When Walt started working on the Florida project, his main personal focus was on EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). He'd gone full futurist and wanted to build a model community that would address all the problems he'd seen in urbanization.
To facilitate this, once Disney went public with their land acquisitions, they asked Florida to create a special watershed improvement district for them. This was known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Effectively, it emancipated their land from Orange and Osceola counties.
Within its boundaries, the RCID had primary responsibility for most county and municipal levels of government. In practical application, this means that RCID has its own fire dept, its own building codes, it's own health and environmental depts, and responsibility and authority over roads and utilities.
This was, obviously, an enormous boon to Disney, and a huge "fuck you" to the involved counties.
Walt died before realizing Epcot, and Roy had the whole thing redone as a park. By all rights the RCID should have ended there. But it carried on due to momentum and Florida generally liking the money that was rolling in.
There are a lot of weird intricacies with that EPCOT dream. For example, no one owned anything, and privacy was not legal in this area. Walt could have every TV replaced without warning, and that was the law.
On the other hand, the Reedy Creek safety laws are probably some of the best written, and most enforced of any county I can think of. They work hard to make sure everything is safer than safe. The regulations for places at Disney are to find the hardest strongest regulation in the world and have that as the basis. Then, if someone designs something, they have to prove it either fits the regulation or exceeds it using a newer technique covered by the regulation. People who work design for Disney end up doing regular architecture when they need a break.
It's not a surprise that when you combine the two, you get a dictator who doesn't understand why everyone dislikes them.
European cars may be safer than American ones but for about four decades you couldn't buy one here if they didn't have giant ass sealed beam headlights that European builders hated.
If the RCID drops, the same sort of thing will happen to Disney's parks when Orange County Dept of Building Safety comes in.
It doesn't matter if what Disney has is safer than the rule. Only whether it CONFORMS to the rule. Because exceeding and conforming are not the same thing.
I suspect that a great many buildings in the Disney parks do not fully conform to building, electrical, accessibility, and fire codes as written, and if they're not as written, then they don't conform, period.
The most in danger is probably the elevated monorail. I can't imagine any bridge inspector looking at the steel plate struts holding the spans and not immediately deeming them structurally deficient and obsolete. You just can't have a single solid plate supporting that much load. They're gonna get up there, find fatigue cracks, and that's it, done, shut'er'down.
It doesn't matter if what Disney has is safer than the rule. Only whether it CONFORMS to the rule. Because exceeding and conforming are not the same thing.
I suspect that a great many buildings in the Disney parks do not fully conform to building, electrical, accessibility, and fire codes as written, and if they're not as written, then they don't conform, period.
Oh damn, you are right, and this is insightful. Disney might be in a spot of bother here because of this.
It's also been pointed out that this will supposedly result in a massive tax increase in Orange county, because Disney (via RCID) spends a lot more on maintaining better quality roads than the surrounding area.
Except what it REALLY means is that if Disney wants a road fixed, they're at the mercy of the county, which is composed of Florida man.
That may actually be the worst bit for Disney, that they could potentially lose control over Osceola Parkway, World Drive, Buena Vista Drive, Western Way, and DEFINITELY a segment of US 192 and its intersection with Interstate 4.
For those who don't know the history...
When Walt started working on the Florida project, his main personal focus was on EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). He'd gone full futurist and wanted to build a model community that would address all the problems he'd seen in urbanization.
To facilitate this, once Disney went public with their land acquisitions, they asked Florida to create a special watershed improvement district for them. This was known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Effectively, it emancipated their land from Orange and Osceola counties.
Within its boundaries, the RCID had primary responsibility for most county and municipal levels of government. In practical application, this means that RCID has its own fire dept, its own building codes, it's own health and environmental depts, and responsibility and authority over roads and utilities.
This was, obviously, an enormous boon to Disney, and a huge "fuck you" to the involved counties.
Walt died before realizing Epcot, and Roy had the whole thing redone as a park. By all rights the RCID should have ended there. But it carried on due to momentum and Florida generally liking the money that was rolling in.
There are a lot of weird intricacies with that EPCOT dream. For example, no one owned anything, and privacy was not legal in this area. Walt could have every TV replaced without warning, and that was the law.
On the other hand, the Reedy Creek safety laws are probably some of the best written, and most enforced of any county I can think of. They work hard to make sure everything is safer than safe. The regulations for places at Disney are to find the hardest strongest regulation in the world and have that as the basis. Then, if someone designs something, they have to prove it either fits the regulation or exceeds it using a newer technique covered by the regulation. People who work design for Disney end up doing regular architecture when they need a break.
It's not a surprise that when you combine the two, you get a dictator who doesn't understand why everyone dislikes them.
European cars may be safer than American ones but for about four decades you couldn't buy one here if they didn't have giant ass sealed beam headlights that European builders hated.
If the RCID drops, the same sort of thing will happen to Disney's parks when Orange County Dept of Building Safety comes in.
It doesn't matter if what Disney has is safer than the rule. Only whether it CONFORMS to the rule. Because exceeding and conforming are not the same thing.
I suspect that a great many buildings in the Disney parks do not fully conform to building, electrical, accessibility, and fire codes as written, and if they're not as written, then they don't conform, period.
The most in danger is probably the elevated monorail. I can't imagine any bridge inspector looking at the steel plate struts holding the spans and not immediately deeming them structurally deficient and obsolete. You just can't have a single solid plate supporting that much load. They're gonna get up there, find fatigue cracks, and that's it, done, shut'er'down.
Oh damn, you are right, and this is insightful. Disney might be in a spot of bother here because of this.
It's also been pointed out that this will supposedly result in a massive tax increase in Orange county, because Disney (via RCID) spends a lot more on maintaining better quality roads than the surrounding area.
Except what it REALLY means is that if Disney wants a road fixed, they're at the mercy of the county, which is composed of Florida man.
That may actually be the worst bit for Disney, that they could potentially lose control over Osceola Parkway, World Drive, Buena Vista Drive, Western Way, and DEFINITELY a segment of US 192 and its intersection with Interstate 4.
You can see right here the point where you go from county to RCID roads...
Guess what Disney, you're in FLORIDA now.