We Went to Disney World to Investigate Why Workers Are Revolting 

I'm a Disneyland worker. I've had to choose between lunch or gas money to come in to work the next day. There have been times where I couldn't afford McDonald's because their 1$ menu is gone but Taco Bell still has theirs so i paid $1.08 for a taco. Meanwhile, the Mickey and Friends parking structure doesn't belong to Disney, it belongs to the city of Anaheim. Disney rents it for $1 a year. I pay more for a pack of gum. I paid more for my taco than Disney does for the parking structure. Every guest pays $30 to Disney for parking and it doesn't even belong to them. It belongs to the tax payers of Anaheim. The corporate greed breaks my heart. I'm glad city of Anaheim is under FBI investigation for corruption. Solidarity with brothers and sisters in Florida. We all deserve better than this.

Disney has been ranked as one of the worst companies to work for for decades.

Let's remember this isn't just a disney problem, this is what happens in our capitalist society where profit is put above all else. Until we change the system so companies are actually incentivized to care about their workers, it'll be a constant battle to change this.

I just don't understand how corporations expect to deliver a quality product with abused workers

I worked at busch gardens for a year. At the employee cafeteria, we always had a $2 meal for employees to eat at all hours of operation. It seems silly not to have that at a place like Disneyworld.

EVERY Disney Park employee needs to go on strike even just for ONE day and ruin the vacations of the people who go so that sends a message to these greedy corporations

Unions are the only way. Why live in a country if you don't want people to vote when the whole place is based off voting once you get too big.

I will wait till Disney gives employees their well-deserved earned raises before I think about taking my family to Disney World and spending $5,000 to give to corporate executives

Just visited a Disney park in December and I can say that it is magical because of their magical cast members. They are everything. Pay them.

The shareholders are greedy. The upper management is greedy. Everyone wants more. Pretty soon "The happiest place on earth" won't be able to hire people who are willing to work for pitiful wages. They can not operate without you. They've tried it before and it becomes very clear to the "guests" that there isn't enough staff and they don't like it. Keep on rejecting their greedy offers until you get a living wage. They can afford it!

Wow so sad , i never knew 😱😱😭 A friend who had a lawn care business , made sure his people ate and had clean work clothes, and paid them , at his funeral , ALL his employees came , and cried 😭

They have 77,000 employees. If they raise each employee's hourly wage by $5, they would have to pay an extra $770 M. They made 82.7B in 2022, they can surely pay $3.08 B per year for all those employees. Especially if their CEOs are getting paid 30M per year. (With bonus).

Current cast member here! Just got hired for pt to get benefits of theme park access & some side money... saw universal raised pay to $17 AND SAW disney not budge on its offer... most likely will quit within a month because I see this as Disney not caring for its employees. As a Business owner, that's now how you do business.

This is not just happening at Disney alone, all those exclusive small towns from the beaches to the mountains with shops and restaurants , just about all the low level employees cannot afford to live there.

Please start adding sources in your videos’ description. Everyone (who is willing) will be able to learn more and delve deeper than what a RU-vid video is able to.

goddamn thats dark. i wish you guys the very best of luck in getting a proper raise. disney has a lot of nerve to call itself magical and keep its magicians in poverty.

It especially sucks because Disney parks have always gone above and beyond in customer service. When my sister left a customized trinket from a one-time specialized backstage tour at her hotel room, my mom called them up while soothing a crying daughter and the hotel did everything possible to make it right. When I thought I lost my custom Beauty and the Beast hand-drawn print (I didn’t, false alarm), we took comfort in knowing we could call them up and manage to get some sort of replacement. You don’t get that kind of service at any other park. And the cast members who do that deserve to be paid according to that unbelievable service they give. 😢

I had a similar situation. Low on money, but not living on my own with a supportive wage. The park I worked at, Kentucky Kingdom, got acquired by Herschend Entertainment. Yep, the Dollywood people. We were supposed to do the same as the Disney cast members. We were expected to keep up with the place. But you know, after not even getting STATE REQUIRED, 10 MINUTE BREAKS IN A FULL WORK DAY... I had enough. I stuck it out till the end of the season, and let me just say... I was hospitalized because of it. The stress of working at any large amusement/theme park is so unbelievably high these days, it's not even fun. I asked for a pay raise. I didn't get one. Several people quit. That didn't make it easier on many workers. I can say without a doubt, and for THE SAKE OF MY HEALTH... that I will not return to a working position at that place. I'll start researching unions soon.

