If you're interested in the (sad) fate of the Disney animation studio in Florida, hustle over to Jim Hill Media. There are several good articles that have been posted in the last few days about what's going on down there.
Naturally, I am dismayed almost any time any studio decides to pare down its animation department…and I note that it often turns out to be one of those short-term, "we shouldn't have done that" decisions. Someone thinks it'll make the balance sheets look better for a few quarters but eventually, they realize they've gutted a major long-term profit center, so they wipe out whatever they saved (and then some) starting the division up again. Assuming it's even possible.
Animation — even old-fashioned, drawn-by-hand animation — is still enormously profitable when done with the slightest business acumen. Someone else said, and I think I agree, that the only way to lose money on an animated feature is to be really, really disorganized in the production budget. And it's true that there are studios that have been amazingly adept at spending $60 million to make a $20 million animated feature. Still, you'd think someone in those executive offices would have the confidence that they can minimize those kinds of errors. You can of course argue that Disney should adhere to Disney traditions and keep on making films roughly the way Walt did…but I think an even stronger argument can be made that it's just good business. In the long-run, anyway.