Orlando Becoming East Coast Headquarters for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products

[CastAStone]

Engineers and tech talent care about cost of living too.

Looking at every corporate move in history teaches us that if people valued a lower cost of living more than the inertia of their home, they would have moved already.

I will be shocked if Disney has retention above 50%. 35-40% seems more likely.

maybe that’s the point though.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Remember, the employer pays 6.2% SS and 1.45% Medicare tax.

While the employees never see this, and their employer transfers the tax(es) for them, it IS part of their compensation.

Your post should have read:

Remember, the employer TRANSFERS 6.2% SS and 1.45% Medicare tax FOR the employee

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Disney will save millions on payroll taxes. Everyone of the 2000 plus employees earn over $120,000. Even if they all earned jus $120,000. That is $240,000,000 in direct salary. How much lower is medical insurance in Florida vs California. The Unemployment taxes are lower in Florida. No matter how anyone looks at it, Disney should save at minimum $24,000,000 a year on taxes and benefits. As for the Cast members and their families, besides saving thousands in state taxes will now have free access to all 4 WDW themeparks and 2 water parks. This is a win win for the company and Cast members but the best part is they will ensure our themeparks are expanded and maintained. So those of us who love WDW will also be big winners.

It’s really cute that you think the line of BS for politics actually holds…

especially the “medical savings”

yep…cheap medical in Florida….

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

As more of a Disneylander, I gotta admit this makes me a little sad. WDW was always the bigger more spectacular resort, but DL would generally be compensated with the very best new attraction ideas & tech. I suspect that will happen less, especially after the recent CA political strife.

The way things are going... the less they mess with Disneyland the better. I’m hoping they go through with that expansion so all the new ideas can go there.

Disney has gotten very stiff blowback from California, Orange County and Anaheim in increasing doses.

i see a move like this as partial blowback meant to highlight that. They just don’t call the shots and they have gotten so big they have no ability to step back and evaluate it realistically.

now they don’t get the same love in Florida as they once did either…but that area is moving more towards “business puppet” than its even known for…so I can see that being a small factor as well.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Looking at every corporate move in history teaches us that if people valued a lower cost of living more than the inertia of their home, they would have moved already.

I will be shocked if Disney has retention above 50%. 35-40% seems more likely.

maybe that’s the point though.

Yeah the *particular individuals* who are already in California are there because they want a California lifestyle. My point isn't about Person A being willing to move from California to Florida, I'm talking about new Person B who might be equally as talented as Person A and never would have considered taking his family to the West Coast.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Yeah the *particular individuals* who are already in California are there because they want a California lifestyle. My point isn't about Person A being willing to move from California to Florida, I'm talking about new Person B who might be equally as talented as Person A and never would have considered taking his family to the West Coast.

Fair point…

just like some wouldn’t be caught dead near Boston or New York…or get buried in the Deep South

 

[eliza61nyc]

Fair point…

just like some wouldn’t be caught dead near Boston or New York…or get buried in the Deep South

Sorry for laughing, this just conjured up funny memories of the freaky deaky meltdown the old guy had when we had to relocate from Manhattan to the "boondocks" (as he called it) southern NJ. Yesh,

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Fair point…

just like some wouldn’t be caught dead near Boston or New York…or get buried in the Deep South

Exactly. Putting my own perspective on the situation and where Disney has significant operations... I would gladly live near Bristol, Connecticut. I miiiiight be willing to live and work in Florida again, but probably not. I would never, in a million years, move to New York or California.

 

[James Norrie]

Exactly. Putting my own perspective on the situation and where Disney has significant operations... I would gladly live near Bristol, Connecticut. I miiiiight be willing to live and work in Florida again, but probably not. I would never, in a million years, move to New York or California.

Eh. Bristol is not all that great, and our Cost of Living here in CT is trying to rival that of New York and California. Florida would be my choice no question

 

[seascape]

Looking at every corporate move in history teaches us that if people valued a lower cost of living more than the inertia of their home, they would have moved already.

I will be shocked if Disney has retention above 50%. 35-40% seems more likely.

maybe that’s the point though.

Disney will have a better retention rate than most believe because of the jobs involved. Orlando is the themepark capital of the world. Florida is home of Disney Cruise Line and DVC. Having direct access to everything in the Division leads to better knowledge of the Division and more promotional opportunities. Besides much of the work in Immagineering requires travel all over the world working on the various parks and that will only increase as more Disney parks are built.

 

[WannaGoNow]

From your quoted article, "Researchers from a consortium of universities – including the Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell and Stanford..." Certainly "researchers" from these moderate institutions produced an unbiased report.

The study was to look at pandemic’s effect on migration patterns and subsequent tax impact. There’s no incentive for the study to lean one way or another. Either people are leaving and there is an effect or people aren’t leaving and there isn’t.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Eh. Bristol is not all that great, and our Cost of Living here in CT is trying to rival that of New York and California. Florida would be my choice no question

The Hartford suburbs/exurbs of Burlington/Farmington/Canton/Avon/West Hartford are expensive, but not like Fairfield County and absolutely nowhere near New York (City) or (Southern) California. And you're going to get VASTLY better public schools in those towns than anything within 200 miles of Orlando.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Sorry for laughing, this just conjured up funny memories of the freaky deaky meltdown the old guy had when we had to relocate from Manhattan to the "boondocks" (as he called it) southern NJ. Yesh,

Nyc is another planet to everyone but New Yorkers

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The Hartford suburbs/exurbs of Burlington/Farmington/Canton/Avon/West Hartford are expensive, but not like Fairfield County and absolutely nowhere near New York (City) or (Southern) California. And you're going to get VASTLY better public schools in those towns than anything within 200 miles of Orlando.

