Disney canceling $1B campus project for Orlando’s Lake Nona. Here’s why

3 years ago 630

Project would have brought 2,000 California workers to Florida

Broker says housing supply is slim as 2,000 Disney employees plan to move to Lake Nona

ORLANDO, Fla. – Disney is canceling its plans to build a $1 billion campus in the Lake Nona area of Orlando, along with plans to relocate thousands of jobs to Florida,

Walt Disney World president Jeff Vahle sent a letter to cast members Friday confirming the news.

Vahle cited “a change in company leadership and evolving economic and business conditions.”

Disney first confirmed the plans for the Lake Nona campus in 2021. The campus would have housed workers in digital technology, finance and product development, including imagineering workers.

Originally, cast members were supposed to move to Florida by the end of last year, but Disney delayed the project to 2026 to give workers more time to relocate.

Vahle’s letter does not make mention of Disney’s current feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers, who pushed a raft of policy changes regarding Disney in the last year or so after Disney’s former CEO criticized the state’s Parental Rights in Education law, known by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.”

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The state remade the special taxing district, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, that governs Walt Disney World with a board that was handpicked by DeSantis to bring the district more under state control.

After it was revealed that Disney entered into an agreement with the former Reedy Creek board to strip the new board of much of its oversight power, lawmakers submitted bills to void that deal, made Disney’s monorail subject to inspection by Florida Department of Transportation, and tried to put Disney’s theme park rides under inspection by the Florida Department of Agriculture.

DeSantis has hinted at using the new board, called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, to levy tolls on roads, develop Disney land, and even joked about putting a state prison on or near the property.

Disney is suing DeSantis and the new governing board in federal court for a number of constitutional violations. Meanwhile, the CFTOD is suing Disney in state court.

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