The question for many event-based businesses in the age of COVID is how long can you go without making a profit? Disney has been trending on Twitter today as people react to Disney World’s reopening on the heels of the worst day of the pandemic for Florida.
Is it responsible to open a space where people will congregate?
#DisneyWorld was trending on Twitter with reactions from around the world.
Tweets @SHELBYTHECLOWN ON TWITTERTwitter reacts @FROYOTAM ON TWITTERTwitter reacts @SVMVNM ON TWITTER
For businesses to reopen when they know customers will not obey social distancing laws, it’s dangerous. How will Disney executives feel if people get sick on their watch?
On July 12th, Florida reports 15,299 coronavirus cases, the largest single-day increase of any state ever. Does this surprise any of us when we see people congregating and not wearing masks? There is a divide between people who are taking this pandemic seriously, and those that are brushing COVID off as “the flu.”
We know Disney is struggling, but it’s Disney – they have a lot of money. Disney’s second quarter profit dropped as the company took a $1.4 billion hit due to the coronavirus pandemic. The question remains, do profits matter that much for billion dollar companies at the risk of people getting sick, or even dying?
Disney’s Reputation For Customer Experience Is At Risk
In the customer experience community many people like myself talk about the wonders of Disney’s customer experience. We are amazed that the parks feature such a sophisticated operation to keep customers happy, from sensors on garbage cans so no customer ever sees an overflowing trash at the parks, to delicious smells throughout the park like popcorn on main street.
But here’s the thing about life; any person – or in this case – any business – can be nice when things are easy – but how do they act when things get hard?
Event and experience-based businesses like Disney find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Do they reopen to keep their businesses moving forward or stay closed to potentially protect high-risk customers and flatten the curve. I have empathy for these businesses, but we have to pay attention to science, and the facts. The fact remains Florida – home to Disney World – is not doing well.
What did Disney’s reopening look like? Disney’s staggered reopening meant annual passholders were allowed in the park on July 10, followed by the opening of Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom on July 11. Epcot and Hollywood Studios will open July 15. Disney has already successfully reopened three theme parks in Asia, but Disney World is the first property in the U.S. to welcome back guests.
Disney World in the U.S. will have been closed for 118 days, during which all of its employees were furloughed.
In many ways, Disney World is the test subject for opening a business known for crowds during the middle of a pandemic. Businesses watching how upset people are on social media might not be so fast to open their doors.
Understandably People Are Bored and Going Nuts
After months of stay-at-home-orders and isolation, many Americans are going stir-crazy and hoping to return to some sense of normalcy. Especially people with little kids (I am one of those people with two little kids). They are eager to get out of the house and travel. But at the same time, cases are surging in many parts of the country, including Florida. Companies must find the balance between safety and boredom.
Many experience-based companies are trying to find the middle ground, especially because it appears COVID-19 will be with us for the long term and many companies can’t afford to be closed for that long. Disney felt that by doubling down on cleaning and sanitizing, especially in high-touch areas like bathrooms, guardrails and card readers, they would be keeping customer safe. But as of now, we don’t know if all of these efforts will do very much.
Disney World guests have to make reservations, and the park isn’t operating at full capacity. As they enter the park, all guests must have their temperature checked. Any party with a guest that has a temperature over 100.4 degrees isn’t allowed to enter. But this isn’t a foolproof method. The problem with temperature checks is from untrained staff, as well as the fact that many carriers will be asymptomatic or presymptomatic when their temperature is taken. At Disney food offerings are limited and have increased cleaning, and social distancing is encouraged, especially in ride lines. Face coverings are also required, but Disney will have designated places for people to remove their masks and take a break. One imagines customers will remove masks to eat.
Keeping The Disney Magic
Disney World can reopen its gates, but is it still really the happiest place on earth if people have to keep their distance and wear masks? And what happens when people inevitably get sick? Disney is hoping to keep the magic alive with socially distanced mini-parades throughout the day. But you can’t always control how people move in crowds. It’s inevitable these parades will mean bodies in close proximity.
Companies have a responsibility to keep their employees and customers safe. Putting profits before people – which this opening feels like – is a dangerous move.
As experience-based companies try to move forward through uncharted waters, they should find safe and creative solutions to continue to give customers a great experience, and not lose their brand in the process.
Walt Disney World in Florida has reopened despite a surge in coronavirus cases in the state.
