Did Disney fire all it's bathroom attendants?

[Eldon_Brasche]

Okay, the problem as I see it is that the restrooms are a cost center and Disney needs to find a way to monetize them and turn them into a profit center and the restrooms will instantly become cleaner.

So, from here on, all guests will be accessed a charge to their MM account in the amount of $5 per bathroom visit. Guest will have a chance to recover a portion of that charge, depending on how much effort they are willing to put forth.

Sensors in their Magic Bands will determine the level of cleanliness the guests leave it in and return funds back to the account based on the following scale:

$4 returned if guest stays and cleans the restroom after using it.

$2 returned if guest leaves the restroom in the same condition as when they entered it.

$0 returned if the guest leaves the restroom in worse condition than when they entered it.

I know that on an average park day, I may visit the restroom about 5 times per day. So as long as I stay and clean up after each visit, the restrooms will always be clean and Disney will earn $5 off of me in the process. And if I feel like being a pig and leaving it a mess, they earn up to $25 per day off me.

Win-Win

 

[kbelle8995]

If you think the bathrooms are bad go on Buzz Lightyear, the floor is disgustingly sticky.

 

[Mkrop]

It must be a very recent phenomena, as the bathrooms were very clean when I was at WDW in October.

And for the people who say the blame is all on Disney, bull! Who wants to pay what it would cost to have 10 people cleaning each bathroom? Guests need to take some responsibility for the messes they make. People feel so entitled in the parks that by spending money they can throw garbage on the ground, or smear poop all over, and they shoulder none of the blame for it??? That is crazy talk!

Guests shouldn't think it is acceptable to trash restrooms, or stores, or the walkways. And it is a sad statement on our society that people think the blame falls on on the place of business, and not on the pigs that make the mess to begin with. So many people with no respect for their surroundings. Disgusting.

How come WDW was able to keep the bathrooms so clean in the past? Why are trash cans that people are trying to use overflowing, that is an easy mess that should be kept on top of.

And why arent these "pigs" not in Universal down the road, if they are able to keep their bathrooms clean

 

[brunette8706]

It must be a very recent phenomena, as the bathrooms were very clean when I was at WDW in October.

And for the people who say the blame is all on Disney, bull! Who wants to pay what it would cost to have 10 people cleaning each bathroom? Guests need to take some responsibility for the messes they make. People feel so entitled in the parks that by spending money they can throw garbage on the ground, or smear poop all over, and they shoulder none of the blame for it??? That is crazy talk!

Guests shouldn't think it is acceptable to trash restrooms, or stores, or the walkways. And it is a sad statement on our society that people think the blame falls on on the place of business, and not on the pigs that make the mess to begin with. So many people with no respect for their surroundings. Disgusting.

*
It's Disney's problem. If there is a need for more attendants then Disney needs to address that issue. Yes people have always been pigs. l've seen it all. But if they want to keep their "Disney BAR" high then they need to hire more attendants to correct this problem. This isn't Six Flags it's Disney a premier theme park.

 

[brunette8706]

How come WDW was able to keep the bathrooms so clean in the past? Why are trash cans that people are trying to use overflowing, that is an easy mess that should be kept on top of.

And why arent these "pigs" not in Universal down the road, if they are able to keep their bathrooms clean

 

[aribelle]

I saw someone walk out of Main Street bakery/Starbucks and drop their empty sugar packets and extra napkins right on the ground some people truly are lazy pigs.

My daughter will go pick up the trash and trot over to the person hand it to them and say "I think you dropped this"...and trot off. I LOVE to stand back and watch the shocked reaction.

As many times as she has done this, each time she says "I think you dropped this " the person holds out their hand automatically.

 

[Suvadoo]

My daughter will go pick up the trash and trot over to the person hand it to them and say "I think you dropped this"...and trot off. I LOVE to stand back and watch the shocked reaction.

As many times as she has done this, each time she says "I think you dropped this " the person holds out their hand automatically.

