Disney Moving
By celticeagle
@celticeagle (189793)
Boise, Idaho
May 18, 2023 6:54pm CST
"More twists and turns than Big Thunder Mountain Railroad itself," a spokesman says. The battle between The Walt Disney Company and Ron DeSantis includes boardroom surprises and lawsuits. It has just been announced that they are beginning to move certain Cast Members out of Florida. It all started with a political boycott with the Disney CEO at the time, Bob Chapek, criticizing Florida's Parental Rights in Education law(called the "Don't Say Gay" bill) and DeSantis' threatening to remove Walt Disney's Worlds Reedy Creek Improvement District. They had been given the authority to run the area as if they were the county's government since 1967. This meant that local residents did not have to pay for Disney's essential services. On April 26 a new board appointed by DeSantis voted to nullify agreements that had given Disney control over the 25,000-acre property. Disney filed a lawsuit and now has abandoned plans to open a new Imagineering Campus in Lake Nona.
This move involves a tax credit that allows for a monetary recoup of as much as $570 million over 20 years. This move means that a $17 billion investment in Walt Disney World is on the line.
Any thoughts?
7 people like this
7 responses
@LadyDuck (502148)
• Italy
19 May 23
@moffittjc - California is a lot more expensive and there are no free lands where they can do what they did in the early 70s in Florida. They can also hope that another Governor will be more friendly in the future.
5 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 May 23
@LadyDuck Their original plans to relocate to Florida was because of the expense of doing business in California. Florida’s taxes are much, much lower than California’s. But Disney would have had to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build new corporate facilities in Florida and then pay millions more to relocate all of their corporate employees. Disney has been struggling financially lately, so this was a cost-cutting move.
4 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 May 23
Disney isn’t leaving Florida. They had made an announcement several years ago that they were going to relocate their headquarters from California to Florida. Due to Covid and the recent financial struggles of the company, that move never happened, and Disney officially cancelled those plans yesterday as part of their $4 billion in cost-cutting decisions. Most people familiar with the plans had known for a while that the corporate relocation was most likely never going to happen. But the media is portraying the decision as if Disney is “leaving Florida.” With the exception of about 200 employees, none of the other corporate employees from California had ever relocated to Florida.
5 people like this
@AmbiePam (120532)
• United States
19 May 23
Disney just had to give up on their recently opened Star Wars Hotel and special Experience. They didn't say why, but business for it was just bad, and they lost money. It didn't take off like they thought it would. I imagine it was first rate, but they charge such an ungodly amount for everything, which the CEO acknowledged. DeSantis overstepped his bounds, but Disney is going to have to do some self-examination. They got comfortable, and now this political nonsense may have forced them to make bigger changes. Perhaps it will be a good thing in the end, even though it seems unclear now.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 May 23
Disney’s financials have been hurting for a while, so when Bob Iger returned as CEO, he had said right from the beginning that they needed to cut costs by billions of dollars. So Disney has been forced to take a close hard look at all their operations. The hotel was losing money, so it was an easy decision to shut it down. It was a novel concept, and an innovative approach to improving guest experiences, but at the end of the day people just couldn’t afford the resort’s hefty prices. Disney will learn from this and continue to innovate and come up with new ideas. Not everything Disney touches is gold, even the Big Mouse makes bad decisions every now and then.
3 people like this
@Tampa_girl7 (54714)
• United States
19 May 23
I need to read up on this. I haven’t heard about it.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 May 23
It’s not really a big issue. Prior to Covid, Disney had announced that they were going to relocate their corporate offices from California to Florida, but due to the pandemic and then their financial struggles, Disney never really got anywhere with their plans. So yesterday they “officially” killed the plans to relocate. But the media is portraying the announcement as if Disney was packing their bags and moving out of Florida..
2 people like this
@Tampa_girl7 (54714)
• United States
19 May 23
@moffittjc thanks for the info Jeff.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 May 23
Surely this political battle between Disney and DeSantis isn’t good for business. Disney is the largest employer in Florida and generates billions in tax revenue. The state would be stupid to let that slip out of their hands.
I’m a Disney annual pass holder and go there very frequently, as I live close by. I follow this political battle very closely. The announcement yesterday about Disney canceling their corporate move from California to Florida came as no surprise to anyone. This had been expected as a cost-cutting move long before DeSantis started picking his fight with the Big Mouse. To date, only about 200 Disney employees had relocated to Florida from Cali, so it’s not a significant impact in the near-term. But the long-term implications may be more pronounced, as the area where Disney was going to relocate to was expecting significant growth, which probably won’t happen now.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
21 May 23
@celticeagle It's going to get very interesting soon, because many sources are saying that he is going to announce next week that he is running for President. It's going to get quite comical watching him and Trump insult each other over and over throughout the campaign season.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189793)
• Boise, Idaho
21 May 23
@moffittjc .......He did and wants to make America like Florida. Good Lord!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128824)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 May 23
CEO Bob Iger has been tasked with turning around Disney’s financial woes, so he has been announcing billions of dollars in cost-cutting moves. It’s nothing more than smart business decisions to improve their bottom line.
2 people like this
@RubyHawk (99367)
• Atlanta, Georgia
20 May 23
@moffittjc Maybe with the right leader they'll make a come back.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189793)
• Boise, Idaho
20 May 23
@RubyHawk ........And California is so happy with the added revenue at that location.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222222)
• United States
19 May 23
Florida's loss. Some politicians don't use their brains.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (22199)
• United States
23 May 23
I think it's sad. Everyone has gone crazy. I think DeSantis should leave Florida not Disney.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189793)
• Boise, Idaho
24 May 23
You are so right. Where did he come from anyone?
1 person likes this
