Disney Fun Fact - utilidors

[wilsonhanks]

on Disney's page they quote a fun fact
"Fun Facts Walt Disney wanted to be sure that the business of the park would never intrude on the show. So he had built approximately 1.5 miles of Utilidors—the access tunnels beneath Magic Kingdom theme park."


So the other parks have them? or does modern day Disney not care about what the Walt Disney part of WDW wanted?

 

[wdwmagic]

on Disney's page they quote a fun fact
"Fun Facts Walt Disney wanted to be sure that the business of the park would never intrude on the show. So he had built approximately 1.5 miles of Utilidors—the access tunnels beneath Magic Kingdom theme park."


So the other parks have them? or does modern day Disney not care about what the Walt Disney part of WDW wanted?

Epcot has a small tunnel area, but none of the other parks beside MK have them. This is because the other parks have rear access roads, giving the access to buildings that is needed.

 

[CleveRocks]

on Disney's page they quote a fun fact
"Fun Facts Walt Disney wanted to be sure that the business of the park would never intrude on the show. So he had built approximately 1.5 miles of Utilidors—the access tunnels beneath Magic Kingdom theme park."


So the other parks have them? or does modern day Disney not care about what the Walt Disney part of WDW wanted?

wdwmagic has the perfect answer; I'll just expand on it a bit.

Walt first noticed the need for the utilidors when he was in Disneyland. I might have the exact details correct, but it was something like, he was in Frontierland and the "show" was ruined for him when he saw cast members in their futuristic Tomorrowland costumes having to walk through Adventureland. He realized this ruined the "show," that it shattered the illusion for guests that they are in Frontierland when they saw a space-age cast member sauntering through.

So when he built Walt Disney World (which at the time consisted ONLY of Magic Kingdom), he made sure nothing similar would occur at the new park.

[Another fun fact is that the utilidors are not "tunnels," but rather they are the ground floor of a building. All of Magic Kingdom, all of the streets and grassy areas and buildings ... all of that is the second floor of a building except for much of Fantasyland which is the third floor.]

As wdwmagic said, all of the subsequent WDW parks were built so that cast members (and supplies) could get to their individual areas without breaking the "show." There is an abundance of backstage area.

But think back to Magic Kingdom. Think about how its layout. You can start at the end of Main Street near the Hub, walk to Tomorrowland and turn left (keeping Stitch's Great Escape and the Cosmic Ray's restaurant on your left), then turn left just past the "Tea Cups" into Fantasyland, then walk all the way through Fantasyland into Liberty Square and then back to the Hub ... EVERYTHING you just encircled to your left side would be inaccessible were it not for the utilidors. The other parks have no such huge area that isn't easily accessible from backstage.

 

[Captain Hank]

As wdwmagic said, all of the subsequent WDW parks were built so that cast members (and supplies) could get to their individual areas without breaking the "show."

Except for DAK. There are a couple areas in DAK that require CMs to go through other onstage areas on the way to their work location.

 

[Yensid40]

^^

Same with DHS. When it was originally designed it was supposed to be a working studio which in real life would have people walking around in various costumes etc.

 

[mastif]

^^

Same with DHS. When it was originally designed it was supposed to be a working studio which in real life would have people walking around in various costumes etc.

it's really too bad that idea was lost...

 

[DisneyGator]

Reading threads like this remind me why I am SOOO happy to have discovered this forum!!! I am a gigantic Disney geek, and I know more trivia about the parks than anyone else I know....which can be fun, because I get to teach my friends and family all of the cool stuff that I know (and basically be a tour guide whenever we go), but it's so nice to get to "talk" to others who know all of this stuff too!!!! :sohappy:

 

[BrerFrog]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I heard from a fellow CP when I was at WDW that DTD also has some tunnels. Is that info correct in any way?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Another point of interest related to the utilidors or any backstage area is the care taken in the guests point of view at the entrances to these areas. When our Keys tour went into the utilidors we stepped backstage thru the Emporium. We passed thru a door into a small empty room. We had to all cram in, close the door, then open another door on the opposite sideof the room to go to the stairway that led us down to the utilidors. We were told this was so guests couldn't see thru to the unthemed area when a CM opened the door to go on/off stage. That was interesting to me.

