Disney Experiences cuts 100 to 200 jobs, with most layoffs at Imagineering
The cuts are concentrated at Disney鈥檚 Glendale Imagineering campus, according to Deadline, as the company reviews work across its parks, resorts and cruise division.
Disney is laying off between 100 and 200 employees in its Experiences division, with most cuts at its Imagineering campus in Glendale, California, Deadline reported during the Oct. 28 round of layoffs. The division runs Disney鈥檚 theme parks, resorts and cruise lines, putting the reductions in the part of the company that operates its visitor businesses.
Deadline attributed the estimate to its own confirmation of the cuts. It did not give a final number of affected workers. WDWMAGIC said employees were due to be notified by the end of Wednesday, Oct. 28, citing an account by the Los Angeles Times for the division-wide layoffs.
Why Imagineering is affected
A person familiar with the decision described the moves to Deadline as mostly project-based, saying the division regularly adjusts priorities and schedules across multiple projects. WDWMAGIC separately said its own sources identified cuts among Imagineering teams working on Shanghai. Neither account establishes that a particular project has been cancelled or delayed.
The reductions follow a voluntary early-retirement offer for Disney employees at director level or above who were at least 50 years old and had worked for the company for at least 10 years, according to Deadline. The outlet described such offers as a typical precursor to involuntary cuts; it did not say how many employees accepted this one.
Cuts despite rising Experiences profit
The layoffs come after a strong quarter for Disney Experiences. Deadline reported that the division鈥檚 profit rose 20% to more than $3 billion on revenue of almost $10 billion in Disney鈥檚 most recent earnings report. Global guest numbers rose 4%, while attendance at domestic parks rose 3%. Those division-wide figures do not explain the decision to cut individual positions.
Disney had 231,000 employees at the end of fiscal 2025, including 172,000 in the United States and 59,000 elsewhere, Deadline reported. It said 16% of the workforce was part-time and another 8% seasonal, largely because of the parks and resorts businesses. The reported 100 to 200 cuts are a small share of that company-wide total, though the concentration at Imagineering makes the effect more specific for the teams involved.
The company has also made cuts elsewhere this year. Deadline reported 1,000 positions eliminated in April, several hundred more in July, mostly at Pixar and National Geographic, and a September round affecting a couple hundred technology and human-resources employees. The company has not said which Imagineering projects, if any, will change as a result of the latest cuts.
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Sources and context
- Layoffs Hit Disney ExperiencesDeadline
- Disney Layoffs Hit Walt Disney Imagineering as Parks Division Cuts Up to 200 JobsWDWMAGIC
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.