Star Wars stormtroopers have enforced mask-wearing and Mickey Mouse waved from a distance as Florida’s Walt Disney World opened to the public for the first time in four months amid a surge of coronavirus cases in the state.
Walt Disney Co welcomed a limited number of guests on Saturday to its two most popular parks at the sprawling Orlando complex, the world’s most-visited theme park resort, with a host of safety measures designed to reassure visitors and reduce the chances of catching the sometimes deadly virus.
At the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, the two parks that reopened Saturday, guests and employees wore face masks, underwent temperature screenings and were told to social distance everywhere from streets to rides.
Plexiglass separated rows in lines, and ground markings indicated where people should stand.
Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the two other Walt Disney World parks, are scheduled to reopen on Wednesday.
The resort suspended parades, fireworks and other activities that create crowds, as well as up-close encounters with Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and other characters. Instead, characters appeared on floats or on horseback.
Some pictures online showed people close together waiting to get in. Disney employees, called cast members, began enforcing distancing requirements after about 30 minutes.
Other videos showed people inside staying apart, cheering, taking selfies and enjoying the park without long lines.
Florida has emerged as an epicentre of COVID-19 infections. Over the past two weeks, the state reported 109,000 new coronavirus cases, more than any other US state.
Still, many Disney fans and workers were eager for Disney World to open its gates. The resort employs 77,000 people.
A critical test of the entertainment economy’s reopening plans is set to take place as Disney begins allowing visitors to return to its Florida locations.
On Saturday morning, the company will reopen the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom to visitors after an unprecedented four-month closure due to the pandemic. EPCOT and Hollywood Studios will follow shortly after, resuming business on Wednesday.
Disney’s parks in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong have all reopened in the past several months, and its Paris park is set to open next week too, as entertainment firms look to finesse a path through the summer of covid-19. The Florida reopenings, however, represent a more high-stakes move — an opportunity for Disney to start recapturing much-needed revenue at home as well as a broader test of consumers’ willingness to leave their own.
But the effort comes with challenges, including a surge in Florida cases and objections from several constituencies.
More than 19,000 people have signed a petition calling on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the Walt Disney Co. to delay the opening. “While theme parks are a great way to relax and enjoy free time, it is a non-essential business; it is not fair to the people who work there to risk their lives, especially if they are at risk or have family members who are at risk,” the petition stated.
Actors’ Equity, the guild that represents some 750 performers who act in Disney shows, has also objected to the reopening. The group has called for testing for cast members, who they said would frequently be compelled to perform without masks at closer than six feet in park shows such as “Beauty and The Beast Live On Stage.” The company cited agreements it made with unions representing other park workers and said it would move forward without the actors.
Meanwhile, cases in Florida continue to surge. On Thursday the state saw 411 new hospitalizations due to the coronavirus, the most in more than three months, and 120 deaths, the most since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Mapping Project. Some 52 hospitals have now reached maximum ICU capacity. More than 4,000 people have died of covid-19 in the state, according to outside estimates.
On Friday the state reversed an earlier policy of withholding numbers and said that the number of current hospitalizations “with primary diagnosis of COVID” topped 7,000.
While the surge in Florida cases has been most heavily concentrated in Miami-Dade County in South Florida, the county where the parks are located, Orange, hit a record of more than 1,100 new cases last weekend and as of Friday had 489 hospitalizations, making it the fourth-most hospitalized of Florida 67 counties.
A Disney spokesperson declined to comment for this story. The chief medical officer for Disney Parks, Pamela Hymel, wrote in a blog post this week that “As we continue the phased reopenings of our parks and resorts across the world, promoting health and safety for our guests, cast members, and the larger community is a responsibility we take very seriously.”
She outlined a host of safety measures, including requiring advance reservations, physical distancing in ride lines and temperature checks upon entry that the company hopes will protect and reassure visitors.
Disney will require guests to wear masks except in a handful of designated areas such as restaurants.
Fireworks and parades will also be halted, while many of the parks’ most popular attractions, including Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean, will be open.
In normal times, it is rides like that that keep people pouring through Disney’s gates; the Magic Kingdom alone attracts an average of 57,000 visitors each day, according to the Themed Entertainment Association trade group. But the capacity reduction, and the possibility of many consumers staying home, will cut significantly into Disney’s revenue, according to experts, who say operating the theme parks under these conditions is likely a money-loser.
