How Disney Keeps Disney World So Clean



Disney World in Orlando, Fla., covers nearly 25,000 acres and houses four theme parks — Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In fact, it’s the most visited vacation resort in the world, with an average annual attendance of more than 58 million. So, how does Disney keep their park so clean? Disney World is alive 24 hours a day, even though guests may only enter during operating hours. After the park closes, the cleaning crew goes to work. To clean Splash Mountain, the cleaning crew drains the ride's 965,000 gallons of water every night. The entire ride can be drained in about five minutes and refilled in 20 minutes. Main Street gets a power wash every night, using 120º water to wash away all the gum, spilled drinks and ice cream, and other liquids that make that make their way to the street. Cleaning doesn’t stop at power washing. In fact, a major part of Disney World’s clean-up routine involves maintenance. Two things that must always be maintained are trees and gardens, so replacing trees and replanting gardens takes place after closing as well. You know the old saying: If you can’t clean it, paint it. Each night, the cleaning crew does paint touch-ups throughout the park to make sure nothing is chipped or faded. Disney actually has its own special cleaning products. Thanks to guests spitting at the black-lighted mesh screen ghosts on Indiana Jones Adventure, Disney had to have its own special saliva-cleaning product, since commercial products would ruin the screens. As for disinfecting, Disney World goes through about 700,000 gallons of bleach every day. Some studies have shown that when an environment is clean, the people in it are happy. So, to keep Disney World “the happiest place on earth,” Disney is doing whatever it takes to keep things clean and guests happy. They want the park to look every day the way it looked on opening day — brand spanking new.