Disney to Lay Off 360 at Florida Park; Cuts Expected in Anaheim

Still reeling from theme park losses in Europe, the Walt Disney Co. Friday said that it will dismiss 360 employees from its Walt Disney World resort in Florida. An unspecified number of job losses also are anticipated at Disneyland.

“Expect reductions at Disneyland,” Judson C. Green, president of Disney’s theme park division, told a group of park managers at a Jan. 27 meeting. He said the cuts will be “relatively minor in the big picture” but that slimmer operations have been “part of doing business in the ‘90s.”

A Disneyland spokesman said there were no layoffs on Friday at the Anaheim attraction, which has 6,000 employees in the winter and up to 9,000 workers during the peak summer season.

Company sources say the theme park has been suffering lately from weak attendance compared to past years, as evidenced by how the park is keeping a reduced admission price of $22 for Southern California residents in place through June 30.

At the managers meeting, Green and Disneyland Executive Vice President Norm Doerges painted a rosier picture. They said that group sales have increased and that park attendance appears to be rebounding.

Times have changed because of increased competition, however, and Disneyland must work harder to lure patrons, said Green, adding that the cutbacks will affect the entire corporation.

The 360 workers to be cut at Walt Disney World represent 1% of the work force of 36,000. Spokeswoman Jane Adams said the cuts were part of a larger restructuring aimed at boosting financial growth.

The company has been under pressure to perform because of the failure of the Euro Disneyland theme park outside Paris, of which the corporation owns about half. The park lost more than $900 million last fiscal year.

In another development at its resort outside Orlando, Disney said it is dropping Michael Jackson’s 3-D “Captain Eo” movie at Epcot Center. “Captain Eo” will be replaced this fall at Epcot by “Honey I Shrunk the Audience” but will continue at Disneyland and at the Disney park in Tokyo.

Officials said the decision had nothing to do with claims that the performer sexually molested a teen-age boy. “We have to keep offering something new,” said David Herbst, a Disney spokesman.

In Anaheim, a Disneyland spokesman said that the Jackson movie will continue to play in Tomorrowland. It could be replaced next year, but the change would also be to simply bring the audience something new--not because of the singer’s legal troubles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.