Battle far from park visitors' minds
However, frequent visitors say upkeep has slipped recently.
By Todd Pack
Sentinel Staff Writer
March 3, 2004
Doug Murray worries that the Disney parks are in a slow, sad decline.
Don't get him wrong. He loves Disney and takes his wife to Walt Disney World at least once a week.
But he can't help thinking the parks are losing some of their fabled magic.
"If you were at a Disney park 10 years ago, you couldn't walk down the street without seeing someone sweeping up. Now, I don't think you'd ever see someone sweeping up," said Murray, a writer who lives in Deltona.
Such comments sting, but Disney executives say they're a reflection of the high expectations people have of the company's parks.
"Only we would be judged this way," Disney spokesman Bill Warren said.
Still, such criticisms are proving a rallying point for former directors Roy Disney and Stanley Gold in their bid to unseat Michael Eisner as chairman and chief executive of the Walt Disney Co.
On Tuesday, Disney said he has been concerned about the company's parks for a while.
Speaking at a news conference a day before the company's annual shareholders meeting in Philadelphia, Walt Disney's nephew referred to the parks as one and said the company should "paint the damn thing and change the light bulbs that are out. It needs that kind of attention."
Comcast Corp. has also taken swipes at the parks.
Stephen Burke, a senior executive with the cable company, which made an unsolicited bid last month to buy Disney, has called the parks a key asset but said, "We believe there are ways to revitalize those businesses, to restore some of the creative spark to the attractions."
Eisner has rejected such criticism as "rhetoric."
Besides the $100 million rocketship ride Mission: Space at Epcot and the 3-D movie Mickey's PhilharMagic at the Magic Kingdom, company officials say Disney is investing heavily in new attractions at each of its four parks in Orlando.
"We feel very good about the state of Walt Disney World," said Erin Wallace, senior vice president of operations at the company's Orlando resort. Disney has reduced capital spending at its U.S. parks -- down about $700 million in 2003 compared with 2001 -- but it hasn't neglected them, she said.
Critics such as Roy Disney, though, worry the company is overlooking the little things that historically separated its parks from those of its competitors.
"I've had e-mails say, 'When did you stop keeping the restrooms clean?' And I'm in absolute shock about that," he said in Philadelphia.
"If we ever had a trademark, it was that: cleanliness," he said.
Disneyphiles agree, saying it's disappointing when the parks don't meet their high expectations.
"Used to, you could take a piece of wrapping paper and throw it on the ground and within two minutes, it would be picked up by somebody," said Arlen Miller, president of World Chapter, a local Disney collectibles club.
Now, it may take several minutes for a custodian to sweep up the trash, he said.
In a way, such criticism is a compliment, said Jeff Vahle, senior vice president of facilities and operations services. "It's a tribute to us that people notice when there's a piece of trash on the ground," he said.
Vahle said the Orlando resort has an army of about 5,000 workers responsible for maintaining the property -- about 10 percent of the resort's work force.
"Whenever they see 'bad show'" -- anything that looks less than perfect -- "that team is responsible for going out and addressing that within 24 to 48 hours," he said.
Supervisors survey the parks daily, and ordinary employees are given a special phone number to report problems, he said.
On one recent weekday morning, there were signs of wear on the monorail that shuttled guests from the parking lot to the gates of the Magic Kingdom -- chipped paint on some of the metal surfaces and scuffs on some of the wall panels.
But when the train cut through the atrium of the Contemporary Resort on its way from the parking lot to the park, a server in one of the hotel's restaurants paused to wave at the passengers.
Inside the park, it was plain that workers hadn't completed repairs of a broken window above Main Street U.S.A. They had replaced one of four panes in the second-story window of Town Square Tailors, but they hadn't yet replaced the fictional business' sign.
Uniformed employees with brooms and dustpans swept through the park. And despite the crowds there was almost no litter save a discarded show schedule here and a candy wrapper there.
Disney sets the standard for theme parks, said consultant Jerry Aldrich of Orlando.
"The whole world of the amusement industry looks up to these guys," said Aldrich, president of Amusement Industry Consulting and a former Disney executive.
But setting the standard isn't easy, said Bill Coan, president of ITEC Entertainment in Orlando and a former Disney executive.
Since the Magic Kingdom opened its gates in 1971, Walt Disney World has grown into one of the world's most visited resorts, with 20 hotels and time-share properties, four amusement parks, two water parks and a "downtown" shopping and entertainment district.
"Disney has a real choice between perfection and realities of commercial business," Coan said. "It'll never be perfect, but what they do is awful darn good."
Recent first-time visitor Evelyn Guthrie had no complaints.
"As a big kid, I thought it was wonderful," said Guthrie, a 67-year-old grandmother from Scotland.
Was it as wonderful as she had imagined it would be?
"Absolutely," she said.
Sean Mussenden of the Sentinel staff contributed to this story. Todd Pack can be reached at tpack@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5407.