“You have fewer people coming and then you have to hire many additional cast members for safety and cleaning — it’s probably double the payroll with far less revenue,” said Scott Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina’s College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management who closely studies theme parks. “They’re going to be losing lots of money, but at some point you have to flip the switch. Not to be profitable for this year but to be profitable for the year after, and the year after that.”
The financial consequences are high. During the July-September period last year Disney brought in $6.7 billion in theme-park revenue, according to financial disclosures, the most money of any of the company’s divisions. The unit also saw $1.4 billion in profit for the period, a number that is expected to be drastically down this year, as is the company’s annual total of $26 billion in theme-park revenue.
Local officials, including Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and DeSantis have said they fully support Disney’s reopening plans. With tens of thousands of employees, Disney is the biggest employer in Central Florida.
As Florida parks will be throwing open their gates, the reopening of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, the company’s two parks in Southern California, have been delayed indefinitely as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has declined to provide reopening guidelines in the wake of covid-19 surges in that state. Unions representing 17,000 employees at those parks had previously sent a letter to Newsom saying they objected to a now-scrapped July reopening.
But Florida parks pose a unique challenge compared to California because many visitors do not live in the Orlando area and instead drive or fly in from elsewhere. Experts say this could pose an additional hurdle to luring customers, and create potential health challenges as visitors return to their home cities.AD
Disney chief executive Bob Chapek has said the company will limit capacity at the parks but has not provided a number, saying it calculates the figure based on social distancing requirements. In Shanghai, the park has been operating below 30 percent, or 24,000 visitors, per local regulations.
Attendance totals in Florida could be high in the first few days and then diminish, as Smith said appeared to be the case from images posted to social media of Universal Orlando Resort, the smaller complex operated by Disney rival NBC Universal that reopened last month.
Walt Disney will stick to its plans to reopen its Walt Disney World theme parks in Orlando, Florida, to a limited number of guests on Saturday, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Florida’s coronavirus cases have soared in the last month, with the state’s daily count topping 10,000 three times in the last week. The death rate from Covid-19 rose nearly 19% in the last week from the week prior, bringing the state’s death toll to more than 3,800.
Some workers have signed a petition asking Disney to delay Walt Disney World’s reopening. The resort, home to the world’s most-visited theme parks, was closed to guests in March.
In a statement on Tuesday, Disney’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Pamela Hymel, said new requirements from temperature checks, to face coverings and extra sanitation would enable guests to enjoy Disney World “responsibly.”
“While Covid-19, and the risk of contracting it, is present in public places, there are many important ways that we can all help promote each other’s safety,” Hymel said.
Walt Disney World has suspended the Disney College Program indefinitely amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
Disney said in a blog post on Thursday that the internship’s participants won’t be among those returning to work when it reopens its Florida theme parks later this month.
The company also said it doesn’t know when the Disney-owned apartments where the students lived will be reopened.
“We understand this is not the news you were hoping to hear and we want to assure you this decision was not made lightly,” Disney said in the post. The company said it would refund students their fees and allow participants, including recent college graduates, to re-apply.
The program was initially suspended in mid-March when the theme parks and hotels closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Disney announced plans last month to reopen the Florida parks in phases, with the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom opening on July 11 followed by Epcot and Hollywood Studios on July 15. Universal Orlando and SeaWorld parks reopened in June.
Disney (NYSE:DIS) is still two weeks away from the phased reopening of its Florida theme parks, but its largest rival is breaking out something new on Tuesday. Comcast‘s (NASDAQ:CMCS.A) Universal Orlando officially introduces The Bourne Stuntacular this week, a live stunt show that combines stage and high-tech cinema tricks based on Comcast’s Bourne action film franchise.
The new attraction has generated largely rave reviews in the technical-rehearsal showings it has made available to park guests ahead of Tuesday’s debut. It’s a good sign for a resort that has missed more than it has hit in recent additions to its arsenal. It’s also a refreshing surprise to see a Central Florida theme park operator introducing new experiences at a time when its gated attractions are opening to tightly restricted guest counts to abide by social distancing norms. Local rivals Disney World and SeaWorld Entertainment (NYSE:SEAS) have backed off from introducing new rides that should’ve been open or about to open these days.
IMAGE SOURCE: COMCAST’S UNIVERSAL ORLANDO.
