This may be a long-winded entry, so my apologies in advance.
Just returned from a week-long trip to the Disney World area. I had been reading the forums on this site for about 2 3 weeks prior to going and thought I would add a few comments. First of all, we stayed off property as I like the flexibility it affords us in choosing how many days of park passes I want to purchase and the greater chance to do and see things and eat at places that are outside of the Disney realm. I have spoken to many people who stay on property for the duration of their stay and never leave the property. With so much to do in the area, that puzzles me. But I digress .. In the end, we spent the better part of 5 days hopping between Disney parks and roughly 2 days at Universals two parks. We also spent some time at Downtown Disney\Pleasure Island and attended the breakfast buffet one morning at the Grand Floridian, at which we had the best meals of our entire trip! Makes me wonder how the dinner buffet is.
After reading the negative comments about park cleanliness, the CMs dispositions, and the general upkeep (or lack thereof) of the parks and rides I was anxious about our trip as we hadnt been there in about 6 7 years and that weighed heavily on my mind. I always seem to dwell on the negative as the positives about Disney are a given. So, as expected I had my eyes open for the all of the negative things I had been reading about.
Overall, we thought the parks were immaculate and everything we could have expected and hoped for. Here is a quick breakdown:
The parks were as clean as I had always remembered. Many times we saw CMs vacuuming the walkways and streets and even riding around on Segways picking up trash along with some on foot doing the same. We did see some litter here and there but it was very infrequent. That is to be expected and Ill bet it was cleaned up promptly. I even picked some up.
The bathrooms were as clean as I would expect considering the incredible amount of people who pass through them. On occasion, we would encounter CMs in the bathrooms frantically struggling to clean up after people who I can only characterize as slobs.
The counter service dining areas were not that clean, but on more than one occasion we saw CMs struggling to clean up after people who simply could or would not pick up after themselves. I was appalled at the trash people leave behind in the dining areas. I actually felt sorry for one CM in one of the Animal Kingdoms dining areas who could not keep up with the trash people were leaving behind in addition to wiping down the tables. I almost wanted to help him.
The CMs who perform these thankless tasks are saints!!
The condition of the rides and their waiting areas, in my opinion, were very satisfactory. I saw no problems with any of them aside from the expected wear and tear. Once again, considering the vast amount of people who pass through these rides and the age of some of them (I rode Space Mountain back in the mid-70s) I thought everything was perfectly acceptable.
I also found the disposition of the CMs to be about what I would expect from people who encounter such a vast amount of people on a daily basis and such a varied cross section of people from all over the world in every disposition possible. Some were exceptional, some were not. One that was not that comes to mind was the girl pouring wine at the Italy pavilion in Epcot. She was terribly rude. I had my hand out waiting for my change and she dropped it on the counter and never once looked me in the eye or smiled or acknowledged my Thank You. On the other hand, the girl pouring wine in France was a delight.
In the end, I was very relieved that I did not agree with what I had been reading. I was actually very dismayed about this prior to going.
To sum things up, we had an absolutely wonderful week and cant wait to return. A big thanks to everyone who adds to this forum as it is a wealth of information.
BTW We had a great time at Universal also.
Just returned from a week-long trip to the Disney World area. I had been reading the forums on this site for about 2 3 weeks prior to going and thought I would add a few comments. First of all, we stayed off property as I like the flexibility it affords us in choosing how many days of park passes I want to purchase and the greater chance to do and see things and eat at places that are outside of the Disney realm. I have spoken to many people who stay on property for the duration of their stay and never leave the property. With so much to do in the area, that puzzles me. But I digress .. In the end, we spent the better part of 5 days hopping between Disney parks and roughly 2 days at Universals two parks. We also spent some time at Downtown Disney\Pleasure Island and attended the breakfast buffet one morning at the Grand Floridian, at which we had the best meals of our entire trip! Makes me wonder how the dinner buffet is.
After reading the negative comments about park cleanliness, the CMs dispositions, and the general upkeep (or lack thereof) of the parks and rides I was anxious about our trip as we hadnt been there in about 6 7 years and that weighed heavily on my mind. I always seem to dwell on the negative as the positives about Disney are a given. So, as expected I had my eyes open for the all of the negative things I had been reading about.
Overall, we thought the parks were immaculate and everything we could have expected and hoped for. Here is a quick breakdown:
The parks were as clean as I had always remembered. Many times we saw CMs vacuuming the walkways and streets and even riding around on Segways picking up trash along with some on foot doing the same. We did see some litter here and there but it was very infrequent. That is to be expected and Ill bet it was cleaned up promptly. I even picked some up.
The bathrooms were as clean as I would expect considering the incredible amount of people who pass through them. On occasion, we would encounter CMs in the bathrooms frantically struggling to clean up after people who I can only characterize as slobs.
The counter service dining areas were not that clean, but on more than one occasion we saw CMs struggling to clean up after people who simply could or would not pick up after themselves. I was appalled at the trash people leave behind in the dining areas. I actually felt sorry for one CM in one of the Animal Kingdoms dining areas who could not keep up with the trash people were leaving behind in addition to wiping down the tables. I almost wanted to help him.
The CMs who perform these thankless tasks are saints!!
The condition of the rides and their waiting areas, in my opinion, were very satisfactory. I saw no problems with any of them aside from the expected wear and tear. Once again, considering the vast amount of people who pass through these rides and the age of some of them (I rode Space Mountain back in the mid-70s) I thought everything was perfectly acceptable.
I also found the disposition of the CMs to be about what I would expect from people who encounter such a vast amount of people on a daily basis and such a varied cross section of people from all over the world in every disposition possible. Some were exceptional, some were not. One that was not that comes to mind was the girl pouring wine at the Italy pavilion in Epcot. She was terribly rude. I had my hand out waiting for my change and she dropped it on the counter and never once looked me in the eye or smiled or acknowledged my Thank You. On the other hand, the girl pouring wine in France was a delight.
In the end, I was very relieved that I did not agree with what I had been reading. I was actually very dismayed about this prior to going.
To sum things up, we had an absolutely wonderful week and cant wait to return. A big thanks to everyone who adds to this forum as it is a wealth of information.
BTW We had a great time at Universal also.
When we went last March, we found the parks to be very clean considering the amount of people there. I, too, was appaulled at how people would just leave their trash behind on the tables. I wanted to say "HELLO PEOPLE...were you brought up in a freakin' barn!?" It really disgusted me and DH. Even our 4 year old knows that after he eats, he must clean up after himself. 
to hear about the cleanliness of things. Since this June will be my first time back since '95, I had (or am having) the same fears as you.
