By TJ Muscaro
March 20, 2020
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But while Disniacs all over the world are sad because they’ve temporarily lost their happy place, tens of thousands of people have been without a large source–if not the primary source–of their daily income. And Disneyland is doing its part to make it right! Over the 18 days of park closure, the Disneyland Resort will pay its cast members over $59 million.
According to a study done by Cal State Fullerton, the Disneyland Resort was responsible for 78,000 SoCal jobs in 2018. That includes over 30,000 Cast Members, 3,000-plus third-party on-site employees, and 45,000 off-site and indirect jobs benefit from Disneyland resort visitor spending.
However, Disneyland is only be paying its Cast Members during the park closure which at the time of this article is still set for only 18 days. But keeping ~31,000 men and women on the payroll is still costing Disneyland more than $59 million; that’s more than $3 million a day over the course of 18 days.
According to the OC Register,
The Cal State Fullerton study found that the average Disneyland salary in 2018 was just under $40,000 a year — or just over $19 per hour. That means the average cast member will be paid just under $2,000 during the closure, based on the study data.
But that average is most likely higher now since Disneyland Union employees–which make up one-third of Disneyland’s workforce–agreed on a $15/hour minimum wage in 2019. The Cal State study does not go into specifics regarding Union/Non-Union and Full-Time/Part-Time Cast Members.