Worlds apart
This is being seen largely as a lost summer season for the theme park industry. With parks letting only a limited number of guests through their turnstiles on any given day and hourly throughput on rides also pared back for the spacing out of riders and sanitation downtime, why open something shiny and new this summer? SeaWorld Entertainment was supposed to have opened two new roller coasters in Central Florida by now, but Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa and Ice Breaker at SeaWorld Orlando appear unlikely to open anytime soon. There was even a billboard up in Tampa back in March promoting the bar-raising hybrid coaster as open, despite the park itself shuttering for the pandemic earlier in the month.
Disney has yet to show its hand on coming attractions. The next new ride set to open — Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at Epcot — was tagged a few months ago with a summer opening. Disney hasn’t updated that timeline, but it would be a welcome surprise if it does open shortly after the park’s resumption on July 15.
Theme park attractions don’t always open on time, and that’s understandable. Construction delays and budget shuffling can trip up a new ride, show, or even restaurant opening. Disney World’s Space 220 — a heavily themed Epcot table-service eatery set in outer space — was originally supposed to open this past winter. It still doesn’t have a firm opening date.
Even Tuesday’s debut of The Bourne Stuntacular didn’t land on time. It’s been three years since the 700-seat theater that housed Terminator 2: 3D closed down at Universal Studios Florida after a 21-year run. The “all-new live action experience based on a high-energy Universal franchise” was supposed to arrive in 2019.
Delays are, naturally, better than outright cancellations. The new Bourne-themed stunt show will have to deal with spacing out crowds in the new normal, something that’s even more important for an indoor seated attraction. It won’t generate the same kind of buzz that it would have in an otherwise busy summer travel season, but that’s just the grim reality of how 2020 is going to play out for the industry. Folks are hesitant to travel, and the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Florida isn’t going to make the Sunshine State a tourist magnet anytime soon.
Between international travel restrictions and the global recession, this season has gone from being a historically lucrative one to more of a soft opening for locals as the operators work their social distancing kinks out. Getting something shiny and new to experience is a bonus during this otherwise lost summer.
An employee participates in the grand reopening of Hong Kong Disneyland on June 18. (Photo: Billy H.C. Kwok, Getty Images)
“It’s time for magic.” With that phrase, Disney revealed on June 10 that Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure would reopen on July 17, the 65th anniversary of opening day in 1955. That date’s been pushed back because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, but Disney is determined to open its doors soon. Guests are thrilled at the idea of returning to “The Happiest Place on Earth,” but some cast members are terrified.
“It’s not that we don’t want to work. It’s not that we’re not interested in bringing the magic back to this place. It’s that we are frightened,” cast member Jason (not his real name) said. “We don’t know how bad the risk to ourselves is going to be, but we know that there will be a risk. And it is a risk that none of us signed up for.”
Two weeks after the re-opening announcement, Disney decided to push back the date to open Disneyland, Disney California Adventure Park, and the Disneyland Resort Hotels. In a statement, the company said it’s because California’s state government “indicated that it will not issue theme park reopening guidelines until sometime after July 4.” (Gizmodo reached out to Disney for additional comment for this article, but a representative only redirected us to previously released statements.)
As expected, the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, will follow the plans of its East Coast sister, Walt Disney World, and begin reopening in July.Read more
This move comes after the Coalition of Resort Labour Unions, which represents 17,000 service workers for the Disneyland Resort, sent a joint letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom asking the state to delay Disneyland’s planned reopening because safety plans weren’t ready. They also staged a car caravan protest in Anaheim over the weekend. In an interview with Gizmodo, Workers United Local 50 (which represents over 7,700 restaurant workers) president Chris Duarte said the unions were surprised by Disney’s announcement that it was pulling back — as they were given no heads-up from the company — but he hopes it gives the company and unions time to settle ongoing health and safety issues.
“We’re a little surprised by it. We had no warning that that was going to take place, and we’ve been in continual discussions with the company for weeks now,” Duarte said of Disney’s postponement announcement. “From a certain level, to start bringing people back without knowing if the parks are going to actually be cleared to be open, it makes sense at a certain level [for Disney to delay reopening]. We still have a number of health and safety concerns, which is why we had sent the letter out to the governor previously. So, this gives us more time to actually start continuing to address those concerns and try to resolve them.”
