White Glove Orlando Tours

02/21/2023

Tour Guide Allison was a huge help in expertly tackling a big day in Animal Kingdom for this fun group of 9! 🦁

02/21/2023

When old besties get together for new adventures ✨❤️

01/02/2023

The parks have been crazy but our guests haven’t felt the pressure, coasting on and off the rides. If you’ve toured with us for the holidays, thank you SO much for choosing White Glove and we hope to see you next year!

04/23/2022

If anyone is following the feud between Florida’s governor and Disney, here’s what it will actually mean for property owners in Central Florida.

LONG POST: There’s a lot of misinformation and confusion about what the end of Disney’s Reedy Creek district means for the company and for taxpayers.

Here’s what I know, after talking to lobbyists, lawyers and tax officials:

For those of you who haven’t heard, Reedy Creek is the special tax district of Walt Disney World. It’s essentially its own city. Disney pays taxes to Reedy Creek, which operates a fire department, planning department, sewer treatment plant and public works department. Disney controls Reedy Creek, which means if they want to build a new hotel or highway, they just have to ask themselves for permission.

The biggest loss for Disney is the end of that control. It’s a lot easier to ask yourself for permission than to go to the county. While they already follow all laws and building codes and they’ll still get everything they want, it’s going to slow the process down. Potholes might develop on roads that they no longer pave themselves. They can’t just call a meeting or alter their comprehensive plan on a random Friday. They also can’t quickly finance new public projects like a fire station.

The bigger issue for everyone else is the tax revenue. Disney already pays the same local property taxes as every other landowner. Reedy Creek added its own tax on top of that to pay for its projects. That tax – $163 million per year – is illegal outside of the district. When Reedy Creek goes away, that tax goes away, and Orange and Osceola Counties can’t do anything to get it back.

However, the counties will now be responsible for all of the services Reedy Creek provides and all of the debt it has accumulated. They can’t raise sales taxes or impact fees. So, the counties will have to raise property taxes to make up the difference. They must tax every property equally – not just Disney – and therefore it’s expected that property taxes in Orange County will rise as much as 25% next June. Osceola, much smaller and less wealthy, is still working on its figures.

Lawyers largely agree that the state followed all the laws while doing this. They agree Disney may sue, but probably doesn’t have much ground to stand on. Some believe a vote of residents or delegates from the district is required to make this legal. That doesn’t appear to be the case here because a vote was never held to implement the district 55 years ago.

Essentially, Disney will lose some control of its property, and get a $163 million per year tax break and ~$1 billion of debt passed onto taxpayers. Some things will be negotiated – Disney still controls Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, two actual towns within RCID. Lawmakers might backtrack from this plan during the next session now that they’re realizing what they’ve done. However, aside from maybe taking away the company’s ability to build a nuclear plant, we have yet to hear how this benefits Florida and especially the local residents in any way.

The residents, by the way, had no say in this vote, no say in their property taxes going through the roof, and no desire to have their communities staring at financial ruin thanks to 72 hours of orchestrated revenge.

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/end-reedy-creek-disney-wont-pay-more-taxes-you-will/3TK6ASNJT5EXHICW3DQ3ZHEZYA/

04/21/2022

“Enjoying some Blue Milk in Batuu earlier this week with the Hall/Fisher crew! What a fun group to work with! I saw them later in the week while giving another tour and got some big hugs! Building bonds with people from elsewhere that you’d never have met otherwise is the best part of being a guide.” ❤️

-Tour Guide Victoria

07/03/2019

Well, he’s not wrong 😂

06/12/2019

Is it too early to get excited over this?? 😄

Christmas lovers, rejoice!

06/12/2019

Hands on the hips and all! You tell ‘em, padawan!

04/23/2019

Starting today, plastic straws have been removed at Walt Disney World parks and resorts and part of their environmental initiative to reduce single-use plastics. While visiting Magic Kingdom this m…

03/28/2019

Smoking banned from all Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort theme parks, water parks, and more.

02/23/2019

We're excited to share that we won the Certificate of Excellence Award for excellent guest experiences, customer service, and helping to provide the magic. But most importantly, we have our guests to thank for this exciting milestone!

02/05/2019

I admit, I laughed out loud at this one 😂

01/30/2019

12/28/2018

Be right back! *hops in the car*

Things to do this winter near Orlando, Florida.

12/27/2018

The parks were packed to the gills for the holidays, but our guests still completed full itineraries with shorter waits. But we can improve your experience year round! Reach out to book your VIP Tour today!

Take a social media tour of how busy the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World was was during Christmas Day 2018 with long lines and packed walk ways.

12/27/2018

Disney/Pixar fans, look out: new Up Minnie Mouse Ears themed after the movie have just floated over to Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort.

12/19/2018

One of my favorite tour photos with my guests from the Netherlands. Thank you to all of our wonderful guests for making the only bad part of my job “saying goodbye”.

12/08/2018

Meanwhile in Tokyo....