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Homele$$ne$$ Creation: Disney $tyle

Covid Contributes to the Unhappiest Place on Earth

Diane Nilan
5 min readOct 14, 2020
Gift shop near Disney World
The tired fringe attractions in the Disney World area. Photo Diane Nilan

Poor Disney is regrouping after being battered by coronavirus. The company, with assets in the area of $193 billion, recently announced a massive layoff — 28,000 workers. Bloomberg reported that Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), “…criticized Walt Disney Co. for laying off thousands of workers as a result of the pandemic, saying its spending on share buybacks and executive pay enriched bosses and investors but eroded its ability to weather a downturn.”

I’ll take it a notch further: What will happen to those who kept the parks functioning at high level for the entertainment giant? What about the even lowlier service workers who pour the coffee, wash dishes, and clean motel rooms in the shadows of Mickey’s haunts?

sign for disney area motel
One of the many Disney area motels. Photo Diane Nilan

To get in the mood to write this post, I rewatched The Florida Project the other night. Would my reaction to this strangely acclaimed movie be any better than when I saw it during opening week in New York City back in 2017? I fumed up a storm during and after that screening, lamenting the distorted depiction of families staying in motels in the shadow of Disney World.

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Diane Nilan
Diane Nilan

Written by Diane Nilan

Founder/pres. HEAR US Inc., gives voice & visibility to homeless families & youth, ran shelters, advocate, filmmaker, author, 20 yrs. on US backroads. hearus.us

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