In Florida, there's détente in the battle between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis

MIAMI — The Walt Disney Company and a board appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis say they've reached a settlement that resolves a yearlong legal dispute.

It involves the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which encompasses the 40-square-mile property that's home to the Walt Disney World resort. DeSantis and Republican lawmakers created a new board for the district after they approved a law revoking Disney's self-governing status.

The settlement resolves lawsuits over a last-minute agreement Disney signed with its old board last year before it was dissolved by DeSantis and the Florida Legislature. That agreement would have taken power away from the new board and reserved for Disney all decisions concerning development at the theme parks. Under the settlement, that deal is now "null and void."

At a meeting Wednesday, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board said it will now work with Disney to update the district's 2020 comprehensive plan.

But a little later in the day, at a news conference in Orlando, DeSantis took aim at critics in the media and elsewhere who predicted that Disney would win its lawsuits and take back its self-governing status.

"The reality is here we are a year later and not one of them has succeeded," DeSantis said. "Every action we have taken has been upheld in full. And the state's better off for it."

It's the apparent end of a political battle that began in 2022 when DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education Act. The law, dubbed "Don't Say Gay" by critics, restricts how sexual orientation and gender identity are discussed in the schools. Disney's former CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against the law and said he'd work to overturn it. That angered DeSantis, who then worked with Republican lawmakers to pass a measure revoking Disney's self-governing status.

DeSantis appointed a new board to oversee the district. Disney challenged the move in federal court but lost. It's appealing that lawsuit. But Wednesday, Disney and the DeSantis-appointed board announced they had settled all the lawsuits pending in state court and are ready to move forward together.