Budget cuts at Walt Disney World

[rteetz]

California is close to passing a $15 minimum wage bill. How will this impact Disneyland? Do Disney employees in California earn more than minimum wage? Will this cause budget cuts similar to WDW?

I don't believe Disneyland employees earn more than $15 as a starting wage I want to say it's closer to $10. I don't know if it will impact Disneyland much if at all. I'm sure Disney has been aware of this for some time. Also Disneyland is already seeing cuts so it's not just WDW.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

California is close to passing a $15 minimum wage bill. How will this impact Disneyland? Do Disney employees in California earn more than minimum wage? Will this cause budget cuts similar to WDW?

As far as I could tell with a quick search CA minimum wage is at $10.00 with FL at $8.05; Federal minimum wage is $7.25 so unless an employee falls under either the Federal or State exemptions for minimum wage then in CA they make at least $10.00 an hour.

I'm not sure though the impact it would be for employees and Disney as a whole at DLR if the wage was increased to $15 which is a pretty substantial increase in pay. It's pretty hard for us to even know how much money the current budget cuts at both WDW and DLR have amounted to (though if someone has any idea that would be cool to know).

 

[cmash95]

it would be devistating to most of the state. all prices would increase dramatically and jobs will be cut to bare bones minimum add to those costs, obamacare and you have a real mess. Actually if you look at the california economy they are more socialist than any other state in the country and they are losing jobs and people daily. even the once huge movie and tv industry is leaving the state for more lucrative deals. thats why you have more shooting in canada and NYC and atlanta and growing every day. California unfortuanately doesnn't learn from past mistakes and this will make it all the more worse

 

[Eoghann]

As someone from Europe originally... the notion that California is remotely socialist is beyond laughable.

But... politics, so lets move on swiftly.

 

[zaccaglin]

When I left my residency of California behind in late 2012 I was making 8.40 at a local big box store when the state minimum wage was 8.00. Have heard of the new wage being 10.00. A 10$hr wage in CA wouldn't be much to the CM itself and would make sense seeing as the state income takes are through the roof and the cost of living is so high. I pay a fifth for rent here in fl than I did in ca for a nicer place and right on a lake. If Disney was really worried about the rate increase they would have really cut back cast members and efficiency positions.

 

[circus4u]

CNN: California has become the first state in the nation to approve a statewide $15 minimum wage.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/31/pf/california-minimum-wage/index.html

 

[zaccaglin]

CNN: California has become the first state in the nation to approve a statewide $15 minimum wage.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/31/pf/california-minimum-wage/index.html

Not till 2022. By then the taxes will continue to rise and you'll need more than 15$ to stay afloat. Each year I remained in CA the cast of living just kept getting worse and worse. Sales tax at 8% and over 300$ for my yearly vehicle registration not including emissions. Disney will just raise the park prices to adjust, cut labor where possible and pay. That's it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not till 2022. By then the taxes will continue to rise and you'll need more than 15$ to stay afloat. Each year I remained in CA the cast of living just kept getting worse and worse. Sales tax at 8% and over 300$ for my yearly vehicle registration not including emissions. Disney will just raise the park prices to adjust, cut labor where possible and pay. That's it.

With all due respect I don't think it's as cut and dry as higher minimum wage=ticket increase, cut labor and reduced pay for some. In a business decision such as budgetary cuts it is usually not JUST one thing that leads to it. COULD this have an effect on how DLR operates? Yes. Would it be the ONLY reason for more budget cuts than it already has at DLR? Unlikely.

As for other factors you mentioned it should be noted that CA is really a different world when it comes to how laws and regulations as well as taxes and insurances and so many other things are done there in comparison to the rest of the country though I'm not really going to go down the political route here on the DIS.

 

[MouseOfCards]

As far as I could tell with a quick search CA minimum wage is at $10.00 with FL at $8.05; Federal minimum wage is $7.25 so unless an employee falls under either the Federal or State exemptions for minimum wage then in CA they make at least $10.00 an hour.

