Disney’s flagship Space Mountain ride appears to be in need of a good scrub with grime lining the outside of the ride Guests to the Happiest Place on Earth are complaining that it’s starting to feel like the ‘crappiest’. Visitors to Disney World in Orlando, Florida say the 43 square mile resort is fast becoming plagued with dirty facilities and broken down rides. Although on the surface, everything might appear normal, eagle-eyed guests are noticing the smallest of things and say that standards are slipping just as prices soar under Disney CEO Bob Chapek. Many of the complaints have been catalogued in a Reddit chat room known as ‘Disney lacking’ in which guests have been detailing their observations. ‘Some rides are just a straight mess,’ wrote one Reddit user. ‘Rides are also down a lot. It’s been lacking since they reopened and I don’t expect it to change anytime soon. They know people will keep coming regardless.’ Some rides have been called out specifically as a sign that the place needs more than a sprinkling of Tinkerbell’s fairy dusty to spruce things up. In the Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid ride at Magic Kingdom, the experience appears to be falling apart. ‘Half of the in-queue hermit crab effects simply don’t work. In almost every scene something is broken – the moray eel’s eyes for example – one eye works, the other broken. You could do this for every ride, something is broken, unkempt, or not functional,’ one customer wrote added. Over at Epcot, another user wrote of their ‘shock at how many rides were all down at the exact same time.’ Maintenance appears to be a huge issue for the park with DailyMail.com sent various photos of a total lack of upkeep. One picture of a sign for the Epcot monorail appeared to be in need of a good clean with streaks of dirt, while one of the park’s flagship rollercoasters, Space Mountain, which used to a gleaming white colour now appears to be caked in grime and dirt. Others noted how the grass was not freshly cut, trash could be found on the ground and paint appears to be feeling from buildings. ‘There is no doubt that the parks, restaurants, and hotels that we enjoyed were in definite need of repair, there was a clear lack of general maintenance. It was genuinely shocking. At the prices they are charging, there is zero excuse for it, including COVID.’ Prices for a one-day ticket are as much as $159 per guest. Over the past few years, the prices of tickets for the amusement park have skyrocketed as executives continue to raise the price of food and begin catering to higher-paying clientele. To make matters worse, Disney executives are eliminate cost-saving features at the theme parks, like a free shuttle from the airport and free parking for those staying on the premises. It has also done away with a free option to help people skip the ever-growing lines at certain rides – replacing it instead with a pay service. In February, the entertainment conglomerate raised ticket prices with a four-day standard ticket costing a minimum of $447.70, according to Disney World blog Inside the Magic. The cheapest four-day ticket used to be $434.83. A four-day Park Hopper Ticket – which lets park goers travel from one section of the amusement park empire to another – costs a minimum of $540.89, up from $525.35. And a four-day Park Hopper Plus ticket – which allows Disney enthusiasts to visit every park in one day – jumped from a low of $546.65 to a low of $559.53. On average, Inside the Magic reports, the ticket prices are about $20 or 2 – 6% higher than they were just the year before. When Magic Kingdom first opened in 1971, the cost to enter was $3.50 for adults and $1 for children, according to Market Watch. When accounting for inflation, that would amount to just $24.98 for adults today, and $7.14 for children – about $100 less than an adult ticket costs today, or a more than 3,000 percent increase. ‘It’ll take more than just Aladdin’s three wishes to help clean this lot up!’ one park-goer joked. The issues don’t appear to be affecting just the theme park areas with some of the high priced hotel accommodations also missing the mark. ‘Last year when I was here, I was blown away with cast members, especially at Galaxy’s Edge, with maintaining the illusion. This year, a lot of the CM’s were not in character at all. The resorts have all had some small issues like the main door not closing when we leave, to A/C not working properly,’ a user said. A stay at the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel can cost as much as $3,000 a night. The price includes meals and entertainment. Hotels at the lower end of the scale are also being neglected. ‘The lack of room cleaning bothered me the most, I stayed at Pop Century for 12 nights and the ‘light cleaning’ every other day isn’t good enough,’ another park goer commented. Last month, tourists were stuck for more than an hour at Disney World’s ‘It’s A Small World’ water-based boat ride due to a technical malfunction, a video gone viral showed. A TikTok video shared by a mother shows a line of theme park boats filled up with guests at a full stop near the end of the ride located in Fantasyland area in the Magic Kingdom. Footage also shows a boat at full capacity and right in front of the mother slowly sinking into the ride’s river. ‘This boat said it was NOT a small world…We were stuck for over an hour, the torture,’ the video’s caption reads, followed by a laughing emoji. Social media users were quick to comment on the video, with some finding it amusing while others felt pity for the stranded visitors as they described similar experiences while on the ride. ‘Please tell me they at least turned the song off,’ one TikTok user commented. ‘Did any cast members tell you what was going on? I would have panicked!’ she added. The mother, who originally shared the video online said in response: ‘They didn’t realize for like 45 mins, everyone was on a boat so we sat there for about an hour stuck with the song on repeat!!! TORUTRE lol’. A number of customers believe it is Disney CEO Bob Chapek who is to blame for the drop in standards. Chapek took over just before the pandemic hit which forced the closure of Disney’s parks for more than four months. It led to a drastic hit to the company’s bottom line. Once the park reopened, Chapek raised the cost of admission and merchandise while also rising the price of food yet cutting portion sizes. ‘This is what the new Disney is all about. Cutting costs and making more for the board of directors. I imagine, unless they put someone in charge that really cares about Disney and not the bottom line, it will stay like this,’ surmised one. Others disagreed, refusing to blame Chapek for Disney’s dilapidation. ‘While it’s fun to blame Chapek for everything I think we also forget that this issue has always been there, but due to the increased costs we now are paying for these vacations, we may just be more hyper aware of them,’ one user noted. ‘While I think the magic is still there, I agree it’s a different feeling then my last trip…’