We just came back from DLRP and had a blast! :D I noticed many good things that have improved since last year. I remember that last year they took my e-mail address for a questionnaire to know our level of satisfaction, complaints and suggestions, which I made sure to fill with everything I could think of.
I made sure to make clear that I thought that the resort wasn't as clean as the US resorts, that there was some kind of pee odor in many of the toilets, and that while having breakfast at Santa Fe it was quite challenging to find a clean glass or tea cup.
This year I noticed that the Santa Fe was a lot cleaner, specially those things I pointed out, the cups and glasses, so that was a great positive thing that has improved.
But the pee odor hasn't improved at all, and this year I paid special attention to it, it was definitely pee odor and not NH3, which I thought last year was a possibility, in case they used that to clean the restrooms....
I noticed it in the ladies' restrooms situated at the left of Town Hall at Disneyland Park. Also in two restrooms in fantasyland, and also in the restroom located at the exit of the right of the park. Surprisingly I didn't use any of the restrooms at the Studios so I can't speak for those.
The restrooms I noticed that had pee odor, had it at park closing time (which could even be understandable), but also had it as strong in the morning at EMH (there's no way I can justify that). In one of the restrooms I saw a cleaning employee finishing his duty and getting out of the restroom... but no, it wasn't NH3 it was definitely pee... anyone knows what they use to clean the restrooms?! they can't be THAT smelly!!!! and in case it was some kind of cleaning product that smelly... why don't they change it to something that smells better?!
We also smelled pee in the Pirates of the Caribbean queue (but can't blame Disney for that I guess?) and saw so many garbage around the park, queues, gardens...
I don't want to think that Europeans are messier than Americans in a way that Disney can't manage... I also don't want to think that Disney doesn't pay attention to park cleanliness in DLRP...
What's going on then? any recent thoughts?
those who haven't been at the US parks.. what do you think?
those who have been at other disney parks around the world, ... do you think DLRP has a serious cleanliness problem?
Also, don't want to scare any phobics since this can be completely normal in a park surrounded by open and green spaces but... we saw a rat running across the pathway on the left side of the fountains right before entering the Disneyland Park sign at the Disneyland hotel.... it was trying to avoid the stampede of guests getting out of the park at closing time. Seemed funny to me at the moment and I screamed "RATATOUILLE!!!! REMY THE REAL ONE!!! YAY!!! HAHAHA" but not even my husband turned around at the time, he thought I was acting crazy
I also saw the biggest spider I've ever seen in real life at one of the restrooms in Fantasyland...
Both the rat and spider can be something normal I know... but just wanted to add it to this post since it's a matter of pest control as well of cleanliness
Indeed DLP has always been subpar to the US parks in the cleanliness stakes. Though I was shocked last year. We went to DLP 6 months after a trip to WDW, and DLP was cleaner than the Magic Kingdom in Florida.
But yes, the cleanliness issues of DLP are very poor indeed. I mean the sweeping people joke in HISTA means something in DL and Epcot, but not so much at DLP lol
I'm always a lot more bothered by poor maintenance than cleanliness. Garbage, to me, is fleeting; something that won't be there tomorrow, something I hardly even notice. In Fantasyland in particular, there seemed to be a lot of trash cans riddled with waste everywhere but inside the things (it took me a while to find clean ones for my trip report), but the unforgivable part to me was the sad, sad state of the trash cans, curbs and benches themselves.
On the bright side, I noticed Skull Rock didn't smell like urine at all last time.
QuoteAlso, don't want to scare any phobics since this can be completely normal in a park surrounded by open and green spaces but... we saw a rat running across the pathway on the left side of the fountains right before entering the Disneyland Park sign at the Disneyland hotel.... it was trying to avoid the stampede of guests getting out of the park at closing time. Seemed funny to me at the moment and I screamed "RATATOUILLE!!!! REMY THE REAL ONE!!! YAY!!! HAHAHA" but not even my husband turned around at the time, he thought I was acting crazy
I also saw the biggest spider I've ever seen in real life at one of the restrooms in Fantasyland...
Both the rat and spider can be something normal I know... but just wanted to add it to this post since it's a matter of pest control as well of cleanliness
Hehe! A mouse ran under our table in the cowboy cookout, and my grandma screamed "A MOUSE! AAAAAH!!!" and ran across the room and refused to sit with us for the rest of the meal. She made such a fuss it was hilarious! She was jumping up and down and shaking her bags all the time, and stuff, and then my dad and grandad were joking on saying things like "I wonder if she'll be this bad with Mickey..."
