With one week to go until Disney World cuts their operating hours for the fall and winter seasons, a new story out in the Orlando Sentinel highlights the ongoing struggles “outside the berm”.
Nearly three weeks ago, we wrote a story that tens of thousands of unionized Disney World Cast Members remain furloughed a month after the theme parks reopened. Today, we received an update from Local 362 union President Eric Clinton. When asked for an updated number of Cast Members that remained furloughed when compared to mid-August, Clinton said that there has been no change.
Of course, that likely won’t come as too much of a shock for observers of The Walt Disney Company. In recent weeks, Disney has announced that they will be cutting back theme park operating hours, push back hotel openings indefinitely, and even keep one of their deluxe hotels closed for over a year. Combine that with a letter sent out to all Disney Parks Cast Members notifying them of an indefinite extension to their furloughed status, and it paints a grim picture.
That cloudy outlook extends “outside the berm” to actual lives impacted by the continued slow rebound of the tourism industry. As highlighted by the Orlando Sentinel’s Gabrrielle Russon, Cast Members stake out spots as early as 4am to collect free groceries from a food bank – the same food bank that furloughed Cast Members are volunteering at. The line for the food bank would grow to 2 miles by the time Magic Kingdom opens its gates a few miles to the west. And the line is getting longer every week due to federal unemployment benefits expiring over a month ago, organizers say.
As Disney World looks to the months ahead, they are walking a fine line between what health experts say a safe phased reopening looks like and the type of crowd levels needed to bring the tens of thousands of furloughed Cast Members back to work. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has already been cancelled and the Christmas season hangs in limbo.
That said, Disney released a new wave of discounts through the end of December that they hope will entice visitation. From Annual Passholder hotel discounts to vacation packages, there are deals to be found. Of course, the question is: what is Disney World’s target audience? As Disney CEO Bob Chapek noted, Disney World is experiencing way more visitation from local markets than they are accustomed to – over 50%. Disney even constructed a deal that offers discounts to bordering states in an effort to get more feet on Main Street USA. Disney is trying to court locals, but making it increasingly difficult for them to visit by holding “bankers hours”. Locals who are fortunate enough to have a job and some disposable income are largely going to be unable to visit with the shorter hours that the theme parks will have in a week.
Here at BlogMickey.com, we’ll continue to keep an eye on not only happenings within the theme parks, but also the Disney World phased reopening operations, including how they impact the Cast Members who make the Disney Parks such a memorable and enjoyable place.
I think once they relax the mask issue more people will come but Disney needs to do more as far as discounts. Like universal and sea world when Disney is charging the same amount of money for the tickets and you get less it’s not going world people are. It going to go. Plus some people are still
Out of work and rather spend what money they have on important things then Disney.
Having been a cast member twice in the past, I really do feel for these employees. You started off the article talking about how unionized cast members weren’t being called back to work – is that because Disney is bringing back non-union cast member instead? I’m not sure what the context for that part of the article is.
As an annual passholders and local who is fortunate enough to still have a job during these trying times, I’m sympathetic to the plight that Disney has found itself, but I’m still peeved at how they have failed to adequately serve their most loyal patrons.
I didn’t cancel my annual passes last month, even after having endured the frustration of not even being able to get a hold of anyone other than a busy signal for days when they first announced their reopening plans and the new park reservation system back in late June. How many out-of-work cast members could have been effectively trained to answer the phone and handle ticketing and other customer service issues then? Disney has months to plan for that. Is that the best that can be expected from a multibillion-dollar, world-class organization?
That was poor planning indeed. After being time and again unable to even find an available date to visit in the park reservation system as a passholder, I finally gave up. Now that they’ve somewhat recognized their initial mistake and have increased the passholder availability, I’ve finally managed to get a reservation for my wife, myself, and our two grandkids on Labor Day in EPCOT – all the other parks were full. And I’m not willing to spend hours a day on their website or app waiting for extra availability.
Here’s the thing: I’m also sympathetic to the plight of workers at Universal Studios and SeaWorld. those companies, unlike Disney, are actually making drastic efforts to attract and keep business. I’m going to Epcot on labor Day, but it remains to be seen whether I’ll continue to try to visit Disney in the upcoming year or renew my annual pass. As you mentioned, Disney is trying to offer discounts and other incentives to get people back into the parks. What do for their furloughed cast members, I hope that’ll be enough. I’m still upset and sitting on the fence.
The demand is there. It does not matter mask or no mask. The issue is foreign tourists is what the theme parks rely on, and cannot travel to Florida due to their government or ours. Disney made money on Brazil and UK as z main source of income. Annual pass holders are small money makers. Disney could rais pass rates by 100s and still have people buying them. The park hopper ticket is dead with park reservations which was a huge income stream. If they were smart raise single ticket prices to high demand season. They were not able to operate at high capacity due to regulations. Let them open up to full capacity and eliminate reservation system. Annual pass holders can only get a limited amount of tickets due to caps. Let them get as many as they want.
Same cost and by the sounds of things a quarter of the stuff is closed and another quarter to half is broke all the time why would I waste my time and money. Tired of hearing people complain go find a second job must of been nice to sit at home make 700-900 a week for a few months. Benefits ended now go find another job your old one is not coming back common sense says that.
I will say again if you have to sign a waiver that you take responsibility for your health and your family’s health then the mask should be a choice not a mandate starting to look very political
Disney is digging a hole that could get deeper to get out of. The main problem is not Corona… whether they realize it or not they are alienating their loyal core supporters in several ways :
1. Politicizing the very popular Splash Mountain by bowing to pressure to change it.
2.Funding an ESPN movie on Colin Kapernick..a noted hater of the police and disrespector of our flag.
3.airing the very polarizing “Black is King” by Beyonce…a known supporter of the radical Black Panthers in the super bowl show on Disney +
4. Not hiring back union cast members first
I am a lifetime Disney lover…but I cancelled Disney+..sold my Disney stock…and didn’t renew my annual pass. Disney is heading in the wrong direction… there’s many more feeling the same
I agree. Disney is headed in the wrong direction. It is offending it’s devoted core fans. Hopefully the company wakes up before it’s financial losses increase.
Exactly. Cancelled our passes due to these reasons not park reservations or Corona.
Ronald Stout, the masks aren’t there to protect you and your family. They are there to protect the staff and general public. You wear a mask so you don’t SPREAD the virus, not to stop you from getting it.
I had a trip planned and cancelled it. I’m not paying a premium price for half the product. If WDW wants guests to come back they need to either fully reopen the parks or be offering some pretty big discounts to entice travelers.