Employee kitchen at Disney World closed by health inspector after roaches are found

Disney World is known for its high quality standards but recently the Swan Resort made the news for just the opposite. An employee kitchen was recently closed due to live and dead roaches and fruit flies being observed by an inspector. The kitchen, which reopened the next day, is not used to serve guests.

A health inspector noted in the inspection that 14 live roaches were spotted on a kick plate near the hot boxes, which are used to keep food warm. Such incidences, while surprising, are typically quickly forgotten about by the general public (a live rat spotting in the kitchen at PR's in College Park is just the most vivid of the many violations the DBPR has uncovered recently).

The Michael Graves-designed Swan and Dolphin resorts, while on WDW property, are owned and operated by a third party and are part of the Starwood family of hotels. This typically doesn't mean any change in quality or service (but does mean a change in certain on-site amenities such as the Disney Dining Program). Disney World has numerous other third-party hotels on site, including the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista, the Four Seasons Orlando and the hotels along Hotel Boulevard.

Disney does have exacting standards for all third-party groups that operate at WDW, but such quality control oversights do happen. An isolated health concern happened earlier this year when a janitor from an outsourced company was spotted using a dirty mop to clean table tops at Disney's Art of Animation resort.

The employee kitchen at the Swan resort was remedied of the roaches by the next day and received a satisfactory follow-up inspection.