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

[flynnibus]

In the last 15 years, Orlando has added a second Porsche , Mercedes, BMW , Audi dealer , added an Aston Martin, Lotus dealer, expanded the Rolls/ Bentley/ Lamborghini dealer ( located in the most dangerous part of Orlando ) expanded the Ferrari dealer, building a second Land Rover dealer , adding a 3rd Subaru dealer etc. So for a below national average salary like Orlando, there is money to support these dealers probably from high income earners enjoying the low tax state of FL.

Welcome to the "and not a really diverse, well distributed gradient of wealth or opportunity." portion of my post.

Everyone knows there is money in FL - all those vacation homes aren't sold to those fighting to be above the poverty line. The problem is people with money near by doesn't necessarily mean there is healthy diversified labor market. It means people spend money there.. potentially money generated elsewhere.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I swear to god…people come to talk about their favorite amusement park rides in Florida…without knowing anything about Florida??

the “money” in Florida is what it always is…some professionals and a lot of grumps escaping weather and what they perceive to be their high tax burden to wither away…

real community wealth is spread out over a larger cross section of the population. That’s how good neighborhoods, education and cultural features are sustained.

Florida as a whole - and ESPECIALLY central - is more disproportionality weighted toward low paid “service”…which is a bit of a problem currently.

that’s why the property is cheap…because the standard quality of life sucks.

the tallest “trees” are still part of a forest.

Some of you need to break your quarantines and get out more…you’ve lost your minds.

lol…nobody remembers what Florida is

 

[networkpro]

I swear to god…people come to talk about their favorite amusement park rides in Florida…without knowing anything about Florida??

lol…nobody remembers what Florida is

It's something that really didn't start building up as a vacation destination until after Castro took over Cuba.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Urban sprawl isn’t anything close to agrarian. The transect, parks and pedestrian oriented design are all more agrarian than strip malls and cul-de-sacs.

I'm not advocating for urban sprawl, I'm advocating for decentralized rural communities and small towns.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I'm not advocating for urban sprawl, I'm advocating for decentralized rural communities and small towns.

Jeff bezos has some “stern” words for you

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It's something that really didn't start building up as a vacation destination until after Castro took over Cuba.

Orlando was a 48,000 person regional blip featuring cows and fertilizer farms in 1964…

and then what happened? At low wages?

 

[Lilofan]

It's something that really didn't start building up as a vacation destination until after Castro took over Cuba.

Land owners who owned land during the time when Walt secretly bought up acres that would be WDW became very wealthy in the next several years. The build up of the premiere vacation destination of the world began at this time.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm not advocating for urban sprawl, I'm advocating for decentralized rural communities and small towns.

Actual small towns would be right in line with New Urbanism…

 

[ULPO46]

Why couldn’t you do that in Florida if it became your permanent central office?

Some of these posts make it sound like Disney is moving to a small town in the middle of nowhere with no opportunities. Florida is the third largest state by population and Orlando is growing like a weed.

Unless you specifically work in the tv/film industry I don’t see how finding a job in Orlando would be any more difficult than finding a job in LA.

There is and than there isn't. We are talking about Hollywood. A lot and I mean the bulk majority of Imagineering actually does more outside theme parks than with theme parks. It's not like a new park or attraction get rolled out every year. A vast majority of Imagineers work around Hollywood building props for movies ect. Many are involved in that trade. I'm not and I don't mind moving back closer to my parents, but the problem is job security. Disney can't promise that Chapek won't fire anyone after making a move across the country to the other shore.

Sometimes it's not always about the money. Not every imagineer is a single 20'something person. They all have families. Kids who have grown up their whole lives here. The moving of Grand Central Creative's Bulk from Glendale to Lake Nona isn't popular due to the low morale boost. For years we have been told the Parks and Resorts division doesn't need anything new expensive and out of this world. Reusing technology instead of making something totally new aka UpCycling doesn't shout that new ideas are creative.

If you were to tell Imagineers 15 years ago to do this move, you bet we all would have done it. NASA was still sending the space shuttle up and Lokheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and other Government Contractors in Central Florida had tons of avaiblility in sense of Engineering Work.

Yes Orlando has work. But we are talking about people who have Masters and PhD's in Engineering and other STEM related fields. It's a very scary proposition to not have job security and be forced to move/buy a home and all that comes in with that. I'm young, a loyalist, but I can't play naive. Everytime I hear budget cuts or layoff, I fear for my career. But I know I can do something else with my degree. Traffic might not be as bad as SoCal, but still it's not something families are really looking into because this is something not being done voluntarily, this is something being done by the virtue of corporate at the expense of amazing talent.

When it's all said and done, armchair imagineering is nothing like the real deal or is the real world decision of leaving families behind or bringing them across the country. It's stressful and anyone who has ever moved knows this. You cannot judge the worries for families or job security because that's not rumor, that's not some made up internet story. Thats the real bonafide truth of what's going on within ranks.

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

Pretty much every single ESPNer I know in Bristol is in a $400K+ house.

"Disney underpays" is a meme that no longer holds true.

Really? You must know hire ups. Everyone I know that works/worked in Bristol was way underpaid and had roommates. I was once offered a job in Bristol 4 years into my career for $39k. I was making that working part time in the same position in NYC. I turned it down. Connecticut isn't that much cheaper.

