Disney could close Disney World for 2-4 years, crater Central FL economy, and not even feel it

[TomDaisy]

Look at Disney's portfolio, including the movie studios.

Disney could mothball Disney World for an extended period of time and it would be barely a ripple.

Call it "renovation preparations and safety overhaul" if you need a neutral pretext.

Or just say "we will re-open again when Florida has a NEW GOVERNOR that is not hostile to Florida business."

Then watch the economy of central Florida fall into a black hole with DeRantis and the Republican Florida legislature holding the bag.

[intrepidity]

1. Is that really so?

I mean, the part about how significant it is to the state's overall economy?

[TomDaisy]

2. well, it sure wouldn't be good

[themaguffin]

15. Nearly 80K employees at Disney World. Countless hotels, restaurants & other attractions would tank

Orlando's airport would suffer, as would the FL Turnpike's tolls.

Disney could fuck up Florida badly if it wanted to.

[intrepidity]

19. Well, sounds like they have a job to do

Let all those employees know that they need to vote in someonw else.

[jimfields33]

41. And what do they do until 2027?

Some have worked there for decades.

[Mr.Bill]

31. I think I read that there were

over 400,000 jobs that depend on Disney World that aren't actually employed by Disney.

[Zeitghost]

37. That is probably about right

I believe there are 80K onsite and most estimates of the multiplier effect are 5X.

[DENVERPOPS]

49. I can only imagine

that it would only be a week or two before all 400K of the workers started demonstrating enmasse every day at the Capitol and the governors office, along with every office of every elected Republican politician including the mayors.

400K votes, along with the 400K's family's votes would be a lot to lose, and to be gained by the other party.........

[Phoenix61]

66. It's HUGE!!! It's not just inland central Florida.

It also feeds the beach tourism on both coasts which are less than 2 hours in either direction. Split your week vacation between Disney and the beach. Maybe a 3-day cruise out of Tampa? Yeah, they could do untold damage.

[mitch96]

3. As a Democrat in Florida I say go for it. This little hitler need to stop. nt

[TheBlackAdder]

115. Shut down for 6 months like they do to oil refineries to perform 'maintenance' and keep prices high.

[TheBlackAdder]

116. They don't even have to close, just sell 50% less tickets, with preference to in-park stays.

.

Disney will get their room money, less in admission, food and concessions.

They could boost the price a bit on the room rates and other amenities due to limited availability.


The park would be less crowded, like it is in the Spring, before Summer season hits.

They would have less waste, require less staff and it would be more enjoyable.


In-State and commuters would suffer, including anyone staying in off-park lodging and eating off-park.
Less people would bring their own food in from the local Walmart and supermarkets too, helping to offset food sales.

.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. I kinda like the idea in theory but ... only if they keep paying all the workers

Which I assume would never happen for a number of reason$.

[TexLaProgressive]

14. Sad to say, paying the workers would help the economy

[Mr.Bill]

33. Imagine that many people

applying for unemployment.

[Roland99]

63. In one of the lowest/shortest paying unemployment systems in the US

[pwb]

5. Disney needs a park more people can drive too.

The heat is unbearable so much in Florida. Move up around Maryland or Virginia. I agree Disney Florida is played out. Too expensive to fly there.

[TomDaisy]

12. yes, Disney could cite climate change as part of the reason they need "extended renovation" to DW

[themaguffin]

17. I would rather that they be honest & call out FL's bad for biz governor

[Irish_Dem]

13. They can't keep moving the park every time a state elects a fascist dictator.

They will be like nomads.

They have to stay and fight.

[TomDaisy]

20. Not move. Close for an extended period of time. 2 to 4 years

[Irish_Dem]

27. I was responding to the post talking about Disney moving to Va.

[Irish_Dem]

28. I think Disney should stay open and fight like hell.

[housecat]

64. But a move might give the new state's fascist something to think about. One move should do it.

[Irish_Dem]

65. But Disney staying, fighting and ruining DeSantis might empower other corporations.

And be a lesson to other state governors.

[housecat]

72. Good point. I'd still like to see Disney also open a new, different, and cooler park in a blue

state. They can close Florida later

[Irish_Dem]

73. Yes that would make more sense than moving the whole Orlando operation.

Something really cool, innovative, cutting edge in blue state.
I like that idea.

