Shows Not Returning Soon Due to Mass Entertainment Layoffs at Disney World
Another massive round of Cast Member layoffs hit entertainment at Walt Disney World, including performers and supporting Cast Members at many highly popular shows in the parks & resorts. In this post, we’ll cover details and offer commentary.
These entertainment cuts are part of the 28,000 layoffs announced for Walt Disney World and Disneyland last month. Thus far, it appears that Florida accounts for roughly 15,000 of the lost jobs. However, these have been occurring in waves as Disney negotiates with unions, and are likely not finished yet.
Before we begin, a reminder that Central Florida’s tourism industry has been devastated, with many people losing their jobs. Please see our Help Give Back to Disney Cast Members & Community post, which offers a range of ways you can assist during this time of need. Beyond that, have extra empathy and courtesy when interacting with Cast Members in the coming days, weeks, and months.
The last few weeks have been rough, and the latest round of entertainment layoffs is equally devastating. Hearing from Cast Member friends and seeing acquaintances post that they “got the call.” Opening social media and hearing from people who have received the life-altering news. It’s heartbreaking over and over again.
Some of these people are Disney lifers who have been with the company for decades. Some have opened multiple new parks. Some were truly living their dream in working for this company. Some uprooted their families and lives to move to Florida or California and be magic-makers. All were ambassadors for Disney, worthy stewards of Walt’s legacy, and vital assets for the company. We cannot fathom Disney without all of these people. They were what makes Disney, Disney.
For many of you, these entertainment layoffs are likely going to “hit harder” because these are highly-visible roles in popular shows or atmospheric acts that left indelible, lasting memories on your vacations. It’s just worth pointing out that for every one of these prominent entertainment jobs lost, there are a dozen other less visible positions that have also been eliminated.
All of them are integral in making the rides, shows, restaurants, and everything else about the Walt Disney World experience run smoothly. Whether someone works in custodial or as Cinderella, those jobs are both essential in making Walt Disney World what it is.
As for the latest round of layoffs, many of those affected are members of Actors’ Equity Association, a union for stage managers and performers. You might recall that over the summer, that union and Disney were at odds over performers returning to work safely. The standoff was highly publicized and contentious, but the union and Disney ultimately reached an “agreement” when the Maingate testing complex opened near Animal Kingdom.
Since that time, some performers have returned to Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Savi’s Workshop and the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. All other shows have remained dark and atmospheric entertainment has not been called back.
After we published this post, that union released a statement about the layoffs. “Our hearts go out to all the cast members at Walt Disney World,” said Kate Shindle, president of Actors’ Equity Association. “Disney has made it clear that our members would face work reductions since they announced layoffs of nearly 28,000 employees. That does not make this news any less painful.”
Prior to the closure in March, about 780 Equity Cast Members were employed at Walt Disney World, either full time, part time or seasonally. About 60 are currently working or about to return to work in the park. About 720 Equity member workers have now been laid off. According to the new MOU with Disney, these laid-off members maintain recall rights until the end of 2021.
The layoffs of these 720 performers and show support Cast Members at Walt Disney World are incredibly widespread. While Walt Disney World has not released a statement (and we wouldn’t expect one), we’ve received multiple credible reports on the shows impacted.
Outside the parks, the first big one is the entirety of the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. This dinner show has been a venerable “Vacation Kingdom” staple since 1974 and should’ve had a spotlight shined on it for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary.
Over at Animal Kingdom, both Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo: The Musical are among the shows that had their Cast Members laid off.
The entire cast and crew for Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, and Jedi Training Academy: Trials of the Temple at Disney’s Hollywood Studios were also let go.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios also saw Streetmosphere cuts, with the Green Army Men in Toy Story Land and Citizens of Hollywood both reportedly being eliminated.
On that front, the Citizens of Main Street in Magic Kingdom were also laid off. Over in Tomorrowland, the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor cast and crew was also let go.
Note that this is not an exhaustive list of the stage shows, atmospheric acts, and other entertainment that Walt Disney World has laid off. These are simply what we were able to independently and credibly confirm.
Our hearts go out to the performers, crew, and unsung support staff that made all of these productions possible. These are deep cuts that will leave scars on Walt Disney World for years to come, well after there’s a full recovery and things return to “normal.”