I'm not sure though the impact it would be for employees and Disney as a whole at DLR if the wage was increased to $15 which is a pretty substantial increase in pay. It's pretty hard for us to even know how much money the current budget cuts at both WDW and DLR have amounted to (though if someone has any idea that would be cool to know).

Could the increasing CA minimum wage also impact WDW and cause additional budget cuts there as well? Or are the 2 Disney locations totally independent of each other?

 

[Eoghann]

Could the increasing CA minimum wage also impact WDW and cause additional budget cuts there as well? Or are the 2 Disney locations totally independent of each other?

They are not totally independent no. However, the easiest way to mitigate a wage increase is to cut the hours of the people who receive that wage increase. I would expect the initial effects would only be felt at Disneyland. Keep in mind however that this is just the first reaction in what is becoming a national discussion on minimum wage vs. "living wage". It may well not just end with California.

I'm trying to steer clear of the discussion of whether a higher minimum wage is a good thing or not, I have a pretty strong opinion on the subject and it's not that hard to guess, but it's also outside the bounds of this forum.

 

[mom2rtk]

Could the increasing CA minimum wage also impact WDW and cause additional budget cuts there as well? Or are the 2 Disney locations totally independent of each other?

Maybe by then Shanghai can pay the states back with some cuts of their own.........

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Could the increasing CA minimum wage also impact WDW and cause additional budget cuts there as well? Or are the 2 Disney locations totally independent of each other?

They are both under the Disney Parks umbrella so to me if they felt they needed to adjust things at one or more parks to account for another then that's what they'll do....Shanghai mostly but also Disneyland Paris some (at least from what I've heard) are the main reasons for the budget cuts currently at WDW and DLR.

That being said since this is a state-specific ruling it would seem logical for Disney (ok I kinda have to laugh at using the term logical and Disney in the same sentence lol) to adjust DLR parks first...but as I mentioned before I personally do not believe a decision such as higher minimum wage would be the sole reason for any more budgetary cuts in general nor do I believe it means an automatic budget cut to account for it (sure I could see Disney's PR stating that was the reason but we all know how PR can spin things how they want to) and as rteez mentioned this is something Disney likely has known about already.

 

[manning]

it would be devistating to most of the state. all prices would increase dramatically and jobs will be cut to bare bones minimum add to those costs, obamacare and you have a real mess. Actually if you look at the california economy they are more socialist than any other state in the country and they are losing jobs and people daily. even the once huge movie and tv industry is leaving the state for more lucrative deals. thats why you have more shooting in canada and NYC and atlanta and growing every day. California unfortuanately doesnn't learn from past mistakes and this will make it all the more worse

Illinois hasn't learned either.

 

[Laz]

Illinois hasn't learned either.

 

[MouseOfCards]

Clever and funny!

 

[rteetz]

Looks like the budget was cut on the toy story portion of DHS work. We can't tell if the same happened to Star Wars though. I would hope not.

 

[mom2rtk]

Looks like the budget was cut on the toy story portion of DHS work. We can't tell if the same happened to Star Wars though. I would hope not.

LOL, I shocked.

OK, maybe I'm not.

 

[rteetz]

The bathrooms from TSL were cut. The slinky dog coaster was significantly changed. No more big lift hill, two launches instead of one, trenches with theming gone. Phase 3 is not looking good based on this. You can never have much faith in Disney unfortunately.

 

[Eoghann]

The bathrooms from TSL were cut. The slinky dog coaster was significantly changed. No more big lift hill, two launches instead of one, trenches with theming gone. Phase 3 is not looking good based on this. You can never have much faith in Disney unfortunately.

Uggh, if true that sounds like a major downgrade for the coaster. I'm not a coaster person but that was the central attraction of the whole land...

 

[Planogirl]

The bathrooms from TSL were cut. The slinky dog coaster was significantly changed. No more big lift hill, two launches instead of one, trenches with theming gone. Phase 3 is not looking good based on this. You can never have much faith in Disney unfortunately.

The bathrooms were cut? That one surprises me the most.