[housecat]

103. They can do it regardless of what goes on in Orlando

[Irish_Dem]

104. Exactly. The mouse can torture DeSantis and still build a new park elsewhere.

The mouse can multitask.

[housecat]

105. The Mouse rules.

[Dorian Gray]

85. Disney runs a park in mainland China

Desantis is small potatoes.

[Irish_Dem]

86. Florida Disney makes $28 billion a year in profit.

Sounds more like very big potatoes if you ask me.

[Dorian Gray]

88. Their business in Florida is a big deal

but desantis isn't as scary as he's trying to seem. They've outmaneuvered him every step of the way. I doubt they fear him enough to consider moving their operations.

[Zeitghost]

93. I agree

The most Desantis can do is ruin the sweet deal they have in Florida that they do not have at any of their other resorts.

As you mentioned, they deal with mainland China and the CCP, they deal with constant battles with local government in So-Cal and recently axed a new hotel there over beef with the Anaheim City Council.

Losing some control over their public district in Florida sucks for them, but doesn't create problems they don't already deal with at their other properties. It's part of doing business.

[Irish_Dem]

96. Yes if Disney can do business in Communist China, DeSantis must seem like amateur hour.

[Irish_Dem]

95. Disney has not only outmaneuvered him, but they are having great fun playing cat and mouse w/him.

DeSantis thought he could own Disney, but we can see that Disney owns DeSantis and Florida.

Disney apparently has their people embedded at the highest levels of Florida government and
have all the receipts, paperwork and filings signed, sealed and delivered to thwart DeSantis at every turn.

I agree, they do not fear DeSantis in the least and are in fact having some fun with him.

Basically they are doing the Disney magic on him. Usually Disney wants their customers to have fun but
in this case, Disney is the one having fun.

What is the Disney magic? I once took my daughter on a three day Disney cruise
and it was amazing fun but mind boggling from a business and psychological perspective. From the second
you hit Disney property you are micromanaged, controlled, owned by Disney but you are having
such a damn good time you don't even notice it. They keep you distracted, entertained and enthralled at all times.

For example as we sat eating dinner on the cruise ship the room decor magically changed three times.
The color of the walls, the paintings on the wall, the lighting, etc. Your jaw would just drop all the time.
How do they do it? Disney magic.

It was like that with everything, behind the scenes was perfectly managed and planned. All you saw was the magic.
DeSantis is getting the Disney treatment and he doesn't yet realized they own him lock stock and barrel.

[RobinA]

98. I Have To Agree

I am not a huge Disney fan and I am definitely not a fan of large companies throwing their weight around. However, I was coerced into taking my elderly Grandmother to Disney World in 2000, and not only did I have a great time, but I was totally impressed with how the place ran as experienced by the customer. During my week there there was not one moment of "well, there's gotta be a better way of doing THAT." They just had it down. I would have preferred cooler weather when we were at the animal part, but even Disney can't change the weather. Although I am sure they are trying. If nothing else, it was a pleasure to see how well things CAN be run if a company truly makes that a priority.

Since DeSantis took them on, I never had a doubt that he wouldn't be able to touch them. I'm actually surprised he would try, it seems more like clueless Trump move.

[Irish_Dem]

112. Yes it is puzzling that DeSantis would use such amateur hour tactics against Disney

and totally underestimate Disney's clout and expertise.

DeSantis is looking mentally ill and unstable.

[Dorian Gray]

110. We did a disney cruise when my daughter was 7

I think the restaurant you're talking about is Animator's Palate. It was amazing. We loved the whole experience. Tiana's Place was super fun, too! Mardi gras party!

(I don't think I'd do a disney cruise again, as my daughter is older and I'm not much of a cruiser in the first place. I prefer something like Celebrity or NCL, where you can pick and choose restaurants rather than being assigned a table if I have to do a cruise-- which i never do. But the disney cruise was filled with magical moments, including a frozen deck snow party and a princess tea luncheon and movies and shows and everything to make your child have a blast. I'm glad we did it once.)

