I’m not sure that is true. Under normal circumstances, I’d say this is true. But Disney has been very gradually bringing back things, more places opening, etc. But they are only going to bring back things as they can afford to do so.
On the other hand, if people say, “I’m not coming back until there are fireworks,” or whatever, and people really don’t come back, how will Disney ultimately manage to keep employees working as much as they can? Disney parks were a cash cow for the company because of all the stuff they did. All the little things. I’m sure they want to return to that just as much as anyone else. But they can’t until they have enough revenue.
When I think of magical moments at WDW, it is those expensive extra people. I was in the lobby of WL at Christmas 2018 and a group of bell-ringers struck up. It was mesmerisingly beautiful. Of course, they weren’t salaried staff, but it’s that kind of thing that makes me feel like WDW is a special place.
I feel like I’m holding my breath and hoping that enough cast members who hold the magic within them will be retained so that they can pass along that magic when things finally turn around. I have never thought of Disney as just another theme park. Living near a Six Flags, I can tell you that if Disney starts to head down that route, it won’t bode well long term.
This part shocks me. That must be a large part of the Imagineering staff. I don’t want to think about the implications for the future of creative projects, and the “magic”.
We’d had a Jan 2021 trip planned with another family. I’d been annoyed with the other mom for not making the RV campsite reservation. Because of that we postponed a year. Now I am think we would have postponed because of this.
NBA has reached out to see if there are some ways they can help the CMs who have been let go. They said they want to take care of those who took such great care of them.
This is a wonderful thing to read. We gotta take care of each other.
But at the same time the reduced capacity is rarely being filled and even with very limited accommodations options available you still have multiple options at each open resort pretty much any time outside of holiday weeks, so clearly A LOT of people are not going.
Not directly related to the layoffs, but Len was quoted in this article regarding capacity:
I was especially interested in this part - I didn’t realize Disney did this:
What was really a 62-minute wait was posted as a 105-minute wait that day, Testa said.
“They’re not doing it on purpose,” Testa said of Disney. “This is their best estimate."
The problem is that Disney can no longer use the sensors built into the ride queues that track MagicBands many visitors wear to determine the wait times as it did before the pandemic because the socially distanced lines extend out so much farther, Testa said.