Generally i think its clean considering the size they have to clean, as for the "urine" smell, its a chemical i cant remember the name of :p we use it at work for high-end "deep clean"
if it is the case that its the chemicals used to clean maybe they just need to get some air freshners in there? Ones that spray automaticly. they could even use different sents for different lands - i.e floral in fantasy land, pine in fronteirland, candy in main street, not sure about adventure and discoveryland?
the rats/mice/spiders would be very hard to control i would think, as its such a wide open area and also surounding dlrp is a lot of feilds and trees ect which is probably where they are coming from. It must be a haven for them, all that food lying about, nice warm places to hide ect
Quote from: "madame_leota"the rats/mice/spiders would be very hard to control i would think, as its such a wide open area and also surounding dlrp is a lot of feilds and trees ect which is probably where they are coming from. It must be a haven for them, all that food lying about, nice warm places to hide ect
At DL in California, they have ferral cats that live in the park to help take care of the mouse problem. But DLP is the worst situtation I have seen. And I have never seen the trash problem in California either. It's down to the quality and quantity of cast members.
DLP is getting better, but it still is not up to traditional Disney standards. Then again most of Europe is dirtier than the US too. Could be cultural.
Quote from: "davewasbaloo"[...]
DLP is getting better, but it still is not up to traditional Disney standards. Then again most of Europe is dirtier than the US too. Could be cultural.
THAT is debatable. Have you been to New York? Paris on the other hand is one of the cleanest cities on earth.
I wouldn't say DLRP is extremely dirty, but it certainly isn't completely clean. I do think that a bit more effort should be put into cleaning the parks, and also refurbishing things. They only seem to be focused on adding news attractions at the moment. :roll:
Quote from: "davewasbaloo"DLP is getting better, but it still is not up to traditional Disney standards.
True, very true. Walt Disney himself I'm sure wouldn't be too impressed with the cleanliness of the Parisian parks.
Quote from: "davewasbaloo"Then again most of Europe is dirtier than the US too. Could be cultural.
I'm not sure about most of Europe, but I really think the UK is bad. Most of our streets are made up of chewing gum. :?
Compared to other Disney parks I have seen, Disneyland Resort Paris is definately not as clean. However, to me the Studios seem cleaner then Disneyland Park.
As far as it comes to toilets however I had a postive experience last month. The toilets I have seen both in the Studios and in Disneyland Park were very clean, something I didn't quite expect.
I also noticed that one of the main factors of the poor cleanliness is guest behaviour. Many people don't feel obligated after diner to put their waste into a trashcan. They just leave it on the table. Its plain arrogant and above all lazy in my opinion. Guests' laziness combined with laziness of a castmember makes it only worse. The attitude of castmembers is equaly important to get the place clean.
Another thing I noticed is the way guests are sleeping between bushes near Frontierland and on the grass near Space Mountain. And dont get me started about guests wandering through the gardens surrounding Central Plaza to find a good spot to watch the parade. I even saw a boy urinating a few metres away from me while waiting in the queue of Honey I Schrunk the Audience. Simply bad, rude and ignorant behaviour. A bit offtopic, I don't want to stereotype, but on most times when I noticed a guest behaving badly, it was quite obvious from which country they came from, even in the hotel (burping loudly in the lounge, letting kids scream and run around during breakfast etc.). But thats an entire different topic. Once again, to me the key elements for cleanliness are both guest and castmember behaviour.
Quote from: "Maarten"A bit offtopic, I don't want to stereotype, but on most times when I noticed a guest behaving badly, it was quite obvious from which country they came from, even in the hotel (burping loudly in the lounge, letting kids scream and run around during breakfast etc.). But thats an entire different topic.
Were they burping in a Romance language? (Sorry, awful, tasteless joke. I have no idea what I'm talking about.)
When we went to dlrp last year the toilets were plain filthy. I could hardly find a stall 'cause there was pee on the toilet seats, on the floor, all over and it was disgusting. But to my surprise when we came back this summer the toilets were much better and very clean and it really made me happy to be able to go to the toilet whithout having to stand in someone else's pee. I think DLRP are improving a little at a time. I hope it gets much better.
Quote from: "RnRCj"I'm not sure about most of Europe, but I really think the UK is bad. Most of our streets are made up of chewing gum. :?
That is why I'm always so impressed with the park...compaired to the streets in the UK the park is like heavenly clean! :lol:
I don't like chewing gum anyway, but it's just really offputting when the street is more gum than cement/paving slabs.
