Disney is again going on layoffs. Between 100 and 200 people were laid off in Disney Experiences. The division covers parks, resorts and cruise lines. Most of the pink slips landed at the Imagineering campus in Glendale.
The organisation has not published a list of roles. Based on public posts, it appears Walt Disney Imagineering was hit. Imagineering is the team that designs the company’s parks and attractions.
Some of the people let go are speaking up online. One is Michael Crawford, a Story Lead at Walt Disney Imagineering.
One outlet reported that the cuts reach beyond Glendale. Laughing Place said domestic Imagineers in Orlando and Glendale were also impacted.
The Shanghai and Abu Dhabi question
Some reports point to specific projects. They claim the lay Disney Resort and the upcoming Abu Dhabi theme park. Disney has not confirmed this.
One report said a second Shanghai gate has been expected for some time, but recent rumours suggest those plans may have stalled. Treat that as unconfirmed.
Disney’s explanation
Disney has not issued a detailed public statement. Abased, because the division must constantly reprioritise around the workflows of many projects
Another outlet reported that the layoffs follow a reevaluation of priorities within Disney Parks. That covers investment and timelines for planned projects.
Staffing at Imagineering has long moved with project schedules. Teams grow when a big build starts. They shrink when work wraps or gets pushed back.
These cuts did not come out of nowhere. Wednesday’s layoffs follow a voluntary early retirement offer. Deadline notes that such an offer is typically a precursor to involuntary staff reductions.
That is a common pattern in big companies. The voluntary route comes first. Forced exits follow if the numbers fall short.
Layoffs have become routine at Disney in 2026. One outlet noted that a new batch seems to land near the end of every month.
– April: A report said Disney planned to cut up to 1,000 positions, mostly in its newly consolidated marketing department. That report listed no cuts for Experiences. CEO Josh D’Amaro confirmed layoffs in an April 14 memo without naming the divisions.
– Spring and summer: Disney also cut jobs in human rear, Marvel and National Geographic
– September: A round of layoffs hit a couple hundred employees in tech and HR.
– October 28: The Experiences cuts.
The memo that signaled more to come
Talk of more layoffs had been building for weeks. It has percolated internally since a September 18 memo from Horacio Gutierrez, the Chief Legal and Global Affairs Officer.
Gutierrez warned his staff of hard choices. He wrote about “staffing investments” and said the division would become a much smaller organization. He also described a transformation process that includes automating certain workflows with the latest technologies.
That memo covered legal and global affairs, not parks. Still, it showed the direction at the top of the company.
Why Experiences matters
Experiences has mostly stayed out of the cuts until now. It is Disney’s most profitable division, and it generated $36.2 billion in revenue last year.
It is also the biggest employer. The Wall Street Journal reported that Disney had 231,000 employees at the end of fiscal 2025. About 80% of them work in Experiences.
So the numbers need context. A cut of 100 to 200 people is small next to that workforce. The symbolism is bigger. This is the first time the layoffs reached the division that runs the parks.
The CEO’s own turf
There is an irony here. The theme parks are the area D’Amaro ran before he became CEO. He is a company veteran. He succeeded Bob Iger as chief executive earlier this year.
Early on, D’Amaro stressed collaboration and a “one Disney” approach. The cuts have come alongside that message. The wave began with a push to merge the company’s marketing operations.
Disney has been through this before. The company cut around 8,000 jobs soon after Iger returned as CEO in 2022.
Imagineering is not slowing down
The timing looks odd on paper. Imagineering has a full slate of work. Laughing Place noted it is busy with the DisneylandForward expansion in Anaheim, a planned park in Abu Dhabi and new cruise ships.
D’Amaro was out with the teams this month. He toured Monstropolis, Tropical Americas and Lakeshore Lodge with Imagineering crews in October.
Fans will ask whether the cuts could slow any of that. Disney has not said so. A project-based reshuffle could just move people between jobs. Or it could push some timelines back. For now, nobody outside the company knows.
A bit of Imagineering history
Imagineering is not a typical corporate department. Walt Disney Imagineering is headquartered in Glendale, California. It was founded on December 16, 1952. The group has designed the company’s parks for more than 70 years.
Reports in 2021 said Disney planned to move many Imagineering jobs to a new campus in Lake Nona, Florida. Positions tied to Disneyland and certain international parks were exempt. That is part of why Glendale taking the brunt of this round stands out.
More changes look likely. Deadline says Disney Entertainment Television is expected to undergo a major restructuring under its new head, Debra O’Connell.
Other studios are cutting too. Paramount Skydance has shed 2,000 jobs since it was taken over. Its owner has acknowledged more layoffs would follow a planned merger with Warner Bros.
For Disney workers, the message is hard to miss. No division is fully safe. Even the company’s most profitable one has now made cuts.
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