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Disney and Desantis

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MackMan

MackMan

Mega Poster
Disney World is a park we all know right? Here in the UK even with Euro Disney so near, everyone always seems to view Orlando as “the place” to take your kids.

There’s a lot of politics behind this that I’m not gonna dig too deep on, but basically the governor of the state and Disney have butt heads over the last few months. Disney declared a disapproval of one of the new laws introduced, and have frozen the usual funds they give to political parties

Desantis has pretty brutally threatened to try and basically cut every perk and power Disney have over central Florida, which so far hasn’t worked, but it still looms over such a big property. The park roughly employs 77,000 people, and is the biggest tax payer in Florida, so would Desantis really be willing to let Disney slip away from Florida.

The park will most certainly operate for years to come, but will this harm future investments. Will Disney decide to invest in other properties due to stability? Or will Disney maybe build another base in the US, I have heard a lot of states would roll out the red carpet for a Disney park. Tax breaks, incentives, and a lot more stability than the current government in Florida.

I think as long as Desantis is governor, we might see a lack of investment or delayed projects. Let me know your opinions guys- I personally think Desantis might be alienating the very company that brings a lot of big bucks to his home state
 
I think this is a very relevant topic to the industry. Disney World parks are instrumental in the industry, and this could change the way this property operates. It also could result in new properties, all very relevant to our hobby. Controversial yes, but important
 
davidm said:
I've been posting about this for while in the "Small news..." thread (although its not really "small" news).

Frightening how ridiculous US-politics is these days :(
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Apologies for the extra thread, I didn’t assume it would be small news as Disney is so huge :((

Honestly I hope both come to the table for talks. The amount of money Florida gets in tax must be brilliant. Also obviously we want more coasters and more investment from Disney into the area.
 
Furiustobaco said:
Apologies for the extra thread, I didn’t assume it would be small news as Disney is so huge :((
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In that sense, you're right, but in forum terms I'm very keen this doesn't devolve into a political mud-throwing debate. Keeping it in Small News helps a little bit as it tends to get buried before it flares up too much. Probably no right answer (as it would arguably be easier to control in a dedicated topic), but I've been alright with the Small News approach so far.
 
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The "Royal lives clause" Disney inserted into the Florida agreement was genius and went under the radar until after it had already been signed. Stating that the declaration is valid until "21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England"

Pretty hilarious that they got away with putting that clause in there has made DeSantis look rather silly.

www.bbc.co.uk

Disney sidesteps DeSantis board with royal clause

The Florida governor's oversight board says Disney circumvented it with an agreement citing King Charles.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
So questioning the American political parties, you have Democrats which are centre right, and Republicans who are far right, but isn’t the whole republican agenda supposed to be about less government interference with people and businesses? Isn’t this personal vendetta thoroughly unrepublican?

I do believe it was correct of Disney to speak up against “don’t say gay”*, but they blundered into all of that mess themselves. They spent plenty of money donating to the very same party to save themselves from government interference, so their stance was far too little too late, and they fell on their own sword with these repercussions.


*As a gay man myself who grew up in an education system that taught us nothing about gay people, and watching hundreds of films with straight relationships, I can tell you it did nothing to change my sexuality.
 
spicy said:
The "Royal lives clause" Disney inserted into the Florida agreement was genius and went under the radar until after it had already been signed. Stating that the declaration is valid until "21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England"

Pretty hilarious that they got away with putting that clause in there has made DeSantis look rather silly.

www.bbc.co.uk

Disney sidesteps DeSantis board with royal clause

The Florida governor's oversight board says Disney circumvented it with an agreement citing King Charles.
www.bbc.co.uk
Click to expand...

The devil is in the detail, of which I know very little beyond the article, but slipping things into a ‘last-minute contract’ that’s clearly against the intention of a party… with express duration of at least 21 years… well, that sounds like fun to defend 🥴

Very aggressive (and expensive) …
 
As Coasterforce's resident queer conservative, I won't give my personal political view on this whole thing. Although, I will say that I don't like Desantis and his hideous ego.

I will give a simple business awnser to @Furiustobaco question. Disney will obviously keep investing in WDW. In business we have a theory of agglomeration economics. This can be applied to Disney and say that an investment in WDW might deliver higher returns than a similar investment somewhere else due to the internalities and externalities caused by agglomeration economics. Probably Disney's costs of doing business at WDW might also increase somewhat due to the potential obstacles placed by Desantis, but, overall I could still see investments at WDW to be massively beneficial. That's not even considering the necessity to counter Universal's encroachments on Disney's cash cow.

Even when Desantis leaves in a couple of years, I doubt that other republicans or Democrats will give back Disney their privileges. I also see Florida as quite solidly red, so I doubt we will see democrats in charge for some time.
 
