Terrible news out of Mickey Land last week. Walt Disney World has laid off, and thus cancelled, most of its best live entertainment offerings. Those offerings include very popular Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review (both showcased in the snap abovee), Citizens of Hollywood, Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo: The Musical, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Jedi Training Academy, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and Turtle Talk with Crush shows.

This development is a real tragedy. COVID-19 is, of course, the main villain in this sad tale. Its path of destruction has led to specific issues with these entertainments. The shows, for instance, seat audience members close together, shoulder to shoulder, theater style. Limiting the number of audience members—so you can spread them out—likely makes the shows too costly to run for the number of guests able to attend. Also, and perhaps more critically, these offerings featured Actors' Equity Association cast members. Disney and Equity have had a difficult time coming to agreement coming to agreement regarding performer safety during the COVID crisis. And, live shows with a large cast of performers, technicians and support personnel are costly to run. Disney has hemorrhaged so much money this year that they are likely being forced to make cutbacks or risk losing the company to a takeover.

Unsaid in all this is the emotional damage these layoffs have on those laid off and those who do not. For the laid off performers, as was the case in my own layoff in 2009, there is no closure. One day performing; the next day not. And for those left behind, there is an emotional sickness: a behavior I observed in some former colleagues who avoided contact.

With no easy answer to these issues, and the reduced number of guests allowed into the parks (resulting in the need for less offerings), there was likely no way to avoid these cancellations. There is, however, a hope. During my tenure in Walt Disney Entertainment, I learned that it is a lot cheaper and faster to build and add entertainment offerings than it is to build a new ride. A ride can cost millions and take years to build.A show, although more costly from a labor standpoint, can be mounted in six months; especially when the script, stage and technology is already in place. In that case, all that is needed to relaunch is a rehiring and retraining of existing talent.

The most important entertainment guest satisfier, the Disney characters, remain—although temporary and part time performers have also lost their jobs—as do many of the attractions guests love. The park offerings will be slimmer but there will still be things to do during a day at Disney. It appears that Disney has decided the risk of cancelling these much loved offerings is outweighed by the safety and financial health requirements of the company.

My hope is that once COVID is vanished, some of these offerings can return. I do suspect, however, that the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (It’s an old show) and Citizens of Hollywood (street performances are expensive compared to the number of guests who actually see them) and Jedi Training Academy (unnecessary now that the Stars Wars land is open) are likely to be retired. When entertainment does come back, the Mouse will likely use the return to tweak, update and reinvigorate it’s offerings.

From this situation, we can learn a four things.

1. Cutbacks are always painful.
2. Whatever cutbacks you take, you must protect the essence of your offering.
3. Saving the company must come first – no company, no employees.
4. Terrible situations can, and should, be used to improve the future.

Have you had to take similar steps in your business? If so, you are not alone. If the mighty mouse can survive it, you can too.