Back when it was revealed that Disney had ended the Grand Floridian Society Orchestra’s run, we offered extensive commentary. That focused largely on Walt Disney World being increasingly less concerned with delivering commensurate value for money, and more preoccupied with increasing profit margins. All of that remains true here. We’re not going to rehash all of it–you’ll undoubtedly be outraged and upset without us pouring gasoline on that proverbial bonfire.
To be abundantly clear, this bothers us. It’s painful to see, we hurt for those Cast Members, and stand by all of that prior commentary. It’s also the most evident sign yet that Walt Disney World is not going back to normal anytime soon, at a time when so many are craving normalcy. Bluntly, this means these shows and acts are not coming back this year or any time in the near future.
With that said, we want to strike a bit of an optimistic tone here, as a lot of the commentary we’ve seen on social media has been incredibly bleak. There’s talk that Disney has wanted to cut entertainment for years and finally has an excuse, that Disney is now no different from Six Flags, etc.
Some of those comments are emotional hyperbole, others are sincere. Regardless, they’re misguided or flat-out wrong, at least in the long term.
While Walt Disney World has been adept at trimming budgets and increasing attendance in the process, that simply cannot happen and to this degree for an extended period of time. Among other things, demand is a result of perceived value for money. There is not a path forward for Walt Disney World that involves unilaterally dictating high prices and reduced offerings. That is simply not a viable course of action.
We’ve already seen this with Walt Disney World post-reopening as many guests have cancelled trips due to the reduced slate of entertainment (among other reasons). Despite that, you might point to increasing attendance in the parks over the last couple of months as supposed evidence that Disney fans are “suckers” who will pay full price for half the experience.
Except that’s not true. Right now, Walt Disney World is seeing a fraction of its normal guest numbers, and even that fraction is disproportionately locals, Annual Passholders, and Disney Vacation Club members. In other words, guest types who either have pre-paid for their visits or are not booking multi-thousand dollar vacations. There are definitely some full freight tourists, but not even remotely approaching normal levels.
Look no further than low weekday occupancy numbers at the resorts, the fact that many hotels have not reopened and do not have reopening dates, and all the lucrative offerings–Club Level, Disney Dining Plan, dessert parties, etc–that remain unavailable.
As we’ve pointed out many times, Walt Disney World is a hotel (and timeshare) business that operates theme parks as a side hustle. Right now, the latter component isn’t doing so hot, but the former is doing terribly. By its own admission, Walt Disney World is treading water and losing money, just less than if the parks were still closed.
Sadly, that’s likely to remain the case for the next several months. Perhaps well into 2021, longer than any of us who are desperately craving normalcy want to admit. It’s going to be a long road to recovery, both for Walt Disney World and for the travel industry in general.
The point is that Walt Disney World’s short-term approach is unsustainable in the long-term. Whether Disney’s motivation is health safety or cost-savings at a time when added offerings are unlikely to move the needle in terms of hotel occupancy, the result is the same. It might help Disney tread water for now while in preservation mode, but it’s not viable in the ordinary course of business.
Once a general recovery does begin, Walt Disney World will have to work hard to lure guests back. During the last decade, the United States had a strong economy, the travel industry was booming, and Disney could get away with reducing the value proposition without seeing a corresponding drop in demand. Sure, guests wore “Most Expensive Day Ever” shirts, but they were visiting anyway.
The forward-looking outlook for the tourism sector is very different from that, and much less positive. It’s going to take several years for travel to fully recover—until 2025 if experts are to be believed. While there’s likely some degree of “revenge travel” and pent-up demand among fans, that’s not enough. The “new normal” here is that travel will be a value-conscious buyer’s market, and Walt Disney World will need to do more to be competitive with other destinations and entice guests to visit.
Whether that means bringing back these shows and acts or debuting new ones remains to be seen. In the short-term, we still second-guess these cuts and think they could inflict irreparable brand damage (among other things). Regardless of how we feel about that, there’s no conceivable long-term scenario in which entertainment at Walt Disney World is permanently eliminated. Some of these stage shows will be back; other new entertainment will debut. It’s painful right now, but it is temporary pain.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of these Walt Disney World entertainment cuts and additions? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about WDW restoring more stage shows and other acts in 2021 or 2022? Are you worried that it might be a while before Walt Disney World is back to normal in terms of its offerings? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Another good article with good comments. HAS the logistical issues with shows and performers been addressed? Meaning, if Elsa, or Indy, or BatB ect leads end up with COVID the show can’t go on. There are only so many people Disney can keep on staff for these positions, then close contacts. If these shows lose performers for 14 days to quarantine that’s a large cost and adds to last minute cancellations. If they can’t reliability be brought back why start them at all?