Quote from: "MizzRabbit"When we went to dlrp last year the toilets were plain filthy. I could hardly find a stall 'cause there was pee on the toilet seats, on the floor, all over and it was disgusting. But to my surprise when we came back this summer the toilets were much better and very clean and it really made me happy to be able to go to the toilet whithout having to stand in someone else's pee. I think DLRP are improving a little at a time. I hope it gets much better.
I understand there! It's terrible sometimes in the toilets!
But there was an improvement this year from last year I must say.
The cleanliness throughout the park is at quite a high standard, I rarely see rubbish on the floor, or if I do there's always someone on their way to sweap it up.
Hi,
because I haven't been to the UK parks I can't compare but I have to say I never see anything wrong with the cleanliness of DLRP. Infact I always think it's pretty good standard considering the amount of people there is to actually cause the dirt in the first place. I do think sometimes the toilets could do with an extra clean and sometimes the restraunts need someone to go around and clean the tablets instead of just relying on the previous table occupants to put their stuff in the pin and put away the tray without the table being cleaned butas I say I still find this understandable and it would never really be an issue for me when I am at DLRP.
Aveen xxx
opps I meant USA parks.
Quote from: "Aveen2008"Hi,
because I haven't been to the UK parks I can't compare but I have to say I never see anything wrong with the cleanliness of DLRP. Infact I always think it's pretty good standard considering the amount of people there is to actually cause the dirt in the first place.
I am guessing you have never been to the American or Japanese parks. They are even busier and much, much cleaner (ok, maybe not the MK in Florida anymore, and DLP get's their management from WDW boo boooooooo).
I have to say the cleanliness of the toilets seems to have constantly improved over the last couple of years - seeing the comments here, I think that is an objetive observation, I had previously thought it might only have been luck.
I think this is the most important area to improve upon too, everything else is kind of secondary, but clean toilets are a must. And they used to be disgusting.
Let's hope they'll start improving other areas, now that they have sorted out the toilets. Overflowing garbage cans were a huge issue in the studios when I was there last, especially in the "La Terasse" area.
That's something I never saw in the states. To be fair though, I've seen a fair share of problems in the Magic Kingdom, especially when it was busy, and that was in 2003 already. Epcot as well - you just had to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time. So while overall the standards are higher, they are nowehere near as impeccable as some people in here make them out to be. I think it's just that it's quite unlikely for European visitors to endure christmas or New Year's at a Disney park in Florida, when they close due to overcrowding and have problems in lots and lots of different areas...
:hello:
Having just visited DLRP also there is little doubt that they need to sort out their act regarding the cleanliness of the toilets (Bathrooms).
We can make light of it, and I can be the worst offender, but some of them were pretty awful :shock:
The serious point is that there are thousands of children going through these toilets eveyday and their health needs to be considered in this matter........
DLRP simply needs to employ more staff during the busy periods, I didn't see one cm in any of the toilets while I was there but I did see plenty of overflowing toilets...
It isn't acceptable in such a wonderful place.
Epcot_Boy :ears:
Agreed. However WDW has really slipped over the last 8 years, shocking really. I am glad to say Disneyland in California is still near perfect however.
But yes, though there are a lot of pigs/corchon/swein in DLP, more cast members on it would help greatly. It is sad when Legoland Windsor has cleaner toilets than DLP when Disney is reknowned for their cleanliness.
We found the cleanliness pretty good when we visited last year, but it was out of season so bins and toilets were not being used as much as they would be in the summer season.
davewasbaloo, I'm suprised that you think the cleanliness in WBW is so badly lacking. The last time we were there, in 2005, the place was pretty much spotless. Busch gardens, n the other hand, I was appalled by - I went in to change into some dry things after a water ride and there was not one surface I was happy to even put my backpack down on - just disgusting. Apparently the gents was even worse.
i have always found its very clean over there but i have only been out of season. infact a went with a 3 others once before and of of them actualy commented that one of the reasons he loved it so much was becaues it was clean and tidy and the floors were not littered with garbage, gum, and cigarette butts.
The smell in the loo's defently needs to be tackled though, i dont normaly find the toilets to be dirty just smelly but i always try and use the ones that are sort of hidden out of the way & again im always there out of season so its probably 100X worse during the summer.
I Love the fact that disneyland paris is so lovely and clean! That is one of the reasons why me and my family love it so much. All the other themeparks like blackpool and Flamingoland are quite scruffy! x
Quote from: "Rain"davewasbaloo, I'm suprised that you think the cleanliness in WBW is so badly lacking. The last time we were there, in 2005, the place was pretty much spotless.
