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Ulitidors
- Thread starter ttman541
- Start date
jlmct52
Member
Basically, the utilidors are the 1st floor of the Magic Kingdom. While the pnematic garbage collection tubes, the wardrobe department, etc. are all down there, the utilidors were primarily designed to keep cast members out of sight as they move from one part of the park to another.
The story goes that in the early days of Disneyland Walt Disney once saw a Frontierland cast member walking through Tomorrowland in costume and he felt that ruined the illusion. So, the Imagineers built the utilidors to hide cast members and service people moving from land to land.
Aroleggim
Member
Also first floor of EPCOT
Captain Hank
Well-Known Member
Epcot's tunnel system isn't nearly as big. It's pretty much only under Innoventions.
Tom
Beta Return
The next time you're at WDW, take one of the Behind the Scenes tours they offer at the Magic Kingdom - specifically Keys to the Kingdom. It's a 5 hour tour that walks you through the Magic Kingdom, explains some of the traditions, and shows you some of the backstage areas of the park. You go behind Frontierland and see the parade storage building and the back sides of Splash and Pirates.
But the part you'd be most interested in - as with most people who take the tour - is the quick visit to the Utilidor. You take a set of steps down from one of the Main Street buildings, walk around the core hallways under Main Street, watch a brief video of the construction of the tunnels, and head back up stairs on the other side.
The "tunnels" are what most people would refer to as the "basement." Disney likes to work the semantics and refer to it as the "first floor" because it was technically built at the existing ground level, and then covered with dirt, thus putting the Magic Kingdom park at "second floor level". However, by building code standards and definition, the tunnels are technically a "basement" since they're entirely below ground (except for the main entrance behind Fantasyland).
The area under main street is a giant building that houses merchandise storage, break rooms and the personnel department for MK CMs. Then there is a long hallway that loops around the park, passing under each major land. There is also a hallway that runs due north and south from the Main Street basement, under the castle, to the north end where the main entrance to the system is located (roughly underneath Pinocchio's Village Haus).
A number of stairways (and a few elevators) lead from the tunnels up to various "hidden" locations backstage in the park. Some come up in or near attractions. Some come up in shops, for use in stocking merchandise, and there are 4 that come up into the Main Street shop buildings (which actually house offices above the shops).
When you're in the tunnels, you feel like you're in a warehouse or other industrial facility. The walls are poured concrete, often with highway guardrails attached to protect them from the maniacs who drive golf carts and forklifts around at obscene speeds. There are no ceilings - and all you see when you look up are masses of data cabling, fiber optics, electrical conduit, steam/chilled water pipe, waste lines, and the trash vacuum system pipes. The floors are sealed concrete and the walls are painted different colors to indicate which land you're currently under.
At the very north end, as mentioned above, is the main entrance. This is where most of the CMs enter for work every day (some park behind the main street buildings, but most of them are maintenance or office personnel). CMs park in a lot north of the MK and ride a bus down to the entrance. You walk in at what appears to be ground level, but you're immediately underground once entering the tunnel. Think of it like a walk-out basement on a house.
MK costuming and one of the CM cafeterias is back there, along with DACS - which is where the "brain" of the entire park is located. It's a giant computer room with rack after rack of servers and processors that run each and every ride, show, animatronic and sound you hear/see in the park. There's even a dark room where they run the parades from. I had the extreme fortune of getting to go into DACS and actually watch them run the 3:00 parade during a Backstage Magic Tour in the late 90s.
Below is a link to a scan of the Tunnel Map they handed out to CMs back in the 90s. I can't vouch for its accuracy today, as I haven't seen an updated copy surface on the internet anywhere. I also have never seen or read a description of where each staircase ACTUALLY comes up. It would be very interesting to know where you really "popped up" in the park.
Correct. You enter in a sunken area next to UoE and it goes to Innoventions, with the main purposes of providing a way to stock Mousegear and Electric Umbrella. Years ago (i.e. 80s) they had a computer control room down there, but I understand that it's since become a giant storage room. I have no idea where the "brains" of Epcot are now.
