Disneyland Resort opens hotel rooms to employees displaced by wildfires

The Walt Disney Company is helping employees displaced by the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles County, offering them temporary housing, clothing, and monetary relief.

The New York Times reported that at least 64 employees, including the president of Disney Branded Television and the president of Walt Disney Music, lost their homes due to the fires.

The company has also opened hotel rooms at the Disneyland Resort to employees who need temporary housing. The company’s employee relief fund will also provide up to $4,000 for basic household necessities and incidental expenses.

In addition, two months of free furnished housing will be provided to employees with fire-damaged or destroyed houses who can’t immediately return home when evacuation orders are lifted.

Disney also opened its movie studio wardrobe department, providing clothing and shoes to employees who had lost everything in the fires.

Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, has been leading the company’s fire relief efforts, which include a $15 million donation to local disaster recovery organizations. Iger even suggested that Walt Disney Imagineers, employees responsible for designing and building attractions for Disney Parks, help design new town centers in the impacted areas.

“We want to help rebuild,” Iger said in an interview with The Times. “Can we help in setting up temporary schools? Can our Imagineers help design new town centers? Rebuilding is not just about money. It’s about ingenuity and determination.”

Many Imagineers, who designed Disney’s most beloved attractions at theme parks worldwide, lost their homes in the Eaton Fire, the Orange County Register reported.

Most of the places where we all lived burnt to ashes,” former Imagineer Joe Rohde wrote on Instagram. “Altadena was our home and home base.”

Rhode is best known for his work on Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Pandora — World of Avatar-themed land, the Aulani resort hotel in Hawaii, and the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout attraction at Disney California Adventure.

He also lived in Altadena during his time as an Imagineer before retiring in 2021 and relocating further north.