Gizmodo also talked with five non-union Disneyland cast members, all of whom asked to not be named for fear of risking their jobs. (We’ve identified them by pseudonyms for the sake of clarity.) After Disney closed the parks, they received a couple of weeks paid leave but have been furloughed ever since, meaning they can file for unemployment while still being considered hired. They’ve been living on state unemployment and weekly $US600 ($876) federal payments under the U.S. CARES Act, which is set to expire at the end of July. Faced with the possibility of returning to the parks, they’re angry, frustrated, and scared — and none of them think now is the right time to go back.“I just kind of feel like a hostage to the company at this point.”
These cast members don’t represent all of Disneyland Resort’s 31,000 workers — Duarte said some union members are eager to return to work, not to mention the folks in this promotional video released by Disney Parks — but there are a lot of employees, like Nestor and Paige (again, not their real names), who are worried they’re going to become what Paige referred to as “frontline cast members.”
“We have lives too. We have families and friends that we live with too. While you are there to enjoy your day and have fun, this is our job,” Nestor said. “I think there’s a great divide between the excitement of the park reopening between guests and cast members because guests can’t really see our point of view.”
Disney closed its theme parks worldwide in March as the novel coronavirus pandemic started to spread. Three months later, the Walt Disney World Resorts in Orlando are readying a phased reopening for July 11. The plan has already been approved by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and in a recent statement to a Florida news station, he said there are no plans to roll them back. The nearby Disney Springs shopping centre is already open. This comes after Universal Studios Orlando reopened on June 5 with limited capacity. It seems guests couldn’t wait; they’ve been flooding the Disney World booking site since June 22, when it opened for people who’d had previous Disney World reservations. On Friday, the first slots opened for pass holders and within hours the first week was entirely booked.
Elsewhere, Shanghai Disneyland has been open since May 11, while Hong Kong Disneyland returned on June 18. Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea are scheduled to reopen on July 1, and Disneyland Paris will be coming back on July 15. These are places where the coronavirus is more under control; Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo are reporting cases in the dozens, not thousands, and France is seeing positive covid-19 test rates of only 1.5%.
The plan in Anaheim is to open the Downtown Disney shopping centre on July 9, as the state gave the go-ahead on that one week ago because it’s an outdoor shopping and restaurant complex that’s free and open to the public. It was originally going to be followed by Disneyland and California Adventure on July 17 and Disneyland Resort Hotels on July 23, but now that’s been pushed back to an unspecified date. Disney has already proposed some of its own safety measures, including temperature checks, social distancing guidelines, and requiring guests and cast members to wear masks. But the state is waiting until after July 4 to issue its own demands for theme park re-openings. In its statement, Disney said it is committed to reopening Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure once it knows what California’s guidelines are going to be.
Having the original Disneyland park finally reopen, along with all the others, is being hailed by the company and some fans as a return to magic, normalcy, and fun, but it’s an economic decision.Disney’s theme parks reported $US1 ($1) billion in losses last quarter from closing its parks during the pandemic, and they stand to lose upward of $US21 ($31) billion through 2022 if things don’t return to something resembling “normal.” Even the original July 17 date came across as more calculated than celebratory, with Nestor calling it a “PR stunt” that didn’t factor in employee safety. Paige said she feels like she’s serving at the company’s whim, and the higher unemployment in her industry leaves her without a lot of options for another job.
“I will defend the company when I feel like they deserve it, and will try to be a voice of reason to people who very much are, you know, more against the company’s decisions,” Paige said. “But at this point now, I can’t think of really any good reasons, aside from money, that they would want to reopen this quickly. It saddens me more than anything else because I just kind of feel like a hostage to the company at this point.”“The reality of the situation is that the pandemic is everywhere, even at Disneyland.”
When Disney goes forward with its plans, the parks will reopen to a world that is not ready for them. The pandemic continues to escalate in the United States with over 2.5 million cases reported on Sunday, including 40,587 new infections. It’s getting to the point where the European Union is considering barring American travellers from the U.S. The two states housing Disney’s theme parks are seeing surges; Florida had 8,500 new cases on Sunday, with the number of covid-19 infections in the state increasing five-fold in two weeks. California saw 4,500 new cases on Sunday and re-closed bars in several counties in response. On June 18, Gov. Newsom signed an executive order requiring masks for people who are out in public spaces, but some sheriff departments are saying they won’t enforce it — including in Orange County, where Disneyland is based. Disneyland employees like Julie (not her real name) say the state ban is not enough to keep the pandemic from reaching the park.
