Ron DeSantis' New Disney Board Sparks Fury From Key Supporters

A decision from the newly created Disney board appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis has sparked outrage from a group of key supporters who backed his takeover of the Disney district in the first place.

Disney World's firefighters are furious with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District—the re-branded Reedy Creek board—for stripping district workers of their free passes and discounts to theme park resorts.

During last week's board meeting, a group of current and retired firefighters expressed their disappointment over the move, saying it makes park visits unaffordable and takes away one of the major reasons that many of them chose to work there.

"This benefit is intangible and generational," Pete Simon, a firefighter for the district who said the ability to take his three daughters to Disney were one of the top three reasons he chose to take the job, said on August 23. "We have retirees, some of them here today, that work their entire careers and earned this benefit for the rest of their lives. This allows me to bring my children to the parks and eventually my grandchildren."

As part of Disney and DeSantis public feud over the state's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, which limits classroom discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity and which the governor signed into law March 2022, DeSantis revoked the special status of Disney's Reedy Creek district in what was largely seen as a retaliatory move against the entertainment giant.

Newsweek reached out to DeSantis via email for comment.

The Walt Disney Company was originally given governmental control over its sprawling 25,000 acres in Orange and Osceola counties in 1967, which allowed Disney to take responsibility for municipal services, including power, water, roads and fire protection, of the district and freed the company from having to pay taxes that benefited the broader public. The Reedy Creek district was dissolved in June.

The union that represents Disney's first responders had initially come out in support of DeSantis' plan for the state to assume control of the district.

"We've got our faith in the governor that we're going to be around and that it's going to be a better place to work. We really hope that this new board will bring the morale up for Reedy Creek [and] will make us an elite emergency services department again," Tim Stromsnes, communications director of the Reedy Creek Professional Firefighters Local 2117, told the Orlando Sentinel in January. "Anything has got to be better than what we currently have."

But those same workers are now speaking out against the board's five new members and blasting them for going back on their word about ensuring that workers would be able to keep their jobs and benefits.

"When the district changed hands last year, we were told that our jobs and our benefits were safe. The district would continue on with a new charter, a new name, a new board and a new administration—and we welcomed that change," Simon said.

"We were promised that this new administration was going to make this place better, was going to run it better, was going to get us all the resources that we've been needing because we were getting nowhere with the previous administration," he continued. "All we've seen and heard are cuts. Cuts to budget, cuts to possible staffing, cuts to maintenance and now cuts to benefits."

Simon said the removal of the passes marked the "first brick being pulled in the dismantling of the district" and that his only question on the matter was, "What's next?"

Newsweek reached out to Reedy Creek Professional Firefighters Local 2117 via email for comment.