Epcot: Red-headed step-child? About This Page:

[LuckyPup]

Just a little CM perspective here:

When I started at Disney/MGM (my second summer tour of duty for the mouse), our training class (three training sessions--Traditions, Studios, and then GMR!) at the Studios had a visit from the Studios manager/president. Unfortunately, I don't recall his name, but he was an Australian, straight-shooting, Steve Irwin type of guy. One of the things he really stressed was it was all the CMs responsiblity to clean/pick up garbage--never "just the custodians job" (of course, there are specific custodial-jobs, but he meant picking up litter). He was very funny, and even said that if he saw one of us not picking up an obvious piece of litter, we owed him a beer for missing it. And if we saw him miss a piece of litter, we were to feel free to demand a beer from him (and for him to pick up the litter too!) Anyway--he wanted us to feel as if it was everyone's responsiblity to care for the parks and to help each other out.

I would also send a letter to the head of EPCOT--they are the ones who have more direct contol of EPCOT. Also, you could try head of custodial as well.

Also, I did do some overtime as custodial in Cosmic Rays. It's HARD keeping up after ya'll! Lots of people leave trays around, smear ketchup on tables for no reason, are very messy at the fixings bar for no reason (is it that hard to get onions on your burger) and other stuff. If we all cleaned up a bit, and made a good effort; well, that would go a long way to making the parks and the world better!

[joyjoy]

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It's HARD keeping up after ya'll!

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Errr... that would be me and I'm sorry. I felt SO BAD on our last trip - we were at Columbia Harbour House and I was trying to get enough ketchup in those little paper cups for our whole table and I ended up dropping two of them on the fixings bar that then fell on the floor. Huge mess. I tried to clean it up, but there were two CMs that came and took over. I'm sorry. I still feel really bad about that.

[TheGoof]

Our family has made quite a few trips to WDW over the years, and I have to agree that the custodial/maintenance services are not what they once were.

The first time I took my DW back in the early 90's you could eat off the ground. And it's interesting because one of my favorite memories was watching people. Since the place was so immaculate, people tended to do a better job of keeping it so. I remember watching one guy, who was clearly from the NY area (not picking on NY, but he was) who was about to throw something on the ground. He stopped, looked around, and then walked 4 feet and put it in the garbage.

I'm sure that some still threw stuff on the ground, but most people are less likely to do so if its really clean.

As far as discounts, I really don't think thats the problem. Yes there is an entitlement mentality out there, but lets face it WDW is expensive. Many people have to save for years for that trip. It's almost impossible for a family of 3 to go to WDW without spending $3,000 before they are done. Between travel expenses, Hotels, Park admissions and food, that's what it costs. If you do AP's you can save a little on a second trip.

Disney offers discounts because the parks aren't full, and it gives them a targeted way at attracting customers. I would prefer they lower the cost and get rid of discounts altogether, but Americans have all bought into this discount concept, which is why all stores have "sales" 20%off, 40%off etc, of course they never sell those products at the price that they are marking off.

It's also why supermarkets have "Loyalty" cards, because we let them do that rather than have them have good prices all the time.

The stores and Disney love this, because this way they only have to give out a limited discount, and many people won't even find out about it.

My good friend and his wife went to Disney for their honeymoon. The wife did all the arranging, never spoke to me, she called and booked directly with the Disney Travel group at full rack rates.

It was a done deal, so I just shut my mouth and let it go.

Anyway, the point is using discounts is not "pulling" something over on Disney, if anything Disney is pulling something over on us. If we use them, we are simply playing by the rules as they set them up.

Now having said that, there are unfortunately also plenty of people that DO break Disney rules because they don't agree with them. The most common of which aren't even actually set by Disney, but by the fire and safety regulations, but that is a whole different topic. I could see the point though that people that are willing to break rules designed for safety are more likely to be slobs, but I doubt that there are any more of them today, then 10 years ago, so again the difference is the custodial staff cuts, as Willcad said.

[TINKN]

Does anyone remember the episode of Roseanne where the Connors went to WDW and Roseanne played the game of throwing pop corn on the ground and the CM happily followed behind her and swept it up as fast as she threw it? The park manager (MK) came over and pointed out where the trash recepticals were. I don't think it's fair that the CMs should have to follow around slobs and clean up after them, but that's what they are paid to do. It is unfortunate that budget cuts have caused a lack of cleanliness in the parks. However, the Disney parks still put any other park I've ever been to to shame as far as upkeep and cleanliness.

And, has anyone else ever encountered the exploding condiment machines (Cosmic Ray's etc.). They seem to get air caught in the tube and then the condiments explode all over! Yuck!

