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April 21, 2022 12:05 PM UTC

First Atlanta's All-Star Game, Next Disney World?

  • 20 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Magic Kingdom in the city of magic mushrooms?

As the Denver Post’s Molly Burke reported yesterday, the sparring between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and major Florida economic contributor Disney over that state’s controversial new “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, which has led to threats by Gov. DeSantis to take retaliatory action against Disney World, has drawn in Colorado’s Gov. Jared Polis with an offer to welcome Disney to our state:

The Florida governor has also proposed to dissolve the special tax status for Disney World that has been in place for 55 years in retaliation to the entertainment giant’s opposition to what critics have dubbed the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

In response, Polis tweeted that the two companies could find a home in Colorado, rather than dealing with “Florida’s authoritarian socialist attacks on the private sector.”

“In CO, we don’t meddle in affairs of companies like @Disney or @Twitter,” Polis wrote. “Hey @Disney we’re ready for Mountain Disneyland and @Twitter we’re ready for Twitter HQ2, whoever your owners are.”

Gov. DeSantis’ quarrel with Twitter doesn’t exactly carry the moral weight of Disney’s criticism of the controversial legislation DeSantis signed into law–which as we’ve discussed is meant to confront the “problem” of sex ed to kindergartners that despite Heidi Ganahl’s insistence to the contrary does not actually exist. But for any governor who claims to support economic growth, which last time we checked was most of them, welcoming businesses instead of threatening them seems like the way to go:

After Denver was in the right place at the right time with the right politics to snatch away the 2021 All-Star Game due to Georgia’s passage of vote suppression legislation, we take these kinds of conflicts more seriously than we once did–even if it’s unlikely that a city-sized attraction like Disney World would relocate to a place where it’s freezing half the year. It’s much more likely that Disney will simply hunker down and outlast Gov. DeSantis.

But it’s another chance for Polis to look like the real “pro-business leader” while DeSantis and Ganahl wage war on Mickey Mouse.

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20 thoughts on “First Atlanta’s All-Star Game, Next Disney World?”

  2. re:  Mickey and Minnie full asylum in Colorado

    I think the greater issue will be protecting the 7 dwarves and their alternate lifestyle of living together and having one beautiful houseguest to obsess over.

  3. I think this will be dead on arrival when Floridians owning property in and near the Disney special district realize they'll have to pick up the tab.

    1. Well, it would be if Osceola and Orange County residents are sufficient to push back against the "own the libs" madness. Unless they can figure out how to void the law or force the debt up to the state I wouldn't count on it. And if they do force the bill on the state, expect a special tax on fun, or on income levels under $100,000/yr, or on non-Fundagelicals.

  6. I’ve now read multiple takes on the dissolution of the “special district.”  One labeling the move sudden and of uncertain impact.  One labeling the move a clear retaliation and likely to trigger lawsuits.

    And the most detailed one, saying Disney will come out with some financial benefits:

    • If the spIf the special district is dissolved, Orange and Osceola counties would have to provide the local services currently provided by Reedy Creek. And, the $105 million in revenue would disappear, meaning county and local taxpayers would be on the hook for part or all of the added costs.
    • Reedy Creek has bond liabilities of between $1 billion and $1.7 billion, according to the district’s financial filings. Under Florida statute, if Reedy Creek is dissolved, those liabilities are transferred to the local governments — either Bay Lake or Lake Buena Vista, or more likely, Orange and Osceola counties.

    But hey … there’s a whole 14 months to decide how to incorporate a large organization built up over the past 50 years into two relatively large counties, transferring all property owned by the district, all personnel experienced in providing municipal services, and who knows what in the existing financial relationships.

    2. Yep…14 months to decide.  Which is why Disney needs to go on the offensive right now and begin an Education Campaign in Orange and Osceola counites outlining exactly what the impact will be on their residents if this comes to pass…and how their governor and elected officials are using them and their financial stability as political pawns.  

      According to statute, the only way the District can be dissolved is with the approval of the landowners in the Reedy Creek Improvement District…and that is the Disney Company.  DeSantis is counting on Disney to be a adult in this situation.  They shouldn't.  They should play hardball.  Tell the fine folks of Florida that if DeSantis is reelected, you will dissolve the District and shift the debt burden it carries to Orange and Osceola Counties as DeSantis and the leadership in Tallahassee wants. Make this the ultimate "Elections Have Consequences" lesson.

  9. Oh, how I wish. Realistically, the only way a year round theme park would work out here is with a giant glass dome or canopy covering it. The cost would be astronomical. Not to mention the cost of moving and rebuilding everything. 
    but that’s not the point. Florida is supposed to be a “business friendly” state. Between this and the bullshit the cruise lines have had to put up with from DeSantis that myth is busted.

  10. Wow. Never thought I would see the day where liberals cry over a company (with a market cap above $200b) losing out on corporate-welfare. 

    There’s two values to liberals now: devotion to authority, and devotion to whatever the GOP doesn’t do. Of course, Pew Research has shown that over half of white liberals suffer from a mental disorder. This case a good example of that. 
     

     

     

     

    1. Sorry, Miguel.

      You don't have a fucking clue. Your immersion into the GQP seems complete.

      You tried being liberal once and apparently failed miserably. White liberal bashing is your new thing? How racist of you, Miguel.

      It is hard for me to overstate my disappointment in your attitude. I guess I was wrong about you.

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