Orlando motels outside Disney World are packed with people who have lost their jobs

[Demovictory9]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8802319/Hundreds-residents-living-motels-just-road-Disney-World-work-dried-up.html

Florida's Highway 192 runs up to the gates of the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando

Lining the highway are dozens of hotels which are now housing hundreds of people made newly homeless

Once the pandemic struck, the theme parks and restaurants were forced to close and tourists stayed away

With the leisure industry on hold, many locals have had to move into cheap motels for a roof over their head

Photographer Zak Bennett went to have a look at the motels and described it as 'third world' conditions

Struggling motel owners have begun renting their rooms out to the only customers they can find: those who have nowhere else to go.


Anthony, a single father of two, sits in a stairwell at the Palm Motel down the road from Disney World in Kissimmee, Florida. Anthony is a chef in Old Town, a tourist hub in Kissimmee but since the COVID-19 pandemic he has had his work hours go from full-time to just two days a week

[Totally Tunsie]

1. Wow. "American Owned"?

Blatant nationalism, much? The place looks like a pigsty.

Can't say I've ever seen anything like that on a sign before.

[Awsi Dooger]

3. I see that term all over the place on my travels

One grocery chain named Ingles always uses that term in big lettering on a prominent spot on the facade. I guess they are worried the name sounds Hispanic.

Anyway, I'm very familiar with this stretch near Disney World. My sister lives not too far away in Winter Garden. Once in a while I get a hotel instead of staying with her family. The rates in that area are very cheap in the seedy hotels. Consequently I'm not surprised at this. I normally stay at a Days Inn, which is decent enough but maybe twice the rate of the lowest ones. I'll pay in the $40-50 range per night instead of $20-25. Not sure what the rooms are going for now. Likely lower. Of course, there is a resort fee in Orlando area. That's going to hurt the low income renters.

[Totally Tunsie]

5. Thanks for the education on this. I really had no idea

this was so prevalent. The one time I've been to the Orlando area, I somehow hadn't noticed any signage like this.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but IMO it's almost as offensive as "Whites Only". To me, it has the same tone.

[BannonsLiver]

6. Reads more like "white owned" to me.

[Totally Tunsie]

9. Yes. It has (to me) a very divisive and exclusionary tone to it.

[Demovictory9]

14. Indian immigrants own many hotels. Maybe the owners dog whistle to racists

yes.

[Totally Tunsie]

19. Yes, exactly.

[BamaRefugee]

13. Asian Indians own like 50% of all the motels (and lots of hotels) in America.

Look at the business license on the wall next time you check in for the name, may be interesting. Something like 30% of all motels owned by Asian Indians are owned by folks named Patel.
I've been to almost every state in the USA and find this to be true everywhere.
Many of these people may be Indian/Americans, but the "American owned" thing is apparently put up by non-Indian motel owners.
I don't know if that's racism or , screw it, it's racism, but there are black and Hispanic and Asian/ American motel owners also so, it gets confusing.

[Totally Tunsie]

20. Yes, I'm aware of the high Indian ownership of motels/hotels.

It just hasn't occurred to me to base my lodging pick on that factor, though, so the blatant nature of the sign was a surprise to me.

Anecdotally, my younger son's best bud is a Patel, and we have delightful times with his family. They don't own a motel or hotel, though! LOL.

[jmowreader]

15. People actually ask for that

Slightly more than half of all hotels and motels in the United States are owned by people who come from India.

https://yourmileagemayvary.net/2020/02/12/why-so-many-motels-hotels-are-owned-by-indian-americans/

[onethatcares]

18. for some reason

the lyric,

Your flag decal won't get you into disney anymore"

popped into my head when I saw that.

Thank you John Prine for the original version

[Totally Tunsie]

21. ...

[MineralMan]

22. It means that the owner's last name is not Patel.

[Totally Tunsie]

24. Precisely.

[msongs]

2. meanwhile the us miliary gives trump a personal staff of dozens at a hospital paid for by

the taxpayers, unemployed and working

[Sucha NastyWoman]

10. And I bet this father paid more in taxes than Trump did.

[moonscape]

4. Heartbreaking :( Too much

evil. Too much pain. Too too much.

[secondwind]

7. Anthony on the staircase....

Oh, what BEAUTIFUL children!!!

[appalachiablue]

8. Hoovervilles, heartbreaking.

[Grokenstein]

11. "Making America Great Again"?

Golly, who wouldn't want four more years of this? Finally the Obama Nightmare is over!

(THIS IS A SARCASM TAG)

[LittleGirl]

12. This is awful. eom

[Aerator]

16. Florida Project

The homeless living out of this stretch of Florida motels has been around for a while ,although I’m sure it has gotten worse lately.There was a movie that can out in 2018 that shed some light on the struggles that many of these families face .The movie is The Florida Project and if you get a chance I recommend you see it .

[Demovictory9]

17. there is a strip of older hotels near Disneyland & Knotts Berry farm - the working poor live in them

Many are Disneyland employees who can't save a down payment for an apartment which would be much cheaper than a hotel.

[steve2470]

23. Disney recently laid off 28k workers, some in Orlando and some in California

Disney Lays Off 28,000, Mostly at Its 2 U.S. Theme Parks

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/business/disney-theme-park-workers-layoffs.html

Sept. 29, 2020

LOS ANGELES — For six months, Disney has kept tens of thousands of theme park workers on furlough with full health-care benefits in hopes that a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel would appear. On Tuesday, Disney conceded that none was coming.

The company’s theme park division said it would eliminate 28,000 jobs in the United States. Theme parks will account for most of the layoffs, although Disney Cruise Line and Disney’s retail stores will also be affected.

“As heartbreaking as it is to take this action, this is the only feasible option we have in light of the prolonged impact of Covid-19 on our business, including limited capacity due to physical distancing requirements and the continued uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic,” Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, said in an email to “cast members,” Disney’s term for its theme park workers.

About 67 percent of the layoffs will involve part-time jobs that pay by the hour. However, executives and salaried workers will also be among those laid off. Disney’s theme parks in California and Florida employed roughly 110,000 people before the pandemic. The job cuts will come from both resorts.

[Initech]

25. God, what a nightmare.

Fuck this fucking virus. The sooner it returns to the hell from which it came, the better.

[lindysalsagal]

26. aaaaaand the rich get richer.......and claim to be on the christian side....and do nothing

[Initech]

27. That's what really bugs me about RW Christians.

In one breath they talk about how you should love and support your fellow man. And then in the next breath, they say the most hateful shit you've ever heard and donate $500,000 to mass murderers because it's apparently now OK to murder people who dare question their almighty leader. The hypocrisy reeks.