$3/hr more is only $6k per person per year - that won't keep up with inflation or get people back into housing. At $5/hr more, that's only 10k per year more. Average 1bdrm places are $1200/month and more in Orlando. If you have kids, to rent a 2 or 3 bdrm place for around $1600+/month, you will need to make $30/hr. $5 now and $2.50 each year for the next two years would be the BARE minimum you should be asking for.

In other Disney news, they announced: cut 5.5 billion from their balance sheet, layoff 7000 employees, and then reinstate their dividend to shareholders by the end of 2023. What else does Bob Igor have in store. Good luck to the theme park employees. Hope you get the raise... From: Never owned a share...

Unionize every workplace, and unite with all fellow workers. If you work for a wage, then you're working class and need to show solidarity with every worker across the globe.

If your job does not pay the wages you are worth, quit and find another job. I am born and raised in FL and when my, then, GF got pregnant and we decided to get married, we moved the hell out of FL because the low skill job market stinks there. If you have no skills, move to a state with good factory jobs and lower housing costs. We moved to Michigan. If you still want to work for Disney one day, look at what skilled labor needs they have and gain those skills then move back to FL when you land that job. No one owes you a "living wage". What I will say is that because Disney parks puts a strain on local assistance programs, the state should impose more taxes on them to cover what costs are being occurred by Disney's labor force.

Disney, pay these hard working people. NOW !

Don't forget there's no benefits or even stocks offered to employees

Orlando rent & cost of living has increased 30% in six years?? That's insane. So much for "affordable" Florida. 🤑

$15 a hour with taxes out is crap. With all the guests and cost to visit parks. These folks should be paid a living wage and the cost should not be passed to customers. Greedy Disney!

this is a disgrace. any job that deserves to exist - deserves to be paid a living wage. and if its not worth it for the company, then they should prove it and remove those jobs and see if people still want to come to the parks without a cast-fueled atmosphere.

Damn disgusting how they expect employees to give their all, snile, and be happy for pennies. They've helped to make billions for them, then treat them like crap 😡 never been a big disney fan, and this just legitimizes it. PAY THEM a decent wage 😡

It's only going to get worse now with DeSantis taking over. Rents are going to skyrocket because they are going to have to increase property taxes in Osceola and Orange counties as the state takes over Reedy Creek. Property owners will just Jack the rents to cover the tax nut.

Certainly not the solution but it's weird to be that disney doesn't already have a little company town for its actors to stay in its not like they lack the real estate

The proud US of A has slipped off into the abyss and is only a shadow of what is once was.

The CEO never assumes risk and will always get a huge payout no matter how much they screw up.

We are krill for the Wall Street whales.

A $1.00 raise a year is kind of amazing. I worked for the State of Idaho for 8 years, the first 4 years there was a raise freeze, then a raise based on annual reviews of 1%-3%. So, if we were lucky we'd get a $0.10-$0.30 raise that year. $15/hr in Idaho won't get you anything, either, as our housing and rental prices are now coastal Florida prices.

I remember Disney was recruiting for summer jobs. The recruiter told me that after room and board and transportation, the workers owe them money after summer

I am a career artist and entertainer. I have had 30 years in the business, and I consider myself very fortunate to make a career 90% on what I'm passionate about. When I was first starting, I auditioned for Disney; they had come to Massachusetts and were having an open call. The door was slammed in my face by the people who were auditioning these potential performers, and to be honest, I am so glad that the door was shut in my face because I do know and have heard stories of people who have been screwed over by Disney, one of whom was a woman who I worked with when I used to perform at a dinner theater company who had a good deal going over at the company and gave up. All of that pulled her kids out of school because she got a lead in one of their shows, and within three months, Disney pulled the plug on the show. this woman did not have the money to come based on what she was earning. My heart goes out to these people who are enslaved people for Disney. Right now, they don't deserve to be treated like this, and I agree with everything said in this video. Sadly, this is nothing new as I said, I have 30 years in the business, and I'm 50 years old, so this is not the first time this has happened, and until something happens, like the park completely goes bankrupt, which I hate to say it would be some justice for these corporate clowns running Disney, However, until that happens, they will continue too screws over their employees.

