The mouse fires back...

[SeaDog]

The Magic of Disney has never been better
By Al Weiss
Special to the Sentinel

March 30, 2004

On Saturday, the Orlando Sentinel published a misleading story on maintenance at the Magic Kingdom. As a 30-year cast member and president of the Walt Disney World Resort, I find that the time has come for me to speak out on behalf of our talented and dedicated work force of 51,000 Central Florida citizens.

First, a couple of base-line facts.

In our history, we have never done a better job maintaining the Magic Kingdom than we do today. Despite the economic impacts of Sept. 11 and a recession, I can tell you, without hesitation, that we have more resources dedicated to this effort than at any time in the history of the park.

And more important, through research, our guests tell us each and every day that we are doing a great job maintaining all of our parks.

Three of our executives spent two hours detailing our commitment with four editors and the reporter who wrote this story. Still, the end result was focused on finding fault, with short shrift given to the superb conditions our guests experience throughout the Magic Kingdom each and every day.

Can you imagine what their "experts" would have told them if they asked them to detail what we are doing right in the Magic Kingdom as well? For example:


During our most recent guest survey, 90 percent of our guests said that the upkeep and cleanliness of the Magic Kingdom was either excellent or very good.


Currently, we are spending more than $100 million per year at the Magic Kingdom on maintenance. Last year, we spent $6 million on renovating the Crystal Palace alone. Is there any other outdoor-entertainment venue that makes this kind of investment?


More than 5,000 cast members are dedicated to maintenance and engineering, including 650 people who are focused on horticulture. We have more than 600 painters.

And beyond the numbers, our attention to detail is still a hallmark of our business:


We steam clean -- not pressure clean -- our streets every single night.


If you were driving a 2002 automobile, and it was a Disney attraction, it would have already gone through a restoration process, including a full chassis rebuild and sand blasting and repainting.


We have more than 100 intricate designs for our trashcans to ensure that they match the themes of our theme parks. There is a regular refurbishment cycle for each container.


We have cast members who are permanently assigned to painting the antique carousel horses. They use genuine gold leaf on these antique horses.


We raise our own trees at a tree farm and when a mature tree in a park needs to be replaced, we can do so with a full-grown tree that is 30 years old.

It is also worth noting that during a very challenging economic time following Sept. 11, Walt Disney World preserved cast members' jobs and managed to continue to invest in significant refurbishments, extensive marketing campaigns and important community initiatives.

The Walt Disney World Resort has also spent millions of dollars over the past three years on multimillion-dollar attractions at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. We have built and opened a new resort, and launched a new line of business.

Are we perfect? Of course not. Are we doing more than ever before to keep the Magic Kingdom and the rest of the Walt Disney World Resort show ready to welcome guests visiting today and in the future? Absolutely.

The Sentinel's premise-driven, "gotcha" approach to news gathering serves only to undermine our state's economic recovery. We tried to tell them our story, but they had already made up their minds.

The opinions we value the most are those of our guests and our neighbors, and we work hard to earn their praise. I invite you to visit soon to experience personally the commitment to excellence our cast members deliver each day.

My bet is that you will leave with lifelong magical memories.

 

[YoHo]

A good report, but most of it is fluff.


Telling me, look how much money we spent, look how much maintainence we do doesn't address issues. Of course they spent mor emoney. Things cost more and Why should I be impressed if they spent $100 Million when it should cost them $200 Million?

I think the guy is being honest, but I don't think he's being objective at all.

Again, not to say that things are falling apart either. Just that that article looks whitewashed by lawyers.

 

[KNWVIKING]

The truth - more then likely - is probably right about in the middle.

 

[JudithM]

Very similar to the fluff we heard at the annual stockholder's meeting a few weeks ago ...

 

[WDSearcher]

But wouldn't you be a little worried if Al Weiss DIDN'T defend the parks? That's like people complaining about military spending and having the Chief of Staff say, "Yeah ... you're right. We're spending too much. It's not necessary." What kind of message would that send to the guys already enlisted?

