Disney World is twice the size of Manhattan.
It offers four theme parks, two water parks, over twenty resorts, and a downtown shopping district.
Sometimes it feels like Disney World is its own small country.
So it’s no surprise to learn that Walt Disney World has its own government.
It’s called the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
How did it come about, why did it come about, and should it continue to exist?
Back in May of 1967, Florida Governor Claude Kirk Jr signed new chapters of the Laws of
Florida that simultaneously created the city of Bay Lake, the city of Reedy Creek, and
the Reedy Creek Improvement District which would hold jurisdiction over both.
This district has far more governing power than normal, allowing for their own building
codes, called the EPCOT codes.
The district is also responsible for running their own services, such as fire stations,
EMS, power distribution, water treatment, waste disposal, and road maintenance.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District is able to fund these services through taxing the
landowners within the district, which happens to be Disney.
This means that Disney is largely able to fund the services that are crucial to the
operation of Walt Disney World without placing the financial burden onto the other taxpayers
of central Florida.
The district is governed by a five person board of supervisors who are elected into
their position by the landowners within the district.
Who again, is Disney.
Or specifically, it’s a set of trusted and loyal residents that Disney allows to live
on property.
This means that Disney is able to elect a board who will govern the district in a way
that benefits their needs as a resort.
On paper, Disney and the Reedy Creek Improvement District are two separate entities, but realistically
speaking, they’re one in the same.
The district was designed by Disney to operate in a way such that Disney would be able to
steer its direction unopposed.
So why did they go through all that trouble?
Afterall, Disneyland doesn’t need its own government to be successful.
Universal Studios Florida doesn’t.
So why does Disney World?
Well it’s rooted in the original plans for all of the land Disney bought up in secret:
EPCOT.
Walt had dreams of a functional city of the future that would act as an example for the
rest of the world to follow.
It was an idea born of the mid 1960s, when cities in America were facing a rise in crime
and a drop in quality of life.
EPCOT was meant to be a cutting edge city that would constantly be upgraded to showcase
and utilize new and exciting technology.
It would take advantage of new construction techniques, new modes of transportation, and
new methods of education for its younger residents.
All of this had Walt worried that the red tape of old bureaucratic building codes and
construction regulations would slow down that progress and at times put a stop to it.
He obviously wanted everything to be safe, but they wanted to go about it the Disney way.
So by forming the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney would have more than anything
else, the freedom to develop EPCOT how they saw fit.
Unfortunately Walt Disney would pass away in December of 1966, before he could realize
his dream of EPCOT.
Not only America, but most of the world, was in shock at the sudden loss of Walt.
He had been the face and voice of a studio that created classics for decades.
To many he was “Uncle Walt”, and a face they had come to see on TV every week during
the Disneyland TV show.
The world lost a beloved icon that December, and I mention all of this because I believe
it was significant to what would happen next.
Walt’s brother Roy would ultimately decide to lead the company and move forward with
the plans for Disney World, which would be renamed to Walt Disney World.
Internally there was hesitation as to whether or not Walt’s dream city of the future was
still possible, but externally the company was dedicated to making EPCOT a reality.
In order to do that though, they needed the freedom that the Reedy Creek Improvement District
would bring, and so it was petitioned to Governor Claude Kirk Jr.
Now for a moment let’s put ourselves in his shoes.
Disney has approached us with plans to build a cutting edge city of the future dreamed
up by the very man who came up with Tomorrowland.
Florida, which at the time wasn’t the tourism heavy hitter it is today, had the opportunity
of being the home of a city that the rest of the world would look to for inspiration
at a time where city life was gaining an especially bad reputation.
It would bring with it hundreds of millions of dollars of investment to the state not
to mention tens of thousands of jobs and multiple industries for EPCOT’s industrial park.
All Disney asked for in return was a specially legislated district to get the job done.
While the combination of powers was new, no individual power granted to the district would
be uncharted territory for Florida.
Lastly, the whole country was still facing the shock of losing the American icon behind
it all, the near universally loved Walt Disney.
It seemed like a no brainer, and so it’s no surprise that the legislation passed.
It passed unanimously without any debate in the Florida senate, and only saw one “no”
vote in the house.
The promise of an ideal city at a time when the US needed it, the shock of losing an American
legend, and the promise of economic prosperity for Florida created a perfect storm that gave
birth to the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
It’s history leaves us with numerous questions.
For one, should the Reedy Creek Improvement District still exist today?
The dream of EPCOT the city is long gone, and it’s clear that Disney intends to keep
the property mostly as a vacation resort.
They even went as far as to deannex the town of Celebration in the 1990’s in order to
make sure they didn’t lose any power over the district.
So why should Disney continue to have the freedom that the district brings?
Yet on the other hand, the district continues to allow Disney to shoulder the tax burden
of the various departments that service the resort, and Disney’s record for safety is
exemplary, so perhaps it’s easier to just leave it as-is.
It also raises the question of whether or not we could ever see something like this
happen again.
In today’s world I think it’s safe to say there is no one public figure so universally
loved as Walt Disney was at the time.
We’re far more distrusting of corporations than we were fifty years ago, and while less
developed areas might welcome the attention a company like Disney may bring, would a modern
state’s government grant them that much power without question?
I suspect the answer to that is no.
I believe that the Reedy Creek Improvement District is a product of its time, and just
one more reason why Walt Disney World stands out as a unique and one-of-a-kind experience.