Park Cleanliness

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MickeyMark57

New Member
Original Poster
Just scheduled a family trip for June. My first visit was in 1973 with my parents. This will be visit number 15. Over the years, I have noticed the park cleanliness standards decreasing. I know it's tough to keep a place clean when the visitor's aren't doing their part. I am curious about what recent years visitors have experienced.

I recently read a couple of quotes from Walt Disney regarding his thoughts on the matter. Trying to keep a park clean is a tremendous expense. And those sharp-pencil guys tell you, 'Walt, if we cut down on maintenance, we'd save a lot of money.' But I don't believe in that -- it's like any other show on the road; it must be kept clean and fresh. And this last one. "When I started on Disneyland, my wife used to say, 'But why do you want to build an amusement park? They're so dirty.' I told her that was just the point -- mine wouldn't be."
 
Tom

Tom

Beta Return
In the big picture, I still see the parks as being very clean places. Especially compared to many of the other public venues throughout the country.

For the amount of people - disrespectful people - that pass through the turnstiles each day, the parks are remarkably clean.

Of course, if you inspect the place on a micro scale, you're going to find plenty to complain about. Dirty restrooms (that see thousands of people a day, many of whom don't understand what goes in a toilet vs what goes in a trash can); trash in ride queues (sure, they could send more custodians through the queues, but there shouldn't be trash thrown on the ground to begin with); and peeling paint (again, they've indeed cut back on maintenance, but much of what I see is beyond normal "wear and tear"....it's damage from abusive and disrespectful guests).

Overall, I give the vacation resort an A on cleanliness. Could it be better? Yes. Are there FAR worse places? Definitely.
 
CAPTAIN HOOK

CAPTAIN HOOK

Well-Known Member
If people were obsessed about litter across the Disney parks then they wouldn't visit. You compare WDW with any major town or city of equal size and Disney is virtually spotless.

Personally, I don't go on holiday to seek out faults with a place, compare litter amounts or anything else. If something is grossly wrong within WDW then it requires reporting and fixing. A bit of litter never hurt anyone
 
Beholder

Beholder

Well-Known Member
I think that's one of the biggest differences between guests of the past and those of today, the respect for where you are, respect for yourself and others. I'm sort of generalizing here, but I tend to believe that people had higher standards in regards toward their own behavior and what they would tolerate from others. Just my opinion, but I think the percentage of guest who simply don't care has to have increased somewhat.
 
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MickeyMark57

New Member
Original Poster
It's probably a case of guests being more tolerant of litter. As the post from the UK mentioned, "A bit of litter never hurt anyone" seems to be a general feeling for some. I always felt that they put trash cans on property for a reason. The trash goes in the can, not just close. Clean up your own mess when eating at a quick serve restaurant. Leave a place better than you found it. That's just old school thinking I guess.
 
Kman101

Kman101

Well-Known Member
Yes, certain times it can be messy, but honestly I find the parks REALLY clean. Believe me, if it were messy I'd call them out but I almost always see someone cleaning a bathroom and I watched numerous janitors pick up trash and change out trash cans. I mean they were practically tripping over each other to do it. Same thing for staff at Cosmic Ray's. They were tripping over each other to take trays from people and clean up. I say it's improved a great deal. JMO. And same thing at AK. I ate at Flame Tree and noticed someone constantly wiping tables (TWO of them) and cleaning up. I'm sure it's not always staffed so highly but it wasn't exactly a busy time when I was there, TBH. I walked on Kilimanjaro that day, literally walked on, at around 1 in the afternoon.

Yes there will be an occasional piece of trash in the monorail or on the ground but they aren't perfect.

*UPKEEP* imo, is different than cleanliness.
 
yedliW

yedliW

Well-Known Member
It's sad how many people have the attitude of 'I'm on vacation.. I don't have to clean up after myself.. they have people who get paid to do that..'

How many times have you looked for a table for lunch where a previous group just walked away when they were done, expecting someone to bus their table for them?

