Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is facing mounting pressure over his feud with Disney, with the corporation filing a lawsuit against him for steps he has taken to limit the expansion of its Disney World resort in the state.
On Wednesday, Florida Republican senators doubled down in their action against Disney, voting in favor of a new bill—SB 1604—that would nullify development agreements between the entertainment company and the Sunshine State.
Despite the heated battle, one claim shared online this week suggested that the Florida governor had a rather important personal history attached to Disney that he is trying to curb.
The Claim
A tweet by Scott Dworkin, posted on April 26, 2023, viewed 319,500 times, claimed that DeSantis “got married at Disney World” in Florida.
Dworkin said: “Disney filed a lawsuit against Ron DeSantis in federal court today saying he waged a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power.” It was “anti-business” & “unconstitutional.”
“Maybe DeSantis had a horrible time when he got married at Disney, and this is his retaliation.
“That’s right. DeSantis got married at Disney World. And now he’ll probably never be welcome back. And likely will lose to Disney in court. Fantastic.”
The Facts
Despite the animosity between the Florida governor and Disney, it is indeed true that DeSantis was married at the corporation’s park in Florida.
DeSantis’ marriage license shows that he got married in 2009, listing the location as Lake Buena Vista, Florida, the mailing address for Disney World.
Insider reported that DeSantis exchanged vows with now-wife Casey DeSantis at “the Grand Floridian’s wedding pavilion, a chapel with arched windows overlooking Cinderella’s Castle and the Seven Seas Lagoon.”
DeSantis later confirmed in an interview that the report from Insider was correct, adding: “In looking forward to what we ended up doing as governor and some of the face-offs that we had with some major institutions in Florida, it’s kind of ironic.”
In a memoir released in February 2023, DeSantis said that he didn’t want any Disney characters to be a part of his wedding.
“When Casey first broached the idea of getting married at Disney World, I was surprised because I did not know people even got married there,” DeSantis said.
“As it turned out, Disney World has a nice wedding chapel attached to the Grand Floridian, the Victorian-themed hotel close to the Magic Kingdom.”
As DeSantis’ crusade against Disney continues, a number of Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are urging him to end the feud.
McCarthy said during a Thursday interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box that DeSantis should attempt to “sit down and negotiate” with Disney instead of attempting to wage a legal battle against the company.
The Ruling
True.
While not known widely until relatively recently, it’s true that DeSantis got married at Disney World in Florida.
An investigation by Insider tracked down his marriage certificate that showed that it was registered at the park’s address. DeSantis later confirmed the findings in a podcast and a memoir.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
Top 7 did desantis get married at disney Synthesized by BSS news
Did Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis Get Married at Disney World?
- : snopes.com
- : 04/03/2023
- : 4.6 (333 vote)
- : The governor is now locked in a battle with the entertainment company.
- : In a chapter titled, “The Magic Kingdom of Woke Corporatism,” he described how it was his then-fiancee’s wish to be married at Disney World: “When Casey first broached the idea of getting married at Disney World, I was surprised because I did not …
Ron DeSantis admits getting married to Casey DeSantis at Disney World ended up being 'kind of ironic'
- : businessinsider.com
- : 01/31/2023
- : 4.49 (428 vote)
- : The couple spoke publicly about their Disney World wedding for the first time, following a battle over a schools bill critics dubbed “Don’t …
- : When DeSantis was running for reelection in November 2022, he would frequently boast about his retaliation against Disney for opposing his Parental Rights in Education Act, the law opponents such as LGBTQ rights organizations have called “Don’t Say …
Kimberly Leonard’s Post
- : linkedin.com
- : 09/18/2022
- : 4.31 (419 vote)
- : The DeSantises opened up for the first time about their Walt Disney World wedding — one Insider Business was first to report back in November. Florida Gov…
- : When DeSantis was running for reelection in November 2022, he would frequently boast about his retaliation against Disney for opposing his Parental Rights in Education Act, the law opponents such as LGBTQ rights organizations have called “Don’t Say …
Ron DeSantis admits his Disney World wedding is ‘ironic’ after takeover
- : independent.co.uk
- : 05/19/2023
- : 4.05 (395 vote)
- : His wife Casey DeSantis says a “great thing” about having Disney wedding was that “they did a lot of the planning for you”
- : “In looking forward to what we ended up doing as governor and some of the face-offs that we had with some major institutions in Florida, it’s kind of ironic,” Mr DeSantis told SiriusXM Patriot radio in an interview set to be broadcast on Monday, a …
DeSantis says he insisted on ‘no Disney characters’ at his Disney World wedding
- : thehill.com
- : 01/17/2023
- : 3.79 (520 vote)
- : Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) says he issued an ultimatum when he got married at Walt Disney World Resort in 2009: no Mickey Mouse wedding …
- : “In looking forward to what we ended up doing as governor and some of the face-offs that we had with some major institutions in Florida, it’s kind of ironic,” Mr DeSantis told SiriusXM Patriot radio in an interview set to be broadcast on Monday, a …
Yahoo Sports
- : sports.yahoo.com
- : 07/06/2023
- : 3.77 (315 vote)
- : “I didn’t want Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck in our wedding photos,” DeSantis writes in “The Courage to Be Free” about his marriage at Disney …
- : In his book, DeSantis doesn’t reveal too much about his wedding but did share some of the hiccups around getting his outfit ready for the big day. He had originally planned on wearing a tux, he said, but Casey DeSantis asked him to wear his Navy …
Woods: The state of Florida has plenty of serious problems. Disney isn’t one of them.
- : jacksonville.com
- : 10/13/2022
- : 3.47 (516 vote)
- : A Florida governor versus Disney? It’s hard to even imagine any other state having a battle quite like this one.
- : That, he has said recently, was her idea. But in his first couple of years as governor, DeSantis showed few signs of having qualms with anything Disney. To the contrary, he gladly took political donations from Disney and, among other things, …