The man is prez of WDW. Of course he's going to defend the level of work and attention given to the parks. But I would also imagine that on the day the article first appeared, a whole flurry of memos went out to maintenance and custodial divisions -- with the article attached -- telling them to get in line and instructing them to be VERY certain that everything is getting done and that nothing is missed.

And that's really what everyone wants, right ... cleaner and better maintained parks?

 

[cristen]

And that's really what everyone wants, right ... cleaner and better maintained parks?

Yes, but we want them to just do it on their own without having to have bad press force them to do it.

 

[KNWVIKING]

***"And that's really what everyone wants, right ... cleaner and better maintained parks?"***

Heck no. That would make the R&N board about as boring as USF.

 

[mudhen]

This needs to be put into a little context. Even in the glory
days of Disney, I'm sure there were times when things were
not perfectly clean. Any one of us, at any given time, could
walk into a bathroom stall at the MK and find toilet paper on
the floor. Of course, the other 10 stalls may be perfectly fine,
but somehow we are aghast at the sight of a sloppy stall.

Now don't get me wrong, I hold Disney to high standards, and
I notice the little things just as much as others. And last
summer when we were down there I did notice things to be
"not as they were or should be" in terms of cleanliness.

But this article looked like a witch hunt to me.

 

[perdidobay]

Just because you have X numbers of workers to do paint and X number of workers to do maintenance, doesn't mean you are actually putting them to work. Just because you have replacement trees doesn't mean you are actually replacing them.


........ and notice he completely ignored the fact of the extremely bad show of doing maintenance during park hours

 

[RealDisneyFan]

I haven't seen the article in question. However, I have heard several negative comments recently regarding quality and cleanliness within Walt Disney World.

And I wanted to weigh in on this issue.

I've been visiting Disney World just about every six months for the last twenty or so years. A tremendous portion of the "Magic" within the kingdom is the lengths to which the cast goes to maintain a near spotless environment.

I have noticed no serious degredation in the cast's commitment to keeping the "World" clean. While it is true, that during the periods of highest volume {like days when the parks are so full that they close them to additional visitors} one is apt to cross paths with a little trash or visit a bathroom stall which may not have yet been visited by an attendant.

However, one has to exit the stall before someone can clean it. And people have to step out of the way before the trash can be collected.

I travel frequently. But in no other location have I found people so dedicated to keeping the environment clean, vibrant and up lifting than in the Walt Disney World property. I am convinced that the facility is kept in as pristine a fashion as the hordes of visitors will permit. We also need to remember that the trash is there because visitors were careless or thoughtless. And the bathroom stalls become dirty in much the same way.

So we all bear some complicity, if there is a sanitation issue. However, I do not think this is the case.

I remain as entranced with Disney World today as I ever did. And I keep coming back to find a growing, changing, dynamic environment which is emaculately clean and inviting.

All this makes me homesick for Disney World... So while others fret because they saw an ice-cream wrapper, I think I'll go make plans for my next visit!

 

[raidermatt]

But I would also imagine that on the day the article first appeared, a whole flurry of memos went out to maintenance and custodial divisions -- with the article attached -- telling them to get in line and instructing them to be VERY certain that everything is getting done and that nothing is missed.

That's quite an imagination you have, my friend.

Reports such as these have been posted/published in the past, and apparently either no such memos went out then, or if they did, they weren't heeded.

The truth - more then likely - is probably right about in the middle.

This seems to be what several are saying, and you're probably right. It's just that still isn't good enough. Its got to be a lot closer to the picture Weiss is painting.

And last summer when we were down there I did notice things to be "not as they were or should be" in terms of cleanliness.

And that's all that matters. Maybe the article portrayed things as worse than they really are (and that's a big maybe), but even so, the point is Disney has let things slide.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by raidermatt
Reports such as these have been posted/published in the past, and apparently either no such memos went out then, or if they did, they weren't heeded.

