Disney’s Legendary Cleanliness Has Been Abandoned

The pandemic has a lot to answer for.

From certain entertainment offerings still being closed to face masks being required on transportation, Walt Disney World currently looks very different from its pre-COVID magic.

We’re still awaiting the return of Fantasmic! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the Festival of Fantasy parade at Magic Kingdom, while supply chain issues and labor shortages have to compete with the crazy crowds that the Florida Resort is currently facing. 

And it seems these operating issues are affecting more than just customer service.

We were at Walt Disney World this week and were shocked by how filthy Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom felt.

Whenever we visited Walt Disney World or Disneyland in Anaheim, California, we were always impressed by the cleanliness of the theme parks – especially considering how many Guests visit the Parks every day.

Walt Disney always wanted clean theme parks, and as a former Cast Member, I can tell you that trash cans are all mainly 30 feet apart from each other.

Frontierland in Magic Kingdom land alone has over 120 garbage cans! So, you can only imagine how many are located throughout the Resort, and all are themed to the area they are in.

You may also notice that you cannot buy chewing gum on Disney property, yet another rule instilled to ensure Walt’s vision of creating a clean theme park is upheld.

The Parks were always clean, with no overflowing trash cans, no trash in ride vehicles, and no trash in entertainment venues. But this trip was very different.

This was the sight we were met with queuing on Space Mountain in Tomorrowland: overflowing trash, popcorn on the floor, and bottles piled onto the top of the can.

It was disgusting and was something we’d never associated before with Disney. We spoke to Cast Members, and they seemed to suggest it was a staffing issue.

We rode the PeopleMover and it had cups and tissues littering the train, while there were numerous spillages and trash piles located in ride queue areas. It was extremely disappointing to see, especially after our training 12 years ago told us that we should let trash be left too long for Guests to see.

Some Disney Guests we spoke to seemed to believe that Disney probably isn’t going to fix the issues soon as they are still getting ticket sales and money coming in.

New Disney CEO Bob Chapek is taking most of the fall for the current Disney experience. With so many cuts and changes being made to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, many Disney fans have been debating recently Chapek’s approach to the quality of the Park experience.

With ticket prices increasing, food portions getting smaller, and Disney’s FastPass being replaced by the paid-for Disney Genie+ service, Disney Guests have become quite vocal with their opinions on Chapek, and Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Josh D’Amaro.

Chapek revealed in an interview recently that he dislikes this “cost-cutter” reputation he has gained as Disney CEO, but that “cost-cutting” has seemingly caused a shortage in Custodial staff.

From our visit to the Parks, it appeared that the Cast Members who were working were trying hard to ensure that the mess was not distracting Guests from the magic. It’s also up to Guests to make sure they clean up after themselves properly.

With President’s Weekend being super busy at Walt Disney World, particularly after February 18 when Disney changed its indoor mask rule, we’ll have to see what the future looks like for Disney’s Custodial team and cleanliness.