Disney News

Over the past week, we have talked about how Disney Parks has taken a proactive approach to Environmental stewardship by:

• Conserving water, energy, and ecosystems.
• Reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions
• Inspiring others to take action for the environment

Now is when you step in! What changes can you and your family make that will positively impact the world around you? Disney Cast Members throughout the United States have made pledges to make their world a better place. It doesn’t take much – it can be something as simple as:

• Raising the thermostat by 2 degrees in the summer and lower by 2 degrees in the winter
• Using only reusable utensils and drinking containers during your daily life
• Eating food that is caught, farmed or grown in an environmentally friendly way
• Recycling anything and everything possible – even when you are away from home
• Minimizing the use of fertilizer and pesticides

What is your pledge? Tell us in the comment section below.

The cast of the Walt Disney World® Resort has committed to minimizing their overall impact on the environment. Many operational changes have placed emphasis on effectively managing resource used through energy conservation and waste minimization, while also focusing on conserving the natural environment through science, education and leadership efforts.

Here is just a few of the many changes in day-to-day operations the Walt Disney World® Resort have implemented all in the name of conservation:

• Walt Disney World® Resort has deployed more than 1,500 alternatively fueled vehicles-ranging from golf carts to Monorail trains to help lower emissions. They also replaced the entire fleet of Security vehicles with hybrids and other fuel-efficient options. This effort has reduced fuel consumption by an average of 33% per vehicle.

• Walt Disney World® Resort installed energy-saving fixtures throughout the property. During an update at The Hall of Presidents, Cast Members replaced theatrical lighting with more efficient and longer-lasting LED fixtures. LEDs consuming only 3-to-13 watts can replace 75-to-100-watt incandescent bulbs with equivalent light output. LED fixtures are now used in 98 percent of the signs, decorations and Christmas trees at Walt Disney World Resort. Even Cinderella Castle glows “green” during the holidays with more than 170,000 LED white lights to glisten the Castle, using the equivalent energy of only 12 microwave ovens.
• All 24 resort hotels at the Walt Disney World® Resort maintain the state’s Green Lodging designation – representing the largest number of Green Lodging-certified hotels in the state.

• More than 92,000 tons of materials were recycled in 2010 at the Walt Disney World® Resort.

• The Walt Disney World® Resort uses more than two billion gallons of reclaimed water a year for irrigation of landscape, washing buses and cleaning streets at theme parks and resorts. This amount of water could fill Spaceship Earth roughly 129 times.

• Disney Harvest reduces food waste by gathering excess prepared food from Walt Disney World® Resort kitchens and distributing it through the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. More than 1,000 local children are fed weekly through this program. In 2010, Disney Harvest gave nearly 360,000 pounds of food to the hungry in Central Florida

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park provides some unique forms of “waste.” In 2010, more than 4,680 tons of manure was sent to the compost facility from Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the Tri-Circle D Ranch, producing more than 9,000 tons of compost throughout the year.

After the recent renovations at the Disneyland® Hotel, you will notice that its exterior looks a little blue. But if you stare into that shade of blue, you will see a lot of “GREEN!”

Those blue tinted windows are just one of the many energy-efficient changes that were made at the Disneyland® Hotel.

Rona Kay, Manager of Disneyland® Hotel, explains how this historic hotel was made a little more environmentally friendly

by Magic Maker® Kyle Froman

We all know that Walt Disney World® Resort and Disneyland® Resort are full of good, clean fun for the entire family. However theme park Imagineers have taken the term clean comedy quite literally. In a world where hidden surprises and fun interactions are the norm, there are two characters that are certain to steal the spotlight and put a smile on your face in the parks.

In Magic Kingdom® Park’s Tomorrowland® Area, you will find a clean, interactive character that will leave you and your travel party laughing, yet scratching your head saying ‘how’d they do that’! PUSH, the roaming and talking garbage can, makes his appearance near Mickey’s Star Traders and Tomorrowland Speedway, interacting and joking with guests.

PUSH is an actual, functioning Tomorrowland® Area trash bin, and derived his name from the large word ‘PUSH’ found on the trash can flaps. Go ahead and peek inside PUSH to see for yourself! PUSH is able to see what you see, and hear what you hear all in real time, creating hysterical interactions between guests and himself.

While PUSH started making appearances at Magic Kingdom® Park in 1995, PUSH the Talking Trash Can also makes appearances daily at Disnelyand® Park and Disney California Adventure®!

In Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park you will find a clean comedian of a different sort in Rafiki’s Planet Watch® Land. Pipa, who is the recycling container version of PUSH, greats and interacts with guests, encouraging them to take an interest in recycling. A quick peek inside of Pipa will again reveal he is the real deal!  Pipa’s name is derived from the word container in Swahili!

If you are wondering how PUSH and Pipa operate, well we aren’t going to spoil that bit of magic here! But we would encourage you to take the time to visit PUSH and Pipa, as well as many of the other hidden treasures around Walt Disney World® Resort and Disneyland® Resort! There are countless hidden surprises to uncover and explore!

Has your family had any interactions with PUSH or Pipa? Tell us about them in the comments section below!

Each year, millions of children worldwide die from hygiene-related illnesses because the essential items for proper hand washing are unobtainable to them. It is estimated that every 10 seconds a child dies from these types of illnesses – all preventable by just a single bar of soap!

An Orlando-based nonprofit organization, The Clean the World® Foundation, aims to stop these needless deaths from occurring by recycling used soap and shampoo and distributing them around the world to those living in poverty. With Walt Disney World® Resort’s 24 resort hotels located in central Florida, they play a key role in helping Clean the World® reach their goal. But it doesn’t end there – resort hotels at Disneyland® Resort in California as well as Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Hawai’i, also recycle hygiene products with Clean the World®.

“Disney’s commitment to environmental sustainability permeates throughout the entire company. They are literally turning trash into treasure through Clean the World®, and that benefits the global community by creating a cleaner world” said Shawn Seipler, executive director of Clean the World®.

From Jan. – Sep. of 2010, Disney cast members collected more than 25,000 pounds of partially-used soaps, shampoos, conditioners and lotions from the nearly 28,000 hotel rooms on Walt Disney World® Resort property! This collection not only allows the cast members and guests to clean the world, but it repurposes something that was headed to the landfill.

After the discarded amenities are sanitized, Clean the World® distributes the items to people in need as part of their ongoing efforts to improve health and personal hygiene in impoverished areas worldwide. Some of these products are even donated to shelters and various organizations throughout the United States.

So next time you use that bar of soap in your resort room, smile knowing that it will soon be saving lives!