First, the Citizens of Hollywood, now the Citizens of Main Street. News continues to surface on the latest wave of layoffs at Walt Disney World, this time impacting most of the equity performers on property. When the Magic Kingdom reopened back in July, the Citizens of Main Street did not return, and now the performers that portrayed these charismatic icons have been laid off.
It’s unknown whether these characters are gone for good, 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 has remained dark, with performers on extended furlough up until the recent layoffs. Other impacted performances include “Festival of the Lion King” and “Finding Nemo – The Musical” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, as well as the “Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue” dinner show at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.
The Walt Disney Company restored the salaries of its Senior Executives in late August,when thousands of Cast Members were still on furlough.
We encourage our readers to help Cast Members during this difficult time by making a donation to the Cast Member Pantry. The donation-based organization has an Amazon Wish List as well as Venmo @castmemberpantry. Cast Members can email Cast Member Pantryor contact them via their Facebook page to book a 15-minute “shopping” window.
I need to go lie down before I throw my phone at the wall… the most pg thing I can say about this is that the people in charge of the Disney Company should be ashamed of how they are choosing money over their cast members.