Will Walt Disney World Leave Florida?
Ron DeSantis Might Push Them Over The Edge
I moved to Orlando from Jacksonville in 1985. Walt Disney World was 14 years old, much younger than Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, which was 30. part of the reason Walt Disney World was planned was that there was no room for growth for the California park. If you've ever been to Disneyland, it's landlocked, surrounded by hotels, souvenir shops, and local businesses. Foresighted executives selected an area near a then-small town called Orlando where land (mostly orange groves) could be bought up relatively cheaply when anonymous buyers scooped up the land they needed without alerting sellers as to who the buyer was or their intent.
The Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World) has been the most visited theme park worldwide for years. Before COVID and afterward, in 2019, there were over 20 million visitors, which doesn't include the other nearby Disney-owned parks. Epcot had over 12 million guests, MGM Studios had 11 million plus, and Disney's Animal Kingdom had almost 14 million patrons.
There is a solar system of businesses dependent on Disney and its guests. Besides the more than 25 hotels owned by Disney, hundreds of other hotels depend on theme park revenue. Without Disney World, arguably, there would be no Universal Studios, Sea World, Legoland, and others that draw…