 

[ULPO46]

I swear to god…people come to talk about their favorite amusement park rides in Florida…without knowing anything about Florida??

the “money” in Florida is what it always is…some professionals and a lot of grumps escaping weather and what they perceive to be their high tax burden to wither away…

real community wealth is spread out over a larger cross section of the population. That’s how good neighborhoods, education and cultural features are sustained.

Florida as a whole - and ESPECIALLY central - is more disproportionality weighted toward low paid “service”…which is a bit of a problem currently.

that’s why the property is cheap…because the standard quality of life sucks.

the tallest “trees” are still part of a forest.

Some of you need to break your quarantines and get out more…you’ve lost your minds.

lol…nobody remembers what Florida is

Rent's are averaging well over 1,800 a month in Orlando Metro for a one bedroom apartment. New Single Family homes not unheard of at 350's and above.

Really? You must know hire ups. Everyone I know that works/worked in Bristol was way underpaid and had roommates. I was once offered a job in Bristol 4 years into my career for $39k. I was making that working part time in the same position in NYC. I turned it down. Connecticut isn't that much cheaper.

That's why so many are considering the possibilities. It's not like pay raises are being talked around. In fact cutting of salaries is why people are just blatantly saying no.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Really? You must know hire ups. Everyone I know that works/worked in Bristol was way underpaid and had roommates. I was once offered a job in Bristol 4 years into my career for $39k. I was making that working part time in the same position in NYC. I turned it down. Connecticut isn't that much cheaper.

The types of roles we're talking about in DPEP aren't the equivalent of ESPN Production Assistants. These are engineering, technology, marketing, finance, accounting, creative, legal, HR, etc.

An iOS developer with no direct reports is probably making $135,000.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

In fact cutting of salaries is why people are just blatantly saying no.

That's a lie. Nobody's salary is being cut.

 

[lazyboy97o]

A vast majority of Imagineers work around Hollywood building props for movies ect.

So most of the staff is Ph.D. level engineers who also do fabricating but just not when they work for Disney, who ignores them and uses companies like Bungalow, Scenario and Nassal?

If you were to tell Imagineers 15 years ago to do this move, you bet we all would have done it. NASA was still sending the space shuttle up and Lokheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and other Government Contractors in Central Florida had tons of avaiblility in sense of Engineering Work.

There is tons of work going on at the Cape to support large projects like the Space Launch System and the many smaller projects NASA continues to develop, not to mention companies like Space X. Northrop and Lockheed are both humming along.

 

[eddie104]

Orlando is a growing metro area with lots of opportunities becoming available every year. You can’t compare this area to the massive SoCal area. Of course the jobs here won’t match what you find there.

For those employees who feel the move won’t benefit them they will stay. Others might see it as a fresh start in a new environment. I follow the business journals and see all the companies moving to Florida so Disney is just one of many who see the state as a great place for business.

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

The types of roles we're talking about in DPEP aren't the equivalent of ESPN Production Assistants. These are engineering, technology, marketing, finance, accounting, creative, legal, HR, etc.

An iOS developer with no direct reports is probably making $135,000.

This was not for PA jobs. These were camera operators and audio assists IE studio techs. The rates are low for those jobs. In NYC you can double your rate for those same jobs with the same amount of hours. And the housing in NY/NJ is about the same as Connecticut so it's not worth it for most to go to Bristol.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Rent's are averaging well over 1,800 a month in Orlando Metro for a one bedroom apartment. New Single Family homes not unheard of at 350's and above.

so does that not mean Florida is 27th in the country in average income?

Are you familiar with the concept of a housing bubble? Check how that goes in Florida…

also…are you aware rental prices grew commensurate with the covid relief programs this past 18 months…and that resulted in a greater increase in low to middle income housing markets?

fortune recently did a study of the most overvalued housing markets in the country. Guess where 8 of the top 50 were? Guess what #42 was…

I’ve been watching Disney fans and employees tell me how Orlando has “made it” for a long time…
…always bold when fast a loose money is being spent. Goes quiet when an economy gets kicked in the teeth. One of the very first labor and real estate markets to collapse in the country…
…and you don’t have to be a Princeton economist to figure out why?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Orlando is a growing metro area with lots of opportunities becoming available every year. You can’t compare this area to the massive SoCal area. Of course the jobs here won’t match what you find there.

For those employees who feel the move won’t benefit them they will stay. Others might see it as a fresh start in a new environment. I follow the business journals and see all the companies moving to Florida so Disney is just one of many who see the state as a great place for business.

It’s been 13 years since the last major recession…stay tuned on Florida

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Land owners who owned land during the time when Walt secretly bought up acres that would be WDW became very wealthy in the next several years. The build up of the premiere vacation destination of the world began at this time.

What’s ironic is there were many parcels of swamp land sold for pennies and long forgotten that had to be tracked down in the area. Orlando was very “sleepy” when I-4 was constructed.

those parcels where a door to door scam in the early 1900’s…deeds registered all over Florida

 

[eddie104]

It’s been 13 years since the last major recession…stay tuned on Florida

I’m not sure what your getting at but this thread is veering off course. Nobody is saying Florida has the best economy in the country but it is doing very well.