[Jennifer2003]

i was there a few weeks ago.

i agree about the bathrooms. I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome and clean bathrooms in easy spots are important to me. (although i am happy to say i felt GREAT during my week there! must have been all the walking!) I did find one spotless bathroom...in the Pirates cafe in Adventureland (the one with the spanish name...Pirate and the parrot) the cafe was closed for the season but the bathroom was open. Wonderful. MGM's bathrooms were always a mess. Magic Kingdoms town hall bathrooms were not the greatest. EPCOT was fine from what i remember.

My last trip before this one was in 1992. i was 14. i remember doing EVERYTHING in EPCOT. This trip we walked into the WOL, walked out...went into the Land...walked out. We did stay a while in the Living Seas but this is because i LOVE sealife. it does however seem very 1970's (and EPCOT opened in the 80's!!) and needs a makeover. i saw pictures of the Nemo stuff (which wasn't there yet...missed it by a few days) and it's a start.

I'm not a thrill ride person at all. Skipped Test Track and Mission: Space, although M:S building was the coolest thing!!!!

World SHowcase was even better than i remembered!!! Just beutiful.

Inconsiderate people are everywhere, even Disney. And it can be hard for staff to keep up, especially in times of short staffedness (???). We have to be careful in my office of what time to use the ladies room, they get so ditry!!!

So with that being said, I loved Disney, Loved EPCOT, but yes, bathrooms need to be clean and parts of future world need some sprucing. (i didn't notice chipping paint or anything, so i can't comment there)

Happy NEw Year! Sorry for the rambling...i just loved my trip...every moment!!!!

[WillCAD]

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Does anyone remember the episode of Roseanne where the Connors went to WDW and Roseanne played the game of throwing pop corn on the ground and the CM happily followed behind her and swept it up as fast as she threw it?

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Nope (I hated Rosanne!), but my friend Frank saw that happen in real life once.

Frank and his wife Terry were sitting at an outdoor table (I thionk at Starring Rolls in MGM). Terry was a bit of an airhead, and a serious animal lover, so she was throwing chunks of her pastry to the pigeons that seem to own the place. But a CM was standing nearby to keep the place clean, and he kept sweeping up the mess as Terry threw it down. After watching the comedy routine for about five minutes, Frank finally pointed out the fact that Terry was littering and the CM was obligated to clean it up, but forbidden from saying anything to her since she was a Guest.

Terry got an embarrassed look on her face and stopped throwing food to the pigeons.

[RocklandRVers]

I have to agree that WDW was not as clean as I recall it being back in 1986 when I first visited. It was the first thing DW and I noticed when we arrived in MK way back when.

That being said, my DS and I did talk about how clean the place is with all these people. As far as the bathrooms being clean, the once or twice I used a park bathroom they seemed OK.

Now let me say that FtW was much cleaner this time than during our first visit in May. We noticed, in our set of loops anyway, that the custodial staff made several trips to our comfort stations to clean up. Far more than in May when we thought they were not as clean as they could have been.

I also abhor slobs. I detest those folks who think the garbage cans in public bathrooms are their own personal basketball hoop and if they miss someone else will chase down the rebound and slam dunk it for them. My other pet peeve, take a minute to wipe down the sink after you splash water on it and the rim to wash your hands. I hate leaning against it and get the front of my pants wet as if I did pee pee on myself. SLOBS!!

[xcitedmom]

I completely agree that EPCOT is in need of some serious updating, however, I think that MGM is much dirtier than EPCOT. My youngest DD uses every bathroom whereever we go - no one can tell me why - so we saw quite a few. The ones in MGM were much more disgusting than the ones in EPCOT, while the ones in AK were the cleanest. We also found that if you found the ones off the beaten path in any park they were much cleaner. We also noticed that the ones by the boat launch at EPCOT that leads to the Deluxe resorts were always cleaner than any other bathrooms anywhere in any park. We haven't been before, so I can't comment on what things used to be like, but I have to say that I was disappointed in EPCOT and MGM. EPCOT was not as cool as I would have hoped, but we enjoyed it, never having done it before. MGM was like a big shopping mall. Too many food places and stores, not enough fun.

Just my two cents.
Beth

[Wendyismyname]

Maybe that's why we don't like it as well as the other parks!! We haven't taken the time to explore Epcot, as we thought it just doesn't appeal to us. Maybe next time it will!!!

Wendy

[Shell_of_the_South]

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Good idea ... who do you suggest the letter be sent to. I often feel letters go to the big empty black hole.

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Irene, sorry I didn't see this sooner. I got addresses from Deb Wills' site. Here is a link to Disney addresses:

http://allearsnet.com/pl/contact.htm

I have written Disney in the past and was contacted by phone just to let me know my letter was read. So don't let that stop you from writing if you really feel that you want to let your opinion be known.