What is the controversy with Disney in Florida?

The fight between the Florida governor and the company, now headed to court, began over an education law and grew into a feud about oversight of land that includes the amusement park. Sign Up for the Education Briefing From preschool to grad school, get the latest U.S. education news.



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The Walt Disney Co. said it is pulling out of a roughly $1 billion investment in Florida, citing changing business conditions. The media and entertainment giant announced the move amid a year-long feud with the state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, after Disney publicly opposed his bill to limit instruction on ...

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What would happen to Florida if Disney pulls out? First, it's not going to happen. If it did, the state's economy would be very close to collapse. Between the billions of dollars in bond, and tax revenue lost, there would be about 80,000 people added to unemployment, food stamps, medicaid, and other social programs.

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It would certainly hurt the state of Florida. The government would lose all the tax revenue. People who work at Disney would lose their jobs. There are many companies that only exist because of Disney or that get a lot of their business because of Disney, like hotels near the park.

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The closure of the Orlando-area Disney parks has only happened eight times before now, according to media reports: For Disneyland, the two parks, Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure, will close at midnight tonight and will stay closed until next month.

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Disney World Is Quickly Compensating for Low Attendance Disney itself has announced that Guests are, on average, spending more than 40% more per day in a Disney Park than they did in 2019, meaning that the company has been compensating for the loss of mass revenue quickly.

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From ongoing battles with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his board appointees to subscriber losses on its streaming platform, Walt Disney leadership may be wondering if they've unknowingly fallen under a dark curse. And now, to make matters worse, its theme parks are dealing with declining foot traffic.

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While Disney could pick up and move some of its businesses from Orlando to another state, Disney World and its other theme parks aren't going anywhere. Moving all the infrastructure, including hotels, restaurants and shops as well as transportation to move guests around, just wouldn't be feasible.

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River Country is one of only two Disney parks to permanently close, along with Discovery Island, which is situated parallel to the water park.

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Disneyland has a larger cumulative attendance than any other theme park in the world, with 757 million visits since it opened (as of December 2021).

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