One of the little known facts about Walt Disney World is that the property rests on a special governmental district known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District. This gives the company municiple powers on the property (which spans two counties) and exempts it from certain state and local planning requirements.
When Comcast threatened to buy Disney back in April, the Florida Legislature realized that they had no idea what would happen if another company purchased or controlled the RCID. As it turns out they don’t have to worry. The Legislature givith, and they can taketh away if they ever want to. More at the OrlandoSentinel.
Some think that the reason Celebration was built outside the RCID
was because the Disney Company didn’t want any permanent residents who
might be eligible to vote and form a government seperate from Disney’s
management.
This also turned out to be on of the big flaws in Walt’s original
plans for EPCOT. Any citizens of the experimental prototype city of
tomorrow would have to give up many civil liberties and assume other
responsibilities (basically strict homeowner covenants) to make EPCOT
work. But the town’s residents could still hold an election and
overthrow those tight controls at anytime making EPCOT a no-go in
Disney management’s eyes.