The litigation between Disney and Ron DeSantis is coming to an end as the House of Mouse has agreed to drop their lawsuits.
At the center of today's big news, Disney has agreed to drop their lawsuits against the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the hand-picked board of Governor Ron DeSantis who has been at "war" with Disney for the last two years.
The entire thing started when Disney spoke out against the "Don't Say Gay" law that DeSantis implemented in Florida schools. The former Reedy Creek Board was taken over by the CFTOD under DeSantis and Disney no longer controlled their own property so to speak.
Today's announcement will take a while to digest as it is unclear what Disney is actually gaining from dropping their lawsuits. Disney will no longer contest the board's decision to overturn previous agreements made by the previous Reedy Creek board prior to DeSantis' intervention.
Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle released the following statement.
"“We are pleased to put an end to all litigation pending in state court in Florida between Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
“This agreement opens a new chapter of constructive engagement with the new leadership of the district and serves the interests of all parties by enabling significant continued investment and the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and economic opportunity in the State,” "
So what does Disney get out of what appears, on the surface, to be a complete cave-in to the current DeSantis board? That is unclear.
DeSantis released a statement about the decisions earlier when he said "We have been vindicated on all those actions." "I'm glad, he said, that they were able to do the settlement, those 11th-hour covenants and restrictions were never going to be valid. We knew that."
Perhaps Disney realized that they were fighting a battle that simply wasn't going to be won anytime soon.
Disney will now operate under a previous RCID plan until a new developmental plan can be negotiated between Disney and the current board which saw one of Disney's major opposition members get replaced by DeSantis.
More should be known in the coming days and while Disney will request a pause in their federal appeals suit against DeSantis, everything for now will remain somewhat neutral while more is worked out by the two sides.