Disneyland Custodial Department - 1980 Information Booklet For Hosts and Hostesses

Today, let us return to Disneyland and its famed Custodial Department circa 1980. If you made it past the screening process and were hired into Custodial as a Host or Hostess, you would receive training. Walt himself promised his wife that Disneyland would not be dirty like most amusement parks. This promise carried over into the training and procedures that were passed down to the members of the Custodial team.

Reproduced below are selected pages from the information booklet that was given to Day Custodial cast members who were hired in the 1980 - 85 time period. I am sure you will get an indication from reviewing this booklet why it was that "Disneyland is synonymous with the word cleanliness" and "The cleanliness of the Park is one of the most common compliments received."

The opening and closing routines were something all of us had to do at one point or another. Either you were assigned an opening or closing shift as your "regular" shift for the summer, or you would occasionally be assigned to fill in for an opening or closing shift. As for me, closing shifts were the best. It was great to be the last person in your area at the end of the day (along with your lead and one or two other sweepers).

As you can see, even mundane events such as the handling of vomit and horse droppings made their way into the manual back then. I manned the "honey bucket" on many parades during my days in Custodial. Of course, on Main Street it was a routine occurrence to clean up after one of our powerful trolley pullers. Those horses were trained to urinate at a spot directly in front of the Castle (where the trolley loaded) and we had a special deodorizing liquid that we would spray there to help keep the area from becoming too offensive. Mosts guests were somewhat surprised that Disney horses engage in natural waste eliminating activities. I suppose they expected that Walt and his crew had imagineered a way around them. Sadly for us sweepers, they had not.

Here's to our quadrupedal friends on Main Street and the many times they helped to keep me humble!