ANAHEIM, Calif. — On Disneyland’s Main Street, Emily Bertola spends hours working on her feet, embroidering names onto mouse ears at the Mad Hatter shop, where she has been an employee for the last two years. She usually offers visitors the sunny smile she was trained to give. 
 
 None of her customers know that for months, she slept in the back of her truck, showering at the park before her shift. 
 
 Her struggle is hardly unique to Disneyland. 
 
 Orange County is known for its affluence, and for its tourist industry. But the thousands of workers who keep its resorts, restaurants and hotels running are sometimes struggling to stay afloat. 
 
 As the state grapples with soaring housing costs, workers in California earning just above the minimum wage find it difficult to pay for basic costs. Many employees at Disneyland have moved farther inland, driving hours each day to work. Others, like Ms. Bertola, have opted to move from couch-to-couch or sleep in their cars for months at a time. 

 Just before Disney released its earnings report, the company announced that it had tapped "Game of Thrones" creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to write and produce a new series of "Star Wars" films. Disney said those movies, which do not have release dates, would be separate from another new "Star Wars" trilogy that is being developed by filmmaker Rian Johnson, the writer-director of "The Last Jedi." 

 Earlier this month, Disney raised ticket prices as much as 18%, with one of its most expensive annual passes selling for $1,149 for its two Anaheim parks. The hike came only days after the Burbank media and entertainment company reported net income of $4.42 billion for the quarter that ended Dec. 30, thanks partly to a federal tax cut. The profit represented a 78% increase over the same period a year earlier.
– Disneyland may be deemed the "Happiest Place on Earth," but that joy apparently dissipates for the majority of employees when they leave the park and have to come up with rent in the real world. The Los Angeles Times points out that even though the Walt Disney Co. recently reported "better-than-expected profit," an online survey funded by labor groups of employees at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, Calif., as well as at California Adventure Park located on the same Disneyland Resort property, found that nearly three-quarters of the workers said they don't make enough money to pay for basic expenses like rent, gas, and groceries. The "Working for the Mouse" poll also reports that 11% of Disneyland Resort employees have said they were homeless or without a place to sleep at some point over the past two years. For workers with young kids, that number rises to 13%. The survey, conducted by Occidental College's Urban & Environmental Policy Institute and the nonprofit Economic Roundtable, was paid for by nine labor groups pushing for higher wages. In addition to citing a 15% drop in the average wage from 2000 to 2017, from $15.80 an hour to $13.36, the survey notes "erratic work schedules," long commutes—the New York Times says many employees live further inland, where it's more affordable—and an "extraordinary pay gap" between top management and the rank and file. What keeps some employees on board: the lack of other jobs, perks like free park tickets, and even Disney nostalgia from their own childhoods. Disney officials say, by their own numbers, workers make, on average, $17.80 an hour; a company rep calls the survey "inaccurate," "unscientific," and "paid for by politically motivated labor unions."