That's great! How old is your daughter?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I worked housekeeping at Disney's Vero Beach resort in 1997. I assure you that I took pride in my job and did an excellent job cleaning. That said--guests can turn an immaculate job into a mess in no time flat. Guests taking the time to clean up after themselves--wiping the seat when they sprinkle, making sure to do a second flush if the properly working toilet doesn't quite get everything on the first try, making sure those stupid toilet seat covers get flushed, wiping the puddles they create around the sink, making sure trash makes it in the trash can--goes a long way to a tidy bathroom.

As posted, cast members work by doing rounds. They may have multiple bathrooms or also be assigned to emptying trash cans and sweeping. A bathroom may be "neglected" for 15-30 minutes. It can just take 30 seconds after they leave before any of the above tips are neglected and the place get trashed.

For reference, my job was Lobby CM. At start of shift, I did bathroom rounds of all public area bathrooms (I think it included the pool area but I cannot recall), then lobby work. If I and evening shift, around. 6 or 7, I emptied all trash cans in the DVC area and back office and cleaned their bathroom. I also cleaning the restaurant staff bathroom. Then I cycled through and cleaned the lobby bathrooms again mid shift and then again towards end of shift. Then in addition of all that, I answered any service calls in between for anything requiring immediate attention--like when a toilet overflowed and flooded the bathroom by the restaurant. This would requiring ignoring all other tasks while the immediate issue was rectified. I was a one person staff assigned for all of this--though for something like the flooding, there would be one additional housekeeper cast member who I could call for assistance. But in my 3 months of working, that happened all of once. Everything else was me, myself, and I.

I am here at Disney now as well and yes, I have noticed the same thing as the OP. But the messes are not something that an individual guests could not have done themselves--like flushing those darn toilet seat covers.

Perhaps more CMs are needed so that rounds can become more frequent.

But if guests continue to leave the bathroom worse than they found it, the only solution will be a full time attendant in the bathroom.

Yes, bathrooms need to be maintained, but I think people assume these cast members are their personal maids.

So I think it may be part staffing and part had guest behavior. The staffing issue is when bathrooms are seeing more use as evidenced by full trash cans.

Several times I have visited a bathroom while a Cast Member was servicing it.


***

One odd thing I noticed was that I have noticed 2 Sharps containers already full. One was in the park but later in the day, so that made sense.

The other was at 9:30 this morning at the WL lobby bathroom. I assume that these must be serviced separately by someone specially trained for that. Anyone know?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

How come WDW was able to keep the bathrooms so clean in the past? Why are trash cans that people are trying to use overflowing, that is an easy mess that should be kept on top of.

And why arent these "pigs" not in Universal down the road, if they are able to keep their bathrooms clean

More traffic.

Assumption that Disney has the higher bad and will clean up after them.

Guest care more about keeping their hands clean at Disney? (I kid!)

Only went to IOA back at the end of January. Bathrooms were immaculate, but the park was empty. 7 days later, went to MK--low crowds, but many more than we saw at IOA. Bathrooms were clean that I noticed, maybe even immaculate. But this week is busier than we experienced in February at MK. I wonder if crowds are comparable or less at Universal.

 

[Suvadoo]

More traffic.

Assumption that Disney has the higher bad and will clean up after them.

Guest care more about keeping their hands clean at Disney? (I kid!)

Only went to IOA back at the end of January. Bathrooms were immaculate, but the park was empty. 7 days later, went to MK--low crowds, but many more than we saw at IOA. Bathrooms were clean that I noticed, maybe even immaculate. But this week is busier than we experienced in February at MK. I wonder if crowds are comparable or less at Universal.

Regardless of the reason,Disney needs to fix their bathroom problem. As mom2rtk said, MDE was supposed to help Disney staff for park attendance. Why haven't they hired more CM's?

 

[aribelle]

That's great! How old is your daughter?

She's 18 now, but she's been doing this since she was about 7 or 8.....at WDW and in shopping malls, parks, etc.

