Utilidor
| Disney Utilidor System | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Alternative names | Utilidors |
| General information | |
| Type | Underground Tunnel System |
| Town or city | Bay Lake, Florida |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 28°25′15″N 81°34′53″W / 28.420965°N 81.581347°W |
| Owner | Walt Disney World |
| Height | |
| Roof | Magic Kingdom |
| Top floor | 107 feet (33 m) |
| Grounds | 9 acres (3.6 ha) |
In Disney theme parks, the utilidor system is a system of some of the world's largest utility tunnels, mainly for Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Florida. The utilidors, short for utility corridors, are a part of Disney's "backstage" (behind-the-scenes) area. They allow Disney employees ("cast members") to perform park support operations, such as trash removal, out of the sight of guests to avoid ruining the illusion that is being created.
They were first built for Magic Kingdom. Smaller utilidor systems are built under the central section of Epcot's Future World, primarily beneath "Spaceship Earth" and "Innoventions," and formerly at Pleasure Island. Disneyland, in California, also has a small utilidor through Tomorrowland.
According to modern legend, Walt Disney was bothered by the sight of a cowboy walking through California Disneyland's Tomorrowland en route to his post in Frontierland. He felt that such a sight was jarring, and detracted from the guest experience. Since the California Disneyland was small, such a tunnel system could not be feasibly implemented. When the new Florida Disney park was being planned, engineers designed utilidors to keep park operations out of guests' sight.
The largest system of utilidors is beneath Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, but they are not a basement. Because of an elevated water table, most of these tunnels were actually built at ground level, and the Magic Kingdom was built above that. All the guests of the park see streets that are elevated by one story. Parts of Fantasyland, including the Cinderella Castle, are at third-story-level. The ground's incline is so gradual that guests do not realize they are ascending to the second and third stories. The Magic Kingdom is built upon soil which was removed from what is now the Seven Seas Lagoon.
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