DeSantis floats building prison on land next to Disney World

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Monday that the state might consider building a prison or potentially another amusement park next to land owned by Disney amid his administration’s ongoing feud with the entertainment giant.

The governor’s clash with Disney started when the company came out against his education plan that limits the instruction of gender identity and sexuality in public schools. In response, DeSantis signed a bill that dissolved the private government that oversaw Walt Disney World in the state.

But outgoing Disney-friendly members of the board that oversees the district approved an agreement with the company that gave it developmental authority over its theme park. New board members handpicked by DeSantis said the agreement stripped them of their ability to oversee the park’s development.

Now DeSantis, who is weighing a 2024 presidential campaign, is publicly floating how to respond.

“If you look at this whole special district, Walt Disney Corporation obviously owns a lot of it, but the district owns other land,” he said at the press conference. “Now people are like, what should we do with this land? People have said: Maybe create a state park, maybe try to do more amusement parks. Someone even said maybe you need another state prison. Who knows?” 

DeSantis said that while he was not actively considering what to do with the land before, the ability to build state projects on the land would be analyzed going forward.

“I just think that the possibilities are endless,” he said. “So that is now gonna be analyzed to see what would make the most sense. And that wasn’t necessarily even on the radar.”