 

[cgattis]

My daughter will go pick up the trash and trot over to the person hand it to them and say "I think you dropped this"...and trot off. I LOVE to stand back and watch the shocked reaction. As many times as she has done this, each time she says "I think you dropped this " the person holds out their hand automatically.

Interesting; it's evidently a reflex. Once when I was pregnant and extremely airsick, I discreetly asked a flight attendant for several airsick bags. I was very embarrassed and felt bad for the folks who'd had to endure sitting with me for the first leg of my flight. I was mortified when she came marching up the aisle fluffing out a giant black Hefty bag. Needless to say I found my own little bags and as I departed the aircraft, held a full one out to her with my hearty thanks and she just automatically reached out and took it. Hope she enjoyed it.

To echo what a couple of PP said, I used to think the restrooms outside MK were the worst in the World, but during our March trip those in the Adventureland/Frontierland pass thru were just awful"

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Regardless of the reason,Disney needs to fix their bathroom problem. As mom2rtk said, MDE was supposed to help Disney staff for park attendance. Why haven't they hired more CM's?

I don't know.

I do wonder why bathroom attendants are needed to flush toilet seat covers. I keep finding those things and I blame guests and not lack of attendants.

I have seen many Custodial CMs this week.

 

[Glenn]

A coworker was at wdw in late sept/early oct. Their last trip was fall 2011. Besides food and merchandise they complained about how dirty and run down the parks felt. Yep restrooms were from ok to really bad. She said when hubby started to complain she knew it was bad.
It wasnt just restrooms but just lots of trash. A good example of what I think is not enough workers is her example of overflowing trash cans. One of the days they were in MK it rained. They saw one can overflowing & it had a broken umbrella sticking out of the top. About 2 hrs later they passed the same area and low and behold there was that same umbrella sticking out of the same overflowing trash can. How can people try to be neat if the trash cans dont get emptied enough to use?
They cut staff when it was slow and never increased staffing when people are coming out of the woodwork. More money for Disney. Maybe pay toilets will be the next money maker.

 

[chachabingo]

As a former Custodial CM, this thread was certainly an interesting one to go through…

While I will say that more staffing could certainly help (for most bathrooms I worked at, I was the only CM there for the duration of my 8 hour shift - only one bathroom in my area would have two attendants for most of the day, and even then I'd be left to handle 40+ stalls on my own after 8 PM), I cannot underestimate how filthy guests would leave our bathrooms. If everyone simply learned to flush (and double checked, if only relying upon the automatic sensor!), used a seat cover properly/didn't hover, and threw their trash away in the proper receptacle, I would've had much more time to consistently restock my restroom, dispose of trash, and do a general sweep of the area. More often then not, half of my shift would consist of me walking the rows of stalls, and having to do these basic things because guests couldn't be bothered to clean up after themselves.

I took so much pride in keeping a clean restroom, and most of the people I worked with felt the same way. But keep in mind that it is a two way street - instead of criticizing the CM's, who I can almost guarantee are working their hardest, given the circumstances, please try to have empathy and understand just how difficult cleaning the restrooms can be.

 

[Suvadoo]

As a former Custodial CM, this thread was certainly an interesting one to go through…

While I will say that more staffing could certainly help (for most bathrooms I worked at, I was the only CM there for the duration of my 8 hour shift - only one bathroom in my area would have two attendants for most of the day, and even then I'd be left to handle 40+ stalls on my own after 8 PM), I cannot underestimate how filthy guests would leave our bathrooms. If everyone simply learned to flush (and double checked, if only relying upon the automatic sensor!), used a seat cover properly/didn't hover, and threw their trash away in the proper receptacle, I would've had much more time to consistently restock my restroom, dispose of trash, and do a general sweep of the area. More often then not, half of my shift would consist of me walking the rows of stalls, and having to do these basic things because guests couldn't be bothered to clean up after themselves.

I took so much pride in keeping a clean restroom, and most of the people I worked with felt the same way. But keep in mind that it is a two way street - instead of criticizing the CM's, who I can almost guarantee are working their hardest, given the circumstances, please try to have empathy and understand just how difficult cleaning the restrooms can be.