Tom or Anyone. . . what do you think that Universal is doing differently? In that, we are seeing them hit capacity and opening the new Bourne Identity show? And now, they are re-starting their nighttime lagoon show. Are they doing something different as in. . . something that is helping them seem to open back more quickly? I love Disney but I also love to spend time at the Universal resort from time to time.
A family friend who I can’t name but you will recognize was let go. She was the premiere Cinderella for the magic kingdom–featured in all their recent TV commercials, featured every year on Christmas and represented Disney for Cinderella’s introduction into the Smithsonian. They made her the literal face of their brand for the last few years and then did this to her. My heart is broken and I’m upset.
Please pass on to her how sorry all Disney fans will be to hear this. I hope she will be back soon!!
Serious bummer. We love rides but the shows are what sets Disney apart from other places for us. I get the need for temporary cuts but I sure hope these come back when travel normalizes.
How disappointing to hear more bad news for our cast members. I realize it’s like comparing apples and oranges, but is Universal cutting their staff to this extent? As far as PR goes, it seems like Universal is more on the right track, but maybe I just haven’t seen enough of their news. As an outsider being admittedly totally unqualified to critique massive corporate decisions, I feel like Disney should take more of a financial hit in the short term to preserve the integrity of “Disney” in the long term. The funds to keep at least some of these wonderful people still employed exists, and I’m disappointed they don’t seem to be planning for the future of the parks. Just the utopian thoughts of another Disney fan.
Universal and Sea World have been making big cuts as well. Not as large as Disney’s cuts, but they don’t employ as many people, so percentage wise, it’s close. It’s a bad situation all the way around, when you include the layoffs from all the hotels and other businesses tied into the tourist industry here in Orlando.
I am not a huge ride person, there are some I love and others I avoid. If I get three fast passes for rides and do my favorite three I am happy. But not lion king seriously I have never gone and not seen this show sometimes twice. Also Indiana Jones I think it’s a favorite every time. It’s a classic….the rides breakdown everyday you can’t get in to dine in most places and now Disney’s heart and soul are gone. I might not be returning!
It’s telling that Disney is running TV ads saying “Magic is here.” Hey Disney, when you have to tell people the magic is here, well, it’s very definitely not. The magic was always a feeling, and it doesn’t exist simply because you proclaim it to be. No one says that Universal is magical (I like Universal, but magic is not it’s selling point). Now, I have no reason to say that Disney is magical either. But at least the TV ad shows that Disney knows that people come for the magic. Maybe that means they will eventually bring the magic back (for real).
I’ve been pondering when we would go back but now I know it won’t be until 2022. Easy decision. Three things required to get me back: 1) Cultural ambassadors in World Showcase at Epcot (when do you think we’ll get them back, if ever?), 2) Entertainment/shows, and 3) Evening fireworks in Epcot and MK. Basically, bring back the magic and I’ll come back.
This is so heartbreaking! I love Disney so much! However, sometimes I forget that this is a large corporation driven by revenue. I understand this year has been exceedingly difficult but I am quite certain that Disney’s pockets are not light and I highly doubt that any of these performers are getting rich off of their provided salaries, their contributions are substantial and these shows play a gigantic part in making Disneyworld what it is! I sure hope we see these shows return soon.
I think there’s a big problem with eliminating these offerings that extends just beyond cost savings…….To begin with, I do not agree in any way with the job cuts. They are putting a lot of people out of work. These offerings are also a HUGE part of the experience. On top of that, a lot of these performances/shows absorbed a good deal of the crowds. How is it going to be when capacity is eventually increased and the lines are incredibly long? The lines are already crazy long at a reported only 25% of capacity. What happens when the CDC authorizes increases and Disney bumps that number to 50%, 75% or even 100%? Where will all those crowds go? It will take a long time to rehire, train new personnel, etc…….This is making WDW a non starter for the next 2 years and i think that long term consequences are going to be way bigger than you are projecting. While they might come back some day, the damage caused in the interim might take over 5 years to recover from. Seems to me penny wise and pound follish
But the problem with entertainment is seating people. If you go into the show spaces, they block off every other row and every five seats are blocked and four seats are open (or maybe the other way around). So the theater only has about 25-30% of seats open. With parades, they can’t block off the sidewalks into standing spaces like they do with theaters. It won’t be until social distancing is a thing of the past until most of these entertainment shows can reopen. Unless they put them on big screens. Then you still have the entertainers getting too close to each other, unless you make all of them live together.