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
EdwardTC,
Stairways #19 & #21 are the ones we used on our Keys tour in May '08. #19 is behind the Emporium. About mid-way thru the shop (I'm trying to remember which "room" it is, I'll update if I remember) there's a door that leads backstage. When you walk thru that door it's a small, empty room. Then there's another door opposite the one that leads into the shop. We were told the "rule" was that only one of those doors to that little room are to be open at any given time. If a CM opened the door to the shop they didn't want there to be a bunch of stuff or anything else visible to guests that could be "disruptive" to the surroundings. We had to squeeze every person in our tour group in, close the door, then open the other door to step backstage. Just outside the second door to the right was stairway #19. That's where we descended into the utilidors. We essentially crossed below Main Street then came back up another set of stairs, #21, on the opposite side from the Emporium. We didn't walk back thru any doors. We walked behind the shops towards the front of the park and came back onstage between The Chapeau and Tony's/Exposition Hall. I'm sure those are the ones we used. Makes sense when compared to where #20 is located.
Very, very cool map! I can almost sit here picturing the backstage access for each of those stairways.
Stairways #19 & #21 are the ones we used on our Keys tour in May '08. #19 is behind the Emporium. About mid-way thru the shop (I'm trying to remember which "room" it is, I'll update if I remember) there's a door that leads backstage. When you walk thru that door it's a small, empty room. Then there's another door opposite the one that leads into the shop. We were told the "rule" was that only one of those doors to that little room are to be open at any given time. If a CM opened the door to the shop they didn't want there to be a bunch of stuff or anything else visible to guests that could be "disruptive" to the surroundings. We had to squeeze every person in our tour group in, close the door, then open the other door to step backstage. Just outside the second door to the right was stairway #19. That's where we descended into the utilidors. We essentially crossed below Main Street then came back up another set of stairs, #21, on the opposite side from the Emporium. We didn't walk back thru any doors. We walked behind the shops towards the front of the park and came back onstage between The Chapeau and Tony's/Exposition Hall. I'm sure those are the ones we used. Makes sense when compared to where #20 is located.
Very, very cool map! I can almost sit here picturing the backstage access for each of those stairways.
Rob562
Well-Known Member
Main MK Costuming is no longer in the Utilidors. It's located up by the Cast parking lot north of the park (I believe it's referred to as "West Clock"). With the "Cast Zooming" (or maybe it's "Costume Zooming") where CMs are allowed to bring multiple sets of their costume home, having the old way of in-park Costuming where you picked up a costume at the start of your shift and returned it at the end of your shift became unnecessary. Not sure when it moved, but it was sometime after my KTTK tour in 1999/2000.
I believe in-park costuming at MK now only handles Entertainment and Character costuming.
On my Keys to the Kingdom tour, we went down Stairway 4 (which we reached by exiting out a back door of one of the shops around Pan, I think the one that's now at the exit to Philharmagic) and came back up Stairway 10, which exited out into the park near Tinkerbelle's Treasures and the Cinderella fountain.
While down below, we walked up to the Main Tunnel Entrance, and then across to that secondary entrance and in through Costuming. We even got to walk in through the racks of costumes, then around the corner and into the Wig Room.
-Rob
Tom
Beta Return
Thanks for the info on costuming.
You must have taken KttK years ago, because I've taken it a number of times in the past few years, and the extent of tunnels/stairs has been "down behind emporium, watch the video under MSUSA and back up by the balloon shack". Very boring.
The stair cases you mentioned...do they come up inside other buildings, and then you just walk outside through doors in the backs of buildings (like Peter Pan and Tink's)? I presume so.
It would just be interesting to know where all these staircases actually pop up.
For example, something like "Staircase #xyz comes up into the southwest corner of XYZ building and you can either walk into the queue area for XYZ ride, or through outside doors which take you behind XYZ building."
Tom
Beta Return
I guess they figured that once you're costumed and in Tomorrowland, you fit in anywhere there - so you can "pop out" from anywhere.
