The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Despite praise for safety, Disney faces long recovery
Largest one-site labor force in U.S. missing big portion of its workers.
ORLANDO, FLA. — Every week, it seems, Kaila Barker, her husband and their five children change their minds about whether to travel from their home in Connecticut to Florida’s Walt Disney World as planned in September.
On the one hand, the lack of crowds means more opportunities to go on rides without long waits. On the other hand, Connecticut and Florida have implemented pandemic-related quarantines for each other’s residents and visitors, and the Barkers worry whether the Disney “magic” will get lost with mandatory mask-wearing for visitors and workers, and temperature checks, as well as no parades, fireworks shows or
up-close “meet-and-greets” with costumed characters.
“We keep going back and forth. It’s such a hard decision to make,” Barker said last Tuesday.
Two weeks after Disney World started opening its theme parks for the first time since closing in March because of COVID-19, the Barkers’ quandary affects not only Disney World’s future but that of Central Florida’s tourism-reliant economy.
More than 75 million visitors came to Orlando in 2018, mostly due to its reputation as a theme park mecca, as it includes Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando. But the coronavirus has upended Orlando’s status as the most visited place in the U.S.
In the week Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom started welcoming back visitors, occupancy of hotel rooms in the Orlando area was down more than 60% from the previous year, a much deeper drop than the state as a whole, which declined more than 41%, according to STR, which tracks hotel data.
Less than half of Disney World’s 43,000 unionized workers have been recalled to their jobs, contributing to two Orlando-area counties having the state’s highest unemployment rates last month. Disney World has an overall workforce of 77,000 employees, the nation’s largest single-site labor force.
Many of those furloughed workers will lose federal benefits at the end of the month.
“This is an extremely difficult moment,” said Paul Cox, president of the local union that represents stagehands and show technicians at Disney World. “There are still a majority of workers who are staying at home and they’re about to lose support. Things are going to get bad.”
Union officials estimate the Disney parks are no more than a third full, but that may be more by design, to maintain social distancing. Disney World doesn’t release attendance figures, but in pre-pandemic times its four parks and two water parks could host around 150,000 visitors a day.
Florida has had a surge of coronavirus cases recently, and Disney parks around the globe have run into coronavirus-related roadblocks. Hong Kong Disneyland Park was forced to close in July after the city banned public gatherings of more than four people, and Disney’s California parks delayed reopening while they awaited state guidelines.
Cowen Inc. estimated recently that Disney’s parks and resorts won’t return to pre-pandemic profitability until fiscal year 2025, and there is a “meaningful” probability that Disney World could close again because of the pandemic.
Leaders of the Disney World workers’ unions describe the virus-related safety measures Disney has taken as “exemplary.” After workers complained about patrons walking around with their masks pulled down while eating food like turkey legs, Disney World updated its mandatory mask policy, requiring visitors to eat in one place while maintaining social distancing.
In response to other worker concerns, Disney has distributed personal hand sanitizer containers for workers to wear on their belts, added more break rooms to limit the number of workers in each, and reduced the number of riders on buses shuttling workers from parking lots to the parks. Performers dressed as Disney princesses being driven by horsedrawn carriage through the parks now sit individually in rows separated by clear-plastic window partitions.
“Singing their praises seems so strange,” said Julee Jerkovich, an official with a United Food & Commercial Workers union, which represents Disney merchandise and banquet workers. “As far as this grand experiment, I would have to say Disney has done a really good job.”
There are isolated cases of workers and visitors connected to the theme parks getting sick with COVID-19, “but we haven’t seen any large number of positive cases that come from any of the parks,” Dr. Raul Pino, health officer for Florida’s Department of Health, said last week.
Disney’s policy of granting sick workers paid time off for quarantine has made a difference, said Eric Clinton, president of Unite Here! Local 362, which represents Disney World park greeters, attractions workers and custodians.