Reading through this post, I'm seeing that people are criticizing Disney, not the CM's. Everyone is saying that Disney needs to hire more CM's to maintain the parks especially since the parks are so crowded.

No one is saying that guest sloppiness is not a factor, but hasn't that always been a problem? I don't think any of us is going to change guest behavior, but when Disney's bathrooms are comparable to a roadside gas station's Disney needs to hire additional CM's to address the problem.

 

[Suvadoo]

It's not just in the parks. We ate at Cali Grill just two weeks ago. Had a 5:45 pm reservation, so the restaurant had barely just opened. We went to the bathroom to wash our hands and there were used cloth hand towels everywhere - overflowing from the basket onto the floor. I thought maybe they had had a private event earlier and they didn't clean? Or it was left over from the night before?! This was in a SIGNATURE restaurant. It was gross. On the flip side, we ate at blue zoo at the Dolphin and there was an attendant in the bathroom when we went who was very carefully creating a big, beautiful pyramid at the sink with freshly washed hand towels. A very, different experience.

I would compare the prices at California Grill to Capitol Grill or Ruth's Chris.
Where else, besides Disney, could a fine dining restaurant get away with this type of bathroom situation?

 

[mom2rtk]

Reading through this post, I'm seeing that people are criticizing Disney, not the CM's. Everyone is saying that Disney needs to hire more CM's to maintain the parks especially since the parks are so crowded.

No one is saying that guest sloppiness is not a factor, but hasn't that always been a problem? I don't think any of us is going to change guest behavior, but when Disney's bathrooms are comparable to a roadside gas station's Disney needs to hire additional CM's to address the problem.

Agreed. Criticizing "Disney" does not mean people are criticizing the CMs. They clearly have no control over whether Disney puts enough of them out there to get the job done.

And while people might be more filthy and inconsiderate than they used to be, Disney has no control over that. But they do have complete control over how they respond to it.

And I'm still waiting for an answer to how the restrooms at US can be so clean at the same time the Disney ones are so dirty. They both draw patrons from the same pool of patrons.

 

[Suvadoo]

Agreed. Criticizing "Disney" does not mean people are criticizing the CMs. They clearly have no control over whether Disney puts enough of them out there to get the job done.

And while people might be more filthy and inconsiderate than they used to be, Disney has no control over that. But they do have complete control over how they respond to it.

And I'm still waiting for an answer to how the restrooms at US can be so clean at the same time the Disney ones are so dirty. They both draw patrons from the same pool of patrons.

I know that answer: no one visits Universal since it's a substandard experience. Since there's no visitors, the parks are clean!!

 

[GAN]

As a former Custodial CM, this thread was certainly an interesting one to go through… While I will say that more staffing could certainly help (for most bathrooms I worked at, I was the only CM there for the duration of my 8 hour shift - only one bathroom in my area would have two attendants for most of the day, and even then I'd be left to handle 40+ stalls on my own after 8 PM), I cannot underestimate how filthy guests would leave our bathrooms. If everyone simply learned to flush (and double checked, if only relying upon the automatic sensor!), used a seat cover properly/didn't hover, and threw their trash away in the proper receptacle, I would've had much more time to consistently restock my restroom, dispose of trash, and do a general sweep of the area. More often then not, half of my shift would consist of me walking the rows of stalls, and having to do these basic things because guests couldn't be bothered to clean up after themselves. I took so much pride in keeping a clean restroom, and most of the people I worked with felt the same way. But keep in mind that it is a two way street - instead of criticizing the CM's, who I can almost guarantee are working their hardest, given the circumstances, please try to have empathy and understand just how difficult cleaning the restrooms can be.

I brought up this same point earlier. Disney keeps jamming more guests into parks and more than likely using a slight increase in cast. As a shareholder, I'm all for profits ...but I fear they will be jumping the shark in the near future, if they haven't already with long-time visitors(20+ years). Of course, their ace in the hole is that there will ALWAYS be a fresh guest pool that have no comparison to the past.