Walt Disney World Increases Sign-On Bonuses Amid Continued Staffing Shortage

As the labor shortage continues around the country, especially for jobs in the hospitality and tourism industry, Walt Disney World is ramping up hiring bonuses to attract new Cast Members to work at each theme park and its resorts.

Recruiting is gearing up at the Walt Disney World Resort with a new season of Disney College Program Cast Member arrivals this week and last week, however following a couple of recent job fairs the resort has still opted to increase hiring incentive bonuses for certain roles.

Many postings on the official Disney Careers website come with sign-on incentives ranging from $1,500 to up to $3,000, with some of the largest increases (up to $6,000) in hiring bonuses following the most recent job fair and affecting roles that have been especially difficult to fill particularly pastry chef and other back of house kitchen roles.

The majority of locations around the Walt Disney World Resort that has still yet to reopen are most likely due to staffing challenges. Restaurants continue to open around property, and it seems every week we are back announcing the return of new character experiences, however, there are still some locations that remain closed and given the lifting of most health and safety guidelines nearly every area of each Disney park is technically able to open, assuming the staffing is there to do so.

Continued Disney College Program participants should help the staffing issue, especially with a new batch of arrivals just getting to the Walt Disney World Resort this week, and applications opening up soon for later seasons. College Program participants (CPs) make up a large portion of staffing numbers at many locations around Walt Disney World, so having more of this program back will certainly help ease some of the resort’s staffing challenges. (It is worth noting however that no signing bonus applies for the Disney College Program.)

While no sign-on bonuses are offered for these roles, the Disney Auditions website has also been active in promoting new opportunities for performers within the company. Some roles like Festival of the Lion King auditions would likely allow for more showtimes to take place daily assuming more performers were hired, while other postings are more cryptic as to what exactly the performer will be doing, such as this listing for stunt trampoline performers.