Yes, Disney pulled plug on $1 billion Florida project but not its future plans. What to know.

Disney announced Thursday that the company has pulled the plug in Florida on its $1 billion investment that was expected to bring a new office complex and relocate a California division that would have brought 2,000 jobs to the Orlando area. The move is the latest escalation in a year-long feud between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In April, Disney filed a lawsuit against DeSantis that alleged the governor led a "targeted campaign of government retaliation" against the company. It accuses DeSantis of threatening the company's business and violating its constitutional rights, calling the government's actions "patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional.”

The cancelation is a major blow to Central Florida's economy. The jobs slated to be transferred to Florida included many highly-paid theme park designers.

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Here’s everything you need to know about DeSantis pulling out of Florida.

Where is Disney pulling out of?

The project Disney is pulling out of is located near Lake Nona Town Center. Recent cost estimates showed the investment was about $1.3 billion, and would have relocated as many as 2,000 employees from Southern California.

The group responsible for working with Disney’s movie studios to develop theme park attractions, known as the Imagineering department, was included in part of that group.

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Will Disney eventually pull out of Florida?

Nothing can be ruled out, but Disney would have to spend an incredible amount of resources to completely pull out of Florida.

Disney owns about 25,000 acres of land in Florida, which is approximately 39 square miles. In a recent quarterly call with investors, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the company employs more than 75,000 people in Florida.

In an email from Josh D’Amaro, who oversees Disney’s parks, he notes that the company still has $17 billion in investments planned for Disney World over the next decade, which would bring roughly 13,000 jobs.

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Previous rumors of Disney completely pulling out of Florida have been unfounded. In April, a satirical story about Disney’s plans to relocate its Disney World theme park to a 1,000-acre parcel of land in Atlanta, Georgia, made the rounds prompting people to ask if Disney was leaving Florida for Georgia.

The story also indicated that the new park would include many of the original’s iconic attractions plus new ones “tailored” to the Atlanta area like a new “Gone with the Wind” ride, a Coca-Cola World exhibit and an Atlanta Braves baseball experience.

The story, which was published on Medium, was swiftly debunked by Snopes, who pointed out that the story was tagged as a parody on the platform and further noted the lack of attention from reputable media sources.

Why was Disney relocating this department to Florida?

The move was part of a plan to recoup about $570 million over the next 20 years thanks to a Florida tax credit.

Disney vs. DeSantis feud

The feud between DeSantis and Disney began in March 2022 after he signed the Parental Rights in Education Act, also dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents.

The bill prohibited instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms. It originally targeted kindergarten through third grade, limiting similar discussions in higher grades to what is “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

However, the Florida State Board of Education on April 19 voted to expand the law to all grades.

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Soon after, Disney, who is one of Florida’s top employers, came under fire from the Florida Democratic Party and its LGBTQ employees who staged a walkout due to the company’s silence on the issue.

Disney relented and became a target after then-CEO Bob Chapek began to lobby against the legislation.

"I called Governor DeSantis this morning to express our disappointment and concern that if legislation becomes law it could be used to target gay, lesbian, nonbinary and transgender kids and families," Chapek told Disney shareholders in a March 2022 meeting.

Afterward, DeSantis lashed out at Disney to a group of supporters in a video obtained by Fox News Digital. "You have companies like a Disney that are gonna say and criticize parents' rights, they're gonna criticize the fact that we don't want transgenderism in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms,” he said. "If that's the hill that they're gonna die on, then how do they possibly explain lining their pockets with their relationship with the Communist Party of China?”

Why is Disney suing DeSantis?

DeSantis has been feuding with Disney since the company opposed HB 1557, officially known as the Parental Rights in Education law but derided by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. He called the Legislature into a special session to end Disney's self-governing status and take control of the special district that governs Disney's properties in Central Florida following the company's stance.

Shortly before that law took effect, though, Disney pushed through two contractual agreements − a development agreement and a declaration of restrictive covenants − that allow the company to sidestep the state's oversight, prompting DeSantis to initiate an inspector general investigation and pass legislation to nullify those agreements. He also signed a bill putting Disney's monorail system under the purview of state inspectors.

The DeSantis-appointed oversight board also voted to nullify Disney's actions, prompting a lawsuit from the company.

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Disney's lawsuit alleges DeSantis led a "targeted campaign of government retaliation" against the company. It accuses DeSantis of threatening the company's business and violating its constitutional rights, calling the government's actions "patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional."

The lawsuit alleges five different violations of Disney’s constitutional rights by DeSantis, including two free speech violations, a property rights violation, a due process violation and a violation of the contracts clause.

Disney CEO Bob Iger also has been vocal in criticizing the state's actions against his company.

“Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?” Iger said on an earnings call last week.

D'Amaro's email notes that the company still has $17 billion in investments planned for Disney World over the next decade, which would bring roughly 13,000 jobs.

Zac Anderson of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune contributed to this story.