Walt Disney World and its related businesses in Florida generate an estimated $18.2 billion a year in economic activity and are responsible for more than one of every 50 jobs in the state, according to an impact study paid for by the giant resort.
The report, released Wednesday, found that Disney's theme-park operations in the state — which include Disney World, Disney Cruise Line and its Disney Vacation Club time-share business — account for 2.5 percent of Florida's cumulative gross domestic product.
"It was 40 years ago, in the fall of 1971, that we opened the gates of Walt Disney World. And we've been growing ever since," Disney World President Meg Crofton said at a Disney-organized breakfast in the Orlando Museum of Art to present the results to local government, business and civic leaders.
The eye-popping numbers stem from a report prepared by Arduin, Laffer & Moore, a Republican consulting firm whose partners include a budget director to former Gov. Jeb Bush, an economic adviser to former President Ronald Reagan, and the founder of the conservative Club for Growth political group. The firm examined data from Disney's 2009 fiscal year, which ended Oct. 3, 2009.
Disney released a two-page summary of its findings. The company would not release the full report because, it said, the report includes proprietary financial information.
The researchers found that Disney paid out nearly $1.8 billion in compensation to more than 59,000 workers in 2009. That equates to an average annual salary of approximately $30,508.
Disney said the researchers did not determine the median — or midpoint — salary for its workers. The average salary can be distorted by a small number of exceptionally high or low earners; Disney's senior-most executives in Florida are paid annual bonuses that in some cases have exceeded $1 million in a single year.
In addition to the wages paid, Disney purchased $2.3 billion worth of goods and services during the year, according the report, including an estimated $900 million from vendors in Florida. And third-party businesses operating on Disney property generated almost $600 million in sales, while vacationers to Disney spent another $1.7 billion at off-site businesses.
In all, that amounted to a cumulative direct economic impact of $6.3 billion. When researchers used computer models to include additional, "indirect and induced" impacts from Disney's operations, they said the total economic effect swelled to $18.2 billion and approximately 161,000 jobs.
For as big as Disney's presence has become in Florida since opening the Magic Kingdom four decades ago, the look of the company's growth has changed dramatically in recent years.
The company hasn't built a new theme park in Orlando since 1998, when it opened Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney World's fourth park. It has in recent years focused instead on wringing more revenue from its existing assets — capturing more of its guests' total vacation spending and luring new travelers to its parks — and moving into new businesses, such as cruises.
Disney executives say there is still ample room to grow through those strategies.
"I can tell you, it will still be significant, the potential future impacts," Al Weiss, the president of global operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said in an interview after the presentation.
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