food IS a theme park
The cuts to entertainment at Walt Disney World’s resorts just keep on coming.
Walt Disney World Resort entrance
First, the Grand Floridian Society Orchestra announced its final performance, then Yeeha Bob revealed he had been laid off.
Today, Disney announced that it would be laying off 28,000 employees in the Parks, Experiences, and Products segment due to the financial hit the company took during the coronavirus pandemic.
Walt Disney Company Logo
And, it seems as though those cuts are already being felt at Walt Disney World.
Although many of its theme parks around the world have reopened, Disney is not entirely back up and running.
Disneyland Gate
The Disneyland Resort theme parks are still closed and cruising is expected to be the last aspect of the company to resume. COVID-19 has greatly impacted the Disney company and other companies worldwide. We’ve seen lots of layoffs in various other hotels and theme parks, which is now being followed by a large number of layoffs in Disney World.
Select third-party restaurants and stores began to reopen in Disney Springs on May 20th.
Disney Springs
However, Paddlefish and Terralina Crafted Italian welcomed guests back on Friday, May 29th, a few days after World of Disney and several Disney-owned properties resumed.
Universal Orlando just reopened its doors to guests weeks ago.
Universal Orlando Resort
Even though Universal’s hotels are open, CityWalk locations are reopening, and the theme parks are resuming operations, it appears the company has taken steps to let go a number of employees even after operations have resumed.
At this time, Disney World and Disneyland will remain closed until further notice and will be compensating their employees until April 18th, after which all non-essential Cast Members will be short-term furloughed.
And while the parks are accepting new reservations starting after June 1st, they’ve just released all of their incoming college interns and cultural representatives from their Disney programs which were scheduled to begin in early June.
Bob Chapek at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Dedication Ceremony
Combined with other efforts to budget-cut due to theme park losses compounded by hits to nearly all of Disney’s primary entertainment silos, news broke recently that some of Disney’s most highly-paid executives were taking major salary cuts, including current CEO Bob Chapek and CEO-turned-Chairman Bob Iger.
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