As maintenance issues continue to compound across Walt Disney World, it seems even standards of cleanliness have been tossed to the side for things that don’t absolutely require it by law. Just today, a visit to the Magic Kingdom revealed what may be one of the most disgusting sights we’ve ever seen at the parks — the boats of “it’s a small world” are absolutely filthy and turning black.

The yellow boats in particular highlight the issue. Black grime runs along the entire side.

The pattern extends well above the water line of the boat, beyond where contaminants from the water could sink in. These are just plain filthy and disgusting, looking similar to abandoned cars in a post-apocalyptic wasteland rather than a happy boat ride through the countries of the world.

It seems unlikely that the boats have been hosed down and scrubbed for months. The gunk runs along the entire side of the boat, even up to the top where guests might rest their arms as they ride. It gets worse towards the center of the boats, where the water won’t always lap up to rinse it off. Perhaps even the water within the attraction is not as clean as it ought to be.

This is not only a violation of the Five Keys (particularly Safety and Show), but just plain disgusting and far worse than we expect from any theme park let alone Disney, whose name used to stand for top quality in exchange for a higher price.

As Walt Disney World seems to have ended its transition period out of the COVID-19 pandemic and returned to normal operations, we will be resuming our Maintenance Reports in January 2023, which we put on hiatus while the resort focused on the pandemic. Issues like this will be brought to light again in the hopes they are fixed, and we can see the quality we once knew Disney championed return to the parks, particularly Walt Disney World as the flagship resort.

How do you feel seeing the boats of “it’s a small world” in such a disgusting state? Let us know in the comments below!

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The post ‘it’s a small world’ Boats Turning Black, Highlights Sad State of Maintenance at Walt Disney World appeared first on WDW News Today.