Disney Employees Claim Goofy's Kitchen Made Them Sick, OC Weekly, 9/13-19/02

[adriennek]

Disney Employees Claim Goofy's Kitchen Made Them Sick, OC Weekly, 9/13-19/02

With roughly 80 employees and a 240-person seating capacity, Disneyland Hotel’s Goofy’s Kitchen is the hotel’s largest and busiest restaurant. ....

Despite the festive atmosphere, current and former restaurant employees say the cafeteria-style restaurant is plagued by rats, rat feces and toxic mold.

[TecTalker2K]

Oh yummy. Sir.. is that a raison in my salad?

[opus]

Hmmm... I just made reservations there. First character breakfast/meal at DL. Now I'm wondering if I should switch to one of the other buffets. (Is "buffets" spelled right? Looks wrong. )

[disguy]

Well, I'm not eating there! The rats part was gross but what blew me away was the $500 bucks a night in tips!!!

[opus]

The tips don't bother me. Also, there have been so many positve reviews here about Goofy's Kitchen.

I know that story is really negative, but coming from someone who used to work in the food industry, there's negative stuff *everywhere* you eat. You just don't know it. Plus, do you ever eat hot dogs? Do you know what the conditions are like in the hot dog factories? I've got a friend that worked for Foster Farms (chicken, don't know if they're national) and he refuses to eat chicken anymore from anywhere. I told him not to tell me anything, as I can't live without chicken.

Anyway, I think I'll keep my reservation.

[teri]

There are rats all over Disneyland - that is no secret. Go read any of David Koenig's books. It is an urban setting. I would imagine that every restaurant in town has to do rodent control.

I feel for the people who were working in underventilated and poorly maintained areas, or anyone who was exposed to toxic mold. One of my doctors thinks that my asthma was brought on by toxic mold exposure from our old house, which had flooding in the basement. No fun at all.

[socabch]

WOW!! The mold issue brings back memories from Fremont Unified School District. Some of the elementary schools were plagued with mold and it took alot of yelling from us parents and teachers and press attention to get the district to do something about it.

Those workers with respitory problems really need to have it taken care of right away. In the mean time they can wear mouth and nose covers at work. If it's discovered that the mold is Stachybotrys then that's not good. Alot of molds are more of a temporary irritant to your health and when the mold is gone the allergy sysmtoms go away. But Stachybotrys can (not always) cause life long respitory problems. Stachybotrys has to be removed by a hazmad team. Hopefully they don't find that kind of mold, but the workers have a long hard road ahead proving the mold caused the health problems. Been there with many friends, some of them quit teaching because it turned into a nightmare with the school district.

[disguy]

Maybe they can make Mickey ear breathing masks for there employees to wear. For the cost of the buffet you would think this issue would have been solved a long time ago.

[mad4mky]

I knew there would be a good reason for not ever going back there...besides the high priced meals and the not so great buffett...

While my kids enjoyed seeing the characters there when they were younger...I scowled at the price they charge for mediocre food...which little ones barely eat any of anyways...

Disney is laughing all the way to the bank on these food/buffet/character places...and now they are going to make us sick while were there too...cool....

[RStar]

Originally posted by opus


Anyway, I think I'll keep my reservation.

Is that your reservation for eating there, or your reservations ABOUT eating there?

And did you know they ALOW a certain number of rodent hairs in hot dogs? And like only 2 maggots per cans of beans? ONLY? If I found a maggot in my beans I'd be sueing! I find it better to not know what's in my proccesed foods. And make my own when I can. Then I know for sure.

[Lani]

Originally posted by teri
There are rats all over Disneyland - that is no secret.

Oh rats -- and here I thought they were all mice (gloved ones at that).

Folks are right, though. There isn't a single eatery that doesn't have cockroaches and bugs. Can't be avoided.

[roberts1398]

Not to diminish these workers' claims ... but it's important to acknowledge that the article (and the grievance filed by the employees) does not allege any danger to patrons, just to the workers ...

And I also have to agree with other posters comments about rats being inevitable. ALL old buildings in urban areas have problems with rodents and insects. All you can do is basically keep them at bay; it's impossible to completely get rid of them. Although, the quality of the restaurant is partially determined by how good a job it does of minimizing the presence of these pests...

[MammaSilva]

I've eaten at Goofys many times, know the original Manager of it when it converted from Strombollis to Goofys (she was the manager over at the old location, took over Strombollis then the New location before promoting/transferring to another foods service area) I've been "backstage" and didn't see anything that you wouldn't normally see in any restraunt kitchen...as for sinks backing up...that happens everywhere, the rodant/pest problems.. all places have them.....no where in the article does it say that the food was contaminated only that the kitchen areas were under question and it seems that OSHA has been there and done an investigation and signed off on it (not that I have all that much faith in OSHA) ... it would worry me if they weren't trying to clean things up but that's not how I read the article...as for the tips....figure that for a family of 4 the tab is going to be right at 100 bucks for dinner.....15 percent, which by the way is automatically added to your tab so you don't get that 'well they were ok so they get the 15 or they sucked so I'm only tipping 10% or less option ...there's 15 bucks, considering it's a buffett that has a high volume we are only talking 34 parties to get drinks for a night, and that's based on groups of 4, when we go there are 7 or more of us and the tip is usually between 40/ 50 bucks so I can see making $500 a night if they were an exceptional server...we've had them so I know they work there

[opus]

Originally posted by RStar
Is that your reservation for eating there, or your reservations ABOUT eating there?

