The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) Board of Supervisors meetings certainly aren’t as fiery as they used to be when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney were deep in litigation. That said, there are still some interesting tidbits to glean in between mundane contract approvals as the District gets back to the business at hand that it is so good at. In a recent Board of Supervisors meeting, an interesting agenda item tied into a management report gave us some insight as to just how busy Walt Disney World is about to get with construction. Here’s the latest news.
Oversight District Will Be “Extremely Busy” With Projects Supporting Walt Disney World Expansion Plans
In a management report from District Administrator Stephanie Kopelousos, we got our first hint at just how busy Walt Disney World will be over the next five years. To set the scene, the Board will soon propose a millage rate for District taxpayers. Of course, the largest taxpayer to the CFTOD is Walt Disney World, accounting for more than 85% of the taxes paid to the District. To that end, a lot of the money paid into the District ends up supporting the governmental infrastructure construction required to make the metropolis of Walt Disney World operate smoothly, and the economic engine of tourism in Central Florida burn brightly.
So, as the CFTOD considers millage rates for the upcoming tax year, Kopelousos said that she met with “one of the taxpayers” in the District to discuss “some of the development that’s coming”. Of course, I think it’s fair to assume that Kopelousos is referring to Disney, and the development is referring to the announced (and perhaps unannounced) expansion plans for new attractions and experiences in the theme parks.
Of course, Kopelousos didn’t dive into details, but did say that the District would be “extremely busy in the next five years”. Kopelousos said that the District team was still combing through the information, and that they would make a millage rate recommendation in July.
Something to keep an eye on is if the millage rate increases significantly. If the tax rate increases, that could give us an idea of just how much work is in the pipeline. In 2023, the District proposed a significant millage decrease for FY2024, and then bumped it up a bit for FY2025. Here’s a look at the millage rates for the past few years:
- 2023: 13.90 mills
- 2024: 12.95 mills
- 2025: 13.08 mills
Disney Oversight District Board Approves $175 Million in New Bond Debt
During the same late May meeting where Kopelousos noted that the District would be “extremely busy” over the next five years, the Board voted to approve allowing the District finance department the ability to pursue long-term financing in the form of $175 million in new bond debt. The bonds would be used to “support infrastructure needs”.
During a presentation at the Board of Supervisors meeting, Anthony Kasper of Reedy Creek Energy Services spoke about the need for the new bonds. Since 2015, the District has obtained more than $186 million in bonds, having spent nearly $150 million of that amount.
The new request is for an amount of $175 million to support 22 infrastructure projects on the horizon for the District. The bonds will be used to support five of the District’s utility systems, including chilled and hot water, electric, wastewater, and potable water. The project categories include long-term asset replacement, capacity maintenance requirements, and system expansions.
Of course, the system expansions are the most interesting, with Walt Disney World planning on expanding their theme parks significantly over the next decade. Disney has committed to $17 billion in new spending for their Central Florida theme parks, and some of that money is already being spent as the Tropical Americas project is under construction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
We’ve also seen early work to support a major expansion to the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom, including a Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland, and an all-new Villains-themed land. Beyond that, there are plans for a new Monsters Inc.-themed area in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and other unannounced projects.
The District is key in supporting Disney’s plans as they are the provider for key systems such as electrical and water for these new locations. A recent example of that is the uncovered permit for early work supporting the Magic Kingdom expansion where the District will be providing Disney with infrastructure hookups for a construction trailer complex. Of course, those are the early needs, but infrastructure needs will continue to arise as the construction process of the Cars-themed Frontierland expansion and Villains land continues.
Another recent example was the $1+ million project to expand energy services out to the new Disney Lakeshore Lodge construction site, which aims to put a brand new 10-story building on the shore of Bay Lake in an area that has been uninhabited for decades.
In short, cooperation between the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is critical when Disney considers major new projects for its theme parks and resorts. That’s why the dust-up between DeSantis and Disney was such a high-stakes game. Eventually, DeSantis and Disney came to an agreement that included Disney retaining a lot of their participation and influence for the District such as the long-term planning that is taking place now.
Getting back on track, we return to the meeting where Board Chair Alexis Yarbrough turned to her fellow Board Members to ask if they have had a chance to review the projects that will be part of the $175 million in new bonds. The Board Members who were present acknowledged that they were able to look over the projects in question, and Kopelousos quipped that “it’s a long list” of projects.
The Board voted to approve the agenda item, allowing the finance department to pursue the issuance of new bonds. In terms of timing, the team will prepare draft bond documents in July, and present the bonds for Board approval in August. The District will also notify the markets of the new bonds in August before final documentation and closing in October.
A little bit of commentary before we close out this article. First, it’s encouraging to see the District and Disney working in near lockstep as Walt Disney World prepares for major expansion projects at its theme parks. This is, essentially, how the Board used to function, and it looks like business as usual to an outside observer. The heat from Tallahassee has died down, and there are individuals on the Board and District administration now who actually deserve to be there and can do the work.
Second, while new bond debt is not as flashy as new concept art, it is a critical piece of the puzzle as Walt Disney World pursues new projects. It’s very likely that the new work will support a flurry of projects that we don’t even know about yet. This type of government work is sort of the canary in the coal mine to indicate a healthy project cycle at Walt Disney World. While the work outlined indicates that CFTOD will have a busy next five years, it’s likely that they will be supporting projects for 2030 and beyond as Walt Disney World continues to build and expand.
As a look ahead, we are still awaiting the finalization of a development agreement for the District that Walt Disney World has played an instrumental role in crafting. The inclusion of Walt Disney World in the drafting process was mandated by the settlement agreement between the state and Disney. We expect to learn more about the development agreement later in the summer and into fall.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
