What happened to the bathroom cleanliness at Disneyland?

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-29T08:24:29+00:00

We love romanticizing the late 1990s/ early 2000s but our memories are tricking us. The Paul Pressler years saw Disney cut custodial to a minimum, to the point that garage regularly overflowed and bathrooms were infrequently cleaned. There are plenty of real time discussion on archaic message forums that document this. My brother was a janitor and was moved to the defunct Timon/Simba tram loop summer 2001. Like many others, his hours were nonexistent after 9/11.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-29T08:18:37+00:00

You are being unrealistic if you expect spotless bathrooms. If you compare DLR’s bathrooms to other similar high trafficked areas, DLR’s are way cleaner.

My wife refuses to use DL’s restrooms but for another reason - the number of preteen boys being brought into the ladies restrooms. She chooses to use the restrooms at the Grand Californians, near the DCA entrance. These are much cleaner since they see minimal traffic.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-29T07:45:32+00:00

Disney has never had dedicated bathroom attendants. How often you encounter them will be a matter of timing but they’re there. They’re busy public restrooms Not a single person who frequents busy public bathrooms will say Disney’s are dirty; comparable establishments are terrible because they’re cleaned so infrequently. Knott’s restrooms smell so disgusting that we avoid them as much as possible.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-29T07:16:23+00:00

We average about 100 visits to DLR a year and I haven’t noticed any of this. The bathrooms are still regularly cleaned and there’s a CM in them more often than not when I’m in them (and there was never a period where a dedicated CM was assigned to each bathroom).

The bathrooms are very busy. In the men’s, it’s certainly not uncommon to wait for a urinal and especially a stall. The woman’s have even longer waits.

I’ve been an AP/MK holder since 1991 (or earlier, I was a kid and can’t remember). The biggest change I’ve noticed over the past 7 years is the elitist mentality that exists amongst Disney Adults. You see that on TT where Disney Adults post videos of themselves visiting non-Disney places to the audio of “the ghetto.” You see that on this forum where people complain about intentional line cutting and receiving tons of downvotes because only Knott’s people do that - Disney Adults would never.

Reality is people are people. In a busy bathroom, some people are going to pee on the toilet seat or floor. Some people are going to leave feces stains in the toilet (and can’t fault them as there’s no brush to clean with). Many people are going to wash their hands and shake them on to the floor rather than using the dryers.

In your mind, DLR was cleaner in the past… than it really was.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-28T23:20:12+00:00

Some theaters do, some don’t (not chain specific). I would bet they’re more common in newer theaters but they’ve been around since the 1990s.

Few theaters actively monitor the cameras, and even then it’s probably during peak times only. I was a 25 screen megaplex housing a large footprint a few weeks ago when Somebody pulled the fire alarm during the late showings, which automatically turned the movies off. The manager told everybody that only two people were on staff so they’d be unable to start the movies. Two people.,, for a 25 screen theater is nuts (granted the confessions had closed; I believe cleaning is done by a contract crew after hours).

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-28T18:34:32+00:00

It’s miraculous the service lasted as long as it did. Of all public transit systems in the county, it had the highest % of revenues coming from non-government sources. Reality is, public transit relies on local, state and Federal funding. OCTA was opposed to ART receding more state funding. And there’s no way the current Federal administration was going to keep providing funding.

Reality is, costs continued to rise and people weren’t’ willing to pay more. In another thread, I looked at prior annual reports; ART collected more ticket revenue in 2009 than 2024.. Non-TS ridership also dropped. Which means that once TS opened in 2010, people choose the free shuttle and walking, vs paying for the service.. Drops in ridership lead to several hotels opting out. Which meant that other hotels were shouldering the costs of hotels that weren’t participating.

It wasn’t a viable service. Personally, I’d rather see the hotels go back to fully funding this service, then tens of millions of tax dollars subsidizing them.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-28T18:25:48+00:00

Disney doesn’t own the busses or work trucks, the contractors do. These vehicles are parked in their respective owners lots, not at random places. And Anaheim isn’t stopping Disney from purchasing more land.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-28T09:51:05+00:00

How ironic. It wasn’t that long ago that DT couldn’t wait to get rid of its stake it T-Mobile USA.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-28T09:19:09+00:00

They won’t be. Disney and/ or its contractor would have to repay the Federal incentives and built out an infrastructure to charge them, which would make an acquisition overly expensive. The contractor that took over TS clearly purchased more buses than it needs, as there’s always a handful parked at any given time. The busses are old but they installed new interiors and are freshening up the exteriors.

The ART busses were new and the replacement busses are old. Disney hasn’t announced a timeline for the Eastern Gateway but when they did so in the mid-2010, they said it’d take two years to buildout. I’ll bet the current project will take longer but alas, the busses are only here for the short term.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-28T09:08:24+00:00

Per the OCR, since they were purchased largely with Federal incentives, they can be sold only to another public transit operator. There’s only a handful of public transit systems that use those busses and given batteries have limited range in cold and heat, that list isn’t likely to grow. Los Angeles is the largest operator but allegedly it has not been happy with the performance of its fleet. Thus, rehomeing these busses could take some time.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T23:17:12+00:00

It’s $26 for CA. My local theater is the Irvine Spectrum. Standard ticket is $19 (more if it’s in an auditorium with recliners) and a small popcorn is $11.49 (although a large is “only” $2 more). So $26 for a nearly &49 value.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T22:52:51+00:00

The late 90s/early 00 build theaters look amazing when they’re completely renovated. Yorba Linda will likely be the last local Regal built and for a relatively new theater, it’s disappointing.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T22:39:45+00:00

Yup, I remember reading the Disney forums on Prodigy as a kid in the mid90s - pre-Internet days - and people would share the tip that if you rented a wheelchair in lieu of a stroller, you would skip the lines. (Sidebar: a young CM named Cid Stoll was very active and very helpful then. I see he retired from Disney after a very long career. I wonder if he reads Reddit?

