Over the last several weeks, more than 1,000 salaried theme park employees have been terminated at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. To hear some tell it, those removed were primarily “dead wood”—middle managers with redundant responsibilities who spent most of their time hiding in their offices.
Poppycock. Many of those released had decades of loyal service to the park. They were providing important functions and, more importanly, possessed fundamental operating knowledge of the park that their successors must now do without. These weren’t all drooling, do-nothing hold-overs from the Pressler regime. In fact, several of those let go had been working at the park since 1956 (coincidentally, the year former Disneyland president Paul Pressler was born and 38 years before his first step inside Disneyland).
As one old-timer points out: “They say this is all about cutting fat, but look at (how they’re staffing) the hourly cast members.” He notices that despite heavy crowds, Disneyland is scheduling a minimal number of front-line operators, leaving attractions and other facilities under-staffed or completely unstaffed. The cuts in capacity result in guests waiting longer and receiving fewer choices.
He reasons that if Disney chooses to save a few bucks at the cost of lesser service in full view of the paying guests, what makes you think they’re not doing the same thing in the back offices?
Certainly Disneyland is not immune to these troubling economic times. Most large businesses have had to undergo difficult layoffs. Disney’s theme parks have “rightsized” their employee ranks before, and they will have to again.
But what’s not right is spreading the message that the hundreds of loyal cast members who were let go were expendable and aren’t a real loss. The loss is real to them and their families and, as regular visitors to Disneyland, I fear their loss will be real to us, as well.
In tribute, here are just a few of the hard-working cast members who lost their jobs. My apologies to the hundreds whom I haven’t listed.
- Harold “Mickey” Aronson – the 87-year-old helped launch the first fireworks at Disneyland in 1956 and had been launching them ever since. The park’s old pyrotechnics computer was named “Mickey’s Match,” in his honor. Although he technically worked for an outside company for the first 20 years, he was officially hired by Disney in 1976.
- Geri Bumpass – who served as one of the park’s first tour guides in the mid-1950s and, after some time away, has been working in special projects for about the last 20 years. Geri worked at the park so long and knew so many cast members that friends joked she “never missed a retirement party.”
- Rebecca Caldwell – a 20-year veteran of the advertising, marketing, and publicity departments.
- Tom Gardiner – a financial planner for the resort since the 1970s.
- Connie Gohata – a production manager for more than 30 years.
- Ken Inoue – 30-year stalwart of the landscaping department.
- Cathy Jensen – merchandise project manager for the last 15 years, having joined the department 29 years ago.
- Timm Lundeen – the popular “Disney Pinbassador,” he was West Coast pin trading project manager who worked his way up from humble beginnings in Foods in 1986.
- Joyce Trent Morgan – manager of creative communications & alliance marketing, the 25-year veteran of marketing & advertising department even helped produce DCA’s opening day TV special.
- Homer Reyes – who oversaw the paint shop for the last 20+ years.
- Meredith Webster – another 30+ year old-timer from the Administration Building.
Good luck to you all!
GardenPark
Despite the heavy crowds at the park, the nearby GardenWalk shopping/dining district has struggled for business. But they’ve finally figured out a way to make a few pennies off the overflow. Evidently, on extremely busy days at Disneyland, a section of the GardenWalk parking structure will be open for Resort parking.
Sayonara
The deepening recession has hit restaurants hard, including those in the Disneyland area, as patrons eat out less often and “dine down.” In other words, someone who last year may have eaten at a Downtown Disney eatery may now dine at the Mimi’s Cafe on Harbor Boulevard. The Mimi’s diner might instead choose the Denny’s down the street. And the former Denny’s patron might now be found at McDonald’s.
So those hit hardest over the last few months have been the the higher-priced establishments, particularly those with a more narrow niche. The first casualty was Yamabuki, the Japanese restaurant at the Paradise Pier Hotel, which closed April 11. A source at the Paradise Pier alleges the replacement will be a Mexican restaurant—with a more affordable menu than Yamabuki’s.
No Burgers For You
A few weeks ago, I blogged that New Orleans Square’s subterranean cast member cafeteria, the Westside Diner, would be closing March 29, with no replacement in sight (“The Pit Stops, Effective Sunday,” March 25, 2009). Well, the latest Cast Member Reference Guide mentions that a new Westside Diner will be built. But it makes no mention of where or when it will open. A source in Foods claims the site has not even been chosen.
“With our luck,” said one worker, “it will not be ready until 2011. In the meantime, remember how Cast TV said we would get a Carl’s Jr. truck at the temporary break area at ODV? No dice. You will only find the ‘roach coach’ contracted by Sodexho. Sodexho has complained that they do not want any competition backstage.”
