Many visitors refer to Disneyland as the “Happiest Place on Earth” and if you’ve ever been to the theme park you know it is certainly one of the cleanest public places on the planet. But, have you ever wondered how it maintains its tidy reputation?
The answer: the “Third Shift.” Not long after the last guest exits the park’s gates “cast members” (yes, even the maintenance crews were deemed such by Walt Disney) arrive to restore order to the Magic Kingdom.
According to Disney execs, some 1,000 workers known as “custodians” clock in after midnight to inspect rides and scrub sidewalks, benches, restaurants and storefronts. They may be invisible to guests who crowd the park during the day, but their work is in full view when the gates open each morning.
In the dark of night, Third Shift workers spruce up flower beds, cut grass, and shape topiaries at the 500-acre resort’s two parks, three hotels and entertainment district. All tolled the overnight crew plants more than 1 million flowers each year. But, that’s not all. According to Disney, the maintenance team also collects more than 17.5 million pounds of trash a year and goes through 3,000 mops, 1,000 brooms, 500 dust pans, and changes at least 100,000 light bulbs. So what are “cast members” using those mops and brooms on? Gum, soda, cotton candy… and a few unidentified messes, according to Disney workers.
As you can imagine cleaning up after an estimated 20 million people a year requires quite a few hands. According to Disney execs, a crew of roughly 450 custodians help scrub down everything guests touch (they reportedly even steam clean the sidewalks). It’s a sight most (if any) guests ever witness in person. From the video I’ve seen of the behind-the-scene work at Disneyland the clean up routine is perfectly choreographed. Some even refer to it as a “performance” with one group of workers preparing and positioning carts of cleaning supplies while another climbs aboard rides to remove trash and erase unsightly marks.
If the team is on schedule all the rides are shining by 3 a.m., that’s when workers break for lunch. After their meal they tackle back offices, restrooms and break areas. All of the tasks are done with a deadline in mind. According to Disney big wigs the park’s cardinal rule is “everything must be dry by opening time.”
It may sound like meticulous work, but Third Shift workers say the job they do on the grounds is not nearly as hard as having to wake up when everyone else is going to sleep.
I don’t know about you, but when I visit Disneyland I don’t even dare leave a half-full bottle of water on the edge of a bench for fear it might be mistaken as trash and be disposed of before I could finish it.
What “clean” memories do you have of Disneyland?
Michele blogs full time in Travel and Pop Culture. You can read her blogs here.
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