It is a matter of respect. People just don't care any more. This is an over-generalization, but when you are talking these sorts of numbers.. even if it is 1% of 10,000 people, it is enough to be noticeable.
 
Foltzy

Foltzy

Well-Known Member
Okay.
Whenever I'm at pizza planet and I get a table rigt after someone picks it up. I go get someone to wipe it up.
But I come back and it's already wiped.

They're quick helping to clean up
 
BoarderPhreak

BoarderPhreak

Well-Known Member
I hardly think WDW is rife with litter. People are people, and many are slobs. This is not the fault of Disney. When the parks are crowded, the chance of seeing it goes up, obviously. But almost without fail, a CM will be by and the litter will be gone fairly quickly.

Considering just how many people cruise through the parks and the rest of the property, it's actually a little amazing at just how clean and trim everything is... And the property is HUGE. No small feat, I assure you.

Could it be better? Perhaps. But to what end? It's still a matter of people with poor manners that cause the problem in the first place.

Somewhat related; one morning I saw a CM taking brass polish to a water fountain. I don't know that I've ever seen anyone, anywhere - cleaning a water fountain.
 
Pacha

Pacha

Active Member
Last visit was 2010 and I felt all the Parks were all very clean. Saw a cart CM's in Epcot pick up a piece of litter he could have just as easily ignored.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Definite decline in cleanliness from my experience. I can't speak for the 80's and prior, but cleanliness was about as immaculate as I could imagine during the early 90's when I frequently visited WDW. It starting dropping somewhat after 1994, which was about the time Eisner starting going overboard with budget cuts and firing a bunch of staff. So visiting again in 2010 after 13 years of absence was like a slap in the face. But even during the past several years there has been a very blatant decline.

Yes people can be messy and trashy by littering and such, but there's something to be said about horrible Disney management when there remains debris and filth uncleaned for days, weeks or even months and years.

One example of lax cleanliness during my past trip a couple of months ago was the bathrooms at the Magic Kingdom. Three specifically, one on Main Street next to the guest relations, one near Gaston's, and one at the Tangled area. All three of them had tons of debris scattered all over, most of the stalls look like they hadn't been cleaned in weeks and they all stunk horribly both inside and around an alarmingly large area in the vicinity outside. The stench from the Main Street ones even reached where I was sitting atop the Train Station. It was common even back when I visited in 2010-2011 to have an almost constant stream of cast members patrolling the bathrooms and diligently spraying and cleaning everything. During my most recent visit however I did not see a single staff member in the restrooms, even the "brand new" ones. And I spent enough time there (food poisoning) to be able to notice. In the Gaston bathrooms there were several stalls that were, shall I say, "undesirable and unacceptable" (use your imagination). The problem still wasn't addressed when I left, and quite enough time had lapsed for me to realize that this wasn't even remotely appropriate for traditional "Disney standards". Hell even compared to 2010 standards. The other two bathrooms had similar issues, though I didn't linger quite as long there.

The EPCOT bathrooms ironically, were somewhat better maintained. At least on the Future World side. Despite the ongoing Drunkytown festival that was occurring at the time. I didn't visit any other parks.
 
yedliW

yedliW

Well-Known Member
When we were there last, my wife was 5 months pregnant, so we made several stops at bathrooms. The ones we seemed to hit most often were the ones in the back of Tomorrowland Terrace. While they weren't dirty per se, they seemed neglected. They were stocked, but had the appearance of being well used. Not really abused.. just well used and not updated.
 
K

kettcobb

Member
I've just got back from there and actually thought they were nice and tidy considering the amount of guests. It was noticeable how many CMs were wandering around picking up any rubbish etc.
 
M

MickeyMark57

New Member
Original Poster
Thanks for the posts to my question. I hope Disney continues to work on keeping the property neat and well maintained. That's one of the magical things about going there. We always marveled at how Disney did things better than anyone else. From keeping the property clean, moving people around, and keeping all of us entertained with themed rides, Disney magic keeps us coming back year after year.
 

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