However, frequent visitors say upkeep has slipped recently.
By Todd Pack
Sentinel Staff Writer
March 3, 2004
Doug Murray worries that the Disney parks are in a slow, sad decline.
Don't get him wrong. He loves Disney and takes his wife to Walt Disney World at least once a week.
But he can't help thinking the parks are losing some of their fabled magic.
"If you were at a Disney park 10 years ago, you couldn't walk down the street without seeing someone sweeping up. Now, I don't think you'd ever see someone sweeping up," said Murray, a writer who lives in Deltona.
Such comments sting, but Disney executives say they're a reflection of the high expectations people have of the company's parks.
"Only we would be judged this way," Disney spokesman Bill Warren said.
Still, such criticisms are proving a rallying point for former directors Roy Disney and Stanley Gold in their bid to unseat Michael Eisner as chairman and chief executive of the Walt Disney Co.
On Tuesday, Disney said he has been concerned about the company's parks for a while.
Speaking at a news conference a day before the company's annual shareholders meeting in Philadelphia, Walt Disney's nephew referred to the parks as one and said the company should "paint the damn thing and change the light bulbs that are out. It needs that kind of attention."
Comcast Corp. has also taken swipes at the parks.
Stephen Burke, a senior executive with the cable company, which made an unsolicited bid last month to buy Disney, has called the parks a key asset but said, "We believe there are ways to revitalize those businesses, to restore some of the creative spark to the attractions."
Eisner has rejected such criticism as "rhetoric."
Besides the $100 million rocketship ride Mission: Space at Epcot and the 3-D movie Mickey's PhilharMagic at the Magic Kingdom, company officials say Disney is investing heavily in new attractions at each of its four parks in Orlando.
"We feel very good about the state of Walt Disney World," said Erin Wallace, senior vice president of operations at the company's Orlando resort. Disney has reduced capital spending at its U.S. parks -- down about $700 million in 2003 compared with 2001 -- but it hasn't neglected them, she said.
Critics such as Roy Disney, though, worry the company is overlooking the little things that historically separated its parks from those of its competitors.
"I've had e-mails say, 'When did you stop keeping the restrooms clean?' And I'm in absolute shock about that," he said in Philadelphia.
"If we ever had a trademark, it was that: cleanliness," he said.
Disneyphiles agree, saying it's disappointing when the parks don't meet their high expectations.
"Used to, you could take a piece of wrapping paper and throw it on the ground and within two minutes, it would be picked up by somebody," said Arlen Miller, president of World Chapter, a local Disney collectibles club.
Now, it may take several minutes for a custodian to sweep up the trash, he said.
In a way, such criticism is a compliment, said Jeff Vahle, senior vice president of facilities and operations services. "It's a tribute to us that people notice when there's a piece of trash on the ground," he said.
Vahle said the Orlando resort has an army of about 5,000 workers responsible for maintaining the property -- about 10 percent of the resort's work force.
"Whenever they see 'bad show'" -- anything that looks less than perfect -- "that team is responsible for going out and addressing that within 24 to 48 hours," he said.
Supervisors survey the parks daily, and ordinary employees are given a special phone number to report problems, he said.
On one recent weekday morning, there were signs of wear on the monorail that shuttled guests from the parking lot to the gates of the Magic Kingdom -- chipped paint on some of the metal surfaces and scuffs on some of the wall panels.
But when the train cut through the atrium of the Contemporary Resort on its way from the parking lot to the park, a server in one of the hotel's restaurants paused to wave at the passengers.
Inside the park, it was plain that workers hadn't completed repairs of a broken window above Main Street U.S.A. They had replaced one of four panes in the second-story window of Town Square Tailors, but they hadn't yet replaced the fictional business' sign.
Uniformed employees with brooms and dustpans swept through the park. And despite the crowds there was almost no litter save a discarded show schedule here and a candy wrapper there.
Disney sets the standard for theme parks, said consultant Jerry Aldrich of Orlando.
"The whole world of the amusement industry looks up to these guys," said Aldrich, president of Amusement Industry Consulting and a former Disney executive.
But setting the standard isn't easy, said Bill Coan, president of ITEC Entertainment in Orlando and a former Disney executive.
Since the Magic Kingdom opened its gates in 1971, Walt Disney World has grown into one of the world's most visited resorts, with 20 hotels and time-share properties, four amusement parks, two water parks and a "downtown" shopping and entertainment district.
"Disney has a real choice between perfection and realities of commercial business," Coan said. "It'll never be perfect, but what they do is awful darn good."
Recent first-time visitor Evelyn Guthrie had no complaints.
"As a big kid, I thought it was wonderful," said Guthrie, a 67-year-old grandmother from Scotland.
Was it as wonderful as she had imagined it would be?
"Absolutely," she said.
Sean Mussenden of the Sentinel staff contributed to this story. Todd Pack can be reached at tpack@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5407.