This may be an unpopular view, but in our nearly two decades of Disney vacations, usually with multiple trips a year, my family has never had much interest in the live entertainment offerings at any Disney park.
Since the beginning, we’ve shunned most character meet-and-greets and yawned through the shows, most of which we forced ourselves to endure just because… well, they were there, and we were there, so we figured we might as well see them.
I could list various forms of WDW live entertainment, from the Citizens of Hollywood to Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage to Fantasmic to the First Order Stormtroopers to Finding Nemo: The Musical to DiVine to the Pandora Drummers and Exo-Suit Rangers to the Incredibles Super Dance Party to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor to character dining and meet and greets… and while we naturally prefer some over the others, given the choice to take them or leave them, we’d leave them all. I think our best live entertainment memory was dancing to live music at the Paradise Garden Bandstand in 2015.
People go to Disney parks for different reasons, and there’s no right or wrong way to do it. Unless you’re visiting a Disney park in 2020 and removing your mask – that’s wrong. Our family has always gone to Disney parks for the artistry and atmosphere first, and the attractions and shopping second. We cancelled all three of the trips we had planned for 2020, because we take the threat of the coronavirus seriously. It’s unfortunate that so many cast members are losing their livelihoods, but in the case of performers, there’s little Disney can do to guarantee their safety from the coronavirus at this time or for the foreseeable future. Letting them go now is the best thing to do, so they can find something else to do.
I don’t mean to be a voice of dissent or to stir the pot – I just imagine that if my family feels this way, there may be others who do as well. While it’s unlikely that all Disney parks live entertainment would ever be fully eliminated, I do know that we would barely notice if entertainment was permanently scaled back at the Disney parks, and we may even appreciate the absence of some of the offerings.
you are definitely the minority….If nothing else, these shows help absorb crowds to allow families like yours to wait in smaller lines. Wait until you go and theres no shows and you have to wait 100 mins for Alien Swirling Saucers
and for my family, the entertainment is what drives our visit. If this is a permanent change, it will be a deal-breaker for us.
I’m sure others do feel that way. But they aren’t the majority of Disney guests. People who’ve been visiting Disney for 20 years have different interests than those who are going for the first time, or even repeat guests with small children.
We’ve been going for many years now. I remember when Epcot opening was a big deal & then Hollywood Studios (known as MGM Grand) , so the character meet-n-greets aren’t a big deal. The little one isn’t so little anymore. But that doesn’t mean they’re no longer a vital part of what differentiates Disney from other parks like Six Flags.
And the shows give people a chance to give their feet a break from all the walking & standing in lines, not to mention the welcome respite of air conditioning in the hot FL weather. They also have the added benefit of diluting the crowd level at rides by offering guests more places to go in the park besides only the rides.
The core differentiator between Disney parks and other theme parks is their deeply woven intertextual connections with various forms of other Disney media. This may sound like something complex and sophisticated, but I always grasped it as a child and I am certain that other children do as well, even if they wouldn’t describe it in these words.
The crux is that what you experience in the physical reality of a Disney park is related in ways both subtle and overt to the imagined realities experienced in Disney movies, television shows, books, toys, stickers, video games, and more – ultimately creating an overaching sense of continuity and community in the Disney consumer. It’s often said that Disney’s primary product is nostalgia, but that’s not true. Disney of course trades in nostalgia, but nostalgia is highly relative. Other theme parks can evoke nostalgia in people if they grew up with those theme parks. But no other company has mastered intertexuality the way Disney has, throughout nearly a century of media production.
Live entertainment is just one device through which this intertextuality can be woven. In my family’s view, it’s easily the most trivial and dull device in Disney’s arsenal – but that’s just our view. Eschewing most live entertainment, we prefer to feel connected to the world of Disney through the architectural languages and design flourishes of the parks and resorts, the attractions that build on the worlds established in other Disney media, and the souvenirs we cherish.