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Token warning point for doing exactly what I was trying to avoid and posting solely about politics.
CanobieFan said:
Ehh, we're becoming more and more purple
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Not on a state level. Florida hasnt had a democratic governor for over 20 years. In the 2022 election, Desantis beat his (ex republican governor) opponent by almost 20 points. The biggest lead in 40 years. He got the majority hispanic vote. This is also the first time in almost 150 years that democrats dont hold a single elected state-wide position. In my view, that is a pretty solidly red state.
 
Token warning point for doing exactly what I was trying to avoid and posting solely about politics.
Christian said:
Not on a state level. Florida hasnt had a democratic governor for over 20 years. In the 2022 election, Desantis beat his (ex republican governor) opponent by almost 20 points. The biggest lead in 40 years. He got the majority hispanic vote. This is also the first time in almost 150 years that democrats dont hold a single elected state-wide position. In my view, that is a pretty solidly red state.
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If you have to Gerrymander the heck out of voting districts so that black people's votes are worth less, I'd hardly say it's a solidly "red" state. 👀
 
Token warning point for doing exactly what I was trying to avoid and posting solely about politics.
Crazycoaster said:
If you have to Gerrymander the heck out of voting districts so that black people's votes are worth less, I'd hardly say it's a solidly "red" state. 👀
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Desantis and his other republicans didn't each get between 1.2 and 1.6 million more votes by gerrymandering. Apparently, they are just popular.

Pear said:
Mind you one side is trying to take rights away from marginalized people and the other is just trying to run their parks.
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Disney obviously are motivated by profits, and purely by profits. Desantis and his gang are motivated by his ego, possible presidential bid and his "anti woke crusade" which is part of the larger neoconservative culture war. By sheer stupidity Disney, happened to become Desantis next culture war target. Now they are stuck there. Seems like Bud Light also wanted to join that gang. In business school we are taught to always adapt and work around the world around us to deliver value to our stakeholders. Dont get why these companies desperately want targets on their backs. Any sensible company would do everything to actively avoid this hideous culture war.

In the whole thing, queer youth are stuck in the middle. Though, I am firm beliver that we are born like this and regardless of education you will eventually still become queer, but of course, it might help some to get that help in school. Especially, those youth who struggle and might consider suicide. Though, I wouldn't say that's a major problem for kids up to third grade. They really shouldn't have to be subjected to sexual subjects or hate, rather just enjoy being kids. When eventually coming out, some will hate you for it, better to delay that and instead just be a normal kid as long as possible. I went to a school where my evangelical American or conservative British teachers refused any discussions about sex or sexuality. It hasn't affected me much. I was only told to wait until marriage (to a woman), that hasn't gone that well though.

Something else dragged into this culture war is drag culture. Which in my opinion, is very sad. For me personally that was my first experience with LGBTQ culture and the first time I saw and met open LGBTQ people. It was a major part in finding my own identity. Obviously, some drag elements are very much not for kids but others are brilliant entertainment for all ages.

I really didn't want to give my personal opinion on the whole **** show. But, when asked of providing a different view, I couldn't help it. Enjoy!
 
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Token warning point for doing exactly what I was trying to avoid and posting solely about politics.
Christian said:
Seems like Bud Light also wanted to join that gang. In business school we are taught to always adapt and work around the world around us to deliver value to our stakeholders. Dont get why these companies desperately want targets on their backs. Any sensible company would do everything to actively avoid this hideous culture war.
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Bud Light has been pro LGBT since the 1970's and regardless of how loud the crazy anti-woke people are the vast majority of America probably takes no issue in the advertisements. How come when they do normal ads with cis people there's no issue but doing a normal ad with a trans person is?

Christian said:
When eventually coming out, some will hate you for it, better to delay that and instead just be a normal kid as long as possible.
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Staying in the closet as long as possible is such a reductive take. Why should we force people who are free to make their own decisions to stay closeted? Being LGBT is normal so how does that affect being a "normal kid" unless you somehow see it as a bad thing. For many people staying in the closet is a matter of life or death, especially for trans kids who have to go through the wrong puberty (and before you start, puberty blockers are reversible) and are denied the gender affirming care and support they need.
Christian said:
I went to a school where my evangelical American or conservative British teachers refused any discussions about sex or sexuality. It hasn't affected me much.
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Cool! But your experience is not universal and religiously traumatizing LGBT kids is not a good way for society to function. Many people have a hard time overcoming this especially in a country where conversion therapy still exists and it really isn't fair to force people to live a certain way because you perceive it as not normal until middle adulthood.
Christian said:
But, when asked of providing a different view, I couldn't help it.
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Your views are inherently bigoted and work against the interests of yourself and your entire community. Believe it or not when the conservatives turn on gay people next they will not spare you.
 
Token warning point for doing exactly what I was trying to avoid and posting solely about politics.
Pear said:
regardless of how loud the crazy woke people are
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Fixed that for you. Wokeness is a mind virus and not supported by the majority of people. At all.
 
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