Disney Ending $1 Billion Move Amid DeSantis Lawsuit Could Be A Bigger Deal For Florida Than We Thought

Earlier this month when Disney announced that a plan to move 2,000 Cast Member jobs (including most of Walt Disney Imagineering, from California to Florida) would not move forward, it was obviously a financial blow to the state. The move was expected to result in nearly $1 billion in spending in the state that now won’t happen, but it looks like Disney’s decision in its ongoing battle with Florida is already causing repercussions, as it could mean a lot of additional economic activity won’t happen. At this point, it’s unclear what Disney will do with the land it purchased in 2021, but at least in the short term, the answer is “absolutely nothing” and that’s bad news for the Lake Nona area, which was expecting a boom in both residential and commercial projects in response to the move. The Wall Street Journal reports that when Disney first announced the move, construction on new homes and apartments jumped up, many of which are actively being built now, but it appears the people who were expected to live in them aren’t coming.