Disney says Florida will take on $1 billion of debt if it revokes the special district

Disney has offered its first serious comeback to Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis’ decision to dissolve its special self-governing district surrounding Walt Disney World, and it seems like a pretty clear assertion that they may not have fully reckoned with what this homophobia-driven move will mean for the state. As reported by CNN, the Reedy Creek Improvement District (that’s the name for the big crop of land that Disney World is on, which Disney has controlled since Walt Disney wanted to turn it into his perfect society in the ‘60s) sent a statement to its bondholders recently explaining that the original deal with the state of Florida says, essentially, that the district cannot be dissolved until all of its debts are paid off. And, conveniently, Reedy Creek happens to be sitting on “about $1 billion in outstanding bond debt.”

That means, at least as Disney sees it, Florida will be breaking its original agreement to form Reedy Creek unless it comes up with $1 billion to pay off those debts, which it probably can’t do unless DeSantis is sitting on the lost treasure of Ponce de León. So, until the governor gets out his checkbook and starts counting how many zeroes are in a billion, Reedy Creek says it will be “continuing its present operations,” including “operating and maintaining its properties”—i.e. Disney World, and the various roads and other utilities necessary to keep Disney World running, which tax payers will otherwise have to foot the bill for if Reedy Creek is dissolved.

Basically, it seems like this petty act of intolerance could end up being even more obscenely expensive for Florida than we previously thought, and we already published a story last week about how expensive it is going to be, so that’s saying something. For now, it’s just a matter of waiting to see which side will back down first: Disney, which is only in this fight because everyone got mad at CEO Bob Chapek when he tried to stay out of it, or Florida, which is in this fight because it thinks children should be taught that LGBTQ+ people are bad.