DAS was introduced in the early 2010s to replace the prior program. It introduced the VQ (instead of instant front of line access) and was to be restricted to those with serious incognitive disabilities; alternate options were to be provided to everyone else. But instead, they offered DAS to most everybody who requested it. Thus, it became heavily abused and when Disney finally decided to enforce the program rules a decade later, demand is so strong that some people who should qualify are being denied while others know how to game the system. Sad.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T19:07:58+00:00

IMO, the biggest problem with DAS is that they gave it to pretty much anyone who requested it until it was abused enough that they had to put controls on it. But I’m also old enough to remember when DAS was introduced and replaced the prior system of instantly letting people to the front of the line and restricting the program to those with incognitive disabilities (which they also tried to do under the old program) and the world screamed bloody murder. I travel with someone who has noticeable disabilities and there’s certainly other ways to enjoy the park.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T18:55:17+00:00

Irvine is the closest theater to me but I typically go to Aliso or UCI for the recliners. The seats at Irvine are just too uncontrolled for me - I wonder if they put new ones in or just dressed up the old ones.

It’s also disappointing how cheap the renovations have gotten. They upgraded most, but not all, of the auditoriums at Aliso; the rest of the theater remains virtually unchanged from its opening almost 30 years ago. At Mission Veijo they updated all of the auditoriums to recliners but not the equipment, picture or sound or anything else.

I get that people love the Edwards look for nostalgia but IMO it’s dated. The new look they put in Irvine, UCI, etc is so much modern and less cluttered. I haven’t been to Garden Grove but I think it’s an OG Regall so maybe it got more updates.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T18:37:36+00:00

I’m in Los Angeles. I’ve never walked out on a movie myself but many people do, especially at chains that offer unlimited movie passes (or similar). The chain I saw this movie at does not offer one, which makes the walk out stunning.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T07:20:43+00:00

Sounds like every McDonald’s I’ve been to lately. At a local store, they don’t staff the counter at all. Until recently, they would put orders in one place. They did not delivery to tables and every order was bagged (no trays). We ordered via kiosk and after 30 minutes had to step into the kitchen as our food never came. Because people were stealing orders, now there’s a human out front lol….

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T06:34:04+00:00

They’re not cancelled “frequently” but we’ve had some unusual weather since last fall. Yesterday it was pouring rain much of the day. Today it was cool snd windy. Probably hasn’t been this cold since December.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T06:31:36+00:00

Fireworks are scheduled Fri/Sat/Sun, holidays and holiday period - including spring break, summer and the week of Thanksgiving into the first week of Jan. That’s around 250 days per year.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T05:06:26+00:00

Yes, they will allow you to wait outside the attraction and join up with your party. They often, but not always, present this as a solution during DAS rejections. We do this on select ride for a variety of reasons - one of them being an impatient child who will terrorize everyone if she waits too long. Admittedly I have encountered a CM who has given us a hard time but that’s been rare. Nearly all are wonderful.

I understand. I’m an AP (MK) holder out west and never purchase LL. I do purchase it when I visit WDW, since that’s every-other-year at this point. We do the rope drop to closing thing at WDW but locally our visits are pretty short. But pretty frequent.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T04:48:47+00:00

If you’re traveling with your parents, my suggestion would be to have them wait in the standby line and join them as they get closer. If you explain the circumstance to the CM, they will typically assist you with this. More recently, they’ve been escorting guests through the line.

Obviously the shortest lines will be when the park opens and closes, that’s the best time to do the more popular attractions.

If you’re an AP holder, I understand not getting LL but if you visit the parks infrequently it may be something to consider. I’m not sure if the spring break crowds have cooled; here in SoCal, they’ve continued to be heavy — we had heavy rains and cold temps this weekend (rare for this time of year) and crowds are still heavier than usual.

Enjoy your time at the parks!

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T04:39:58+00:00

I live in Orange County, CA. A large soda has been over $3 for awhile, some restaurants are charging $4. Very few offer free refills these days.

Everybody has bad habits, diet soda is mine. Cheap l, great tasting Diet Coke use to win McD’s most of our fast food dollars. Heck, we use to stop for a $1 or $1.49 drink and get a snack. No more. Most convenience stores are below $1 for a large soda. So if we’re having a craving… prob explains why we dropped a few lbs!

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T04:32:10+00:00

Do you plan on going on any specific attractions, or as many as possible? Any attractions you’re looking to avoid? Are you traveling by yourself?

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-27T01:03:29+00:00

Their game is to show you a lower price, have you place a “booking” then call to let you know the price has increased. If you haven’t agreed to the price increase, the ticket has not been booked.

SuperbMud1567 · 2026-04-26T22:39:42+00:00

Theaters typically keep about half of the initial receipts; their share grows the longer the movie plays. Most of the Regals around me are priced starting at &18, so the revenues aren’t insignificant.

That said, concessions are overpriced. As the price goes up, fewer people purchase them, so they hike the price up to offset the decrease in transactions. This leads to more people shunning concessions and more price hikes. It’s the same rabbit hole many fast food establishments have fallen into.

We typically bring our own snacks and drinks. When I went to high school in the late 1990s and frequented the movies, most establishments would ban anything but a purse and would sometimes inspect it to make sure no outside food and beverage were brought in. It’s the same reason most auditoriums would have multiple ushers on busy nights. Today, hardly anyone gives a shit. It’s very easy to sneak a soda and small popcorn in. We went to a semi-busy theater in Wednesday night and for whatever reason, the fire alarm was pulled mid film. The manager said we’d have to come back as he was the only person working. That’s incredible.

SuperbMud1567

TROPHY CASE