I too was very surprised. The Studios and Animal Kingdom were very clean. Epcot was patchy. But the MK was filthy - black muck on the paths, overflowing bins, sticky tables at the Columbia Harbour House, and filthy (by Disney standards) toilets.
I was shocked, especially when I was in DLP in a busy June 6 months later and it was cleaner in Paris than Fla!
Quote from: "Maarten"A bit offtopic, I don't want to stereotype, but on most times when I noticed a guest behaving badly, it was quite obvious from which country they came from, even in the hotel (burping loudly in the lounge, letting kids scream and run around during breakfast etc.).
UK? :lol:
Inside the toilets do they have those paper rotas where it tells you what time they cleaned?
This could help as if they were really dirty and they hadnt been cleaned in 30 minutes maybe that shows that there needs to be cleaned every 15 mins. Just a suggestion.
And whoever suggested those automatic sprays for the toilets is a good idea. Least it would hide the smell for a couple of minutes. Maybe have it going of every 5 minutes :P
Quote from: "Owain"UK? :lol:
Now whatever gave you that idea? :wink:
I've not been since 2004, but I've been about 4 times and the cleanliness was always good in my opinion.
Well apart from one visit to Blue Lagoon where the "clean" table we were sat on was smeared in chocolate, as were the cutlery. They'd obviously just cleared the table and put new napkins and cutlery on without wiping the table down, but in the dark light, they obviously didnt see the chocolate. Unacceptable though. That was the same visit we walked out of the Blue Lagoon because as well as poor service from someone who didnt smile or speak hardly any English, it took 40 minutes for our starter, and over an hour waiting for main course... we left before it came out... when it took over 30 minutes to get a Fanta, and someone from Pirates of the Caribbean threw something at us (which slid under the table) that was the final straw.
Hopefully it's improved, our first visit there was amazing, and tasty fewds!
Someone in a boat threw something at you :shock: Wow. That's, well... I'm in loss for words.
I know guest behavior can be very strange sometimes. But this is absolutely outrageous :evil: :evil: :evil:
In the first week of june DLP was very clean. CMs were running around with dustpans and brooms. If there was any dirt, they were even faster than the sparrows. I even saw a big oneman road sweeper, cleanig up at Central Plaza.
No strange smells at the toiletts.
No full wastebaskets.
No dirty tables.
Only thing that I thought was quiet funny. Streamers almost everywhere in the trees.
Sure, with MMP five times a day and the wind blowing very strong, it's hard to catch every streamer that is flying away. :lol:
But it seemd to me, they didn't even put them down over night. On the day we arrived, we could make use of EMH, so it was 8:00 a.m. and the trees around the castle stage where covered with streamers. No MMP at that time => old streamers.
this year was a real mixed bag (last week of May). The floors, bins, and queues were the cleanest I have seen in years and there were loads of sweepers. The counter service restaurants were very good about cleaning tables too.
But the toilets were the filthiest I have ever seen in a Disney park anywhere. In some of the gents, only one urinal was unclogged.
To be honest I think they do a great job considering how many guests there are on a daily basis making a mess.
ok sometimes tables aren't cleared quickly and the toilets don't always smell like a bunch of roses but then again do they anywhere? :P
They must hire so many cleaners to keep the park as well as they do! :o
=D>
However aveen, compared to the standards they used to have or that of the California and Japanese parks, the standards are low at DLP (until recently - the toilets were terrible, but there were fantastic sweeping activity again)
Quote from: "davewasbaloo"However aveen, compared to the standards they used to have or that of the California and Japanese parks, the standards are low at DLP (until recently - the toilets were terrible, but there were fantastic sweeping activity again)
I haven't been to the other parks so I'm not comparing, just what I have seen the past few years. I guess it could be better but I don't get too hooked up on it.
You are so right Aveen.
I've been to Florida only once in 1997 so I can't compare, because I don't remember.
It think too, they do a great cleaning job considering the (mis)behaviour of some guest.
So many guest per day and very, very little dirt.
we were there last week and one of us needed the loo during the extramagic hours , so we nipped to the ones behind autopia, and they were filthy already, the loos were full up with paper and stuff had been spilt on the floor, at which point we didnt blame Disney as within an hour you wouldnt expect the toilet to be trashed, but what an earth was going through the guests mind when they did it, i popped in later and it was spotless so good job there. Also whilst queueing for POTC we watched a lady tip half a box of popcorn on the floor and then put the empty box in her bag, why would you do that??? - oh and to my surprise it wasnt one of us brits.