Anyone notice a decline in parks housekeeping?

[MarineVet]

My husband and I just returned from a week at WDW, a celebration of our 30th Anniversary. Overall we had a very good time, but I noticed trash where trash should not be.

One of things I have always marveled about at Disney was the way they keep up on housekeeping issues - restrooms are always a little messy with paper on the floor, but the rest of the parks are always "picked up" and neat as a pin, especially first thing in the morning. Last Tuesday, after our early breakfast at the Magic Kingdom, we were the first in line for Ariel's Grotto. In fact, when we entered the area where she sits, the photographer started snapping pictures and proclaimed us the "first family of the day". Yet, while we were walking through the empty queue area, I noticed several wadded up papers, crumpled paper cups and ice cream sticks. We stepped right over them.

A few days later, we had just gotten seated on the Haunted Mansion Doom Buggy, when it stopped for a moment. I took time to look around, and when I looked down at the floor to the right (the left side is the slowly moving sidewalk), I again noticed TRASH! This time, 3 empty pop bottles, 2 empty coffee cups, strips of crumpled papers, it just looked bad. We had our ride and we returned to the HM about 4 hours later. The same trash was still there.

Yes, we still had a wonderful time, but I've not noticed this issue before (we average one visit per year) and I wonder if its something noticed by anyone else. Or did I just happen upon the only two trashy attractions?

 

[ajwolfe]

We noticed this as well last week..But we honestly think it's because people are just getting more entitled and gross. lol. We saw many people just throw their trash down even though they were steps away from a trash can. Or in the shows, most people were leaving their sodas and such on the floor instead of picking up and disposing of. I still think it is much cleaner than other amusement parks there, but Disney can only do so much to pick up after the constant mess.

 

[gtpoohbear]

I definitely noticed a big difference in the restrooms at the parks when we were there in March- Epcot and Typhoon Lagoon were awful. Toilet paper and trash all over the floor, water everywhere, etc. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen from Disney.

While I suspect they have been cutting corners a little with staffing, I also have to say that I saw far more people being lazy and careless - throwing things on the ground, not cleaning up after themselves, etc- than I ever had before.

 

[TDC Nala]

More guests, fewer CMS. That's what happens.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

More people are careless with their trash, and fewer people are willing to pick up trash left lying around and deposit it in a trash receptacle.

 

[mommajo143]

We noticed this as well last week..But we honestly think it's because people are just getting more entitled and gross. lol. We saw many people just throw their trash down even though they were steps away from a trash can. Or in the shows, most people were leaving their sodas and such on the floor instead of picking up and disposing of. I still think it is much cleaner than other amusement parks there, but Disney can only do so much to pick up after the constant mess.

Agree about ppl being messy - and commented to at least one other guest in Feb about leaving trash behind when Walt was so careful to place trash bins every 30 steps or so throughout the park....but also Noticed way more "research" people & of course ppl with iPads doing FPP kiosks and holding signs to show the end of the line, "supervisors" standing around .... I was saddened to find marked less happy CMs, fewer photographers, etc... I think the CMs are spread thin and dealing with lots of new things that they have no control over so the details that have always made WDW sparkle are starting to dull a little bit... Mousekeeping seemed less on par and in general a lot of areas seemed to need some attention around hotel & parks ( paint, minor repairs, etc)...

 

[shocker]

The floor for the buzz lightyear line is grotesque by mid-afternoon. It wouldn't take much for a CM to pass through there once in awhile.

 

[thedonduck]

There are also way more people in the parks than ever before. There are also many different cultures coming where it may be ok to leave trash. It's a hard job to keep up with when there is record attendance.

 

[kbelle8995]

I have walked into bathrooms WDW last month and only one was extremely dirty. I have walked on Buzz Lightyear and the floors were extremely sticky.

 

[JanaDee]

Yes, I especially noticed it in the bathrooms at the parks.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I worked as a custodial CM during the first part of my college program back in 2005, so I tend to notice these types of things. I was disgusted by one of the rest rooms at Epcot when I was there in January. It was not clean at all. There were paper towels every where, water all over the floor, and toilets that weren't clean. I had never seen anything like that. BUT, I have also seen a change in how the guests treat the place. When I was working as a custodian, whether I was in costume or in the parks on my day off, I noticed that guests seemed to work with us to keep the place clean. They threw their trash away and didn't intentionally make messes. If there was a mess, we were often told about it right away so we could go take care of it. When I was there in January, I saw people leaving paper towels on the sink counter. Why? Just throw it away. I saw people dropping their popcorn containers on top of the trash can rather than inside of it. I even saw people eating a counter service meal at a bench, put their trash down at their feet, and walk away. I don't understand this. Clean up after yourselves. What are you teaching your kids? And then I wonder how these parents would react if their child took their dinner plate, set it on the floor, and then went outside to play leaving the parent to clean it up.



But, if you see a mess, please do tell someone. The custodians work hard but can't be in multiple places at once. If a restroom isn't clean, please either find a custodian or a manager (the ones in street clothes rather than costume) and they will get it taken care of. If something isn't clean, people have less incentive to pick up after themselves and it just gets in worse shape.

