Disney World Claims Victory in Florida Property Battle, Could Be Owed $80+ Million

in Disney Parks, Walt Disney World

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Disney claims victory in a years-long lawsuit.

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Walt Disney World has won a nearly decade-old lawsuit in which it claimed it had been overcharged for property taxes and, as a result, could be entitled to up to $80 million or more, according to The Orlando Sentinel. This massive sum of money would come in the form of refunds of taxes that were paid to Orange County Public Schools.

Walt Disney World filed the lawsuit against the Orange County Property Appraiser back in 2015. This particular lawsuit involves Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts and Convention Center and is the latest development in the company’s attempt to correct the evaluation of its properties in Orlando.

Pier at Disney's Yacht Club Resort
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Judge Thomas W. Turner has declared that then-Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh’s assessment of Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club was “unconstitutional and invalid.” Judge Turner stated that Singh used intangible property, like the value of the Disney Company’s brand, image, and workforce, to unlawfully calculate the value of the properties.

As a result of Singh’s appraisal, the value of the resort increased by 118% in a single year. This lawsuit is just one of Disney’s many attempts at correcting Orange County officials. Walt Disney World has sued every year since 2015, filing a dozen lawsuits in 2023.

In 2022, Disney said it paid $1.1 billion in state and local taxes.

The exact amount of refund money has not been calculated yet, but current Orange County Property Appraiser Scott Randolph estimates Disney could be due $2 million in inaccurate property taxes it paid on the hotel between 2015 and 2016.

However, Walt Disney World could be owed a lot, lot more if this ruling applies to all of its resorts in Orlando.

“Technically the ruling only applies to the Yacht and Beach Club Hotel and only for those two years, but the disagreement on which it’s based upon, the valuation determination, is the basis for all their litigation on all the hotels of Disney since 2015,” said Randolph.

It’s estimated Disney could actually be owed around $80 million if this new ruling applies to all of its properties. Randolph said this amount is the equivalent of paying a $6,000 retention bonus to every teacher in the district or building about three new elementary schools in the county.

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Credit: Inside the Magic

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Randolph said he alerted school officials last year that Disney’s lawsuit would not end well for Orange County, though things are more complicated than they may seem. Actually providing Walt Disney World with the refund may prove difficult, as the money that was illegally collected from the Florida theme park resort went into the Orange County Public Schools system.

Disney is no stranger to lawsuits, especially ones that target Florida. In recent years, Disney has filed suits against both the state and its Governor, Ron DeSantis, for a number of reasons.

Disney and DeSantis’ relationship first reached a boiling point in 2022 following the company’s decision to criticize Florida’s highly controversial Parental Rights in Education Act, more commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

As punishment, DeSantis shortchanged Disney every chance he could, eventually threatening to remove Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special ruling that had been in place for decades.

DeSantis was successful in stripping Disney of this district, though the company did not back down without a fight, suing both him and Florida.

DeSantis eventually got involved in Disney’s tax debates, claiming the company was not paying its fair share. However, Disney has now proved that it paid its “fair share” and was actually ordered to pay an illegal sum of money.

Stay tuned here at Inside the Magic for all future Walt Disney World news updates. 

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