“Disney is a magical place where they can escape the realities of the world, but the reality of the situation is that the pandemic is everywhere, even at Disneyland,” Julie said.“The pandemic doesn’t magically go away just because you’re at a theme park.”
Florida is witnessing a major spike in confirmed covid-19 cases roughly seven weeks after Gov. Rick DeSantis announced plans to reopen the state following consultation with the White House. In a single day this week, 8,942 new cases were confirmed, state health officials said on Friday.Read more
Duarte said the unions have been in talks with Disney for weeks, trying to set up safety protocols so the company — which is worth nearly $US200 ($292) billion — can move forward with its reopening timeline. Other unions have already reached agreements with the company. However, non-union cast members said they’ve been left in the dark. They didn’t even know Disneyland was reopening until it was announced to the public on June 10.
It seems to be part of a pattern of communication issues between Disney and its employees. Duarte wrote on Facebook (before the delay) that the union was “shocked” to learn Disney had identified 775 people to be brought back from furlough, giving them one week’s notice — in spite of the fact that the unions haven’t finalised negotiations, and Gov. Newsom hadn’t approved the reopening schedule yet. He said they were surprised because Disney hadn’t communicated to the unions before moving forward.
Right now, the unions are still trying to arrange for several basic safety requirements. Negotiations include free masks for cast members, on-demand covid-19 testing, heightened security to ensure guest safety compliance, paid leave for cast members who contract covid-19, guaranteed family leave for coronavirus-related situations, and the option to “opt out” of returning to work in the initial weeks for medical or personal reasons (while still being furloughed). According to Duarte, Disney has responded favourably to some, like providing free masks for cast members, but is pushing back on others. The biggest sticking point is testing. Duarte said Disney has “no inclination or want at this time to test employees in any manner,” instead, it’s encouraging cast members to go to public testing sites on their own time. Disney did not answer our questions regarding the union’s demands.
“If you’re not testing, how are you going to identify who’s been exposed?” he said. “It’s missing a piece of the puzzle.”
Time will tell how much of the unions’ demands are met, as talks are ongoing. In the meantime, Disney has already unveiled its safety plans for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, whenever it’s set to open. According to a statement, the park will initially run at a reduced capacity to encourage social distancing, cashless transactions will be encouraged, and all guests will receive temperature checks before entering the parks (a process that has been criticised for missing a great deal of positive cases).
Behind the scenes, things look a bit more complicated. Three cast members told Gizmodo that Disney may limit access to break areas and food preparation stations. It’s left them worried about how they’ll eat and rest during their shifts. Duarte refused to comment on that, and Disney didn’t respond to our questions.Guests take a photo in Shanghai Disneyland, a park where mask mandates have been largely successful. (Photo: Hu Chengwei , Getty Images)
Then, there are the masks. Disney has confirmed that all cast members and guests will be required to wear them inside Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. This is something that’s been uniform across all Disney Parks openings, and it’s been successful so far. Photos of Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland serve as examples that people wearing masks can still have fun. But there’s a problem: America isn’t playing by the same rules.
“The reason why Shanghai has been doing so well is because they’re in a country with a very different culture than America has, where people wear masks regularly already,” Julie said. “In America, you see people protesting the fact that they’re having to wear a mask, or refusing to wear a mask and then getting mad at whatever a store or company turns them away because they have to wear one. So, I just don’t see it working the same way for us.”
Masks have become a hot button issue in the U.S. (largely along political lines), even though numerous medical experts have stated that they’re highly effective in stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus. For some, masks have become a symbol of oppression instead of public health. The internet is full of videos of people refusing to wear them in social situations, getting angry, or even starting fights when stopped from entering stores because they aren’t wearing masks. It’s only enhanced by the fact that only 18 states require them, and President Donald Trump resists wearing one himself.
Cast members said they’re happy Disney will require masks at their parks but have no confidence that guests will actually follow the requirement. “Guests are very sneaky people,” Julie said. “They no longer allow selfie sticks [at Disneyland], yet almost every day at work I still see a good handful of guests who have selfie sticks. So even if a guest comes in with a mask, who’s going to tell them to [keep wearing] the mask?”