 

[trr1]

Epcot has a small tunnel area, but none of the other parks beside MK have them. This is because the other parks have rear access roads, giving the access to buildings that is needed.

I also read somewhere that DTD had a small one also

found it
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=495403&highlight=utilidors&page=5

 

[yensid67]

wdwmagic has the perfect answer; I'll just expand on it a bit.

Walt first noticed the need for the utilidors when he was in Disneyland. I might have the exact details correct, but it was something like, he was in Frontierland and the "show" was ruined for him when he saw cast members in their futuristic Tomorrowland costumes having to walk through Adventureland. He realized this ruined the "show," that it shattered the illusion for guests that they are in Frontierland when they saw a space-age cast member sauntering through.

So when he built Walt Disney World (which at the time consisted ONLY of Magic Kingdom), he made sure nothing similar would occur at the new park.

[Another fun fact is that the utilidors are not "tunnels," but rather they are the ground floor of a building. All of Magic Kingdom, all of the streets and grassy areas and buildings ... all of that is the second floor of a building except for much of Fantasyland which is the third floor.]

As wdwmagic said, all of the subsequent WDW parks were built so that cast members (and supplies) could get to their individual areas without breaking the "show." There is an abundance of backstage area.

But think back to Magic Kingdom. Think about how its layout. You can start at the end of Main Street near the Hub, walk to Tomorrowland and turn left (keeping Stitch's Great Escape and the Cosmic Ray's restaurant on your left), then turn left just past the "Tea Cups" into Fantasyland, then walk all the way through Fantasyland into Liberty Square and then back to the Hub ... EVERYTHING you just encircled to your left side would be inaccessible were it not for the utilidors. The other parks have no such huge area that isn't easily accessible from backstage.

VERY WELL SAID ERIC, I COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF! BUT I NEVER KNEW THAT FANTASYLAND AREA WAS THE THIRD FLOOR! WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS INFO? NOT QUESTIONING, ITS JUST INTERESTING!:animwink:

Will:wave:

 

[UrbanDonovan]

Another point of interest related to the utilidors or any backstage area is the care taken in the guests point of view at the entrances to these areas. When our Keys tour went into the utilidors we stepped backstage thru the Emporium. We passed thru a door into a small empty room. We had to all cram in, close the door, then open another door on the opposite sideof the room to go to the stairway that led us down to the utilidors. We were told this was so guests couldn't see thru to the unthemed area when a CM opened the door to go on/off stage. That was interesting to me.

When my family and I were leaving the Magic Kingdom one night last week, we were routed through the backstage area in between the Tomorrowland Terrace and the Plaza Resturant. Kinda ruined the whole magical aura of the day. I would rather have waded through the crowds on Main Street than have stared at a giant CO2 storage tank on may way out of the park. So, at least in my situation, they really didn't seem to care if we saw the backstage. Oh well.

 

[Computer Magic]

VERY WELL SAID ERIC, I COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF! BUT I NEVER KNEW THAT FANTASYLAND AREA WAS THE THIRD FLOOR! WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS INFO? NOT QUESTIONING, ITS JUST INTERESTING!:animwink:

Will:wave:

yeah this is interesting. What is on the second floor?

 

[Tom]

VERY WELL SAID ERIC, I COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF! BUT I NEVER KNEW THAT FANTASYLAND AREA WAS THE THIRD FLOOR! WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS INFO? NOT QUESTIONING, ITS JUST INTERESTING!:animwink:

Will:wave:

There are no areas of the "tunnels" that are 2 stories. They ramp down and back up when the main north-south tunnel passes under the castle/moat, but it's still only 1-story underground.

In fact, the main entrance to the tunnel is right behind/under Pinnochio's Village Haus/Small World, at "ground level". That's where the CM bus drops off CMs coming to work at the MK each day, after they park in the CM lot to the north of the MK. When you ride the railroad around the park, you pass under a highway looking bridge just before Toontown - that's the road leading from the north service area to the tunnel entrance.

