Orange County

Disney World officially notifies more than 11,300 employees that they’ll be laid off this year

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Walt Disney World filed paper work with the state on Thursday confirming that 11,350 of its union employees will be laid off at the end of the year.

Theme park officials said these part-time employees are part of the 28,000 total layoffs split between Florida and California that the company announced last month.

Most of those employees – 10,903 of them – are workers within the Walt Disney World theme parks. The remaining are employees at other Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. locations.

READ: More than 700 performers lose their jobs in latest round of Walt Disney World layoffs, union says

On Thursday, the company also filed paperwork to lay off 52 union and non-union employees of the Magic Kingdom.

Union leaders previously stated that those being laid off would be notified officially by Nov. 1, so these notices appear to make that official with the state in time for that deadline.

A Walt Disney World spokesperson said the layoffs were decided and notices filed as part of an ongoing process.

READ: ‘The only feasible option’: Disney Parks to lay off 28K workers in Florida, California

Earlier this week, The Actors' Equity Association, the national labor union representing professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, released a statement discussing the news that 720 out of its 780 members at Walt Disney World lost their jobs.

Stay tuned to Channel 9 Eyewitness News for updates.


Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.