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 “What is your fascination with The Forbidden Closet of Mystery?”

Now that I’ve lowered your expectations a bit, let’s take a glimpse behind the scenes to see the secrets hidden within the utilidor system. What you’ll see when you pass through these hallways is lots of office space. Remember that it’s a work environment for virtually everyone lurking there. Disney cast members drive to a parking lot each morning and then ride a tram that some sarcastically describe as The Great Bus Ride to the utilidor entrance. The journey is less than half a mile, but Disney wants all the underground space reserved for logistics. Staff parking has to take place elsewhere.

When you explore the tunnels, you’ll notice that most of the cast members are walking, too. Sure, some are sprinting since they’re late for their shift or trying to handle some above-ground crisis, but foot traffic is what you’ll see the most. That’s not to say that the utilidors lack vehicles, though.

To the contrary, Disney has stocked their hidden tunnels with Pargos, golf carts that run on electricity rather than gasoline. The green energy isn’t just for the environment. It’s also a concession to the fact that fuel can explode. Park planners want to avoid catastrophe in their utilidors. While electric batteries are also technically combustible, they’re much less risky. That’s why you’ll see a decent amount of environmentally friendly golf carts whiz by. Pargo is actually a golf cart brand name if you’re wondering. 

image via Flickr user pengrim™
Image: Flickr

Other vehicles enter the utilidors as well. Lots of construction and maintenance workers staff the Disney underground. In fact, one of the oddest employment stats at Magic Kingdom is that they stock about 25 maintenance employees during standard operating hours. These are the employees who fix anything broken while the park is open. After it closes for the night, the number of maintenance staff expands to almost 100. Disney performs most of its upkeep after dark. These employees traverse the utilidors to reach the attractions in need of small repairs. Sometimes, they require industrial class vehicles to perform their jobs, which is why those also are allowed in the utilidors.

The other vehicles with underground access are practical in nature. Most of the Magic Kingdom food and merchandise runs through the utilidors. Supply trucks are a constant sight. Disney also has to address emergency health issues as they arise in the parks. They have their own medical ambulances that can rush through the utilidors to aid the injured or ill as quickly as possible. Disney also allows ambulances from offsite hospitals to enter the utilidors during crisis situations. Again, it’s a functional city, and the underground area is the hidden highway that connects the regions above. In this manner, utilidors have literally saved lives over the years.

Due to the monstrous size of the pathways and the Kafkaesque nature of those halls, park planners have color-coded the walls to show the best paths to the various themed areas. Just as you have access to park maps at Magic Kingdom, the cast members working below you have wall notifications. And Disney has even allowed for people like me who are color blind. They also have written directions on the walls as a back-up when the colored identifiers are useless. Despite all the information, many cast members have stories about getting lost during their first few days on the job. The too-similar pathways confuse even the best navigators.

Behind the curtain…

Image: Disney

Other than color-coded directions, most of what you’ll see on the seemingly constant concrete walls of this hidden ground floor is inspirational quotes from Walt Disney and other famous people. The 7 Rules of a Cast Member are also visible. It’s a working area, and corporate strategists believe that every tip has a chance to resonate with some cast member. Disney always has an eye toward customer service, even in their dungeons. Of course, positive feedback is also a way to improve staff employment satisfaction. For this reason, guest feedback is also posted on some walls to make cast members feel good about all the (wonderful) work that they do.

Since many parts of the utilidors are glorified office space, the usual workday details are an everyday part of the system. You’ll notice meeting rooms and break rooms as you roam the tunnels. Sure, some irregular stuff exists, but even that has a reason. Since Disney has rules about cast member appearance, they’ve added a hair salon named Kingdom Kutters. Emp”loyees who look scruffy can take care of their appearance onsite. The line between work and downtime at Disney gets blurred, but cast members think of the utilidors as their escape, whereas their time on the main floor , aka Magic Kingdom, is when they consider themselves “Onstage.”

A few locker rooms are there as well. They’re needed since cast members have to change into their themed work clothes. Accompanying lockers are nearby for staff to store personal belongings during the day. Disney also kindly pipes in music from XM Radio, presumably to restore the sanity of cast members subjected to “It’s a Small World” and “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” hundreds of times each day.

Image: Disney

You’ll also find the cast member restaurant area. Called Mouseketeria, it’s the underground equivalent of Pinocchio’s Village Haus in terms of placement. Describing this facility as a cafeteria isn’t quite accurate despite the name. It’s more of a food court in that meal options are impressively robust. A Subway franchisee is even part of the setup, which is a bit odd since Disney doesn’t have a working relationship with the restaurant chain otherwise. Its presence in the utilidors underscores how hard Disney tries to satisfy all the needs of its cast members.

Similarly, the prices that employees pay for their Mouseketeria food is a fraction of what the company bills paying guests for much of the same snacks, entrees and desserts. Learning the employee discounts on your $15 cheeseburger would make you want to ask for an application the next time you’re at Cosmic Ray’s.

If you’re interested in seeing pictures of the facility, watch Instagram and Twitter for the #Mouseketeria and #utilidors hashtags. Also, perform Google Images searches for these and similar terms. Photography in the utilidors section is a huge no-no, but you’ll infrequently stumble on an interloper’s cache of images or possibly even a disgruntled cast member’s illicit utilidors pictures. Several videos exist on YouTube as well, some of which are quite engaging. The fact that so few of these exist in the wild underscores how protective Disney is of the space beneath Magic Kingdom.

 
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