What makes Disney Special? A different way to look at Reedy Creek - Part 2

 

Old RCID Logo, via Wikimedia Commons

If you missed part one of this series, you can read it here

The Vital Role of Reedy Creek in Disney's Success

The Walt Disney Company is a global entertainment powerhouse known for its theme parks, resorts, and cherished characters that have won millions of people's hearts. However, Reedy Creek is an essential operational framework that guarantees the successful running of Disney's most famous theme park locations, hidden beneath the magic and imagination. In this post, we'll look at why Disney needs Reedy Creek to sustain its unmatched standard of excellence.

Walt's vision for EPCOT

Independence and Adaptability

One of the primary advantages of RCID for Disney is its autonomy. As a special-purpose government entity, the district has considerable authority to make decisions and enact policies without interference from other governmental entities. This independence enables Disney to swiftly respond to shifting market trends, customer demands, and technological advancements, ensuring the resort remains pertinent and innovative in a highly competitive industry.

As initially conceived, independence was granted to Disney by the Florida legislature with an eye toward Disney creating a residential community on the property (EPCOT). The thinking at the time was that the Disney company wanted to try new things and push the state of the art in what could be done for a prototype community of tomorrow. At that time, Disney argued that they couldn't build EPCOT - hindered by outdated building codes, zoning regulation red tape, and be caught between two county governments (Orange and Osceola) with competing agendas. 

As it turned out - Disney toyed with the idea of building a residential community with Lake Buena Vista and slowly backed away from that vision until EPCOT was transformed into a theme park vision. While granted to create a residential development, these special powers proved helpful in creating and running a leisure resort. The special feeling and ambiance of the Walt Disney World property is in no small part due to this special arrangement with RCID. 

Sightlines can be controlled because zoning is tightly controlled, preserving the unique nature of the property.

Zoning and Land Use Control

The RCID has authority over land use and zoning within its jurisdiction, giving Disney unmatched control over the development and expansion of its properties. This ability enables Disney to strategically plan the layout of theme parks, resorts, and infrastructure, optimizing visitor experiences and preserving a consistent atmosphere throughout the resort. Having direct oversight, Disney can maintain its distinct brand identity and ensure that Disney magic is consistently delivered.

Imagine if a local government decided to zone the property according to its whims and wants. The government might have competing needs that might not align with the vision or needs of the property. Could a prison be built right next to the Magic Kingdom? While unlikely, it becomes possible once Disney loses control over how land use is allocated and zoned within the district. 

Reedy Creek constructed, owns, and operates the parking garages in the Disney Springs Area. Photo by Michael Rivera, via Wikimedia Commons

Taxing and Fiscal Advantages

The RCID's taxing and fiscal capabilities are a further essential feature. The district is authorized to levy and collect taxes within its borders as a separate governmental entity. This gives Disney significant financial advantages, allowing them to continually improve and expand their facilities by reinvesting the generated revenue into the resort. Using these funds, Disney can enhance guest experiences, upgrade infrastructure, and introduce new attractions, keeping the resort on the cutting edge of entertainment innovation.

The unique aspect of control of RCID by Disney - allows Disney to ensure that government funds are allocated in the best way for the resort's development. While Disney is still paying taxes as any normal landowner would - this arrangement ensures that the money they pay in taxes is used to build infrastructure that directly improves and enhances the property, vs. the money being spent on some other governmental priority that might not be in the best interest of the property. 

As an example of how this works in reality on the property, when Disney was looking to make transportation infrastructure improvements in the Disney springs area, Disney elected to have Reedy Creek construct and operate the parking garages to support the expansion of the shopping district. The arrangement saved Disney millions of dollars. Unlike Disney, Reedy Creek can finance the garages with tax-free bonds. And unlike Disney, Reedy Creek is not required to pay sales tax on the materials used to construct them.

Because investors purchasing tax-free bonds are not required to pay federal income tax on the interest they earn from municipal bonds, they are willing to tolerate lower interest rates than they would for corporate bonds. The cost savings estimate is that the disparity will amount to at least several hundred thousand dollars per year over the 20-year term of the bonds, and those savings will go to Disney. Ultimately these savings help to make Disney more profitable, allowing Disney to build things that other companies couldn't or wouldn't because it might not be profitable absent Disney's unique advantage. This directly benefits the property and, ultimately, the visitor with the development that we would not otherwise be able to enjoy. 

Collaboration and Long-Term Planning 

The intimate partnership between Disney and the RCID promotes a culture of long-term planning and growth. This partnership enables the development of comprehensive master plans, ensuring that Disney's expansion initiatives align with the district's vision for sustainable growth. By collaborating, both entities can mitigate potential problems and execute large-scale projects efficiently, thereby preserving the resort's quality and integrity.

This long-term-planning area is a somewhat important aspect that most people just skip or gloss over. It comes down to who is deciding the future direction of the resort. The comprehensive plan's control can drive how the property, and Walt Disney World, develop in the future. Maintaining control of RCID long-term is vital to Disney's interest in maintaining creative control over the property.