This was extremely dark but Walt Disney was against the unions so, this doesn't surprise me and i believe the prices are about to go

I will never ever go to money-grubbing disney. They had my mom upset bc she couldn't take us 4 kids because she had been brought up to think it was some rite of passage. BS!

Heartbreaking 🥺

I worked there a short time. Never seen so many work related injuries in my life. Saw high ups get injured, demoted and excused, like my chef. Walmart had better management

Lol I remember when my mom would encourage me to apply for Disney when I was older. I was all heck no. Hey I was aware if this old adage at a early age “If you love the ocean. Then don’t join the Navy”.

You need to blame local government for creating a housing shortage and creating knock on poverty from that...

That's landlordism. The government needs to govern We need massive public housing. Congress engages in insider trading with REIT's. They are very corrupt on both sides. We also need anti nepatism laws. No amount of raises will fix this problem because of legalized bribery in congress.

Just for context; $5 p/hr is $200 a week, assuming full time, before taxes. So all the people who make all the "magic" happen are asking for is a measly $10K, in three years. The $2.1B Disney made would cover all of it for 210,000 workers. That's almost 3X the number of workers it employs (77,000 which includes the resorts, which may, but probably are not part of the same union).

I'm so sick of all the greed out there. No empathy, just greed.

Why the heck wouldn't Disney provide a daily meal voucher for their employees? So damn petty and cheap.

This is ridiculous. I've been to Disneyworld twice and the prices for everything was exorbitant. That money should be passed on the cast.

Disney should b ashamed Bottom line u guys may have to go out on strike & fight

I cant BELIEVE those 4% were willing to say yes! It should 100% NO!!!

Unionize Disney

this is so sad. i hope things get better :/

Im scratching my head a little, no one is forced to work there. If they wont pay enough then find a better job. At some point, if no one will work for Disney for the low wages then DIsney will have to pay more. Imagine if McDonalds employees all demanded a $5 an hour raise, your Happy meals would then cost $20!!

Why are they complaining? They agreed to the terms and the pay when they started

It's so sad because the most magic I ever felt at Disney World was from the castmembers.

I'm not surprised. The local amusement park near where I live is well known in the area for paying less than minimum wage - they get away with it because it's a "seasonal job" and somehow that's legal. They also employ a lot of disabled ppl whom they can pay even less because exceptions regarding "gainful employment" for disabled ppl. Well, that park was recently bought out by an international company, so that may change. The owners were forced to sell after a fatal accident and it got out that there were massive and numerous safety violations on the ride in question. Amusement parks are some of the most miserable places to work and it's usually a mere pittance in compensation.

Disney is no longer an honorable company.

Man Abigail Disney should run the Disney world 🌎 and give cast members higher rages and put the magic of the Disney family back in the company

"Disney, in essence, is the happiest place on Earth.". To quote Fred Sanford: "Well somebody LIED!"

It's NOT a company's fault for inflation etc. Why NO anger at the Politicians who PRINT money and make our dollars worth less and less. Almost $35 trillion!!!! in Debt and no one gives a crap. Insanity

Wow! I am not surprised by this. I remember (about 20 years ago) visiting Disney as a band student. I was so enchanted by working for Disney. I loved seeing behind the scenes. I thought it would be an awesome place to work. The worker that gave us a tour really did love his job. He only spoke positive of Disney and the atmosphere. I said something along the lines of “this must be a dream job I bet the pay is amazing too since Disney is a big company” he kind of chuckled and I could tell he wasn’t sure what to say. His reply was something along the lines of “I love Disney but the pay is not what it should be” he explained it’s basically an entry level type of work even though you do need skills. He said they rely on younger works or college kids because you would probably need a roommate or 2 because the pay was low. I thought it was odd but I understood what he meant. Now as an adult I see how that’s even worse than I thought as a child. I bet the reality of it is most of its workers are relying on this to be a paycheck because there aren’t a lot of “skilled” type jobs in the area. It’s more of a tourist community. What a shame.

