Millions of people visit Walt Disney World parks every year. In 2024, 52 million people made a trip to the company’s six parks. Despite insane attendance numbers, the parks have a solid reputation for cleanliness.
Robyn Buchanan, a YouTuber known as Minimalist Home, explained in a recent video how she keeps her home organized and tidy with Disney-inspired cleaning tips that its parks use to stay spotless despite “tens of thousands of people walking around every day with turkey legs, ice cream, sticky children, Dole Whips, and churros.”
She adds that Disney has built “an entire system around keeping the parks clean.”
Disney’s cleaning systems
Disney employees, known as cast members, follow specific cleaning systems, procedures, and expectations that do not rely on motivation to get cleaning done, a major selling point Buchanan points out about home cleaners looking to Disney for inspiration.
She notes a major downfall for home cleaning is the phrase: “I’ll clean when I feel like I should.”
Instead of waiting for motivation to strike, she offers a few ways to get little jobs done each day, including:
- After dinner, wipe down the countertops.
- When the dishwasher finishes, empty it.
- Before bed, do a five-minute reset.
- On garbage day, empty all little bins in your home.
“You don’t have to have a conversation with yourself every single time. The trigger is what makes the decision for you,” she added.
10 Disney cleaning tips
Tip #1: Don’t save the mess for later
Disney takes care of messes right away. Spills are cleaned up, and litter is immediately thrown into a bin.
“Cleaning is happening continuously while the park is operating,” she said. “They’re not waiting until closing time going, ‘Right, well, let’s see what 50,000 people have done today.’”
By utilizing small cleaning resets, which Buchanan refers to as the DASH Method, she explained, “You deal with little things as you move through your day” to avoid needing a full day of cleaning (along with a motivational speech to get you going).
“You’re not constantly cleaning. You’re just preventing tomorrow’s cleaning job from becoming enormous,” she said.
Tip #2: The 30-step trash can rule
This rule was created by Walt Disney himself. Buchanan stated that Disney “wanted his guests to be roughly 30 steps from any garbage can.”
The reason? “If throwing away something is easy, people are so much more likely to do it. If the garbage can is nowhere near you, suddenly that tiny wrapper becomes a logistical problem,” she explained.
This translates into homes.
“If garbage constantly collects beside your son’s computer, maybe you need a little garbage bin in a better spot,” Buchanan suggested. “If clothes always land on your bathroom floor, but your hamper is in your bedroom, maybe the hamper is in the wrong place.”
She emphasized that putting in cleaning systems within your house where certain behaviors naturally happen is key for helping to keep your home clean.
Tip #3: Put things at the point of performance
Buchanan stated that Disney utilizes this tip by placing garbage cans near where garbage is likely to happen “near food, near exits, near places where somebody suddenly realizes they’re carrying what they don’t want anymore.”
Buchanan explained that, in the home, this can look like keeping “cleaning cloths in the bathroom, a hamper where clothes come off, keep box cutters where you’re constantly opening up packages, putting a donation box near the closet where you usually decide you don’t want something.”
She added, “Disney organizes according to what people actually do.”
Tip #4: Design for prevention
Disney specifically designs its parks for fewer messes to happen in the first place. Buchanan assured her viewers the same can be done at home.
“If the front entrance is constantly exploding with shoes, bags, and jackets, the answer may not be: ‘I need to tidy this more often.’ Maybe you need hooks or fewer shoes there. Maybe every person needs one basket,” she said.
This includes keeping cleaning tools and supplies close to where you use them in the home so they are easily accessible when needed.
“I have toilet cleaner in every bathroom. I have cleaning cloths in every bathroom. I even have a few broom and dustpan sets a few places in my house—by the fireplace, down where the cat’s litter box is—where I feel like I need them!” said Buchanan.
Tip #5: “Go Away Green”
Buchanan explained that Disney uses muted colors, including one called “Go Away Green,” which doesn’t draw eyes or attention to things such as utility boxes, doors, and equipment.
“The idea isn’t that the object disappears—it’s just that your brain really doesn’t pay much attention to it,” she noted. “I feel like Disney gave clutter a boring dress code, and I’m here for it.”
At home, you can adopt the same method.
She explained how “Bright cords, random containers, different colored baskets, a black charger hanging down a white wall” can all shout for attention.
For boring functional items in the home, she suggested blending them into the room using “matching baskets, neutral storage, cord covers.”
Tip #6: The utilidors
Disney has a unique underground system of tunnels called utilidors that help keep behind-the-scenes operations of the parks, including moving cast members around, storing supplies, and other necessary logistics, out of sight.
Buchanan compared it to managing a well-run home that needs discreet places to keep “cleaning supplies, tools, overflow pantry food, returns, recycling, half-finished projects, the vacuum—all the boring infrastructure required to operate a household. We need things neat, tidy, and organized.”
In her home, Buchanan has a basket where she keeps returns, a linen closet, and a broom closet where she keeps things intentionally stored and out of sight to prevent clutter.
Tip #7: Everybody picks up the trash
This Disney rule is Buchanan’s favorite because parks are kept clean not just by custodial staff—but by all staff. When they see something that needs attention, they see to it.
She added that it means “cleanliness has become part of the culture. It’s not just one person’s job.”
She urged using the same philosophy in homes, with every family member contributing to help keep the house clean.
“Everyone who lives in the house has some ownership of the space,” she added.
Tip #8: Give people actual zones
Custodial work at Disney is divided up into clear zones with clear responsibility. Designating the same format to family members at home (i.e., someone is responsible for taking out the trash, putting shoes away, or unloading the dishwasher on specific days) is another easy way to make sure the house stays clean.
Tip #9: The overnight reset
Buchanan pointed out that overnight at Disney parks, a lot is happening when guests aren’t paying attention. This includes landscaping, maintenance, and more before the next day begins.
At home, the same reset can be implemented. “Not a deep clean, not an hour,” said Buchanan. But giving the kitchen a final wipe down, clearing off counters, and starting the dishwasher to ensure a fresh start for the morning can make a big difference.
Tip #10: Clean in the same order
Disney uses the same general cleaning sequence every time, which Buchanan thinks is an underestimated benefit that can also be done at home.
“When you clean a room in different order every time, you keep having to think about what comes next,” she explained. “I like to take the ‘think’ out of everything.”
She recommended creating a sequence for yourself. “For example: garbage, laundry, things that don’t belong, surfaces, floors, done.” She continued, “You can use whatever order makes sense for you. But the point is that your brain eventually learns it so it just goes on autopilot so you can just zone out.”