DeSantis has no chance against Disney. They'll wait him out.

[Irish_Dem]

113. I think they have decided to full out go after DeSantis.

They are not going to wait him out at all.

The mouse is going to destroy DeSantis and he deserves it.

Yes anyone who has gone on a Disney cruise knows what I am talking about.
This is a company you don't want to mess with.

[Dorian Gray]

121. They do that special magic

better than anybody else. (And yes, we're going back to Disney World and Universal in June when school is out.) In Pride Month, too.

[Irish_Dem]

122. Yep. That is great you are going back to Disney, especially for Pride Month.

[housecat]

106. Desatan has shit for brains

[Mr.Bill]

34. The prices Disney charges these days

tell me they are not concerned about who they are pricing out of the market. On our retirement budget we could not even consider visiting one of their parks.

[spooky3]

38. The problem is MD and VA are too cold for several months

Each year and would attract few visitors then. Even Virginia Beach can get into the 20s in winter. If we could un-gerrymander North Carolina it might be mild enough.

[OldBaldy1701E]

46. Nah.

Only Florida could offer a climate that would allow the park to stay open year around, and that is what they want. So, for now, it looks like FL is the place. I do wish they would take offensive action though. Watching a major corporation take down the party of corporations would be such schadenfreude.

[housecat]

107. Or make the best of global warming

[Gore1FL]

45. They tried Virginia once.

It almost resulted in the third battle of Bull Run.

[cstanleytech]

70. Hmm more like Puerto Rico as states like Virginia and Maryland have a higher risk

of weather forcing the park to close. Plus alot of people from the north go in the winter escape the cold for a bit.

[DBoon]

101. How about Cuba?

Disney World Havana?

Of course not likely given current US/Cuba politics

[BidenRocks]

6. Safety upgrades

And general improvements.
Do you really want to fuck with Disney?

[TomDaisy]

9. really screws DeSantis for his threat to send in state inspectors for all the rides

oh you have safety concerns? FINE. We'll just shut this whole motherfucker down. Bye.

[BidenRocks]

79. Exactly.

When Virginia messed with the Navy, they handed out Scrip.
They never saw it coming.

[MichMan]

97. Why should amusement park rides should be immune from safety inspections?

Seems like that would be in the best interest of the public. Are there other states that don't regulate them at all?

[GenXer47]

7. never fuck with Goofy

Goofy's got an entourage. When I was 14 I dared poke him in the eyes at Disneyworld and 2 minutes later a couple of polo shirts with walkietalkies popped out of the bush and gave me a completely irrational scolding, referring to the costume as if it were a real dog's skin, and big plastic eyes that could feel pain.
It's a weird, weird, world. But not as weird as the gub'ner.

[roamer65]

11. Goofy has goons.

[2naSalit]

8. I've been wondering...

How long it would take for this concept to enter the conversation. Might be worth it in the long run.

[FakeNoose]

55. Just long enough to get DeSantis shit-canned

[2naSalit]

74. And replaced by a real human.

[machoneman]

10. Biggest single site employer in all of Florida, by far. Not even including all the satellite

companies that sell Disney stuff or supply lodging, food, trinkets, tours, rental cars, etc. but are not on Disney property nor employ Disney workers. Many say it's equal to the almost 75,000 Disney workers. Meaning about 140-150,000 workers in all.

https://weirddisney.com/factoids/walt-disney-world-is-the-largest-single-site-employer-in-the-world/

[MichMan]

39. And people here are cheering for them to all lose their jobs

Sometimes people here are disgusting....

[Irish_Dem]

16. Maybe corporations should stop donating to the fascist GOP.

That might help a lot.

[Bucky]

25. That ain't happening either.

The right thing to do is shame them into behaving. Or better yet, put a lid on corporate bribery of politicians.

[Jedi Guy]

18. I suspect Disney would feel it.

A quick Google search for their revenue breakdown turned up that nearly 30% of their revenue from 2016-2022 was from the domestic parks. I would guess Disneyworld is more profitable than Disneyland, since it's newer, but even assuming a 50/50 split, that's still 14% of their revenue, bare minimum.

I doubt like hell that the shareholders would stand for it.

