No, Disneyland isn't 'abandoning' California and moving to Texas

An incredibly ridiculous internet rumor gained so much traction that it had to be shot down by Snopes. Snopes is one of the most popular fact-checking sites online.

The claim cited by Snopes is: "The Walt Disney Company announced in September 2020 that Disneyland would be moved from California to Texas."

Snopes has deemed the claim false citing that it's a satire that originated on a blog called "Uncle Walt's Insider." On August 31, 2020, the site posted a Facebook post entitled: "BREAKING: Disneyland is abandoning California, moving to Texas."

According to the fake article, The Walt Disney Company says its "finally had enough" and the state is "just nuts." The article also quoted a fake spokesperson.

"We've been looking at the numbers for quite some time," the fake spokesperson said. "Obviously, we'd prefer to keep the park in the same spot Walt built it. But lately it's become clear that it makes more financial sense to move to Texas. After all, we don't pay our Cast Members enough to actually live in California, so a lot of them have already fled to Texas."

The site claims that the park is choosing to move just like thousands of residents who can't handle California's high cost of living and overreaching liberal government.

A subsequent post showed the new park being built.

It appears as though a number of commenters were fooled by the post.

via Facebook/ Uncle Walt's Insider

via Facebook/ Uncle Walt's Insider

via Facebook/ Uncle Walt's Insider

via Facebook/ Uncle Walt's Insider

The post received more than 1,700 shares, appearing in countless newsfeeds. One thing we know over here at Upworthy is that there are a lot of folks on Facebook who love to comment on stories without reading them.

There are also a lot of people who only read headlines without digging into the story, so there's no telling how many people were fooled by the article.

It's incredible that people would believe such a story. How in the world does one move Disneyland? It'd be pretty tough to pack up It's a Small World or throw Splash Mountain onto the back of a flatbed.

The report also plays off of popular stereotypes perpetuated by conservative media. The first is that Texas's economy is superior to that of the Golden State.

A recent report by Bloomberg crushes that idea.

The most trusted measure of economic strength says California is the world-beater among democracies. The state's gross domestic product increased 21% during the past five years, dwarfing No. 2 New York (14%) and No. 3 Texas (12%), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gains added $530 billion to the Golden State, 30% more than the increase for New York and Texas combined and equivalent to the entire economy of Sweden.

The report also plays on another commonly stated mistruth, that people are fleeing California in droves.

A recent report by the University of California found that the "majority of Californians still believe in the 'California Dream'" and that "residents are moving out of state, but not at unusual rates."

It also ends with a real zinger: "California's economy attracts as much venture capital as all other states combined."

It is true that there has been a recent uptick in people moving from California to Texas. More than 687,000 people have moved from California to Texas over the past decade. However, an average of 35,000 to 40,000 Texas residents move to California each year.

The number of Texans who come west is fairly consistent from year to year. But the number of Californians who move to Texas fluctuates wildly and it's mostly tied to housing prices.

Over the past year, the average home price in Southern California rose 18.8%.

Sorry Texans, don't want to get your hopes up, but Disneyland is staying put. The good news is that you still have two Six Flags theme parks, a SeaWorld and the soon-to-be-opened Grand Texas.