I need to see a satellite image with the tunnels superimposed. That would be cool. I wonder if Martin has ever done something like that....
TRONorail10
Active Member
One interesting note about the utilidoors is that every major restaurant in Magic Kingdom (i.e. Cosmic Ray's, Pinnochios, Columbia Harbor House, Tomorrowland Terrace, Liberty Tree Tavern, Crystal Palace, Pecos Bill, etc.) all have an elevator and stairway attached to them... so a lot of the CM's refer to those stairways/elevators by the name of the restaurant instead of using the actual number assigned to them. On another note, most of the stairwells and elevators are somewhat hidden backstage, so that even if a guest was trying to sneak into the utilidoors, it would be very difficult to get there from most areas unless you know where your going.
MrMorrowTom
Member
No one uses the stairway number. The staircase is mainly just named for where you pop up. And that map is a little outdated because there is a main staircase that leads into stitch's great escape which is a break room for cast members of stitch, astro and tta. The space mountain cast members use that entrance as well.
Also there is many things down in the tunnels. There are offices (labor controls located for each land), the money room (big room where they count all the money Highly secure), maintenance rooms, server rooms, the mousecateria (cafeteria), costuming for the characters, dumpsters (at least for cosmic rays). While you walk through them you are constantly dodging segways, electric carts and cast members who are running late for work. And dead mans curve its a turn in between Monsters Inc. and main street, where you must drive very slow or you will crash or hit someone. Seen many of fender benders there.
Also there is many things down in the tunnels. There are offices (labor controls located for each land), the money room (big room where they count all the money Highly secure), maintenance rooms, server rooms, the mousecateria (cafeteria), costuming for the characters, dumpsters (at least for cosmic rays). While you walk through them you are constantly dodging segways, electric carts and cast members who are running late for work. And dead mans curve its a turn in between Monsters Inc. and main street, where you must drive very slow or you will crash or hit someone. Seen many of fender benders there.
redshoesrock
Active Member
There was supposed to be a small offshoot in the Tomorrowland section (like how there is at the Adventureland/Frontierland section) that would allow Space Mountain CM's to pop up in Space Mountain - but between Stitch and Space the ground wasn't strong enough to dig out a tunnel while having tens of thousands of people walking above it. I was a Space CM for three years, and I would pop up at where it says Stairwell #25 and walk across to Space.
navyindibly23
New Member
New User
I'm impressed,
Yet Another new Member here. must say definitely like forums.wdwmagic.com
I'm impressed,
Yet Another new Member here. must say definitely like forums.wdwmagic.com
WDWRLD
Active Member
My first trip into the utilidors was July oy 1987 when I was 13, yes 13. At that time they had what was called "The Wonders of Walt Disney Entertainment". Dont really remember much other than being down there. Since then I have taken the KTTK tour in I think 1999. We entered at Tinkerbells treasures but dont remember where we came back up. We saw the money room, DACS, costuming, went into the wig shop, went outside and back in at the main entrance under Village Haus. It was a excelent tour.
Tom
Beta Return
Ah yes, the good 'ol days of seeing worthwhile stuff down there. We got to see all of that on a Backstage Magic Tour in that same time period. We even got to watch them start the 3:00 parade from the parade control room in DACS. Just awesome.
Now, you dip down, watch the video, and head back up.
GenerationX
Well-Known Member
Those backstage tours of the MK and Epcot utilidors are fascinating. Great peek into how the operations are really run. I wish they'd offer tours of the Studios utilidors, because those are truly unique. Due to the high water table in the Studios area, the utilidors could not be built under the park as they are at the MK and Epcot. Instead, they're built above the park with a huge simulated sky on their underside to camouflage them from guests. If you look up at certain vantage points from within the Studios, you can see that the "sky" is really just a bunch of inter-connected high-def screens. And the Imagineers really outdid themselves with the simulated storms.
Tom
Beta Return
Hmmm...I'll have to check that out in a couple of weeks. I'll just look UP the entire time we're in the studios.