How Disney World Struck a Deal With Florida to Govern Itself

When you’re in Disney World, lost in the eerily self-contained universe of its vast theme parks, it can be hard to see that you’re also in the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special governance zone that gives the Walt Disney Company powers very like those of a county government. In April, Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature passed a bill that would do away with Reedy Creek. But dissolving the district may result in a host of unfortunate consequences. On episode 48 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene discuss the surprising past and uncertain future of Disney’s Reedy Creek with Jacob Schumer, a lawyer in Maitland, Florida, and Richard Foglesong, a historian and political scientist and the author of Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando.

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