 

[mcconnellfam96]

When we are in the parks (or anywhere for that matter) and I see some one just leaving or throwing trash around......I always want to pick it up and sneak it in their purse, backpack, stroller, etc. That way when they stick their hand in for their wallet a few hours later, they will find the stick, drippy ice cream wrapper that they left on the bench they got up from that afternoon.

 

[Sandy Fisher]

We were at Disney the first week of May. MUCH busier than we anticipated, at all of the parks early in the week. We noticed many CMs constantly cleaning up the walkways, seating areas, (outdoors) and so on. However people are sloppier and messier and for whatever reason can't seem to find trash cans!!!
I think it's a shame that many have become slobs. The CMs that run the rides and load and unload the riders are busy with their jobs, except maybe at the very start of the day. I can't even imagine discarding trash while riding Haunted Mansion. Come on, people, grow up !!!
I didn't see one messy bathroom -- even when we were at World Showcase a couple times. The newest bathroom next to American pavilion is LARGE and appears it will be easy to clean. It's also very modern in having good surfaces that should clean easily. However, I did see people dropping paper towels, etc. No excuse.
I think there are (right now at least) too many CMs devoted to the Magic Band and Fastpass plus issues and there could be more doing the routine stuff. I'm sure it's boring, but Disney is still the cleanest park by comparison. I feel bad for the ones who have to continually clean up after messy guests.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

My husband and I just returned from a week at WDW, a celebration of our 30th Anniversary. Overall we had a very good time, but I noticed trash where trash should not be . . .

1) And, your point is ?!?!?!
2) You have noticed some of the effects of Maintenance cut-backs.
3) Now, look at
. . . chipped paint on railings and walls
. . . burned out light bulbs on marques
. . . stains in carpets
. . . dings on painted corners
. . . lawns not as manicured as previously
. . . faded building paint not refreshed as quickly

NOTE: Ogre (I mean Iger) has to make his $34.3 million pay somehow. Reducing
Maintenance expense is always a good place to start.

 

[olwyngdh]

When we are in the parks (or anywhere for that matter) and I see some one just leaving or throwing trash around......I always want to pick it up and sneak it in their purse, backpack, stroller, etc. That way when they stick their hand in for their wallet a few hours later, they will find the stick, drippy ice cream wrapper that they left on the bench they got up from that afternoon.

I have been known to do this in the past. DD29 has done it too, and watching her sneak up on people and casually drop their trash in their stuff is amusing.

 

[Miskey]

1) And, your point is ?!?!?!
[/I]

And YOUR point is?!?!?!

I blame the public more than I blame the maintenance and custodial crews.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I don't know, I was pretty surprised at the shape of some of the restrooms too. For some weird reason, early May was like a freak out or something for massive amounts of people and maybe the CMs were blind sided too at all the crowds.

Probably the most surprising to me was the Disney Magic, their 'new' reimagineered ship. PALO is the fancy restaurant on board, and the bathroom is pretty small and almost no one is on that deck...and this bathroom adjacent to the fancy brunch restroom was disgusting (and btw, I'm not what one would consider a domestic goddess, unfortunately, so for me to notice, it has to really be bad. The kind of bad where you try one stall, nope, another one, yuck, and finally go find another restroom altogether....) This was during the middle of the day. Unfortunately, at midnight when we didn't want to disturb all the families in their staterooms, we went up to have tea and hang out at the beverage stand, only to be chased out by hoses washing the deck. Seems like a misstep of allocating Mousekeeping (nice phrase btw!)

I did make comments on the survey about it because its not at the level of the other Disney experiences I have had.

Come on Disney! Quit worrying about technology and get some really great folks to help! Last year, there were CMs sweeping every single solitary lil bitty leaf.

Better get some of Tink's friends to come and share their pixie dust...

 

[Malibustyle23]

When we went last September we stayed at ASMovies. I went to the front desk about another issue but I overheard another guest complaining about the fact that their bedding was taken off the bed and laid in the corner of the room next to the bed and was never replaced with clean. I also chimed in that mine was the same exact way. No idea why or how that came about.

That same week I saw, cleaned up, stepped over, etc, etc quite a few pieces of trash that were around the common hotel floor areas while mousekeeping walked right by it all.

 

[PJ]

We've definitely noticed this, and we've been going once a year since 1980, and spent the last 2 Winters 20 min from WDW using AP's 3-4 days a week.

I think its a combination of guests being a lot more messy, and maintenance cutbacks. The only thing we saw that I felt was completely unacceptable was the bathroom right next to Flights of Wonder at AK in which all 3 paper towel holders were empty. I think one so near (even a short) show should expect high traffic and should be monitored more frequently.

 

[hookedonears]

More guests, fewer CMS. That's what happens.

To obtain the budgeted net revenue growth in its Parks division, I guess Disney had a choice between "additional" or larger ticket price increases, cutting budgets for new attractions and/or infrastructure, cutting budgets for maintaining existing infrastructure, or cutting its general services budgets. I guess they've chosen the latter.