Cast Members MAKE DISNEY MAGIC! Shame on Disney Executives for treating them so miserably. Firing Lex Luthor, and giving him millions, in order to bring back "Uncle Mike," will not hep the CM's!

Supply and demand. Disney will start paying more when there's less people knocking on their door begging for them to hire them to let them be "part of the magic".

My ex-gf used to work there. I drove her to the Anaheim park, and picked her up. I did my best to keep her happy when she worked there (by her enthusiastic, somewhat naïve choice). But whenever I picked her up from work, she was always absolutely MISERABLE. It almost always spilled over into our relationship, because her frustration and anger bled into things. After only a few months, *I* became her punching bag, lol. I did my best to get her to separate her LIFE (something that she should've appreciated) from her choice of WORK (again, her choice). That didn't work, obviously. It is what it is. If you don't recognize what the problem is and its source, you'll blame the wrong people for your miseries and end up FAR worse off.

This depresses me. This isn't only a Disney problem. This world sucks!

Disney is a place in which many of my best memories have been born. This is thanks to the cast. You should pay them better

I used to Love Disney, I used to go every year I stopped going, I won’t go again, I don’t believe I will ever go again unless the company does something about this

Disney is very expensive and for cast members to be treated like this is sad. I am not annual pass holder anymore. So now i go to Disneyland March and Oct bc when i can afford it. Smh.

I was a ex Disney worker that worked a napolini pizzeria in downtown Disney. I was always told I was a half Disney employee half (the other company). Rumors spread of the Italian BOSS touching his employees, whacking (YESS WHACKING, PHYSICALLY TOUCHING) the guy associates, I didn’t believe it. 2 months into the job, the man that it was ok to touch me too. The back of my hair stood up in react from the slapped that was laid on my back. When I complained and later quit days later, DISNEY didn’t take accountability for nothing, and they actually told me I was never a Disney employee, I was only a patina bread associate. This man had many complaints prior and the fact that it didn’t raise red flags for a FAMILY COMPANY on what’s happening on THEIR PROPERT. Yea I’m blackballed from working with Disney now. I work at KNOTTS BERRY FARM NOW. AMA (BTW a lot of the bosse’s action was excused with “he’s Italian their touchy people” BS, he later resigned a a year later. )

I lived near Disney World and my dad worked for Disney. It’s brutal.

Disney pays $18 an hour. It is not their fault that the rent in Orlando is outrageous. Universal is building affordable housing for 1000 units. They have broken ground. Disney said they were but have not broken ground. If Disney builds a affordable housing complex for their workers that would help a great deal. You have to do more with less and not blame anyone but yourself. Disney pays 100% college tuition in the aspire program. Grind and get a degree on Disney's dime. Think outside of the box. I lived in my car for 2 years. Saved the money and now run 8 online businesses. Make up your mind you deserve more and burn the boats. Make a decision to raise your standards and the path to doing it will become visible. The power of death and life is in your tongue. Proverbs 18:21

All of the cast should just walk off the job, same day, same time. It would literally cripple Disney. "Kneecap em' without firing a single shot." They'll walk with that limp for decades.

$15 an hour to work for Disney? That is absolutely nuts. I make $23 doing way less work and don't have to smile at a company that makes way less than Disney.

This is disgusting. No one should suffer like this working under that much profits. It is the same for Amazon companies. PillPack employees can’t afford housing and food.

This is disgusting. I already knew Disney was not consumer-friendly (it was a huge pain to visit Disneyland last year), but I thought they were good to their employees. I had already cancelled my first ever WDW trip in favor of going to Universal in 2025 when their new park opens. This just solidifies my decision. Is it any better at Universal??

