The company’s timetable for relocating around 2,000 employees to the parks, its experience and products department – which includes several Imagineering employees who are responsible for the design and engineering of the company’s theme parks and walks – has been postponed until 2026, the company confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Times had previously reported that the move is expected to be completed by the end of 2022 or early 2023. In a statement, Disney spokesman Jacquee Wahler said that although “a growing number of employees” whose roles will eventually be based on a campus in Lake Nona, Orlando, have already made the move, “we also want to continue to provide flexibility. to those who move, especially given the expected completion date of the campus is now 2026 “. Wahler added, “Therefore, where possible, we are aligning the relocation period with the completion of the campus.” WDW News Today was the first to report the news. The news comes just months after Republican lawmakers in Florida passed a bill ending the company’s special-purpose area in June 2023 that would effectively allow Disney to govern itself on land occupied by the Walt Disney World Resort. At the end of April, this special purpose area, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, argued that Florida could not dismantle the district until the bond debt was repaid and that it “expects to explore its options while continuing its current operations.” Disney has not filed a lawsuit, but in early May taxpayers living near Walt Disney World sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSadis over the move. A judge dismissed the taxpayers’ lawsuit in mid-May, but a similar case was re-filed in May in state court. Florida lawmakers’ move to shut down the district for Disney followed immediately after the company filed a lawsuit against a Florida law banning class discussion on sexual orientation and gender from kindergarten to third grade, and has considered to a large extent as retaliation. Disney’s delay in making this statement caused its own internal problems, causing workers to organize and leave at the end of March. One of the demands of the organizers of the strike to the leadership of Disney to “regain the trust of the community and LGBTQIA + workers” was to end “any efforts to relocate employees to Florida offices, ensuring the safety of employees and maintaining employment.” . News first surfaced about Disney relocating jobs to parks, experiences and product departments in the summer of 2021. The Orlando Sentinel said Disney could receive $ 570 million in state tax breaks as it builds its new campus in the Lake Nona area.