So you're saying that because problems re-occur, that obviously means that no one in the parks is working to make anything better. That obviously no one is sending or heeding memos because stuff still goes wrong. That seems a bit unrealistic, don't you think? That the people working in Maintenance and Custodial are never allowed to make a mistake, or miss something. That a maintenance manager at Disney is never allowed to say, "We got behind schedule last month, so the parking lot didn't get done. We're working on it." That's holding the people -- not Disney, the entity, but the people who do the work -- to a standard that most of us would not hold anyone else to. Constant perfection. And that perfection has to carry on year after year. No mistakes ever. No matter what. Because if you make a mistake in 2004 that someone else made in 1999, then obviously you're slacking.

I think that everyone is so intent in blaming Disney -- the corporation, and in the process Michael Eisner -- for a dirty bathroom or a full trash can, that they forget that there are a lot of really hard-working cast members out there who deal every day with messes and trash and maintenance problems that none of us would touch with a ten foot pole. And that even if there were twice as many custodial CMs as there are now, stuff would STILL get missed, simply because of the human factor.

I'm not saying that there aren't problems or that everything at WDW is magic and pixie dust, but articles like this one that so completely ignore the thousands of clean bathrooms in order to spend column inches on the one dirty one, or that point out one patch of brownish grass amongst a parkful of beautifully manicured and maintained lawns and gardens are no more based in reality than someone who maintains that there is nothing wrong and everything is perfect. But it's obvious that the people who wrote the article were sent in specifically to find things wrong. Not to objectively check up on how the parks are doing.

 

[crusader]

the point is Disney has let things slide.

Not the maintenance at WDW last time I checked. You keep saying this based on the opinions of some without regard for the opinions of others.

I happen to disagree where Disneyworld is concerned. (and believe me, I was looking in Oct).

To utilize complaints heard at the web department in support of a blanket "point" on park maintenance while ignoring the positions of many others I've read here which fail to agree with that statement falls right in line with the bias emphasized in this article.

I'm beginning to believe nothing will ever be good enough in your opinion.

RealDisneyFan - welcome!

 

[GrimGhost]

RealDisneyFan...Welcome to the DIS!

I think I have found a like minded soul, please stick around!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Can someone please post a link to the article?

Thanx,
MG

 

[Sarangel]

Here's the Link to the Orlando Sentinel Article

Happy reading.

Sarangel

 

[Mickmse2002]

Just have to add my .02 worth. We've been going to WDW at least once, and usually twice a year for the last five years I still remain very impressed with their ability to clean up after some of the extremely rude and disgusting people we see there. I think some folks place way to much blame on the "evil corporation" for allowing a degregation of societal norms. When I was a kid growing up it would never have entered my mind to simply drop trash on the ground or leave a mess in the restroom. It just wasn't acceptable. Today's world is different. There isn't the same level of courtesy or respect. i think it is a bit too harsh to try and blame

 

[raidermatt]

i think it is a bit too harsh to try and blame

But you're blaming society...

IF (and its a big IF) we are going to assume that people really are significantly messier than they used to be, it still doesn't matter. Disney has two choices, 1, work harder to maintain their standards, or, 2, blame their customers for the problem.

In business, there is no sympathy for the difficulties a company faces. You either deal with them, or you don't.

 

[RealDisneyFan]

Hey Mkmse2002,

You are absolutely right. Does the corporation bear some responsibility for cleanliness issues?... Sure.

But so do the people making the messes. People today seem more willing to defer responsibility for their own actions.

I hate to sound like that old commercial. But we all play a part in how beautiful Walt Disney's World will be.

 

[raidermatt]

On a personal level, I agree. I pick up after myself, and I think others should as well.

But again, unless Disney can change the habits of the slobs, they have to deal with it, and letting their standards slip is not the right way to deal with it.