I have no illusions that we represent any majority of Disney guests, but this is just the fundamental truth of our Disney experience, and always has been. None of us ever really liked live entertainment, not even as children – but the things we do like about Disney, we truly and deeply adore.
I can buy souvenirs online. I don’t need to pay thousands of dollars to fly to Orlando & stay at WDW to get souvenirs. Though, to be fair, I wouldn’t buy them online since I don’t buy many at Disney either unless it’s in the World Showcase at Epcot which is more nationality-centric than Disney-centric.
And I’m not sure how seeing/meeting iconic Disney characters that children have come to love from watching Disney movies & TV shows is merely a “trivial” part of the connectivity to Disney.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I prefer human interaction over cold architecture. Architecture is predictable; human interaction rarely is.
I am in complete agreement with Waldorf. Thank you for sharing an opinion I wish I had written.
Hey Ernest – if you read this, please know I appreciate your comment. I imagine there are many of us who don’t necessarily feel that live entertainment is what makes Disney what it is, at least not more than any other element of the Disney equation.
I think you’ve used the phrase before, but this really cuts into the bone (the marrow?) and seems short sighted to me.
I don’t envy the people making these decisions, and it’s really easy to armchair quarterback here without knowing the full picture/data they are weighing when making these decisions. I still think they are acting foolishly with this particular decision.
This won’t get us to cancel our upcoming trip (assuming the world is still spinning by then), but I won’t be booking for next year. That’s not angry internet rhetoric or hyperbole.
After analyzing the prices for the packages that dropped last week even with the “discounts” I was blown away that the prices were still trending up. Trying to charge more while drastically reducing your offering is not a viable strategy; I don’t care how beloved your brand is.
Does this mean that Impressions of France will come back full time and the singalong will be gone? That’s one good thing to come from this if that is true.
Until they realize that masks don’t work like some people think and social distancing isn’t necessity, none of the entertainers will be back. When you can’t go to church because everyone is singing or praying out loud, how can you have show where people sing and speak? I guess they just need a whole lot of video screens all over the parks with recorded acts and entertainers.
It is very sad. We loved all the Disney productions when visiting. And I am disappointed that Disney continues to charge families the same rates for less entertainment, less restaurant options, and even worse shorter park hours. After receiving the coupon for hotels thu June, I was shocked at the prices. Didn’t really feel like a discount at all. Not enough at least for me to be interested in visiting during a pandemic.
Few thoughts:
-I understand the financial necessity of the layoffs but it is unseemly that the top executives fully restored their compensation.
-In the long term it’s unsustainable not purely as a matter of guest value/demand. It’s unsustainable as a matter of park capacity. DHS Beauty and the Beast, the Animal Kingdom shows, the Laugh Floor — these swallow lots of people. You can’t ever go back to full capacity attendance with all these attractions closed.
-I do fear that some of the cuts will be long term/permanent as cost savings.
-To a greater degree than furloughs, these layoffs can’t be reversed with a flick of a switch. Some of the people will be ready for re-hiring when Disney is ready. But some will go off to other jobs or full time retirement. When Disney is ready to restore entertainment, they will have to go through re-hiring procedures, re-training, rehearsals, etc.
– Therefore, don’t expect all entertainment to come back online at once. When Disney is ready to start bringing stuff back, I would expect it to be a little at a time.
-The widespread entertainment layoffs suggest that no restoration is imminent. None of it is coming back this year. In all likelihood, it will be another 6 months or more before they starting bringing any of this back. Most optimistically, maybe they will want to start restoring some entertainment for Easter. Most realistically, Memorial Day/Summer may start to see more normalcy start to return. Pessimistically, they are giving up on the 2020-2021 fiscal year… So you start to see a return to normality in October 2021 (the start of the 2022 fiscal year).
I hope Tom is right.
But I think Galaxy Edge is a counter point. Initial plans was for a land layered thick with characters. But when Chapek took over, all those plans left, the dinner show was cancelled, stunt shows were just for media days, walk around characters were reduced, and they were replaced with cast members saying “Til the Spires” and “hydrators.” Disney no longer thinks that live entertainment is much of a driver to get people in the park. They were reducing live entertainment when times were good, and now they are reducing live entertainment when times are bad.
