Disneyland Resort has been forced to institute more Cast Member furloughs, as was announced via a letter from Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock.
- No specific number of new furloughs was announced by Potrock, but he did share that they will affect executive, salaried and hourly Cast.
- This news comes a little over a month after Disney Parks, Experiences and Products announced a round of layoffs affecting roughly 28,000 Cast Members.
- Potrock specifically cited the recently-announced California state guidelines for reopening theme parks as the primary reason for having to institute these additional furloughs.
A portion of Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock’s Letter to Cast Members:
“Since Disneyland Resort closed its gates in March, nothing has been more important than fully reopening and getting our Cast Members back to work. That’s why it is with heavy hearts we find ourselves in the untenable situation of having to institute additional furloughs for our executive, salaried and hourly Cast.
After nearly eight months our parks and hotels remain closed, and while we have had some successes — like the opening of the Downtown Disney District in July, shopping and dining coming soon to Buena Vista Street and today’s announcement that we will reopen Disney Vacation Club units — the recently released state guidelines put us in limbo regarding a reopening timeline in the foreseeable future.
As you know, we’ve already taken the heart-wrenching action of laying off thousands of our Cast on both coasts. We expected to be able to open our parks in Anaheim, given our proven ability to operate with responsible health and safety protocols as we have in all of our other theme parks around the world, but unfortunately this has not been the case.”
Continued:
“These decisions and actions are difficult — and we are committed to helping our teams through this and, most importantly, getting people back to work where we can.
While the near term will be challenging as we continue to navigate in these turbulent times, I promise you that we will continue to work tirelessly to reopen the Resort and get our Cast Members back to work, and that my optimism for our bright future continues to be strong.
I want to thank each and every one of you for your resiliency and resolve during these challenging and unpredictable times. I am continually in awe of our amazing Cast and look forward to the day when we can celebrate the reopening of Disneyland Resort.”