Disney theme parks made $2.1 billion in profit last quarter. They have 77,000 employees. For LESS THAN HALF OF THEIR PROFITS from ONE QUARTER they could afford to give EVERY EMPLOYEE an additional TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS PER YEAR.

This is why I cancelled my last Disney trip. When you go there, you’re paying hundreds of dollars a day to support this.

DON'T QUIT. SABOTAGE EVERYTHING AS LONG AS YOU CAN.

"You are the magic!" No. They are the Labour force. Disney's profit doesn't just earn itself.

50% of all Disney profits should be distributed to all employees.

it'd be cool if the landlords in Florida had to answer to Disney for cutting into their profits with inflated property values. Having the working poor absorb the consequences of irresponsible short-term business decisions will ensure that these bad business practices will continue to happen.

Almost EVERYONE Walk off the Job at Once til $$ is increased (it's the Only way u can Win) YES Florida Cost of Living is Ridiculous!!

Herbie the love bug remake - living inside a Volkswagen beetle 🚗

Funny…. The British Railroad Barons , upon building railroads in Brazil, at the turn of the XIX Century, built villages so rail yard workers would have housing while under their employ. There is the village around the São Paulo’s ABC industrial belt named Paranapiacaba. Transatlantic cruisers provide housing ( there is no other choice there anyhow ) and meals to the entire staff. Not cozy cabins but accommodations. The Industrialist who brought Hershey milk chocolate created his own town in Pennsylvania, so workers could have a place while toiling on his plants. Disney is a whole self incorporated section near Orlando and Kissemee and they spare land for housing their workers ? That is lame.

Good for you guys we need to tackle the corporate greed and thinking we are disposable people. They need us more and AI can’t replace us in all fields we need livable wages and health care we can afford that keeps us healthy. This is heartbreaking. America is broken by greed of the richy richy . Stand firm like in high school we all can’t go to detention we stand strong together . Stronger together.

And Disney has all that on site hotel room space... that has to be vacant. $10 or less is about the norm in Georgia, so, I can't advise moving. I'm living off about $900 a month income.

As an artist I used to want to work at Walt Disney since I was a kid. But now that reality and age has set in I don't wanna make art for a company that treats it's workers like this. P.S. Mickey Mouse belongs in the public domain.

I always said Disney does not take care of the employees and this is my proof people say oh no, they get treated very well they don’t

Some of the trouble is Florida rent policy that allows the landlord to raise the rent as much as they like. FL needs better rent control laws which is pretty unlikely. Then there is the greedy Mouse. Mickey made a huge deal about giving cast members a raise after the trump tax cut of 2017. A few months later, they raised gate prices... The tax cut all went to the shareholders and C-staff.

It's sad that they're being treated this way but too often hear these people say well I love working there and why doesn't my job get better rather than like going and finding a better job. I mean it's not like the Orlando area is starving for other places to work in the hospitality industry Disney just knows that there's people that work there for the minimum amount of money that'll put up with this so they're like why should we do anything about it there's no point these perks don't actually make money anymore

How can Disney not have free meals for its cast members at least ?!

Nothing will change until desperate people find the home addresses of executives.

I ve done 3 stints with the disney company... My last stint was horrible.. and it really almost destroyed the magic for me

#boycottDisney

No wonder they are revolting

Effective June 4, 2023, we are not only increasing our starting base rate to $17 per hour, but we are increasing many of our starting rates across the business. In addition, many Team Members will receive an increase based on the new rates and their time with the company. More details about how this individually impacts Team Members will be shared in the coming weeks.

This is a corporate America problem.

USSR: work or starve USA: work and starve

Yrs ago saw Disney Exec after Isner made like ($50 MILLION) in Salary, Stocks & Bonus. Even gave him $10k for "Gym" Membership but didn't want 2Pay $15hr + give Full Time(39)hrs 🤨

Just like Disney to not appreciate those that make their world magical. $15 an hour does not go far when feeding a family.

Yikes. Talk about Tragic Kingdom.