If you’ve ever been to Walt Disney World or Disneyland (or even the Disney parks in Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong or Shanghai, for that matter), you may have noticed how clean the parks were. Garbage cans aren’t overflowing. Trash on the floor is picked up quickly. You never rarely see a building that looks like it needs to be painted.
It’s one of the things that makes Disney parks stand apart from other theme parks and the reasons it’s like that are very purposeful. Take a look:
Pretty cool, huh?
One thing they don’t mention in the video is that the mission to keep the parks clean is instilled in every single cast member from day one, when they go through their training process.
On their first day of employment, cast members go through a 4-hour course called Traditions. It’s essentially an orientation class that all newbies have to go to and is where they learn, among other things, the Disney standards of ethics, safety, and the history of the Walt Disney Company. Part of that is the history of cleanliness at the park (like they discuss in the video above) but also how it’s every cast member’s responsibility to keep the park looking its best. So if you’re in the parks, you’ll see some non-custodial cast members with grabbers so they can pick up trash, or if they’re walking down the street in Frontierland and see the wrapper from the Mickey Pop, they’ll pick it up and throw it in the trash.
Here are a few more interesting tidbits about keeping the Disney parks clean:
- Certain attractions, like the Haunted Mansion, are supposed to look dusty. Cast Members who clean that attraction have special instructions regarding how dusty certain areas can get.
- They “employ” feral cats at Disneyland to help keep small critters under control. The park has special animal handlers who are responsible for ensuring the cats are spayed and neutered. The cats are also fed via permanent feeding stations throughout the parks, to keep them healthy and to ensure they stick around.
- Walt Disney World “employs” black racers to take care of the “critter” situation at the Florida parks. Black racers are harmless, non-poisonous snakes, about 3′ long. They move FAST. And they’re all over Florida 😉
- As soon as a parade, fireworks or stage show is over, there are cast members at hand to clean up the things guests leave behind on the ground instead of taking it with them and throwing it into the trash
- Disney has invented its own cleaning product to get rid of the saliva from when people spit on the black-light mesh screens used on some attractions
So the next time you’re in a Disney park and notice how clean it is, you’ll have a better understanding of the why and how that happens.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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