Masks will be required to enter the park, but cast members said it would be easy for guests to simply take them off once inside, or find excuses not to wear them. There are already several reports out of Disney Springs of people not wearing their masks or ignoring security requests — taking advantage of “loopholes,” like carrying around water bottles so they can keep their masks off under the guise of drinking. There’s plenty of security services at Disney Parks, along with special exclusive police provided through a contract with the Anaheim Police Department, but cast members were unsure whether they’ll actually kick people out who are refusing to comply. Duarte said heightened security to respond to noncompliant guests is part of the union negotiations.
It puts them in a very awkward position, worried if they’ll end up having to confront an uncooperative (and possibly contagious) guest screaming in their faces. Of course, the biggest fear is getting sick and that’s already happening.
There have been reports of an employee at a Disney Springs restaurant testing positive for covid-19. They’d been working for two weeks before finding out, according to WDW News Today. Cast members are worried about their health and the health of their coworkers, especially those who’ve worked in the park for decades and are more high-risk due to age. They’re also concerned for their loved ones. Jason told Gizmodo he has a mother who is extremely high risk. He’s already had to limit contact with her because of her regular, non-covidhospital visits, but he knows that going back to work means he may not get to see her at all until there’s a vaccine. When discussing the situation he started to cry.
“That one’s really hard. That one’s really hard. I don’t want to not see her until that point,” he said. “Knowing conclusively that I would be not be able to really see her, really frightens me.”
Another cast member, Bethany (not her real name), doesn’t have the option of staying away from her at-risk family members, and it worries her. “I honestly don’t know what precautions I’m even going to take because I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to be encountering at work. I don’t have another place to live. I live at home with my family, who some are high risk, so it’s crossed my mind. But I’m kind of at a loss of what I’m supposed to do,” Bethany said.
These cast members feel like Disney isn’t taking the needs of its employees into consideration, so they’re handling it themselves. Many have been actively communicating with each other on social media — voicing concerns, posting news updates, and passing around petitions, like this one from Change.org (which has received over 56,000 signatures so far). One Medium article from cast member Joshua Carranza-Vick was directed at “the Bobs and Co.” of Disney, meaning Disney CEO Bob Chapek and executive chairman Bob Iger. It included a list of demands he said were put together with the help of other cast members: on-site coronavirus testing, a dedicated contact tracing team, paid sick leave and hazard pay, and establishing groups of voluntary cast members who would enforce social distancing requirements on-site — some of which are part of union negotiations.
There’s also the fact that the non-union cast members said they’re earning more on unemployment than they were as employees, thanks to the CARES Act stimulus package. They normally make an average of about $US15 ($22) to $US17 ($25) per week, a few dollars above the state’s $US12 ($18) minimum wage. Disney has faced heavy criticism over worker pay and was even sued last year for not giving cast members living wages. It highlights the larger problem of inequality and mistreatment in the service industry they’re a part of; one that’s more enhanced by online commenters telling people like them to “just quit” if they don’t want to go back to work at Disneyland. But with a national unemployment rate of 13%, which has hit their industry the hardest, a lot of them don’t have that option.
Besides, many of these workers adore their jobs and said they’d give anything to be able to go back, so long as it wasn’t during a pandemic. There’s a specific kind of love cast members have for working at Disneyland, something that goes beyond pressing a button to start a thrill ride or serving food at a restaurant. It’s a belief that what they’re doing helps make the world a more magical place. “It is the most elaborate and phenomenal game of make-believe that the world has ever seen,” Jason said.
Disney has delayed Mulan for the second time this year, moving the film from July 24th to August 21st. The move follows Warner Bros.’ decision to delay Christopher Nolan’s Tenet for a second time from July 31st to August 12th.
Disney doesn’t want to be the first studio to release a major film in the middle of a pandemic when the company is unsure of about how many people will show up. The delay is added confirmation that Disney and Warner Bros. are engaged in a game of release chicken. Neither studio wants to go first, testing out their potential billion-dollar movies in a market where the films could lose money if audiences don’t turn up or restrictions mean that audiences can’t watch said movies.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek previously cited Tenet (referring to it as a “competitor’s film”) as the movie Disney executives were planning to watch; the insinuation was that if Tenet performed well, Mulan couldrun the following week, but if it flopped upon opening weekend, Disney could move Mulan. ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish added in his company’s earnings call that he was hopeful by the time The SpongeBobMovie: Sponge on the Run was set to open in early August, movie theaters would be back in full swing. ViacomCBS has since moved The SpongeBobMovie: Sponge on the Run to a digital only release in 2021.
