On Tuesday, Disney Parks fans saw a day of good news with the return of free Walt Disney World Resort hotel parking, updates to Park Pass Reservations for Annual Passholders, Magic Key sales resuming, free PhotoPass benefits at both United States Disney Parks, and even the opening date of TRON Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom.
Related: Disney Dismantles Legacy of Bob Chapek in One Day, More Coming Soon?
Of course, fans were delighted! Many thanked recently-returned Disney CEO Bob Iger, though Chairman of Parks & Resorts Josh D’Amaro told The New York Times that Iger had nothing to do with the changes. “I have a lot of face-to-face conversations with Guests when I’m walking the parks, and I read a lot of their comments online,” he said.

While some speculate The Walt Disney Company aims to complete with Universal Orlando Resort’s upcoming Epic Universe and newly-announced family Theme Park in Texas, Disney Cast Members suggest there’s something more nefarious behind the positive announcements.
This Monday, Iger revealed that hybrid Disney employees would be required to come into the office four days a week. This move was incredibly unpopular among Cast Members, who called the Disney CEO an out-of-touch “old white man.”

On the same day, a Union advised Disney Cast Members to reject a proposed $1.00 per hour raise offered by The Walt Disney Company. This comes after months of unsuccessful negotiations.
“Great guest experience changes by Iger and Josh. But that’s to cover up the absolute cluster that is the non in park CMs of the company that was released yesterday,” Disney Cast Member and Reddit user u/Mylifeforhire89 alleged. “From the good chunk of non parks CMs I know, a lot of people are in disarray to the return to office. A lot of people got pushed out of DLR and took jobs in LA and worked with it due to the 2-3 days in office. Now that he’s forcing 4 there’s a lot of cast members who now have to weigh a 1-1.5 hour drive 1 way to work because their roles were eliminated at DLR during Covid and there is a hiring freeze (or LA people who had their roles moved to Florida and now need to drive to Orange County everyday).”

u/SimmonsReqNDA4Sex called Iger a “rich old dude” who doesn’t understand what the modern workforce needs:
Bob is better than old bob but this is such an out of touch move. Real estate is so expensive. Spend the money on good software and managers who know which remote workers are doing well.
Disney is such a data driven company that it is insane that they are doing this. I imagine companies just do not understand that their employees in office are actually only doing what they can menially manage in a day and still slack off on the clock.
Are all these rich old dudes just invested in commercial real estate that can never go down in price? I think we are going to see younger CEOs and hiring managers wipe the floor on profits with stubborn companies who need to justify their real estate costs. If people work from home they are literally giving companies an office for free!

“Not to mention the unions for in-park CM’s just released a statement telling members not to approve the new deal offered by Disney,” u/TexasFordThough added.
Do you think the positive Disney Park announcements were made to distract the public from disarray in The Walt Disney Company?
The opinions reflected in this article are those of individual Disney Cast Members. They do not necessarily reflect Inside the Magic’s views on The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney World Resort, and Disneyland Resort operations.