Are WDW parks really overflowing with trash?

[DLgal]

I'm one of the weird people that do consider and overflowing garbage can, with garbage scattered around the ground "a problem in general". Even if it is just one can in one park, that doesn't matter to me. The pictures show that it isn't just one single can though, it is clearly happening in multiple areas around the parks. Yeah, that is a problem.

It's also happening at Disneyland Resort, so seems like it's not a stretch to say this is a parks wide problem right now. There is only one division of the company to blame for this situation.

 

[DLgal]

https://**************.net/2021/07/...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[Malfie Cent]

Yes, it doesn't appear to be an isolated issue. I am willing to say that sometimes things happen and if Disney corrects quickly - i.e. immediately - then okay. If we continue to see photos of overflowing trashcans though, that is a major concern. The cleanliness of the parks has always been one of the major differences you got with Disney and it's not something they should compromise on.

I remember the first time I visited as an adult, I was truly amazed at how immaculate the parks were. It is really sad to see those pictures. There was a time that not one singe can would look like that in any of the parks

 

[Wandering Oaken]

Yes, it doesn't appear to be an isolated issue. I am willing to say that sometimes things happen and if Disney corrects quickly - i.e. immediately - then okay. If we continue to see photos of overflowing trashcans though, that is a major concern. The cleanliness of the parks has always been one of the major differences you got with Disney and it's not something they should compromise on.

I keep seeing Holiday World TV ads (about 1.5 hours from me) that now say they are the cleanest theme park in the US. If Disney keeps this up then that will absolutely be true. I've been to Holiday World several times and they are pretty spotless.

 

[Weedy]

This was posted on Disboards FB
So the problem is happening at other parks.
I guess high summer crowds after notenough employees

Universal related.
I haven't been able to keep up with recent Universal Show episodes so I don't know if these has been addressed on the shows but...
Man, what's going on with Universal?

I've been visiting for over 10 years, 90% of my trips during peak summer and NEVER EVER, have I seen the parks so dirty as I've seen during this trip.
All Freestyle machine areas smell like Coke that has been on the floor for days.
Queues full of trash. Overflowing Trash cans...

And LOTS of improper behavior from guests. Guests standing on benches, walls and other stuff. Guests smoking cigarettes (and joints) outside smoking areas. Even walking around the parks, even in front of team members, even in front of security personnel.

And I know, I know it's summer. I know it's harder to keep things "pristine" with high crowd levels. But, like I said, it's never been like I've seen this summer.

I visited Disney too last week. And, even tho I had other issues there, cleanliness was "better than appropriate" (lol) for the season and crowd levels.

Have this been addressed on the shows? Have any of you experienced this? Did pandemic turned me into a sanitizing freak? Or am I just crazy?

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

This was posted on Disboards FB
So the problem is happening at other parks.
I guess high summer crowds after notenough employees

Universal related.
I haven't been able to keep up with recent Universal Show episodes so I don't know if these has been addressed on the shows but...
Man, what's going on with Universal?

I've been visiting for over 10 years, 90% of my trips during peak summer and NEVER EVER, have I seen the parks so dirty as I've seen during this trip.
All Freestyle machine areas smell like Coke that has been on the floor for days.
Queues full of trash. Overflowing Trash cans...

And LOTS of improper behavior from guests. Guests standing on benches, walls and other stuff. Guests smoking cigarettes (and joints) outside smoking areas. Even walking around the parks, even in front of team members, even in front of security personnel.

And I know, I know it's summer. I know it's harder to keep things "pristine" with high crowd levels. But, like I said, it's never been like I've seen this summer.

I visited Disney too last week. And, even tho I had other issues there, cleanliness was "better than appropriate" (lol) for the season and crowd levels.

Have this been addressed on the shows? Have any of you experienced this? Did pandemic turned me into a sanitizing freak? Or am I just crazy?
View attachment 590748

I agree that it appears to be an issue that all parks are experiencing as the pent up demand is causing attendance surges and staffing isn’t at pre-pandemic levels yet.

