Florida Gov. DeSantis is learning his lesson: Disney attorneys don’t play

As you may have heard Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has waged a culture war with one of Florida’s most famous corporate tenants, The Walt Disney Company. Earlier this year, DeSantis directed the state to take control of the special district where Disney World is located. Because of this, Republicans appointed a new board to oversee the district and Disney. suggesting they would even have input on what entertainment the company would create. But it turns out that DeSantis’ hand-appointed board of cronies, thanks to some inspired lawyers from Disney’s camp will be more or less powerless to bring about change for, um, decades.

Let’s go back. Founded in 1967, the Reedy Creek Improvement District was created because Walt Disney wanted more control over the area surrounding its soon-to-be-opened Walt Disney World Resort. He had big plans for a proposed private city and wanted more control over territorial laws. Although the city never came into existence, the borough remained, and as a result, Disney World was not required to follow Florida laws regarding things like building codes or water management. This effectively gave the Walt Disney Company its own mini-government over which it retained private authority, and also allowed it to pursue a different, more business-friendly tax policy. But now, after a row between DeSantis and Disney over the company’s (by all accounts lukewarm) support for LGBTQ rights, DeSantis uses House Bill 9B to restructure the borough

. As part of this, the district will be getting a new name, and it recently appointed a new board to oversee it.

One problem: Disney lawyers don’t screw up. So on the morning of the 29thWhen the new board of directors selected by DeSantis convened for their first meeting, they noted that the previous board – on their last day in office –signed a new deal with Disney This effectively stripped the board of all powers, apart from a few small details, like managing traffic or road maintenance. In addition, the district prohibits the use of Disney-owned trademarks or likenesses of Mickey Mouse or any other character without the express permission of the company. Basically, the new board has been completely undermined and its members are not happy about it.

“This essentially makes Disney the government,” said board member Ron Peri“For practical reasons, this body is losing most of its ability to do anything beyond maintaining the roads and maintaining basic infrastructure.”

Disney lawyers linked the new agreement to the lives of the British royals

What’s even funnier is that the new agreement with Disney will remain in effect for a very long time. How long? I can’t actually tell you because it depends on how long the currently living members of the British royal family stay

. From the agreement:

This Declaration shall remain in force until twenty-one (21) years after the death of the last surviving descendant of King Charles III, King of England, at the date of this Declaration […]

No royal observer? This means that until 21 years have passed since the deaths of Princes William and Harry and their various children, Disney will remain in control of its special district. The Youngins include Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and Prince Archie Princess Lilibet. The last child is only 21 months old. The rest are all under 10. And remember that, too all of them died, it will be another 21 years before whoever remains on the Reedy Creek board of directors regains control of the district. It can easily take more than 100 years for that to happen.

Continue reading: The 8 Most Controversial Rides in Disney Theme Park History

Before you assume that this is some weird one-off trick by Disney or a reference to its Magical Kingdom, remember that these types of Royal Lives clauses are not a new idea and are used to convey a well-known legal concept handle as the “rule against ages

.” I can’t fully explain it, but as far as I know some Disney lawyers are probably giggling like schoolkids now for taking this old chestnut out of storage.

The five-member board of republican partisans accomplished at least one task: Yesterday it voted to keep two law firms to try to find a way to restore his newly weakened powers. Chairman Martin Garcia said any resulting legal challenge could potentially reach the Supreme Court.

DeSantis is way worse than the Disney mega-corporation

Now, of course, it’s weird to cheer for a corporate giant like Disney. This is a company that has single-handedly destroying our copyright system, Fired more people than I’ll ever knowand consuming more and more of pop culture, like a hungry, ancient god bent on destroying everything he can’t control.

But as bad as Disney is, DeSantis is a lot worse. Its fascist policies in Florida are appalling and often target LGBT and transgender people in particular. Just some of the horrible things he did as Florida governor are among others Exclude residents from using Medicaid to cover the treatment of gender dysphoria, Cutting a mental health program for survivors of the horrific shooting at Pulse nightclub and Urging schools to refer LGTBQ students to their parents.

So while I hate the idea of ​​Disney using its vast resources and legal teams to do whatever it wants and bypass government oversight, in this case I give myself the okay to smile a little while old DeSantis and his sycophants discover a truth that fan artists and creators around the world have known for decades: Don’t mess with Mickey Mouse’s lawyers.