“We keep going back and forth. It’s such a hard
decision to make,” Barker said.
Two weeks after Disney World started opening
its theme parks for the first time since closing in
March because of COVID-19, the Barkers’ quandary
affects not only Disney World’s future but that of
central Florida’s tourism-reliant economy.
More than 75 million visitors came to Orlando
in 2018, mostly due to its reputation as a theme
park mecca, which also includes Universal
Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando. But the
coronavirus has upended Orlando’s status as the
most visited place in the U.S.
In the week that Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
and Animal Kingdom started welcoming
back visitors, occupancy of hotel rooms in the
Orlando area was down more than 60% from
the previous year, a much deeper drop than the
state as a whole, which declined more than 41%,
according to STR, which tracks hotel data.
Less than half of Disney World’s 43,000
unionized workers have been recalled to
their old jobs, contributing to two Orlando-
area counties having the state’s highest
unemployment rates last month — Osceola at
22.9% and Orange at 17.2%. Disney World has
an overall workforce of 77,000 employees, the
nation’s largest single-site labor force.
Many of those still-furloughed workers are about
to lose federal benefits at the end of the month.
“This is an extremely difficult moment,” said Paul
Cox, president of the local union that represents
stagehands and show technicians at Disney
World. “There are still a majority of workers who
are staying at home and they’re about to lose
support. Things are going to get bad.”