Conclusion

Since its inception, the district has provided Disney with the necessary legal framework, flexibility, and financial advantages for its success. By granting Disney autonomy in decision-making and control over land use, the RCID has enabled the company to continue innovating and providing visitors with unmatched experiences. In addition, the partnership between Disney and the RCID ensures long-term planning and the preservation of the Disney brand. Consequently, Disney's continued partnership with the Reedy Creek Improvement District is essential to its continued success and the enchantment of millions of visitors who come to experience the majesty of Disney.

What makes Disney Special? A different way to look at Reedy Creek - Part 1

Photo by Asher Heimermann, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

With all the goings on recently with Reedy Creek, and Disney vs. Desantis battle, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at what is special about Reedy Creek, and why discarding the "special arrangement" is not going to be helpful in returning Walt Disney World back to the historical quality that we are used to. 

First some history. 

By 1964, affiliates of what would eventually become the Walt Disney World Co. began purchasing undeveloped cattle land in Osceola and Orange counties. In 1966, the company filed a petition seeking authorization to establish a drainage district encompassing 27,000 contiguous acres. The request was granted, establishing the drainage district and authorizing it to exercise the specific, limited powers granted by Ch. 298, F.S. 

The property was so isolated, in the far reaches of Orange and Osceola counties, that the nearest power and water lines were 10-15 miles distant. Orange and Osceola counties lacked the resources and services necessary to host the planned development. In order to deal with this challenge, the drainage district was further expanded when The Florida State Legislature created the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), which recast the drainage district as a special taxing district to administer and oversee municipal services for the 47 square miles of the future Walt Disney World Resort. 

Governor Claude Kirk signing the RCID bill at the Governor's mansion - Tallahassee, Florida. Photographed on May 12, 1967

In 1967, the Legislature passed the special act, codified as Ch. 67-764, Laws of Florida, which created the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID). Florida's then-governor Claude Kirk officially established the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) on May 12, 1967, when he signed the measure into law. He approved the incorporation acts for Bay Lake and Reedy Creek, two incorporated cities in the district, on the same day. Around 1970, the City of Reedy Creek changed its name to the City of Lake Buena Vista. The new district would have the same jurisdiction and accountability as a county government to establish and oversee municipal services. 

Camera operator filming Roy Disney speaking at the Governor's mansion for the signing of the Disney bill - Tallahassee, Florida Photographed on May 12, 1967

The law stipulated that the cost of providing common municipal services like power, water, roads, and fire protection would be entirely borne by the landowners inside the new taxation area, namely the Walt Disney World Resort. The district served as and still serves as a practical means of preventing Orange and Osceola County residents from bearing the cost of these services, taxes, and costs. 

Reedy Creek Who? 

From 1964 until around 1990, RCID did its work for the most part quietly and in the background. Building roads, maintaining infrastructure, and generally supporting the development of the 27,000 acres. Other than the occasional scandal, there wasn't much interest in what RCID was, other than by people who either worked for the district or were deep into all things Disney. 

The Disney Decade...

And then came January 14th, 1990 when Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner unveiled a 10-year expansion plan at Lake Buena Vista in Walt Disney World - in what would become known as the "Disney Decade" speech. Eisner laid out plans to expand Walt Disney World in a number of ways including adding a fourth theme park, and timeshare resorts which would ultimately become the Disney vacation club concept. Eisner said at the time that the idea was, 'The next 10 years we're going to do nothing less than re-invent the Disney theme park and resort experience, and not just here in Florida, but in all our parks and resorts ... By the year 2000, we expect to host over 100 million guests each year in Disney theme parks and resorts around the world." 

The "Disney Decade" would unleash a torrent of development across the Walt Disney World property, but beyond the workload that so much development would create for RCID on the property, there was a unique little change, which would directly impact the quiet way that RCID had always operated. 

People using water sprites near the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village circa 1975. Photograph by Eric Tournay Florida Division of Tourism. 

Eisner's Parents' Manhattan Apartment, and Eisner's taste for architecture. 

When Eisner's parents moved into a Manhattan condominium designed by Robert A.M. Stern in the early 1970s, Eisner's association with one of the elites of architecture was established. Nearly two decades later, Stern created the Feature Animation Building, which debuted in 1994, while serving on Eisner's board of directors for the Walt Disney Company. Eisner, who was completely enthralled with the field of architecture, hired renowned architects to create themed hotels and office buildings for Eisner's "Disney Decade" projects. 

During Eisner’s tenure Robert A.M. Stern, was the architect for Disney's Yacht Club Resort, Disney's Beach Club Resort, Disney's BoardWalk, and the Casting Center. Stern along with Jaquelin Robertson, also served as the master planner for Disney's town of Celebration. Additional buildings in Celebration were designed by Philip Johnson, Charles Moore, Cesar Pelli, and William Rawn. In addition, the Italian architect Aldo Rossi, designed Celebration Place, the office complex next to Celebration. 

