When you walk into Disneyland, you probably don’t consciously realize all the work that goes on in the background. Cast members work while you play; they’re cooking the food, operating the attractions, and of course, cleaning and maintaining the “show.”
Walt Disney once recalled,
“When I started on Disneyland, my wife used to say, ‘But why do you want to build an amusement park? They’re so dirty.’ I told her that was just the point—mine wouldn’t be.”
Keeping the park clean is exactly what Lynn Baron and Ken Pellman from The Sweep Spot podcast address in their new book, Cleaning the Kingdom: Night, Day, Past and Present. The Custodial department at Disneyland has quite a legacy, starting way back to when Walt brought the department in-house and set it up just the way he wanted.
This book is actually the second in the series. The first focused mainly on how the work is done, while this one focuses on who did it. Additionally, it shifts the viewpoint from Lynn and Ken during their time working as Disneyland Custodial, to a much wider perspective. For their new book, they collected thoughts and views from a large variety of cast members, from the first head of Janitorial to the regular third-shift cast member.
Lynn and Ken are following the same layout as their first book: each chapter is a self-contained topic that doesn’t require any previous knowledge about the subject, so you can just pick up the book and start reading. This format allows readers to jump into the second book without needing to read the first one. Although, if you’ve missed some lingo, they have a helpful glossary in the back of the book.
The first several chapters of the book focus on four early “Jani” (as they liked to be called). These were the department founder and Disney Legend Chuck Boyajian, his right-hand man Tom Roppa, the second “top Jani” Ray Sidejas, and one of the longest-running leads, Harry Hemhauser. These are all people who otherwise wouldn’t get a lot of attention despite their role in making Walt’s dream happen. Lynn and Ken relay their stories in great detail to give these unsung cleaning champions the chance to be recognized for their work at Disneyland.
Chuck Boyajian was a major part of bringing Walt’s dream of a clean park to reality. When Walt brought the Janitorial department in-house at Disneyland, Chuck was the department’s manager. Both Chuck and Tom Roppa are featured extensively in the book, which was a pleasant surprise.
A large portion of the first two chapters come from first-hand accounts of Ray Sidejas, Chuck’s protege and replacement when he retired. If you’ve listened to Lynn and Ken’s podcast, the Sweep Spot, you should be familiar with many of Ray’s stories. The anecdotes include tales of working with Walt Disney, the Disneyland strike in ’84, being sent to various new Disney parks as they opened around the world, and many more stories that paint a great picture of how the growth of the Disney Company and its theme parks affected the “little” guys who worked at Walt’s original Magic Kingdom.
The history-laden chapters of this book are some of the best written by the former Custodial duo and that coupled with the shorter length will be much easier for first-time readers than the detail-heavy original Cleaning the Kingdom. And of course, it’s a feast for the more rabid fan as well. That’s why our recommendation is to actually pick up this book first if you haven’t read the original yet, then you can make the (right) choice to read the original.
This is one of the only books published about the Custodial department and that makes it pretty special.
This is a book written by Disneyland fans for Disneyland fans and self-published by Disneyland fans. The “publishing” company for the book is a Custodial pun, “Panenbrume Publishing.” Lynn and Ken have put a lot of love into chronicling the world-famous Disneyland Custodial, and it’s something we can absolutely recommend you pick up and read, whether you’re a hardcore Disneyland fan or only visit once in a while.
To purchase a copy of Cleaning the Kingdom Volume II, click HERE. To listen to The Sweep Spot podcasts, click HERE.
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Let’s Hear From You
Lynn and Ken’s new book offers a spectacular look into the history and function of Disneyland Custodial. Is this book on your to-read list? Have you had the chance to look at the first one? Have you listened to their podcast, The Sweep Spot? Let us know in the comments.