And did you know they ALOW a certain number of rodent hairs in hot dogs? And like only 2 maggots per cans of beans? ONLY? If I found a maggot in my beans I'd be sueing! I find it better to not know what's in my proccesed foods. And make my own when I can. Then I know for sure.

I meant that we would still be eating there. And as far as the "number of rodent hairs," and "2 maggots per can of beans" I don't think it's that large of quantities. The specifications (I believe) were in the parts per million levels. Not sure.

[kranders]

Originally posted by opus
Do you know what the conditions are like in the hot dog factories? I've got a friend that worked for Foster Farms (chicken, don't know if they're national) and he refuses to eat chicken anymore from anywhere. I told him not to tell me anything, as I can't live without chicken.

And don't let anyone give you the details at the pickle factories. You would never eat one again.

I've eaten at Goofy's before and I'll eat there again.

[HB Tigger Fan]

I learned from someone in the restruant business that the best way to see the sanitary conditions of the restruant is to look in the restrooms. DO they have soap in the dispensers? TP in the stalls? Paper towel in the dispensers? Are the restrooms clean? If they don't have soap then chances are employees are not using soap after they use the restrooms. If they don't have papertowels, chances are the employees are wiping their hands on their clothes.

[kranders]

Originally posted by opus
Do you know what the conditions are like in the hot dog factories? I've got a friend that worked for Foster Farms (chicken, don't know if they're national) and he refuses to eat chicken anymore from anywhere. I told him not to tell me anything, as I can't live without chicken.

And don't let anyone give you the details at the pickle factories. You would never eat one again.

I've eaten at Goofy's before and I'll eat there again.

[HB Tigger Fan]

I learned from someone in the restruant business that the best way to see the sanitary conditions of the restruant is to look in the restrooms. DO they have soap in the dispensers? TP in the stalls? Paper towel in the dispensers? Are the restrooms clean? If they don't have soap then chances are employees are not using soap after they use the restrooms. If they don't have papertowels, chances are the employees are wiping their hands on their clothes.

[hefferdude]

15 percent, which by the way is automatically added to your tab so you don't get that 'well they were ok so they get the 15 or they sucked so I'm only tipping 10% or less option

Worked in some very nice fern bars during a long stint
in college in the 70's as a waiter and bartender. I still
believe a gratuity ( tip ) is offered only in return for good to excellent service. I emphatically do not agree with the mandatory 15% unless it is a for a large party ( 8 or more )
with 1 tab.

I worked in some very nice establishments up north for about 8 years ( '72 - '80 ). Agreed, they all had bugs to some degree but never rats! God no. And the mold issue seems to have come
upon the scene in the last 10 years or so. Blah.

We tried Goofey's kitchen and found it lacking for the price
we paid. Sorry, for the truth. Our kids ate the typical "mac & cheese" genre food and would've been ok at some other
eatery at 1/5 the price. Why is it a lot of us have to pork
ourselves to enjoy a meal?

Strombolli's was a much better venue. Sorry it had to change.
I wonder how PCH Grill at PPH fares, although with mixed
reviews lately, we still enjoy going there. ( The service needs
to be a little more peppy though. )

[opus]

Hmm... Off topic a bit: I picked Goofy's kitchen because of the character meal and heard that the food was ok. I looked at the other character meal options and liked GK the best.

Gonna go search for the menu now...

[MammaSilva]

I miss Strombollis, they had a Tequila Lime Chicken dish that was to DIE for! ahhh those were the days....and very few people actually eat at Goofys for the 'food' they go for the "show" if you want great food try Storytellers, we've eaten at the PP at Miss Minnies Breakfast and found the food was good, the service was 'eh ok' not terrible, just not memorable....the best service we've ever had for that type of breakfast was at Storytellers...

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally posted by mammasilva
...and it seems that OSHA has been there and done an investigation and signed off on it (not that I have all that much faith in OSHA) ...

Actually, read that part again.

In a letter to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), Disney officials declared they could find no evidence of mold or rat feces. Responding to that letter in March, DOSH officials ruled Disney’s response "satisfactory" and closed its file on Goofy’s Kitchen.

Disney sent a letter that said "Yeah, we looked. We're clean. Don't know what they are talking about." DOSH said, "Oh, okay. We'll take your word for it. What reason would you have to lie?" It doesn't seem OSH has bothered to go take a look for themselves at all and are accepting Disney's letter saying they are okay

[disguy]

That's because Disney is there "Golden Child" I doubt Disney could do anything that the city would be upset about.

[RStar]

Yeah, that's what I got out of it. Disney told someone to clean the kitchen, then sent in a team to inspect and make a report. Then they sent that in. Don't you just love self management?

I recently went through Club 33's kitchen and was shocked. While it didn't seem dirty (well used, however), it was sooo small! I don't see how they can get everything done in there!

[stinkerbell]

I love Goofy's Kitchen and agree with many above that say that those "unsanitary" conditions apply to most food handling operations. I once went a year without chicken after watching one of those alarmist TV news shows, like Dateline, etc. Enough is enough. I just don't put much stock in those stories anymore. It's one thing to educate the public, it's another thing when the sole intention is to alarm them. It just gets old. It's like the boy who cried wolf. Eventually you tune the naysayers out, even when they have valuable info.

Keep your reservations, opus. It's well worth the price. It's the experience, in addition to the incredible food that makes a meal at Goofy's a definite part of every Disneyland trip for our family.

Rat poop or no.