While studios are trying to figure out when to release their 2020 blockbusters, theaters are also watching closely. Companies like AMC Theatres and Regal are relying on movies like Tenet and Mulan to bring people back to theaters. Plans to open more widely seemed to be based on Tenet’s then July 31st release date. Now, Warner Bros. is re-releasing Inception in that spot to celebrate the film’s 10-year-anniversary. If studios don’t release new films, the theaters don’t have anything to bring audiences in.
As concerns over the novel coronavirus continue to grow as states begin to reopen, whether summer blockbusters will actually start to hit theaters is still up in the air. For now, it seems like studios are playing it safe, continuing to engage in incremental delays until the time is right.
Disney is delaying the phased reopening of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, the company’s flagship theme parks in California, the company said on Wednesday.The resort, located in Anaheim, California, was set to welcome back guests on July 17 after being closed for months because of the coronavirus pandemic.Disney (DIS) did not give a new reopening date for the Disneyland resort.The company said that the State of California had indicated it would not issue theme park reopening guidelines “until sometime after July 4,” according to a statement. “Given the time required for us to bring thousands of cast members back to work and restart our business, we have no choice but to delay the reopening of our theme parks and resort hotels until we receive approval from government officials.”Content By EYBuilding resilience for a ‘saw-toothed’ economic recoveryNow is the time to start making changes to prepare your business for an uncertain economic future.The news of Disneyland’s delayed reopening comes as coronavirus cases are spiking across the country, especially in California.California blew by its previous single-day high with more than 7,149 cases reported Wednesday, according to data from the state Department of Public Health.Disney still must negotiate with its unions before the parks can be reopened. The company said it has had “positive discussions” and has signed agreements with 20 union affiliates.The company has gotten pushback from unions that represent Disneyland workers about the reopening. An online petition on Change.org, which called for Disney to schedule the reopening of Disneyland to a later date. That petition has over 50,000 signatures.
Disney World workers petition to delay reopening as Florida coronavirus cases surge“Once we have a clearer understanding of when guidelines will be released, we expect to be able to communicate a reopening date,” the statement said.Disney World, Disney’s flagship resort in Florida, is still on track to reopen its gates next month.Located Orlando, Florida, Disney World plans to begin a phased reopening on July 11 for its Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks and on July 15 for EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, the company said last month.Disneyn is implementing several measures to reopen safely and prevent the spread of coronavirus at its parks, including requiring employees and guests to wear face coverings. Disney also will reduce capacity at the parks and the resort will temporarily suspend parades, fireworks and other events that create crowds.An online petition on MoveOn.org is urging Disney and government officials to reconsider opening Disney World next month as coronavirus cases surge in Florida. The petition has been signed by more than 8,500 people as of Wednesday night.
Disney Plus has appeared to have quietly stopped offering new subscribers a free seven-day trial of the streaming service, as spotted by French pop culture site Numerama.
It the free trial offer seems to be no longer available in the United States — there’s no mention of it anymore on the streaming site, and attempting to sign up for a new account will simply direct users to begin payments immediately for the service.
“We continue to test and evaluate different marketing, offers, and promotions to grow Disney+. The service was set at an attractive price-to-value proposition that we believe delivers a compelling entertainment offering on its own,” said a Disney Plus spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.
It’s not clear when Disney removed the ability to try out Disney Plus for free, but the timing does sense, given that Disney is just weeks away from releasing what might be the single most anticipated title on the service yet: the recording of the Broadway production of Hamilton, set to debut on the service on July 3rd.
Without a free trial, anyone who wants to watch Hamilton when it’s out will have to pay for at least one month of Disney Plus (which costs $6.99, or $12.99 for the more prominently advertised bundle that also includes Hulu and ESPN Plus) — customers that Disney is presumably hoping will turn into long term subscriptions.
Disney Plus has amassed over 50 million subscribers worldwide since it launched last fall, helped in part by international rollouts in the UK, India, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, France, and Switzerland.
Guests take a photo in Shanghai Disneyland, a park where mask mandates have been largely successful. (Photo: Hu Chengwei , Getty Images)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66989328/mulan.0.jpg?w=860&ssl=1)