I do think some of these shows will come back. They will put something in the FOTLK theater, if for no other reason that they need a people eater and even a spinner ride costs money that they don’t want to spend. But I expect when the new FOTLK and the new Finding Nemo musical return they will be scaled back that they will barely be recognizable.
Your point is well taken, but another thing to keep in mind is that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge did not meet Disney’s internal expectations.
We’re going to Disney in May, but only because it’s a rescheduled trip that we canceled last month. We rented DVC points, so we got a credit instead of a refund. And, luckily, Disney extended the expiration date of the military-discounted Armed Forces Salute park tickets, so we’d be out the money for those, too, if we didn’t reschedule before Sept 2021.
But that’s the only reason we’re going – to keep from losing thousands of dollars already spent. We were every-year Disney vacationers, but not anymore. This will be our last trip to Disney. The cost is now way exceeding the value received and, to add insult to injury, Disney didn’t renew the military discount for 2021. That’s a huge slap in the face that won’t soon be forgotten
I believe 2021 military discounts are coming. They are usually out by now but Military Disney Tips, who is usually right on with their info, says to expect to hear about it before the end of the year.
Thank you for putting this situation into perspective. As a yearly traveler to WDW from Long Island, i am extremely saddened by these cuts. I do know, however, that this pain is temporary and in no way personal. My hope is that these wonderful performers are brought back sooner rather than later (and bigger and better than ever). I think we can all agree the best thing that could come out of this would be for Disney to realize how important the entertainment is to the “Magic “and use this time to plan to improve and expand these offerings in the future.
My daughter was almost 4 and we were waiting to eat at Brown Derby when the First Order was marching by and she wanted to go hit and kick the bad guys because she didn’t want them around. It will be weird without all the shows and performers.
I feel for the cast members who have been laid off and hope that if nothing else, they get priority when the parks start hiring again.
We were in the Star Wars museum area when a Storm Trooper took a particular interest in my 10 year-old son. He followed us around a bit, asked for my son’s license to fly, and when he could not produce it, called some others over to figure out what to do. They ended up having one of the characters make a decision on his fate. I was awesome, and made the highlight of our entire trip! He is now 16 and still talks about it.
It is both understandable and so incredibly sad. This also lets us know that the people eater shows are not going to be coming back any time soon to ease some of the attraction queues as more visitors return especially at DHS and AK. Hoping and praying that recovery will come swifter and more completely than we can imagine.
That’s horrible news. The entertainment is really what sets Disney apart. When we took our daughter the first time at age 2.5 we walked into the MK right as the caste stage show was starting. Seeing my daughter’s face as all the characters, fur and face, performed on stage and watching her wave at the dancers in the MSEP – this is what started us on the path of the many trips we’ve made since then, not just riding Haunted Mansion. When my daughter was 6 or 7, we were going to WDW and her two requests were to meet Anna/Elsa and “go to that show where we eat” (HDDR). Again, these are the things that stood out over the rides.
One of my favorite memories is getting to participate in a magic trick with Jack Diamond at DHS. That was certainly better than just walking down Sunset Blvd. I could go on and one, and I’m sure every guest has memories like these. Btu these people are what makes Disney special. We live close to 2 Cedar Fair parks and they have world-class rides. We go and have fun there, but it doesn’t have the emotional connection that the live performers bring.
It is very sad. We loved all the Disney productions when visiting. And I am disappointed that Disney continues to charge families the same rates for less entertainment, less restaurant options, and even worse shorter park hours. After receiving the coupon for hotels thu June, I was shocked at the prices. Didn’t really feel like a discount at all. Not enough at least for me to be interested in visiting during a pandemic.
Your first memory is the exact same one we have with our daughter. I will never forget seeing the joy on her face when she realized that Mickey and Minnie were more than just on TV. Watching the show in front of the castle it one of my favorite things to do just because of that memory.
We are going at Christmas this year, but only because it’s probably the only year when MK won’t be at 100% capacity, though I know it will feel like it. We also won’t be able to go back for a few years now instead of every year. We were really hoping a show or two would be back to help absorb some of the crowds. I really feel for all of those cast members though, I was with one of my closest friends when she got her email letting her go and it is just heartbreaking.