[pwb]

23. Some shareholders may be in favor of moving too.

Google has lots of searches.

[Jedi Guy]

30. Moving as in moving Disneyworld out of Florida altogether?

That would be a monumental and hideously expensive undertaking. I would be very, very surprised if they went that route. Just setting up a new park would be billions of dollars, let alone moving all the crap from Orlando to wherever a hypothetical new park ended up being.

Disneyworld has been there for over 50 years now. DeSantis is term-limited so they'll be rid of him for at least four years once this one ends. He can run again after that, sure, but by then he'll have either moved on to bigger and better things (let's hope not) or tried to do so and fizzled out (let's hope so).

[mopinko]

43. after having to close them in the plague, yeah, no, they arent doing that again.

[Dorian Gray]

94. Florida Disney is WAY bigger than

Disneyland, CA. Just the sheer volume of hotels they own on property alone. Four parks plus a water park.

Disneyland is barely bigger than a Six Flags.

Disney World is a whole universe unto itself.

[Zeitghost]

21. The stock holders would show management the door

Before the press release was out.

It's not even close to a realistic idea.

[pwb]

32. You know all the stock holders minds?

People Desatan is dissing are major stockholders.

[Zeitghost]

35. Yes I do, at least enough of them to matter

Stock holders invest for a return on that investment. Closing down your most profitable business operation to snub the local Governor and State Legislature is a major breech of managements fiduciary responsibility and shareholders would immediately move to block it.


Black Rock, Van Guard, SSgA and the other institutional investors do not care, they own Disney to make money and closing WDW is not how you make money.

[pwb]

48. So DeSatan can shit all over institutional investors?

What a feeling that must be eh?

[Zeitghost]

92. Disney made a deal with the Devil

They carved out their own local governmental power to avoid costly battles with local zoning, taxation and development laws like those they deal with in So-Cal. The powers of government were literally handed over to one of the largest mega corporations around; that kind of corporate/government melding is literal fascism.

So I'm not overly concerned that Disney's sweetheart deal is starting to sour a bit, even if I don't like the source or motive of their problems.

[housecat]

126. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

Looks like fascism aids friendship with rabid capitalism

[former9thward]

90. About the only real world post in this thread.

[Bucky]

22. Oh, I don't think they should do that.

Corporations aren't there to piss of customers. Even though they often piss me off.

[Fiendish Thingy]

24. Utterly false

Disney World is the most profitable of all Disney parks, generating billions in revenue.

Disney media (Disney+, Hulu, ABC, ESPN) has been losing money trying to make up for spending $71 BILLION for 20th Century Fox studios and archives a couple of years ago.

Disney studios is also losing money, as several big ticket releases lost money due to both the pandemic and just not being up to usual Disney quality standards, including:

Turning Red ($168 million loss)
Mulan remake ($180 million loss)
Strange World($100 million loss)
Lightyear ($106 million loss)

So, no, Disney World could not close for 2-4 years and the company wouldn’t even feel it. That idea just came from your imagination.

[Silent3]

57. Even if Disney could afford to shut down...

...I wouldn't want to wish all the collateral damage that would cause to small businesses who aren't to blame for DeSantis.

[Enter stage left]

26. Don't forget Disney Cruise Lines. They could crater Florida's economy.

[Igel]

29. Some might say that the corporation has a bit too much power. n/t

[snowybirdie]

36. Think of millions

of people without jobs or sources of employment in Central Florida. And remember we Democrats are for people. This is a very sick and unkind solution to this man. Where will all the Florida refugees go? Come on folks.

[Roland99]

40. Q4 2022 - Domestic Parks (DLR and WDW) brought in $5 billion in revenue

You can rest assured that WDW was probably 2/3 - 3/4 of that amount since WDW is much larger in size and scope than DLR

Shutting it down for multiple years would hurt not only Disney, but its employees and the huge cottage industry in the area dependent upon Disney. Property values would crater in the immediate area, as well, and thousands of homeowners would be left in the lurch, too.

[BlackSkimmer]

42. DisneyWorld makes a LOT of money.

You are wrong because this won't happen.

