Late Tuesday night, news broke of the next wave of Cast Member layoffs at Walt Disney World—all still a part of the previously-announced 28,000 quota, but no less devastating. This round of layoffs mainly impacted entertainment across the parks and resorts, from fan-favorite “Streetmosphere” to established Broadway-style shows, like “Festival of the Lion King”.
All Seasonal and Part-Time characters and performers were let go, regardless of tenure, including acts nearly as old as Walt Disney World itself, like the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. We here at WDWNT are distraught at the gutting of live entertainment across Walt Disney World, since these performers—along with frontline Cast Members—brought the parks to life every single day. Below, you’ll find the most current list of impacted shows and performing acts at each park and resort.
Magic Kingdom
EPCOT
- Voices of Liberty (non-principal vocalists)
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Citizens of Hollywood
- “Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage”
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
- Jedi Training Academy: Trials of the TempleÂ
- Green Army Men (Toy Story Land)
- Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Walt Disney World Resorts
- “Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue” at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
- The Grand Floridian Society Orchestra at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
It’s unknown whether the shows will go dark permanently, but we hope to see the return of these extremely talented performers to the parks very soon. Select equity performers returned to Walt Disney World back in September after initial negotiations, but for the most part, the majority of entertainment across the resort remained dark, with performers on extended furlough up until the recent layoffs.
We might be permanently canceling our life long planned Disney trip instead of just a long furlough from May 2019. Disney may not survive this.
Truly a sad day for CMs across the board. Live entertainment was one of the differentiators and competitive advantage Disney had over other destinations. But as long as Chapek gets his Exec bonus…
So is this the end of the Voices of Liberty?
Heartbreaking news. Performers are the life of the parks. So many children and families will miss out on the joy and memories they bring. BRING THEM BACK SOON DISNEY!
I will miss all of these shows and performers but I’m glad I at least got to see them at least once in my adult life, in the ten years I’ve been going to WDW. Many more people won’t ever get to see them except for on YouTube….assuming the shows don’t return. I hope they do eventually return to entertain the parkgoers, though, when conditions are safer. It seemed to me that maybe the Laughfloor show could have continued with limited seating (like at the indoor Frozen singalong, etc.) and not many people involved. Maybe TPTB just don’t want CMs to have to go up to people with the microphones at all. I don’t know how many CMs were involved behind the scenes with that one. Good luck and health to everyone out there, employed or not.
Well for me, all future travel plans to Disney have been cancelled, indefinitely.
From a soon-to-be FORMER annual passholder: Destroying the magic will not save Disney from the pandemic, it will make it yet another victim! #firechapek
Disney Junior is also a stage that laid off their equity performers….. Got replaced by a dj. Sad to see this show constantly left out of these stories. They work really hard too.