Some of the staff that trim and replace in parks and resorts are still cast members. Not all work is third party.
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Landscaping Downgrades at WDW
- Thread starter TrainsOfDisney
- Start date
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
I hope no one buys for one second that Disney and its executives actually care about the environment. Much like the air conditioning reduction some years ago, this is just something they're doing to pinch pennies at the expense of guest comfort and enjoyment. The environment thing is simply an excuse to shut down some of the more gullible tree huggers when people question this decision.
And I say this as someone who is also a tree hugger and environmentally conscious whenever possible. I don't eat meat (this actually started over 15 years ago as a health and welfare based decision, but the environmental impact is welcome too). Our lights are all LED, I turn off energy hogging appliances when i don't need them (like the water heater), have a hybrid car etc. And I accept the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is caused by people and is an existential threat to life on this planet.
Disney doesn't actually care. Hence their execs still having their enormous terrible for the environment mansions (multiple ones in some of their cases), golf courses and private jets that are 10x more polluting per passenger than commercial.
Moving onto the parks themselves, how about they also stop selling obscenely priced plastic trash that no one wants, made in polluting Chinese sweatshops, most of which ends up in a landfill? Or stop mass demolishing their trees to install ugly tax-writeoff propaganda solar farms when they could install them over the massive sweltering parking lots instead (like Paris is now doing). Or atop existing flat topped buildings where people won't have to see them (like Hong Kong and Tokyo). Also, why is the Autopia at WDW still not electric? How about they invest in expanding the monorail, which runs on electricity instead of the gas powered bus fleet? Are they moving towards heat pump powered HVAC wherever possible?
If they want to play environmentalist, let the executives put their money where their mouths are by changing their own lavish and destructive lifestyles first. Then they can move onto making more reasonable and discrete changes at the parks that don't negatively impact guest comfort and experience.
And I say this as someone who is also a tree hugger and environmentally conscious whenever possible. I don't eat meat (this actually started over 15 years ago as a health and welfare based decision, but the environmental impact is welcome too). Our lights are all LED, I turn off energy hogging appliances when i don't need them (like the water heater), have a hybrid car etc. And I accept the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is caused by people and is an existential threat to life on this planet.
Disney doesn't actually care. Hence their execs still having their enormous terrible for the environment mansions (multiple ones in some of their cases), golf courses and private jets that are 10x more polluting per passenger than commercial.
Moving onto the parks themselves, how about they also stop selling obscenely priced plastic trash that no one wants, made in polluting Chinese sweatshops, most of which ends up in a landfill? Or stop mass demolishing their trees to install ugly tax-writeoff propaganda solar farms when they could install them over the massive sweltering parking lots instead (like Paris is now doing). Or atop existing flat topped buildings where people won't have to see them (like Hong Kong and Tokyo). Also, why is the Autopia at WDW still not electric? How about they invest in expanding the monorail, which runs on electricity instead of the gas powered bus fleet? Are they moving towards heat pump powered HVAC wherever possible?
If they want to play environmentalist, let the executives put their money where their mouths are by changing their own lavish and destructive lifestyles first. Then they can move onto making more reasonable and discrete changes at the parks that don't negatively impact guest comfort and experience.
castlecake2.0
Well-Known Member
Landscaping isn’t all contracted out, but there are three different business units involved depending on location and other things. Most things are taken care of by Disney Horticulture, especially in park and around the resorts. Sometimes Buena Vista Construction Company is used to assist for larger projects, like the Canada gardens and Flower & Garden displays. For general maintenance like grass cutting, tree trimming etc along roadways around property a third party company is used.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
You don't necessarily have to believe that the Disney executives care about this at all in order to acknowledge that some of this might be due to changing practices throughout the horticulture industry. Even local landscapers I hire now will consult with me on what the best local options are and will steer me away from things that are potentially invasive, finicky, or susceptible to local weather patterns. That wasn't as much of a given 20 or 30 years ago.
No they aren’t. They’ve almost all been replaced with bushes and easy to maintain greenery. There were flowers by the planter at DHS with the 100 statue. I also saw a few at the Grand. But the majority of flowers are gone across property. Look up at my photos from Disneyland…. That’s the style of landscaping WDW used to have.
Here’s an example - these are flower beds not bush beds!!! Lol
peter11435
Well-Known Member
This has been common for many planters during the summer months for years. These will be replaced by poinsettias in a couple months and then will have flowers again after the holidays and in the spring.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Are you saying it is hot in Florida in the summer so flowers don't survive? Yep
mikejs78
Premium Member
And wasn't this an especially hot summer in FL?
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
This summer was indeed particularly hot, but the landscaping decline has been an ongoing issue for a number of years now. It's simply another aspect of broadly declining park maintenance standards.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
They’ve literally been doing this for decades in the summer months.
Nah, this is definitely post-Covid and it’s also no longer summer season at WDW.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
That is false. The planter like the one at the studios you posted has switched to plants like those every summer and fall for years. Nothing to do with Covid.
It is absolutely still summer. Not only by calendar but also by temperature.
willtravel
Well-Known Member
Sounds like my yard.
Just because you say it’s so doesn’t mean it’s a fact.
We all know that disneys season is now in fall. At Disneyland resort I watched them change the landscaping from summer to fall.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
It’s not a fact because I said it… it’s a fact because it’s true
Yes, Disney is now decorated for and celebrating fall festivities. That is why many of the planters including the one you photographed have their fall plantings. I clearly said they have been using plants like these in the “summer and fall” for years. Non flowering more hearty plants are used during the hotter months in many planters. This transitions into the fall. Flowers will return just like they always do.
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scottieRoss
Well-Known Member
No, they have not.
I have some before and after photos of POFQ that disagree.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
To be fair, the landscapers are busy over at EPCOT since 95 percent of the reimagined EPCOT project turned out to be landscaping