Eisner also engaged a number of other high-profile architects, a veritable who's who of the architecture world, for other Disney projects including Michael Graves, to create the Dolphin and Swan hotels. Arquitectonica of Miami to design Disney's Pop Century Resort and Disney's All-Star Resorts. The New York firm of Gwathmey Siegel and Associates were the architects for the convention facility at Disney's Contemporary Resort and for Bonnet Creek Golf Club. Peter Dominick, a Denver architect, designed Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa was designed by Wimberly, Allison, Tong, and Goo in conjunction with Walt Disney Imagineering. Fugelberg Koch & Associates of San Diego was responsible for the design of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney's Port Orleans Resort, and Disney's Old Key West Resort. David Rockwell of New York handled the Design of Downtown Disney West Side. Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex was designed by David Schwarz of Washington, D.C. Lastly, Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, was designed under the direction of Graham Gund Architects of Cambridge, Mass., working along with Walt Disney Imagineering. Gund also was the architect for the Disney Vacation Club in Vero Beach. 

In 1990 there was an article in the New York Times Magazine by Paul Goldberger entitled "Disney deco; and now, an architectural kingdom" The article put Eisner's architectural sensibilities this way;

"Once upon a time there were buildings and there was architecture, and the two had very little to do with each other. There was a great kingdom called Disney, and in it were many, many buildings, and while most of them were fun to look at, they were not architecture. And then one day a new prince named Michael came to rule the kingdom, and he decreed that architecture could be just as much fun as buildings. And so the kingdom filled up with hotels named after swans and dolphins, and office buildings with caryatids modeled after the seven dwarfs and doorways shaped like Mickey Mouse ears. And everybody lived happily ever after."

Well - not quite. Eisner had one other area of the company that he thought could use an architectural treatment, Reedy Creek.  

Photo by Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Making a statement: Back-of-house support facility visible to park visitors..

Prior to 1994, RCFD originally operated the firehouse out of trailers. It was maybe three or four trailers along with a boardwalk that ran between them all. Eventually, the trailers were upgraded to a station that had plain bays and walls made of concrete blocks and corrugated metal that give it the appearance of an old industrial shop. This is the same type of prefab metal support buildings that you can find anywhere back-of-house on the Disney Florida property. But Architects: Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc. in association with Schenkel Shultz Architects were engaged by Eisner to design the first back-of-house support facility visible to park visitors at Walt Disney World, The Reedy Creek emergency services headquarters. The 22,511-square-foot building, built at a construction cost of $2,500,000 was a bold statement, and a massive change from the way that Disney had always done its best to hide some of the more mundane aspects of running the resort. The building was built as a flashy public state-of-the-art fire rescue center, complete with living quarters, administrative offices, and a 911 communications center. The exterior front of the building is decorated with porcelain enamel panels in the patterns and colors of red bricks and Dalmatian dogs, which have been scaled up to adorn the exterior. The sweeping curve of the front facade acknowledges and accommodates the curve of the drive where the fire trucks quickly leave the complex. It was a statement in more ways than one. 

RCID Administration Building - Photo by Asher Heimermann, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Reedy Creek Improvement District Administration Building.

By the late 1990s, Eisner wasn't done with his taste for architecture and soon turned his attention to the work of German-American architect Helmut Jahn. Among Jahn's many notable works is the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, the Thompson Center in Chicago, One Liberty Place in Philadelphia, and the Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany. Jahn's architectural style was postmodernist with high-tech stylizations, and Eisner was drawn to his designs. According to RCID's financial director Ray Maxwell, despite the fact that Reedy Creek Improvement District was a separate governmental organization, Eisner personally approved Jahn's appointment but left the final decision up to the district. Construction was soon completed, and in 1997, Reedy Creek had a new and very visible Administration building right in the heart of Lake Buena Vista at 1900 Hotel Plaza Boulevard. The building was a straightforward square layout that has its corners chamfered to form an ascending facade, and the "open" corners have been replaced with a planted steel trellis that nevertheless shows the general shape of the original cubic composition. 

The building opened as the Walt Disney World Preview Center in 1970 and currently houses the Amateur Athletic Union. It is located directly northeast of the Reedy Creek Improvement District office on Hotel Plaza Blvd.  Photo by Asher Heimermann, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The location of where RCID's new administration building was built was strategic on many levels. First, it was built next door to the old original Walt Disney World Preview Center building (Now home to the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which has the distinction of being the very first building ever built on the property. Second, The location on Hotel Plaza Boulevard (originally known as Motor Inn Plaza) was very much the main entrance and front door to the property. Hotel Plaza Boulevard serves as the main way from the very busy 535 down to the former Village Marketplace and is located in one of the most visible places possible, with an average of 25,000 vehicles passing daily. Lastly, this location and building were a change from the former invisibility of RCID. No longer would RCID operate in the shadows, working out of trailers, but would rather have a glitzy administration building designed by a world-class architect right in the middle of the main entrance for Walt Disney World. 

WDW Welcome Sign at Hotel Plaza Boulevard and 535. Photo by Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Coming up in part two - the vital role Reedy Creek plays in Disney's Success..