Disney CEO Says Parks Are "Working On" Bringing Back Shows

Last year, The Walt Disney Company had to make the difficult decision to layoff thousands of Cast Members, including a wave of layoffs across the entertainment division at the Disney Parks, news that hit home for so many fans and employees.

The entertainment division of the theme Walt Disney World Resort theme parks was one of those who were hit the hardest in the wave of email notices in Fall 2020. Many performers announced they were let go from a variety of shows including the Citizens of Main Street at Magic Kingdom, the Citizens of Hollywood at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor at Magic Kingdom, The Festival of The Lion King and Finding Nemo The Musical, both at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness Campground, the Move It! Shake It! MousekeDance It! Street Party and Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire, both at Magic Kingdom, and more.

Not long after this news hit, Disney Parks released a statement explaining that “since reopening, we’ve continued to offer modified character experiences and entertainment throughout our resort, while also taking the appropriate steps for the health and safety of our guests and cast members.”

Additionally, they explained, “Recently, we’ve had to make some difficult decisions to reduce our workforce as the business impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic have become more long-lasting than anyone could have predicted. As a result, we’ve had to pause many live shows and entertainment experiences at our resort for longer than originally anticipated.”

The good news is that Disney did confirm they would be bringing these entertainment offerings back whenever they can, saying, “Determining which shows can return and when is a complex process. As with the rest of our phased reopening, we will also consider the guidance of health officials and government agencies in determining when the time will be right to adjust capacity, and as soon as it is appropriate, we will start to bring additional entertainment back.”

Chapek Speaks Out on Entertainment at Disney World

During today’s Walt Disney Company’s Shareholders meeting, Disney CEO Bob Chapek was asked if he had an update on the entertainment offerings at Walt Disney World.

Chapek explained:

“You know one of the drawbacks of obviously of the pandemic in terms of our limited reopening is that the number of actual shows that we can have are greatly diminished because of social distancing and we’re still trying to figure out exactly as we scale back up our operations at our park our enterainemt how those will look going forward in the future because right now we’re obviously trying to limit contact with Guests and with each other but we’re working on it, we’re trying to figure that out.”

Walt Disney World — The Most Magical Place on Earth — offers so many unique activities, keeping Guests coming back to visit time and time again. Most recently, Guests received great news surrounding the popular show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom — The Festival of The Lion King!