…and you can be a Sawx fan

 

[WannaGoNow]

Engineers and tech talent care about cost of living too.

Why do you apparently persist in thinking that engineers and tech talent aren’t paid commiserate to the cost of living in California?
Have you seen what Apple, Google, Facebook, et al pay?! And salary isn’t the only compensation. Those RSUs are very, very, VERY tempting.

In the US, I’ve lived in New England, Dallas, and three CA cities, plus my parents are in South FL and I grew up going to my grandmother’s in North FL. Each person has their own personal likes and dislikes about where to live, and that’s fine. (And that’s without touching on the weather, the scenery, the access to culture in the major metropolitan areas, the universities, the outdoor sports, the national parks, etc.)

As more of a Disneylander, I gotta admit this makes me a little sad. WDW was always the bigger more spectacular resort, but DL would generally be compensated with the very best new attraction ideas & tech. I suspect that will happen less,

They’ve already announced the expansion Disneyland Forward.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Why do you apparently persist in thinking that engineers and tech talent aren’t paid commiserate to the cost of living in California?
Have you seen what Apple, Google, Facebook, et al pay?! And salary isn’t the only compensation. Those RSUs are very, very, VERY tempting.

Disney's California staff are not paid anywhere near a sufficient premium to break even on living in California. They have higher salaries, but not nearly enough to offset the much higher cost of living. Most of them are commuting an hour or more in each direction because that's how far out they have to live to find an affordable home.

The salary premium is something like 15%. The cost of living premium is well over 50%.

But insisting CA has nothing to entice people to live there (And that’s without touching on the weather, the scenery, the access to culture in the major metropolitan areas, the universities, the outdoor sports, the national parks, etc.)

I never said any such thing. I said California is expensive. That's literally all I commented on. Obviously there are non-financial reasons why some people want to live there regardless of the cost.

 

[el_super]

I wonder if the long term plan is to free up space for future Disneyland expansions? Makes you wonder.

Probably not. At least for the near term, TDA is staying where it is, and the teams that work out of there are probably 70-80% focused on Disneyland exclusively. Moving teams around and consolidating them back at TDA will probably save them some money in office rentals around Anaheim in the near term, but if they decide to move TDA off property, it would still need to be adjacent to Disneyland.

They own Grand Central Creative Campus outright. They’re so restricted in what they can build on the lot, it makes sense to make it an extension of the businesses based on the lot.

Well in some respects a cube is a cube, whether it's at 1401 or some auxiliary building. The GC3 campus, which includes some parts of Imagineering, also include Consumer Products, publishing and some finance and legal groups as well. It does seem that there is some strategy at play here, in moving some theme park specific jobs to Florida, while re-utilizing expensive California real-estate for those businesses that have to remain in California. Content production at Disney is the focus now, and the best way to really describe it is: they are a streaming company that has a theme park business on the side.

While I definitely don't believe that there will be any real noticeable change in the parks for the guests, it definitely seems like another slide toward marginalizing the parks business.

 

[WannaGoNow]

Disney's California staff are not paid anywhere near a sufficient premium to break even on living in California. They have higher salaries, but not nearly enough to offset the much higher cost of living. Most of them are commuting an hour or more in each direction because that's how far out they have to live to find an affordable home.

The salary premium is something like 15%. The cost of living premium is well over 50%.

I never said any such thing. I said California is expensive. That's literally all I commented on. Obviously there are non-financial reasons why some people want to live there regardless of the cost.

First, you said tech talent and engineers, not specific to Disney. I agree Disney could pay tech talent more as they’re not competing well with Silicon Valley - but that’s going to be even more true in FL. (So, how’s that Genie coming along?)

Second, Disney administrative and hourly staff aren’t paid well but that’s true across the entire entertainment industry. Studios know there are at least 100 people eager to take your job for even less money just to break into the industry, and pay accordingly. And Disney has always been notorious for being the stingiest entertainment company when it comes to salaries. That’s the price one pays for “glamour.” But no one is twisting anyone’s arm to make them take an entertainment job.

But to say the CA staff can’t break even on cost of living? BWAHAHA. And no, I’m not using Chapek as the sole exception. My entire contact list is filled with people who live comfortably on Disney (and other studio) salaries, own a home, and don’t find their commute overly onerous. Why do you think housing in centrally located neighborhoods costs so much in the first place? If all those people couldn’t afford to buy, then demand would go down and prices would fall. But enough people can afford to buy that the finite supply is stretched and prices go up.

 

[larryz]

In a stunning move, I’m hearing that Disney is moving thousands of jobs to Lake Nona, an area of Orlando just east of the airport. This is huge for Orlando’s economy and a big blow to California, especially to Glendale, where WDI and Consumer Products are currently based. The entire unit of the company, Parks, Experiences, and Products, will be primarily based in Orlando from now forward. Expect an official announcement soon. This is huge for Orlando’s economy and Florida in general.

Didn't we hear about this months ago?

 

[larryz]

What does Disney care about how much its employees pay in taxes?

It means salaries look and feel better without a 4 - 12% rake-off by the state.