Born and raised in Florida, 36-year-old Diego Henry Jr. grew up going to Walt Disney World. To him, working at the theme parks meant he could bring that same wonder he experienced there to others.

When Henry started working as an attraction host at the Fantasmic! show at Hollywood Studios in December 2013, he made $8.35 an hour, he said. Soon after starting, he and his daughter Zoe were living “paycheck to paycheck, cash advance to cash advance” even though he was working full time, he said.

His credit was “horrible,” and there were weeks when he and Zoe would have to eat instant ramen until the next payday, he said.

Henry was making around $10 an hour in August 2018 when the Service Trades Council Union, a coalition of local unions representing Disney workers, struck a deal with the company to gradually increase wages to $15 an hour by October 2021.

Disney workers reached the full $15 minimum wage Sunday, during the same weekend the resort began celebrating its 50th anniversary. For many employees, the increased income over the past three years has been life-changing: they’ve been able to pay off debt, buy houses and start planning for the future.

“I kind of feel more like myself, or a human being, if you would, because I can do the things that I’ve always wanted to do,” Henry said.

With Disney and Universal now paying employees $15 an hour — and the state minimum wage rising to the same level by 2026 — many workers are experiencing new economic mobility, potentially signaling a positive shift in Central Florida’s low-wage, tourism-dependent economy.

The fight for $15 an hour

Disney and its unions agreed in 2014 to increase the minimum salary from $8.03 to $10 an hour by 2016. In 2017, the Service Trades Council Union — Disney’s largest — engaged in negotiations for another increase, and in September 2018 union workers approved the most recent contract that raised the minimum to $11 that December and outlined the path to $15.

The Service Trades Council Union represented more than 38,000 workers, more than half of the resort’s then-workforce of nearly 70,000 people. The union’s membership remains the same today, but the resort’s workforce has declined to about 65,000 during the pandemic.

Union members include frontline workers who are paid the lowest, including ride operators, custodians and merchandise employees, said Eric Clinton, president of Unite Here Local 362.

Disney and its other unions reached similar deals for increased wages in a ripple effect, Clinton said. Today, Disney non-intern workers earn at least $15 across the resort, according to the company.

“We like to say — not arrogantly, but proudly — we won for everyone,” Clinton said.

When Clinton started working as a ride operator at Hollywood Studios in 1998, he earned $5.95 an hour, or the equivalent of about $10 today. He said fair pay has been his “mission” since being hired by the union in November 2001.

“Going from $10 an hour to $15 an hour, you’re not rich, but you’re not drowning anymore,” he said.

Clinton credits Disney for leading the way to fair wages in Central Florida. Disney influenced Universal and other hospitality employers to raise their wages, he said. Universal’s $15 an hour starting pay took effect in June.

Though that figure is often cited as a living wage, that classification only applies to a single adult with no children living in certain areas of the U.S.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator estimates that rate in Orlando as $15.44 for one working adult, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition recently determined a full-time hourly worker has to earn $24.90 an hour to afford average rent in the U.S.

Under Florida’s Amendment 2, passed in November, Florida’s minimum wage increased to $10 on Sept. 30 and will reach $15 in 2026.

Orlando attorney John Morgan, who campaigned to pass the amendment, said Disney’s wage increase has “big significance” for the company.

Though Disney increased its pay before the amendment’s passing, Morgan said the amendment has encouraged Florida’s largest companies to pay workers more equitably. Morgan wants workers earning even more.

“The truth of the matter is, 15 is not enough,” he said.

Sean Snaith, an economist and professor at the University of Central Florida, said Disney’s higher pay is good for the local economy because it gives employees more disposable income. The cost of paying these higher salaries can be passed onto Disney’s customers, he said.

Pre-pandemic, wages were beginning to rise for workers in lower-skilled positions at a faster rate than for other types of workers, Snaith said, and Disney was ahead of that trend.

“This was a strategic move to ensure that they had the quantity and quality of labor force they need to deliver their products and services to the customers,” he said.

Snaith said Disney will prioritize the bottom when deciding whether to raise its pay in the future as the cost of living increases. To maximize profit, executives could decide to alter workers’ benefits or “non-wage” forms of compensation to make up for future raises, he said.

The Service Trades Council Union will renegotiate with Disney when its contract expires next October. Every union contract includes a raise for workers, Clinton said, but he did not speculate what next year’s increase might be.

In the meantime, Disney is still hiring at a rate of hundreds of new employees weekly until the end of the year, a company spokesperson said.

Stressing less, affording more

Disney workers have already seen the better pay lead to a better quality of life.

Henry, featured in the Orlando Sentinel’s 2019 series “Laborland” about low wages in Central Florida, said he doesn’t fear getting his next bill anymore.

Now working at DinoLand U.S.A. in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, he has money in savings for the first time he can remember, and he’s looking to buy a house to move himself and 17-year-old Zoe out of the cramped one-bedroom apartment they share in Pine Hills.

“It’s a big weight off my shoulders because I don’t feel like I have to overwork myself,” he said.

Amber Smith, 31, works as a coordinator for Main Street operations at the Magic Kingdom. She was recently able to fulfill a lifelong goal of buying a home in Haines City with her fiancé, who works in attractions at Epcot.

Smith, who has worked at Disney for seven years, said she used to see coworkers “working themselves to the point (of) exhaustion” on overtime to make ends meet. Now everyone is happier and better energized, she said.

“It’s nice to see them being able to interact with the guests, and not just want to go home or drink a Monster (energy drink) so they can stay awake,” Smith said.

But $15 is just a start, she said, and she hopes next year’s contract includes further increases.

“I don’t think we should ever stop fighting. We shouldn’t be happy with $15,” she said.

Cree Jenkins, 21, has worked for almost three years at Disney, first in housekeeping and now in third-shift custodial cleaning the Magic Kingdom overnight.

Disney’s Aspire program is helping her pursue a degree in political science and communications at Valencia College. The better pay has let her save more money as she looks to transfer to the University of Central Florida, she said.

She was also able to make a down payment on a new car after her last one broke down during the pandemic.

The pay increase has been life-changing for her coworkers, many of whom are now able to send more financial support to families in places such as Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, she said.

But, like Smith, Jenkins looks toward a future where Disney workers are even better compensated.

“It’s a hard job, and we’re expected to do it with a smile on our face to preserve that magic,” she said. “So I’m hoping that one day we get to a point where all of our cast members can live on their own, (and) they don’t have to worry about money.”