It's a shame there is even this discussion. There was time when WDW fixed things as they broke, changed light bulbs as they burned out and kept trash cans emptied back in the 70's -90"s. I know some will say I am looking at the past with rose colored glasses --I don't think so.
I think all of us that were there early on were actually blind to many flaws. There was good reason because not only was all the technology brand new to many of us plus, and this is important, the park was brand new or fairly new. If you buy a new car the degree of maintenance is small compared to as it ages. Same with the parks. I can remember in early 1983 (my first trip) going to Tom Sawyer Island with my kids and they had a display there of mechanical chickens. Some were moving some where not but they all were filthy (dust/dirt wise). I wondered at the time why they weren't all moving but then thought well it might be intentional, but not the dirt. I found out the next year when we went again, the same display was all working and clean. Sometimes timing is everything. A couple years later we went to Casey's for a hot dog and two things happened. One was that the packet of ketchup they gave me for the fries was rancid which is not a pleasant surprise and being in a directly eastern line from where the trash empties out behind what is now Splash Mountain with the wind blowing from the west, the stench was awful.
Speaking of trash, back in those early days they had an army of custodial people hiding in the shadows because smoking was allowed and the moment a butt hit the ground that ran out of the shadows and swept it up so there were many more people out there in charge of removing trash. They cannot have a person stationed by every trash can doing nothing else but anxiously waiting for it to fill up. There are areas near the food service areas that can quickly fill to overflowing and there weren't as many guests present during that time as well. What we see is a moment in time. The problem might have been resolved shortly after we passed by. Which is the main reason why I cannot understand why anyone would be bothered by any of that stuff. Especially since we should be aware of just how disgusting and entitled todays guest has become.
I saw the daughter in Carrousel of Progress have her hand fall off as she was brushing her hair, (fixed the next day). Over time I saw a few lights out, but just had the thought that as far as I know it blew out just before I got there. There weren't going to change the lightbulb while the show was going on.
But none of that mattered because the rest of it was great and was my escape from reality and I just couldn't figure out how to do that if I were to be constantly bothered by small things. That's like bringing outside problems in with you and not letting go.
It also seems to me that the first few visits we are just mesmerized by everything we saw. Even adults can get distracted by bright colors and music. The more we go the less unique it becomes and we start to notice other things that might have been that way on our past visits but were so taken by the excitement that we just plain didn't notice.. This is particularly true for those that went as a kid themselves. What a kid sees is much different than what adults see and it almost always seem to be way different when they see the same thing after they have grown up. I always thought a good example of that was if anyone had an opportunity to go back to the place they grew up in and were remembering how huge the place seemed only to look at it and think, man this place is small how did it shrink like that. It is the same thing especially when we visit a theme park at an early age.
Anyway, this whole thread was created mostly concerning the sign. The fact that it is still not fix might well be a good reason to think that they just don't care or there might be some other reason that we just don't know about. Perhaps the decision was made to change the sign and the bureaucracy that makes up most huge corporations has taken time to imagine the new sign, pass it though the approval process then create it and then install it when time allows. We just don't know! It's sad that we cannot give one of our favorite places the same consideration and leeway that we hope people would give us.