Yesterday I was watching a live stream of the Magic Kingdom. It was 5pm and the vlogger made his way through all areas of the park over the course of about an hour and a half. Because of this thread my eyes were peeled for every garbage can in sight. They were all immaculate and I also saw several teams of custodial CMs with large rolling dumpsters to empty the cans. It looked exactly as I would expect the Magic Kingdom to look in terms of cleanliness.

I’m not trying to disprove or deny any of the posts on this thread, but overflowing trash really can be a time and place thing. 5pm - 6:30pm on a weekend in the summer at MK is a very crowded experience and the custodial situation was great in that instance yesterday afternoon.

I’m sure that the overall situation will improve as staffing levels adjust.

 

[BrianL]

This was posted on Disboards FB
So the problem is happening at other parks.
I guess high summer crowds after notenough employees

Universal related.
I haven't been able to keep up with recent Universal Show episodes so I don't know if these has been addressed on the shows but...
Man, what's going on with Universal?

I've been visiting for over 10 years, 90% of my trips during peak summer and NEVER EVER, have I seen the parks so dirty as I've seen during this trip.
All Freestyle machine areas smell like Coke that has been on the floor for days.
Queues full of trash. Overflowing Trash cans...

And LOTS of improper behavior from guests. Guests standing on benches, walls and other stuff. Guests smoking cigarettes (and joints) outside smoking areas. Even walking around the parks, even in front of team members, even in front of security personnel.

And I know, I know it's summer. I know it's harder to keep things "pristine" with high crowd levels. But, like I said, it's never been like I've seen this summer.

I visited Disney too last week. And, even tho I had other issues there, cleanliness was "better than appropriate" (lol) for the season and crowd levels.

Have this been addressed on the shows? Have any of you experienced this? Did pandemic turned me into a sanitizing freak? Or am I just crazy?
View attachment 590748

This is sad to hear, and the guest behavior is also a problem. As others have pointed out, when it seems like the park employees don't care, then the guests won't either. There are always a lot of first time visitors, and they take their cues from others, including staff. It is very important that all the parks fix this immediately!

 

[TiggerBouncy]

4) Hiring part time allows them to not have to include benefits. It's very common tactic for businesses to take. There really is no other reason to be hiring part time help. WalMart has to be one of the worst that does this, but many of them do. It's singlehandedly one of the biggest cost cutting measures they can implement.

I still think this falls under middle management hiding the problem. If anyone went into the management meetings and said "we can't get people to fill these positions because no one wants to work part time", you would walk out of there with approval to hire full time as long as you could back up that claim with statistics that showed how overflowing and behind sanitation was. That's not even a question and a few bucks on benefits isn't gonna make a crack in the stock prices. Not even in the sub-pennies.

I've seen enough posts over just the last few days that leads me to believe it is a big problem. Pics are from different days, different areas of the parks. It would seem that last jump in capacity has made a huge difference. I don't think this has been going on for long and by now these pics have undoubtedly been shared with WDW enough that not knowing is no longer an excuse. Perhaps they'll see what the result of their choices in hiring is and will make adjustments.

and I have seen enough posts about Universal, and my experience with local theme parks to say that this is not just a WDW problem. This is theme parks (and for that matter, museums, parks and other venues) in general. It's like the world have gone crazy.

These "hiccups" are a problem they created, not the pandemic. They have deliberately chosen to ramp up capacity beyond their ability to handle the crowds, both in sanitation and crowd control. Had they increased the ability to handle crowds before inviting the crowds, we'd be seeing a much different picture right now.

Is it though? I would believe you except for what I just said above. This is not jus a WDW problem, or even a Disney problem. Sure, there are people who have figured it out... but it's a widespread problem, which leads me to believe there is more to the underlying issue. What that more is; I do not know. Maybe people are using more trash in general, or drink and eating more, or bringing more trash to bins rather then leaving them at tables, or I DON'T KNOW. But I am less inclined to say it's a problem they created solely by themselves when it's so widespread - because the evidence says otherwise.

