Disney offers buyouts to 600 executives, more than half in Orlando

[ligirlz]

I have no clue where to put this so the moderators can move to the appropriate place but it looks like Disney is starting to cut higher up jobs and looking to cut around the park:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-disney-executive-layout-012109,0,3302228.story

[mikoiv]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-disney2209jan22,0,3686408.story

Disney is offering 619 of it Director and above staff buyouts in an attempt to cut costs. Rumors are that the next step will be to reduce staff working in the parks.
Had to happen, most of industry has already instituted this type of action.

[tinkerbell60]

I am glad to see that the positions they are eliminating (at this point) will not directly affect park operations and guest services.

The article says they anticipate a 7% decline in attendance, I wonder if that will be noticeable.......

[kaytieeldr]

And, it should be noted "offer" does not equal "get" or "will accept".

[bicker]

Park operations cost reductions have to be on the horizon, though. Execs make up so little money, in the grand scheme of things. And from what I'm seeing, the financial outlook isn't really getting rosier yet.

[mikoiv]

I agree that OPS will be next, as the article said, Fantasmic and other events are limited or eliminated. Just heard that POR Boarwrights will not be open for breakfast and so on.
The execs they are talking about certainly do not make up a large portion of expenses but eliminating them first sets a tone for the lower levels in the future.
These "buy-outs" are offers to the folks that typically if not taken result in layoffs which usually dont offer as much cash to the people affected. Disney has been pretty effective in past downturns but this one is way different in size and probable duration.
It will be interesting to see what there next moves will be- shorter hours, less live shows, reduced services and so on.

[carmiedog]

Just heard that POR Boarwrights will not be open for breakfast and so on.

Do you have a link on the news on this? All I can find is posts from people who can't get ADRs and the CMs don't know why. We'll be staying at POR and Boatwrights breakfast was one consideration when picking our resort based on good reviews.

eta:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=397095
This is hearsay on discontinuing breakfast, but having read a few posts of people not being able to get ADRs, I'd say it's very probable. (I read on a different thread that there's a thread on the DIS restaurant forum about it, but I haven't been able to find it yet.)

eta:
It was just bumped:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2066521

[bicker]

Makes sense. I think if you think about any experience you had which was perhaps enhanced by the fact that you almost had the place to yourself, there was no queue/no wait, etc. -- those things are going to be the first things to be curtailed due to the economy. One of Disney's strengths, I think, is that they have so many of these special touches that represent costs that they can reduce without substantially degrading their ability to deliver what they've promised, while other vacation venues, that do not have so many special touches, will have to start cannibalizing core services, in reaction to the poor economy, much sooner than Disney will.

[BridgetBordeaux]

Thanks for posting the story. It's nice to read a few facts from time to time as opposed to only hearing rumours.

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Disney/ABC buyouts have not been worth the time the last few years. My DH is a 30-year ABC castmember and we would LOVE to take advantage of a buyout. Perhaps they are getting serious now.

The big news ABC announced was park attendance.

3rd quarter - down 6 %

4th quarter - down 8 %


I guess that answers why they have all the specials going right now.

[bicker]

Has anyone seen comparable figures for Universal?

[miko]

I have not seen actual figures for Universal and NBC but do have a hands on comment- We were at WDW 9-15 December and each day was very crowed, went to universal for 2 days and could virtually walk on each ride at Studios and IOA. I am sure they are feeling more pain.

[Brian_WDW74]

I've merged together two similar threads. :)

[Disney1976]

I have not seen actual figures for Universal and NBC but do have a hands on comment- We were at WDW 9-15 December and each day was very crowed, went to universal for 2 days and could virtually walk on each ride at Studios and IOA. I am sure they are feeling more pain.


Universal just annouced the layoff of 70 "management level" positions today at the themeparks. Third quarter attendance for Universal was down 2 percent, and double that in the fourth quarter. Though that 2 percent sounds low, it actually resulted in a double digit drop in revenue for them during the same period. You can imagine then, what a 7 percent combined drop in attendance between WDW and Disneyland will cost Disney.

[bicker]

Holy cow... a 2% decrease in attendance results in a double-digit drop in revenue!?!? That's shocking.