As part of a meeting agenda package, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has laid out its plans to officially sunset a theme park admission program for employees and retirees. The sunsetting of the program comes after multiple public comments from District employees complaining to the Board of Supervisors.

Essentially, there used to be a program in place that acted as a benefit to employees of the District that included a Main Gate pass to the theme parks similar to what Walt Disney World Cast Members and third-party operating participants have. The passes were paid for by the District as an employee benefit and not as a free gift from Walt Disney World. While the Board of Supervisors called the employee benefit a “scheme to funnel millions of taxpayer dollars to Disney“, it was a rather standard agreement such as those you’d find with other third-party operating participants within the District.

With the new Board seemingly set on trying to cut all ties with the largest taxpayer in the special taxing District, they have now stuck it to their own employees, opting for a stipend program that is planned to expire in two years instead of continuing with the theme park pass program.

The policy, which is outlined below, says that the District will sunset the admission pass program and offer an annual stipend instead. The policy is careful to mention that the stipend does not obligate employees to purchase Annual Passes from Disney World and that the stipend in no way offers theme park access. The stipend policy will sunset on October 1, 2025 unless readopted prior to its expiration by the Board of Supervisors.

The policy does not outline a stipend amount, but the previously announced stipend amount was $1,425 per employee. This amount would be enough to cover a single Disney Sorcerer Pass but doesn’t even come close to covering a spouse or children like the previous Main Gate program did. According to BlogMickey.com sources, the stipend will increase to $3,000 and the new amount will be announced at the next District meeting on September 27th.

In the September 13th meeting, Board Chair Martin Garcia said that the Board would be open to increasing that amount. At the same meeting, Administrator Glen Gilzean noted that the previously announced stipend amount was not final and that the Board planned on announcing and approving a new amount at the September 27th meeting. Gilzean mentioned that the District is working with Disney to explore the option of allowing teams within the District to purchase passes directly from the Walt Disney World operating participant program and that he will share more details in the future.

Here is the posted employee & retiree benefits stipend program, which still includes the words “Annual Admission Pass” in the title despite the goal of the policy being stated as sunsetting the theme park access program. Interestingly, it looks like there is some vague wording that might allow for the operating participant buy-in that Gilzean mentioned, but it’s not immediately clear how that program would work. Sources indicate that the Annual Pass buy-in option is still being ironed out, and may not include all the benefits that it used to have.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!