Disney World to help guide Orange County in reopening businesses

Walt Disney World, Orange County’s largest employer, is expected to be on a team that will help guide Orange County in deciding when businesses should reopen, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings announced.

Demings said he plans to gather an economic exploration team of some 40 to 45 people representing a variety of businesses from “Small businesses like hair salons and barbershops, to realtors, to theme parks, to professional services, to financial services” Demings said during a Wednesday COVID-19 press conference.

Demmings said he is trying to get an idea on when local businesses would reopen and under what procedures they will be operating. In addition to businesses, he said his office will also work chambers of commerce to bring in the diversity he said that will be needed.

One of the companies he mentioned was the Walt Disney Company, which he said is in a unique situation as a global business who is dealing with this issue at other them parks around the world, including China, the epicenter of the pandemic.

“In terms of where they are with their experience with the pandemic, they are probably ahead of us,” he said.

“They’ve experienced some things — in terms of the planning process — that I believe could be beneficial and constructive to us as we begin to respond to the very uniqueness of our county,” he said.

Demings also said he is working with leaders from Seminole, Osceola, and Lake counties since there is such a large number of people who commute from those counties to Orange County.