I also can't help but think cutting at most 6-8 staff isn't really going to save much money at all.
It may not sound a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it does add up. Think - those 6-8 staff need breaks, which need another staff to cover them. Less staff breaks mean less staff to cover them, saving a bit more money. It means that they have to spend less time (and therefore money) training staff too. It all adds up.
It's not significant, I won't ever say it is. But there will be a noticeable saving.
They're naturally going to be putting all their effort into the new ride, plus isn't there something about the new ride is funded by MMM for three years? Or did that stop after DBGT?
Ha, this is a fun rumour / misunderstanding. MMM never 'fund' a new ride's operational costs (ie staffing, the cost of the electricity to run the ride and whatever else). Each park will get an operational budget which will change to fairly reflect the introduction of a new attraction when necessary. MMM will, however, give a guarantee of sort of rides that they're involved in (usually 2 seasons). So it means if anything goes majorly wrong, especially with something like theming and effects, MMM will foot the bill. After that, it's the park's responsibility, and they should be given a reasonable budget to uphold and repair things.
DBGT is a weird one, because some of the issues stem from the manufacturer. MMM did still foot the bill for major issues, but presumably Merlin as a company would have wanted the manufacturer to foot it. But who knows what they're doing about that..