The global pandemic has created challenges for the travel industry, particularly Disney Parks. And the approach in reopening parks taken by the states of California and Florida have been vastly different.
In California, most of Disneyland Resort remains closed. However, in Florida, Disney World reopened last summer and has been welcoming guests in limited capacities with specific health and safety guidelines in place since then.
In September, Disney announced it would lay off 28,000 Disney Parks employees in the U.S. In November, Disney projected the layoff number to be 32,000 Cast Members.
The Orange County Registry reports that as a whole, the California theme park industry has laid off a total of 44,000 employees due to the global pandemic. This means that California lost 17,000 more theme park jobs than Florida, although the Florida theme park industry employs over 25,000 more people.
A report by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions compare the states’ different approaches to reopening. After theme parks across the U.S. closed in March 2020, Florida moved to quickly reopen its parks — including Disney World and Universal Orlando — while most California theme parks are still closed.
This could explain why California has a higher number of lost theme park jobs than Florida.
In California, Disney California Adventure reopened for limited shopping and dining and has plans for a larger ticketed event centered around the two activities (attractions will not be available). As a result, some furloughed Disneyland Cast Members have been called back to work. And locally, there is some pressure to reopen Disneyland soon.
We’re continuing to follow the situation in California and will let you know if and when things change.
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Have you been to Disney World since its reopening? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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