Members of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association and Disney Cast Members represented by UNITE HERE will deliver more than 5,000 signed petitions on Monday in an effort to get Walt Disney World to drop its property tax lawsuits. 
Disney Cast Members who are union members of UNITE HERE Locals 362 and 737, along with teachers and instructional support who are members of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, will present 5,000 signed paper petitions from across Orange County during day of bargaining, Monday, July 6, 2026 at 11:00 AM.
The community petition calls on Disney to drop lawsuits over their property taxes, which could fund teacher raises.
Orange County Classroom Teachers Association will be in a bargaining session on Monday and will give an update before a hearing over their contract terms, including raises and health care costs for teachers and public school teachers.
The event comes after a community canvass that knocked on over 65,000 doors in Orange County and four town halls that saw a cumulative attendance of over 650 people.
Every year, Walt Disney World files lawsuits against Orange County’s Property Appraiser’s Office over their property taxes seeking property tax refunds. In 2025, Walt Disney World filed 15 lawsuits against Orange County over property tax assessments for its theme parks and resorts, claiming excessive taxation.
Disney claims Orange County Property Appraiser has failed to comply with Florida law and accepted appraisal practices, which leads to assessments that exceed the market value of the properties. Disney argues this violates the Florida Constitution.
We recently reported on one suit from 2016 that was resolved in Disney’s favor in June. The case, first filed in June 2016 over their 2015 property taxes, argued Property Appraiser Rick Singh’s just and assessed value of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and Disney’s Wilderness Lodge exceeded the actual market values of the resorts and included intangible property, which is a violation of the Florida Constitution.
The judgment delivered sided with Disney, determining the just value of Animal Kingdom Lodge to be $226,607,023 — almost $25.2 million lower than Singh’s original $251,785,581 assessment. Wilderness Lodge’s value assessment dropped to $166,976,423 — almost $18.6 million lower than the original $185,529,359 assessment. In total, that lowered the just values by $43.8 million.
Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) has set aside $119 million so far for any refunds that may be issued to Disney. Last month, Dr. Maria Vazquez, superintendent for Orange County Public Schools, said that any of that money that is left over from the lawsuits could go to teacher salaries.
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