Disneyland: Layoffs Affect the Magic Kingdom

Are Mickey and Minnie headed to the poor house? Disney announced this week that The Happiest Place on Earth would be participating in layoffs. The exact numbers are unknown, but rumors speculate it could be as many a thousand employees. This isn't good news for tourism, and what could this mean for Orlando?

Orlando appreciates Cinderella's weekly pay check, it fuels the local economy and keeps those economic wheels turning. Disney Tourism accounts for 62,000 jobs in Orlando alone. This large lay off could mean bad things for Orlando, as their cost of living is much higher than their surrounding states. Will these laid off workers have to leave Orlando and take their future pay with them? Orlando is already suffering from the lack of tourism (marked by a 24 percent decline in Disney's profit) , how will they handle this blow?

The types of jobs being laid off are said to be executive positions, from the company consolidating. This isn't the actresses just yet, but executives who perhaps perform the same job. Often companies take two people who have similar jobs, lay off one, and let the employee who is left behind do both loads of work. This saves the company a yearly salary, but less luxury and more work for those who stay.

Disney promises that when you visit the park, you will see no changes. There shouldn't be any changes, as \the ticket prices for the park have not changed. Visitors to the park noticed last year that the Disney gear and different mementos were more expensive than ever before. Tourism is experiencing a drought of sorts as people just don't have the extra cash to shell out for plane rides or Dumbo rides.

Currently, most people are saving their extra cash, because job security is ...well...not so secure right now. People's fear of loosing vacation days and pay , or having to use it to make up for lack of hours, prevent them from using it like they have in the past. Families are camping in front of their TV's more often now according to surveys, saying we watch about 15 hours of TV a week per person.

Disney can reassure visitors that they won't suffer from this lay off, but can they reassure Orlando they won't suffer , either?

Sources:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07EFD8173EF93AA35755C0A9679C8B63
http://swz.salary.com/CostOfLivingWizard/layouthtmls/coll_metrodetail_127.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29306990/