DeSantis says he insisted on ‘no Disney characters’ at his Disney World wedding

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 photos.

The potential 2024 presidential candidate opened up about his “fairy tale” wedding to journalist Casey Black DeSantis in his new book released on Tuesday, “The Courage To Be Free.”

Tying the knot at Disney’s Orlando amusement park — which in recent years DeSantis has battled with and dubbed an “unaccountable Corporate Kingdom” — was not his idea, according to the Sunshine State governor.

“Casey’s family was what one might call a family of Disney enthusiasts. They loved going to Disney World,” he wrote in a chapter titled “The Magic Kingdom of Woke Corporatism.”

“Being the dutiful groom,” he said, “I deferred to her.”

“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 of his nuptials venue, which was first reported last year by Insider.

“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,” DeSantis said.

While agreeing to take the plunge in the Mouse House, DeSantis, now 44, said he had one requirement for the Disneyfied fete: “My only condition was that no Disney characters could be part of our wedding. I wanted our special day to look and feel like a traditional wedding.”

“I didn’t want Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck in our wedding photos,” he added.

In a SiriusXM Patriot radio interview earlier this week, DeSantis called his wedding day destination an “ironic choice,” given his political fights against Disney in recent years.

On Monday, he signed a bill ending Disney World’s self-governing status and establishing a new state-controlled district. The move came after Disney pushed back last year against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law — dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by its critics — which limits instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in schools.

DeSantis said he and his wife had a “beautiful ceremony,” and they “both figured that we would be returning to Disney World to bring our kids to experience the theme parks, as we did as children.”

“I had no inkling that, years later, I would be squaring off against Disney in a political battle that would reverberate across the nation,” DeSantis said.

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