[mopinko]

44. after having to close the parks in the plague, yeah, no. they wont be doing that again.

i think if they were smart they’d be looking to get out of florida anyway. they have a long enough future plan to know it’ll be gone 1 day.

[Beaverhausen]

47. 33 people rec'd this BS?

Do you have any idea how many people would lose their jobs if this happened?

How many local businesses would be lost?

Are you nuts?

[MichMan]

50. They don't care as long as it hurts Desantis

It is seen as collateral damage for the common good

[pwb]

52. Are you talking to DeSantis? He doesn't seem to care about consequences

He is making the threats. They are his people he is putting at risk. He thinks they would never leave, I say he is wrong. He needs to stop his puke shit.

[Beaverhausen]

54. No- I'm talking about the suggestion that Disney would be fine if they closed Disneyworld

Yes I know desantis doesn't care but I'm surprised DUers also don't care.

[Fiendish Thingy]

68. Up to 64 recs now

This made up nonsense is on the DU front page now.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

78. Honestly, as much as I don't like big corporate management ...

... I doubt things would be any better if run by folks on the street.

[AntivaxHunters]

118. Thank you

The lack of class consciousness is concerning

[MiHale]

51. Threaten...

Tell employees you’re taking a stand. Be slightly transparent. Close for a week, every other weekend for 2 months. Still showing your worth but not creating hardships.
Scorched earth usually doesn’t work well.

[Torchlight]

53. I was curious, came upon a relevant story out of FL and am astounded by Disney's pull in the state

"Disney World attracts around 50 million tourists a year and generates more than 70,000 jobs directly, making it the biggest single-site employer in the U.S.," he said. "The millions of tourists visiting Disney World not only spend money at the resort but also across the city and the state of Florida."

In Orlando alone, more than 300,000 people lived in the city when Walt Disney World opened. Now, it is home to more than 2 million residents. What’s more, in 2019, the economic impact from the tourism industry in Orlando resulted in more than $73 billion in "business sales impact" for 17 sectors of the city’s economy, according to the Orlando Business Journal. While additional attractions have arrived in the area following the opening of Walt Disney World, its four theme parks continue to generate the most revenue and visitors in the area.

The ripple effects from Walt Disney World Resorts are undoubtedly felt across Florida, including Miami, Horenstein added. Through South Florida's international airport and the robust tourism industry itself, people visiting Disney historically pass through Miami and engage in economic activity.

https://news.miami.edu/stories/2021/10/after-50-years,-walt-disney-world-still-casts-a-spell-on-florida.html

[onenote]

56. Not remotely feasible.

The Disney shareholders -- 2/3 of which are institutional investors -- would stop any such move in nanosecond. The largest shareholder, Vanguard, has over 138 million shares. A drop of 10% in the stock price in response to the shuttering of the park would reduce the value of their investment by 1.3 billion dollars. And a 10% drop in the share price probably is conservative. Plus, Disney has announced that after suspending dividend payments in response to the hit the company took from the pandemic shutdown. Shutting DisneyWorld almost certainly would put the plan to pay dividends back on ice, which will push the stock down further.

[housecat]

67. Build the new better park in a blue state before shutting down Florida

[madville]

82. What blue state?

What blue state provides mild winters, year round sunny weather and land cheap enough to start from scratch? Nothing comes to mind….

[housecat]

87. True. I don't know about cheap land in a small state like Maryland or Delaware, but location

would be drivable for most of the highly populated East Coast. With climate change and Florida soon underwater, the East Coast just might get warmer winters. Or Disney could have modified events for winter.

[onenote]

91. You're kidding right? How long do you think will that take? Where will the money come from?

Disney announced plans to build DisneyWorld in November 1965. Ground was broken in May 1967 and the first part of the park opened in 1971. It would take years to replicate the park somewhere. (Disney began secretly buying up land for the park several years before announcing its plans to build it in order to hold down costs. It wouldn't have that luxury if it decided to replicate the park somewhere else. Its initial cost was $400 million, which is over $2.5 billion today. And that's just for the initial part of the park (the Magic Kingdom). Today, Disney World consists of comprises four theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom), two water parks (Disney's Blizzard Beach and Disney's Typhoon Lagoon), 31 themed resort hotels, nine non-Disney hotels, several golf courses, a camping resort, and other entertainment venues, including the outdoor shopping center Disney Springs.