 

[glocon]

I keep seeing Holiday World TV ads (about 1.5 hours from me) that now say they are the cleanest theme park in the US. If Disney keeps this up then that will absolutely be true. I've been to Holiday World several times and they are pretty spotless.

We live about 2.5 hrs from Holiday World and did it often when DS was younger. It’s always prided itself on being the “Cleanest Park”... HW maybe even said they won awards for it? IDK, it always was a clean and fun park. We never could help but compare the entertainment there to WDW and giggle, but they sure did try. Disney just has always been an industry leader and held to high standards, and those pictures just disappoint.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

There's a local amusement park/zoo near me that I won't go to, with one of the main reasons being that it is dirty/not cared for. If Disney turns into this....it would really turn me off. If they can't clean up trash that tells me the bathrooms aren't that clean, rides might not be inspected as much, etc. It just points to a company not caring.

 

[2Lunds]

Thought: are limits on indoor dining having an impact on this? More ppl at mealtimes eating outside, eating stuff that comes in paper/foil/plastic wrapping etc... COMBINED with reductions in custodial staff?

 

[philbrody]

Quite frankly I'm appalled at the events. It's not hard at all to have a staffing model that says for X people in the park we need Y cast members. All the data Disney has been collecting for years on daily attendance would make this a no brainer. All it takes is one decision maker to say dont increase capacity until we have time to hire and train staff. I work in healthcare and got about 24 hrs grace with staffing models when the pandemic sent most of the staff home. Expectation was service was back to normal the day after next

 

[wdw&sonny]

CEO Bob Chapek has publicly stated:

We took the opportunity to revisit sort of our legacy operations to improve the yield because it is the ultimate in a capacity-constrained environment but also to improve our guest experience where we've had an opportunity to look at things like pricing and ticketing outside the constraint of an ongoing concern and ongoing business when we shut down for a year. So that really gave us the opportunity to say, when we emerge, how do we want to emerge and how does that fit our yielding strategy and our guest experience strategy?​

I suspect he's mostly focused on "our yielding strategy" and less focused on "our guest experience strategy".

Bob used a lot of words to say the parks are too crowded and rather than spend money to expand, we're increasing prices and getting rid of free stuff.

 

[vcb]

I was there 2 weeks ago and MK was the dirtiest I've ever seen it. I didn't notice it at any other park. There were definitely overflowing trash cans. I did not take a picture and I did not comment on it until my husband did. I tried to ignore it, really. If this many people are noticing, I'd say it's happening and it needs to be addressed.

 

[cakebaker]

and I have seen enough posts about Universal, and my experience with local theme parks to say that this is not just a WDW problem.

But I don't care what is happening at Universal. All I know is it hasn't happened at Disney before to this degree and the why is clear to me. They aren't even hiring full time staff. It has nothing to do with guest behavior or the world going crazy. They have too many guests, not enough staff. Simple. My local amusement park has cleanliness issues too, but that hasn't got a thing to do with WDW.

It's not rocket science. Trash cans are full. Trash cans need emptied. You need staff to empty them. Hire them- pay what it takes to get the staff you need. In the alternative, don't let more people into your park than you have staff to support. Seriously, very, very simple.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

But I don't care what is happening at Universal. All I know is it hasn't happened at Disney before to this degree and the why is clear to me. They aren't even hiring full time staff. It has nothing to do with guest behavior or the world going crazy. They have too many guests, not enough staff. Simple. My local amusement park has cleanliness issues too, but that hasn't got a thing to do with WDW.

It's not rocket science. Trash cans are full. Trash cans need emptied. You need staff to empty them. Hire them- pay what it takes to get the staff you need. In the alternative, don't let more people into your park than you have staff to support. Seriously, very, very simple.

I’m not sure that it can be said that it has never happened at WDW before. Having been during Food & Wine and exceptionally busy times like Spring Break and Christmas in the past few years (pre-Covid), I can say I have absolutely seen overflowing trash cans, dirty bathrooms etc. Food & Wine, Flower & Garden on weekends make World Showcase an absolute disaster. Even with temporary cardboard trash cans, everything overflows during those events.

