wrap, “Disney can sell residential plots, something it is actually considering.”
That’s a lucrative way to monetize currently unused portions of Reedy Creek. And I suspect that may be the hidden issue driving most of Disney’s decision-making.
Iger and his executives understand politics enough to know that the over-50 crowd is a problem.
Meanwhile, Disney is working hard to apologize to potential theme park guests, especially parents with small children.
Enticing the next generation of travelers to make Disney vacations a habit matters much more.
Still, Disney is performing 7,000 layoffs while engaging in protracted negotiations with unionized cast members. It could use more money.
This land in the Reedy Creek sections could prove extremely lucrative. And it’s also a place where Disney could build more revenue-generating resorts and experiences!
So, what you’re reading about Reedy Creek in other headlines isn’t necessarily what’s happening behind the scenes.
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Feature Photo: Fox Business