You're living in a fantasy world if you think investors/shareholder would support a multiyear, multi-billion dollar effort to replace Disney World simply to spite DeSantis. And to top it off you'd be with putting thousands of Floridians out of work.

[housecat]

102. 2023 money, not 1965. Disney has the finances if there is a need

[onenote]

109. I don't think you fully appreciate the cost of what is being proposed.

Disney World cover 43 square miles -- almost double the size of Manhattan. It generates almost $8 billion in revenue a year, although its operating income (after expenses) is much less. Just the cost of the land to build a replacement somewhere else would be crazy and acquiring it and building a new park would take years and years. So either the existing park stays operational in Florida for those years, which would seem to defeat the "stick it to DeSantis" purpose of the proposal or it shuts down and takes a massive revenue hit for years that it can never recover.

If you can show, with numbers, how Disney could shut down Disney World and build a new park somewhere without taking an enormous hit -- one that its shareholders would never, ever allow, I'm all (mouse) ears.

[housecat]

117. Interesting statistics and most likely accurate. However, the entire company --

including other parks, blockbuster film and other media, franchises, royalties, hotels, resorts, toys/games, etc. worldwide isn't even all of it. I am not suggesting closing the park, but building an irresistible modern better park elsewhere-- one within driving distance from large population centers -- Desatan would get the message (not that Disney cares). It's a good idea to keep Disney World in Florida-- until it isn't.

[onenote]

120. where would this new park be located?

Florida has the advantage of having year round good weather, meaning its somewhere people can go in the winter months.

There aren't a lot of other states that offer that -- and those that do are mostly very red states in the south. Moving to the midwest wouldn't be that great from a year-round operational perspective; being able to drive there isn't so attractive when the weather is unpredictable.

[housecat]

123. Companies incorporate in Delaware for good reason like attractive laws. Maryland might be good.

With the influx of new money, development, employment, taxes, etc I'd be surprised if one of those states wouldn't bend over backwards with incentives.

[onenote]

124. Delaware?

You don't have to operate in Delaware to take advantage of their favorable corporate laws. So that doesn't make any difference.

While it will be closer and more drivable than Florida for those in the Northeast, most of the country will still need to travel by air. The Wilmington airport handled slightly over 1 million passengers last year (arrivals plus departures). The Orlando airport handled 50 million. Add that to the infrastructure cost of building a major entertainment venue (in a state where the average high temperature is below 60 degrees five months of the year and the average low temperature is below 50 seven months of the year (and 40 or below 5 months of the year). In Orlando, the average high temperature is never below 70 and the average low never is below 50.

And Maryland? Again the climate year round isn't all that great and for most of the country, getting there would require air travel. The biggest airport in the state is Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall, which handles around 20 million passengers a year. Consider that the Orlando airport is less than a half hour from Disney World. Do you think there is any undeveloped 43 square mile parcel of land located within a half hour of BW/Thurgood Marshall airport? And while there might be some place in the more rural portions of the state, the next largest airport in Maryland handles 70,000 passengers a year, somewhat less than 50 million.

[housecat]

125. Good description of the state of the states. What about later when climate change

makes Orlando unbearably hot, and northern states get mild winters. Airports can be enlarged, but I see your point. Let's consider an entirely different state -- one with plenty of vacant rural land and a good shuttle system to and from a major airport. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a blue state, but the rural areas are likely to be red anyway. What about Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia, all with major airports and lots of land.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

58. I was saying this BEFORE the election.

Fuckface is term limited anyway. What does he care?

The only good target is his rubber stamp legislature.

[Conjuay]

59. I'm sure all SEVENY SEVEN THOUSAND employees

at WDW would think this is a great idea.

[housecat]

60. If Disney moved to another state they would start from scratch. That could be amazing

[DonCoquixote]

100. and of course to hell with central Florida

the last blue area of the state.

[jstephenj]

61. They won't do that.

I just can't see Disney ever doing that.

[bluestarone]

62. This would not be good for Disney, BUT maybe do like a DEATHSANTIS day

I mean close ONE day a week, and call it a DEATHSANTIS day.