The confusion about 3-stories at Fantasyland may come from the fact that there are deeper areas, but there aren't 2 floors underground.

 

[TRONorail10]

When my family and I were leaving the Magic Kingdom one night last week, we were routed through the backstage area in between the Tomorrowland Terrace and the Plaza Resturant. Kinda ruined the whole magical aura of the day. I would rather have waded through the crowds on Main Street than have stared at a giant CO2 storage tank on may way out of the park. So, at least in my situation, they really didn't seem to care if we saw the backstage. Oh well.

The fact that u said the main street bypass ruined the magical aura of your day is absolutely hilarious to me. the main street bypass was designed for your own safety as well as peace of mind. imagine 45,000-50,000 people trying to exit the park after the fireworks... main street is the only way out.along with people trying to run across main street during the spectromagic parades, it is actually one of the most dangerous times in the park. every single guests wants to get out as soon as possible and believe me, people push and shove their way down main street to get out. the peace of mind provided by the bypass is much more suttle, knowing that you were able to dodge the massive bottlenocked crowd, the pushing the shoving, the shouting, the stress of being seperated from your family, etc. disney does work hard to preserve the magic, but keep in mind, disney does everything for a reason. the bypass is not used every night, it is only used during large park attendence days and typically when there is more than one spectromagic parade. aside from certain tours, the bypass is the only time guests are allowed in a backstage area. even cast members aren't allowed to walk around without their nametag or id badge showing. so u might want to treat it as more of a courtesy and privilege, rather than be so judgemental of 2 whole minutes ruining your entire day.

 

[castlecake2.0]

The guest said he didnt really care for seeing the backstage area of the park at the end of his day, how is this hilarious? OF course it was done for safety reasons, as safety s always number one priority, but I dont think he deserves a lecture for not liking the back side of main street...

 

[WDW 3]

We too were routed through the backstage area one night from practically the front gate to Tomorrowland and my family thought it was pretty neat. Not to mention we totally bypassed the whole parade crowd and got to a zero wait Space Mountain.

 

[UrbanDonovan]

The fact that u said the main street bypass ruined the magical aura of your day is absolutely hilarious to me. the main street bypass was designed for your own safety as well as peace of mind. imagine 45,000-50,000 people trying to exit the park after the fireworks... main street is the only way out.along with people trying to run across main street during the spectromagic parades, it is actually one of the most dangerous times in the park. every single guests wants to get out as soon as possible and believe me, people push and shove their way down main street to get out. the peace of mind provided by the bypass is much more suttle, knowing that you were able to dodge the massive bottlenocked crowd, the pushing the shoving, the shouting, the stress of being seperated from your family, etc. disney does work hard to preserve the magic, but keep in mind, disney does everything for a reason. the bypass is not used every night, it is only used during large park attendence days and typically when there is more than one spectromagic parade. aside from certain tours, the bypass is the only time guests are allowed in a backstage area. even cast members aren't allowed to walk around without their nametag or id badge showing. so u might want to treat it as more of a courtesy and privilege, rather than be so judgemental of 2 whole minutes ruining your entire day.

Sorry, guy. I didn't mean to upset you. I was just stating my opinion. I'll try not to upset you next time.:ROFLOL:

 

[dove_]

I want to say that another reason there's not more utilidors for the other parks has something to do with building on swampland, and restrictions they have now, vs. what they didn't have in 71. It does bother me that some DAK CMs have to walk through the oasis to get to their locations, and the same with DHS. As a guest, I don't want to see CMs entering the park. I like to imagine they just live there. (Even though I know from experience that is NOT true at all, haha)

 

[WDW-Crazy]

If they have to have a temp shortcut for overcrowded days, why couldn't they put some kind of temp structures up to help block some of the backstage areas. Or better yet, make a permanent path back there that connects Tomorrowland with Main Street's Center St and add some structures en route for guests so they are still "in-show". If you know what I'm referring to.