On top of Disney’s battle with DeSantis over the Reedy Creek District (now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District), Disney has been in the news for its large amount of layoffs.
Spaceship Earth in EPCOT
In 2022, former Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced a hiring freeze and when Bob Iger took over as CEO in November, he confirmed that this planned hiring freeze would still happen. Recently, though, Disney has started its first wave of layoffs from the company including some executives. Now, though, we have an update on the future of jobs at Disney World.
On April 3rd, Disney held its Annual Shareholder meeting where people can ask Bob Iger questions and Disney has the opportunity to share news about upcoming projects.
©Disney
When asked a question about what steps Disney is taking to protect shareholder value regarding the Reedy Creek and DeSantis legal battle (which you can read all about here), Iger revealed Disney World’s plans to grow over the next 10 years. Iger said, “We’re currently planning now to invest over $17 billion in Walt Disney World over the next 10 years.” He explained that these investments
©Disney
So just how will this impact the parks? Well, no exact plans were shared by Iger, but Disney has hinted at some growth we could see in the theme parks in the future.
At the D23 Expo in September 2022, Disney announced some Blue Sky Projects that the company was working on. “Blue Sky” means that Imagineers are brainstorming around an inspiration, but it does not mean a project will 100% happen.
D23 Expo
Disney gave the audience a look at the possibilities that lie beyond Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom. This included a look at some concept art for Coco, Encanto, and Disney villain-themed lands. We did a deep dive into this concept art to see what these lands could look like if they come to fruition.
Possible Land Expansion in Magic Kingdom
Some new lands were teased in Disney’s Animal Kingdom as well for the space where DinoLand U.S.A. currently is. DinoLand is currently home to two attractions, however, snack stands and the ride Primeval Whirl have been removed from the land. Back in 2022, Disney teased Zootopia and Moana-themed lands for this part of the park.
Why is Disney CEO Bob Iger Obsessed With Zootopia?
None of these are confirmed — all we have to go off of right now is the concept art Disney showed at the D23 Expo. However, it’s possible that these projects could be part of the $17 billion Disney plans to invest in Disney World over the next 10 years. Adding more parks projects will create more jobs which could contribute to the estimated 13,000 Disney World will create.
Concept Art
This news comes after Disney just began its first wave of layoffs at the company. Disney announced at the Quarter 1 earnings call that it would be reducing its workforce by 7,000 jobs in order to cut $5.5 million worth of costs. Several Disney executive’s jobs have already been cut and Disney will also remove some open positions at the company.
We’ll continue to keep you updated on the latest Disney updates, so stay tuned to DFB.
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Got to hold on to the ones they have first.
Wait…didn’t they just lay off 7000 people? And now they adding twice that many back? This makes no sense.
He will later cancel them and blame DeSantis.