No, DeSantis isn't "winning" against Walt Disney World

This story from CBS Mornings on vacation rentals kinda aligns with what some here are saying about a drop in attendance at parks. Basically everyone wanted to vacation last year after coming off of Covid but now things are leveling out.

eightdotthree:

This pretty much says everything we already said.

Including an amazing example of quoting unnamed “experts”:

Experts say longer wait times are generally associated with larger crowds at theme parks.

Well, who, other than experts, can we trust on such an outlandish theory that flies in the face of all logic? Who else, I say?

Spoke with a friend who is a life long Disney freak and also a married gay man. They've opted to go to Disneyland this year which costs a lot more for them. They don't want to spend money in Florida because of DeSatan's crap.

That kind of protest is not hurting DeSantis, or really even people who align with him. It does hurt the tens of thousands of people who depend on the tourist economy for work, as well as the locals who depend on the tax revenue for local services. Orlando and Orange County are pretty liberal.

I misspoke a bit on this but they basically said they don't feel comfortable going to the state and are doing something else. So not really a protest but things are weird there and they'd doing something else. A group called Equality Florida has flat out said it's not a safe space for gay people currently.

https://www.cbsnews.com/new...dangerous/

I already preferred Disneyland specifically and California generally when compared to their Eastern counterparts, but at this point I have no intention of giving Florida money until DeSantis is gone.

Life's too short to give money to people who have made their negative opinion about you quite clear. There's certainly no shortage of places I can vacation that haven't loudly espoused such viewpoints.

But maybe I'm in the minority, because my FB feed this year was, until a few months ago, a veritable parade of people DeSantis hates nonetheless vacationing in Florida.

But you aren't "giving money" to DeSantis or "Florida" or "people" who don't like you. His salary constitutes 0.0000000001% of state sales tax. Spending money in Orlando benefits Disney, of course, plus the tens of thousands of service workers and local residents. It makes no sense to punish those people for the stupidity of the governor. You aren't sticking it to the fascist in Tallahassee, you're sticking it to the guy selling churros or making beds.

I guess someone could make the argument that you're sticking it to the voters that elected DeSantis, but given that about 13% of Orange County residents voted for him, that doesn't seem like much of a win. As for avoiding it because you don't feel safe or welcome, I'll acknowledge that is a matter of personal preference and I find it hard to question that choice, but isn't there something to be said for not letting the terrorists win?

Jeff:

You aren't sticking it to the fascist in Tallahassee, you're sticking it to the guy selling churros or making beds.

Exactly. I don't sell churros or make beds but I am one of those guys that would be getting the "sticking".

Anaheim’s “feels like” temp is 85, Orlando’s is 105. That’s reason enough not to step foot in Florida right now. :)

It's only mid July and I have already had more days this summer where the A/C can't keep up and the house gets hot even with the A/C set where it always is than I usually do in the entire June-October swamp ass season.

Sucks.

Right now it's 84 and that feels like a reprieve, but yeah, it seems worse this year. It's probably DeSantis' fault.

There is a(n indirect) way in which a tourism drop can have a political impact. If the business community holds a drop against the current administration, that will result in pressure, changes in donation or "lobbying" patterns, etc.

I don’t agree that residents of Florida are being “punished” by families choosing to spend entertainment dollars elsewhere than the state of Florida. I think people are voicing their opinion about the hostility that is present throughout the entire state of Florida towards migrants, LGBTQ+ folks, drag queens, African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, etc. who politicians are clearly targeting for political gain. It’s BLATANT, in-your-face bigotry. The residents of Florida voted these politicians into office and continue to return them to office, that can’t be denied. The tourism dollars/taxes paid at attractions in Orlando/Tampa, airports, hotels, etc. do benefit the entire state of Florida and it fuels the current political climate in the state, they feel invincible to continue down the path they’ve taken.

Gunkey Monkey:

hostility that is present throughout the entire state

This is where you lose me. I can count "migrants, LGBTQ+ folks, drag queens, African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans" as friends and neighbors, here in Orlando, many of whom work in the tourist economy.

Your understanding of the taxation is also incomplete. A significant portion of the state sales tax collected here is spent here, and with the huge capital projects, we might even get more than we collect. On top of that, there's a 6% tourism development tax that stays here. Literally billions of dollars are paid to more than 350,000 tourism workers. Those people are not exhibiting hostility toward anyone, they're just trying to make a living.

As a donor of a performing arts center here, that has hosted at least two drag shows this year, I think you need to look a little deeper before you lump in residents of Orange County with the rest of the state. 4.6 million people voted for DeSantis, in a population of 22 million.

I was not one of those 4.6 million.

To be fair, while only 4.6 million of 22 voted for DeSantis, only 3 million of 22 voted for the other guy. So essentially 13.5 million non voters voted for DeSantis by default and screw those people, too.

Not all of those people are of voting age, so there's that. But I get your point, voter apathy is real. It's also harder to vote in convenient ways than it used to be (also because of Republicans). You can still vote by mail, but you have to scan a form and email it in, you can't just check a box anymore. Stupid.

As I said, I already preferred Disneyland and California to Walt Disney World and Florida anyway, so Florida already was never going to be my first choice in most situations. DeSantis is just, so to speak, the icing on the cake.

Whether or not DeSantis' views represent that of the majority, he is nonetheless the most prominent representative and spokesperson for Florida, and so I don't feel like it's ridiculous to have his words and actions impact my desire to return to the state. I mean, if the head of the family spat in your face at Thanksgiving dinner, and did it again and again, it's not unreasonable after awhile to just remove yourself from that situation and find somewhere else to go, right? At a certain point, you're more interested in not getting spat on than you're worried about missing quality time with the rest of the family, no matter how nice they are by comparison.