[Joinfortmill]

69. DeSantis is an arrogant little f*ck playing chicken with Disney. He's gonna tank Florida

[aggiesal]

71. But FOX will tell them what to believe and the conservative voters ...

in Florida will eat it hook, line, and sinker.

They'll blame Disney for their lot in life.

[zipplewrath]

75. A better, more possible, idea

Disney has several ancillary corporate offices in the greater Orlando area. There are communications offices, movie studio facilities, and various corporate activities located there. There is currently a plan, that has been delayed, to move much of their Sunnyvale offices to the greater Orlando area. It involves developing a housing area sufficient to support the highly paid executives, as well as another private golf course. We're talking about some of the highest paid people in Disney.

Move them all out. Leave all the low paying, entry level, unskilled jobs here, and move everything else out of state. It wouldn't even have go to California. They could pick northern Virginia, or the general DC/Maryland/Delaware area. That would provide much of the infrastructure that those offices require (access to national air travel, education quality for the children, access to high quality college graduates, etc.) and keep them out of states that would be hostile to them. I have it on good authority that much of the Sunnyvale staff is already resisting having to relocate to Florida because of their positions on LBTQ+ issues, not to mention the poor quality of the public school system (that always ranks in the bottom 10 of the nation), as well as the current assault by DeSatan on the University system.

I don't think Iger wants to pick this kind of fight, but corporate America should really be worried about what DeSatan is doing and how he could expand it to any corporation that doesn't support/donate sufficiently to his, and the GQP's coffers and agenda.

[TeamProg]

76. Wanting this is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. The poorest workers would be hurt.

DeSantis is getting less and less liked I understand.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

77. I don't think this is true.

According to Disney's earnings report from Q1:

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/the-walt-disney-company-reports-first-quarter-earnings-for-fiscal-2023/

Total operating income was $3.043 billion. Operating income from Domestic Parks was $2.113 billion, of which almost certainly a big majority is from Walt Disney World, since it's much larger than Disneyland Resort.

So unless Disney's shareholders would enjoy a 50% drop in profit as well as a severe cut to Disney's goodwill, I don't think Disney World is barely a ripple.

[mucifer]

80. My patients would lose Make A Wish. It is

The most popular wish for the kiddos.

[Initech]

81. I just wish we could get Fox News and the MAGA dude bros to shut up for a week.

[UTUSN]

83. Go for it

[BlueIdaho]

84. Disney could close DisneyWorld and build houses

On the land and make a fortune. Then let the state and local governments provide services for these new neighborhoods for ever and ever and ever.

[onenote]

108. I can't imagine the board of directors and major shareholders would go for such an approach

I don't think people appreciate how large the Disney World area is and what it would cost to demolish the existing facilities. It covers 43 square miles -- double the size of Manhattan. How many homes do think they'd need to build to replace the billions in revenues that they earn annually from Disney World. And then add the cost of building an entire new park.

Finally, apart from the fact that its a financially unrealistic idea, Disney probably would need all kinds of zoning waivers to build residential units in the area -- time consuming and rife with uncertainty.

I can't believe anyone thinks moving Disney World to another location is a feasible option.

[Stuart G]

89. K and R...Thanks for posting.. DeSantis ain't that smart. Taking on Disney ain't smart..

De Santis is not too smart. He will lose the fight with Disney. Much too stupid to know the facts.

[DonCoquixote]

99. this is what Desantis wants

Orlando is the last BLue center ion the state, if it goes, that yahoos in Jacksonville will go YEEEEHAWWW

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

111. But they won't do any of that

So why even waste time on these inane departures from reality?

You really need to wrap your head around the fact that Disney is a typical greedy megacorporation out for all the profit it can get.

Shutting down the park won't get them that profit.

Closing it down won't do that.

Ripping up stakes and moving won't do that.

Stop puling for what will never be, and accept reality.

[friend of a friend]

114. How long before Disney World is under water?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

119. I am enjoying the attacks on Disney and Walt Disney world

My children and my son-in-law are headed to WDW in May and we have a family trip planned in December. This fight has been fun to watch.

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