As Disney World Prepares to Spend Billions, DeSantis Restructures Park Oversight Board

It has been just over two years since Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the law stripping the Walt Disney World Resort of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and creating the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Since its inception, the Board and its members have been controversial, and now, just two years into its existence, it is undergoing another major overhaul.

Yesterday, DeSantis announced that he was appointing three new members to the Board: two to fill vacancies left by resignations and a third to fill an as-yet-determined vacancy. DeSantis appointed Alexis Yarbrough, John Gilbert, and Scott Workman to the Board, pending State Senate confirmation. DeSantis also announced that Yarbrough will be the new chair.

The Board has been without a chair since frequent Disney critic Martin Garcia resigned last March. The Board also lists a second vacancy on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District website.

It is unclear where the third vacancy would be coming from. Controversial Board Members Ron Peri and Bridget Ziegler’s terms will expire at the end of the month; however, neither has indicated that they will not return to the Board.

Peri is an Orlando-based pastor and CEO of The Gathering, a Christian ministry group. Some of his more controversial statements came to light when he was appointed to the Board.

He accused Disney of spreading critical race theory, claimed drinking water was turning people gay, said that LGBTQ+ people were “evil,” and used debunked historical data to argue that thousands of African Americans owned slaves in America before the Civil War.

Ziegler is the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a group that has spearheaded book banning across the country. Ziegler’s husband, Christian, who was the Chairman of the Florida Republican Party, was accused of rape. Despite her anti-LGBTQ sentiments, Rachel Ziegler was accused of having sex with a woman. Ziegler denied those claims, and the charges against her husband were dropped.

Yarbrough is the current Chair of the Broward College District Board of Trustees, Gilbert is the Executive Managing Director at Stream Realty Partners, and Workman owns Workman Transportation and Workman Travel. Unlike previous appointments, these new appointments have experience in tourism, transportation, and administration.

It is unclear what type of relationship this new Board will have with The Walt Disney Company. At times, the previous Board had an adversarial relationship with the company that it was overseeing, but that all ended once the two sides dropped their dueling lawsuits.

DeSantis appointed Stephanie Kopelousos as the District Administrator after former administrator Glen Gilzean resigned. Kopelousos worked with Disney in the governor’s office before taking over this position.

The three new Board members now need to be approved by the Florida State Senate.