And while you’d like to surmise it’s only due to a lack of full-time staff, there is no way that this issue is defined by just one element. It absolutely is a combination of staffing, pent up demand, guest behaviour, the world being different. It’s not an excuse, just an understanding that there is more complexity than just one thing.

 

[disneyseniors]

I really believe the problem lies with the hiring practices. If they are truly only hiring mostly part time staff, then no wonder they can't keep up. Who can afford to live on part time wages, if as others on here have stated, disney makes it impossible to do another part time job.
It seems that alot of big corporations, companies are doing this, and it stinks. I worked at a clinic which had the best reputation of care. Then it was bought out and the new management immediately let go (or tried to until they did it) of anyone with seniority making the highest wages. I worked with one hospice nurse who had been at the clinic for 20 plus years when th e hospice program started. She was making the top wages for RN's. Then the new management worked at trying to get rid of her, and they finally did it. I don't know if she just got tired of fighting them. She was the best nurse you could have for hospice patients and their families; ie: loving, caring, very knowledgable with common sense.
Would you want a seasoned, experienced proven nurse or a new grad? They tried to push part time too, with just a couple of full time jobs "available".
So, that's what alot of big companies do, even in health care. Just sad.

 

[Stratman50th]

But they still have those wonderful paper straws. There's that.....

 

[TiggerBouncy]

But I don't care what is happening at Universal. All I know is it hasn't happened at Disney before to this degree and the why is clear to me. They aren't even hiring full time staff. It has nothing to do with guest behavior or the world going crazy. They have too many guests, not enough staff. Simple. My local amusement park has cleanliness issues too, but that hasn't got a thing to do with WDW.

It's not rocket science. Trash cans are full. Trash cans need emptied. You need staff to empty them. Hire them- pay what it takes to get the staff you need. In the alternative, don't let more people into your park than you have staff to support. Seriously, very, very simple.

Ignoring Disney for the moment and just using logic.

Your car works reliably to get you from point A to point B. Your car breaks down.... Logic assumes there is a problem with your car.

Your car works reliably to get you from point A to point B. Your car breaks down and you notice that 80% of the cars in the world all happen to break down at the same time, Assuming there is a problem with your car and addressing it as a problem which only applies to you is poor strategy, shows a clear lack of understanding and is prone to failure.

Likewise, assuming that it's as easy as just hiring bodies and throwing them at the problem without understanding the source of the problem is poor management.

 

[cakebaker]

I’m not sure that it can be said that it has never happened at WDW before. Having been during Food & Wine and exceptionally busy times like Spring Break and Christmas in the past few years (pre-Covid), I can say I have absolutely seen overflowing trash cans, dirty bathrooms etc. Food & Wine, Flower & Garden on weekends make World Showcase an absolute disaster. Even with temporary cardboard trash cans, everything overflows during those events.

And while you’d like to surmise it’s only due to a lack of full-time staff, there is no way that this issue is defined by just one element. It absolutely is a combination of staffing, pent up demand, guest behaviour, the world being different. It’s not an excuse, just an understanding that there is more complexity than just one thing.

The parks may be crowded, but they are still capped and the crowd levels are nowhere near what you'd find during Christmas or Spring Break. It may feel more crowded becasue there's nowhere for guests to go, but numbers wise- they aren't anything close to more than a normal busy day.

And the pics aren't from Epcot so what happens there during busy times doesn't matter. I'm talking about the MK and AK.

Again, not rocket science here. They either have staff sitting around not doing their jobs or they don't have enough staff. I think it's the latter and I know from their job offerings, they aren't willing to hire full time custodial staff. You have more faith than me that all it would take is someone in middle management asking to hire more. They have to know they don't have enough staff right now. They don't care. They are cutting corners and saving money. Period. You're making it much more difficult than it is. We're talking about trash cans that need to be emptied. You don't need a study to figure out why it's happening.