Disney and DeSantis officially bury the hatchet: The entertainment giant's expansion plan is finally approved
The agreement will allow the company to create a fifth amusement park. For its part, the mouse company must spend at least $8 billion on the Florida complex in the next decade.
(Cordon Press)
Disney and DeSantis officially buried the hatchet this Wednesday. They did so when the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District finally, and unanimously, approved the entertainment giant's expansion plan after both organizations managed to bring their positions closer a week ago.
An agreement that, with a validity of between five and twenty years, will allow the company to create a fifth large amusement park. For its part, the mouse company must spend at least $8 billion on the Florida complex over the next decade. This represents almost half of the financing that the giant will allocate to Florida since the agreement indicates that the Walt Disney Company will allocate $17 billion to update Walt Disney World.
The pact, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District noted, will also force the entertainment giant to expand an affordable housing initiative and, more importantly, ensure that at least 50% of total spending on the expansion goes to Florida companies.
Along with this, Reuters added, Walt Disney World will be able to build a fifth theme park (plus two smaller water parks), increase retail and office space, and add up to 14,000 additional hotel rooms to bring the total to nearly 54,000 resort complexes.
Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District celebrate agreement
Changes that, the president of Walt Disney World Resort, Jeff Vahle, assured in a statement, "paves the way for us to invest billions of dollars in Walt Disney World Resorts":
For its part, Brian Aungst, a member of the Board of Directors assured, in statements collected by Business Insider, that he was excited to reach an agreement while ensuring that Walt Disney Word was a fundamental part of Florida: "This is the day we have all been looking forward to. Walt Disney World is inextricably intertwined in the fabric of Central Florida."
His colleague on the board, Charbel Barakat, was of the same opinion. He took a few minutes after the vote to thank Ron DeSantis for his leadership, inspiration and "tireless efforts" in reaching a deal with Disney.
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