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Credit: DisneyThere is nothing quite like walking into your Walt Disney World Resort hotel for the first time. The television welcomes you as you explore the place you’ll call home for the next few days.
Disney even offers a little extra to make that moment even more magical. You could walk into a fully decorated room, complete with balloons and a cake.
However, if you want that kind of Disney Magical welcome, you’re going to have to pay up. The balloons alone cost $45 plus a delivery fee. However, a new report may have Disney World guests rethinking their purchase of balloons.
According to a new report from Orlando Weekly, Anagram International, the Minnesota-based company Disney contracts with to produce its licensed balloons, may use prison laborers who are paid only $ 0.90 an hour. According to the report, Anagram’s contract with the Minnesota State Prison System allows the company to use labor at certain correctional facilities to “fold, add ribbons to, and package their balloons,” which allegedly includes Disney-related balloons.
Dontania “Nina” Petrie served three years in Minnesota’s Shakopee Women’s Prison, said she was paid $.50 an hour to fold 300 to 500 Anagram Balloons per hour, including many with Disney characters.
“One of the tasks that I did was folding balloons with Disney characters on them,” Petrie said. “I remember that some of them had characters from Frozen and the fork from Toy Story 4 – I remember because my other daughter really loved Frozen, so it stuck with me.”
Disney did not respond to Orlando Weekly’s request for a comment. However, Disney has set a standard for its international suppliers that prohibits the use of forced labor, including prison labor. The balloons may not have gone to Disney World, as Amazon, Party City, and other retailers sell similar balloons.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, incarcerated workers aren’t entitled to a minimum wage, and they are neither considered employees of the company nor entitled to the rights that other workers receive.
Central Florida Jobs with Justice confirmed that it delivered a report to Disney detailing Anagram’s alleged use of Minnesota prisoners to create Disney’s balloons. The groups also requested a meeting with Disney to discuss the matter and are still waiting for a response.
If this story is true, it certainly clouds that Magical Disney moment, knowing that people in Minnesota’s prisons made the balloons.
What do you think of the accusation that people in Minnesota’s prisons may have made some of Disney’s balloons? Let us know in the comments.