What is a Utilidor?
Disney has given us some pretty interesting language: Imagineer, audio-animatronic, and utilidor come to mind.
Chances are, if you are a fan of Walt Disney World, you already know about the tunnels underneath the Magic Kingdom. The utilidor, as the tunnel system is called, has a couple of origin stories.
Some say that Walt decided to build these in his new property after seeing a cowboy Cast Member in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. Another theory is that the utilidor was really meant to serve EPCOT and alleviate traffic when the concept of EPCOT was that it would truly be a futuristic community, or Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.
Utilidor is short for "utility corridor" and that's exactly what it is, with the added benefit that it is underground. The utilidor most people will have heard of is underneath the Magic Kingdom.
But that's not exactly right. Actually, the utilidor at the Magic Kingdom is the first floor (it can't truly be underground because this area is naturally a swamp). The train station and most of the Magic Kingdom are on the second floor, and Cinderella's Castle is actually on the third floor level.
The utilidor at the Magic Kingdom runs under the entire park, with the exception of New Fantasyland which was a late addition. In fact, if you look at pictures of the construction of Walt Disney World, you may see portions of the utilidor being constructed. It is set up like a wheel and spoke system.
The utilidor serves many purposes. First, it is where all Cast Member services at the Magic Kingdom take place. That means there are break rooms, costume rooms, banking services, a cafeteria, and even a barber down there. Cast members working at the Magic Kingdom actually park a mile away (the parking lot is huge and hosts the Cast Member shop called Company D and also hosts a once weekly flea market style shop just for Cast Members). They then take a bus to the utilidor entrance. It really does look just like a big gaping metal corridor entrance.
Once in the utilidor, Cast Members share this space with other in park utilities, like trash removal (yuck), armored cash trucks, some of the restaurant's kitchens, and medical carts. It is not unusual to be sharing the corridor with a vehicle or several, though all vehicles inside the utilidor, aside from the armored cash trucks, cannot run on gasoline - the fumes would be problematic.
Cast members walk down the main entrance corridor until they find a ring shaped corridor. Going around this ring will take them to several stairwells they can climb to put them in the correct part of the park. Once they open that door at the top of the stairs, like magic, they are in the park.
You can see the utilidor for yourself a few ways:
1) work there!
2) Take the Keys to the Kingdom tour
3) Require first aid
Wait a minute... require first aid? Yes! Although you will only see a small part of the utilidor but technically, the first aid station down the stairs at the Crystal Palace is in the utilidor.
But I don't recommend seeing the utilidor. Here's why: It's one thing to know it's there. It maintains a magical, mythical quality, but to actually see the inner workings of the magic you enjoy as a guest might require you to redefine magic. It is after all, a utility corridor. It was meant to be kept out of sight of guests. Seeing it brings home a reality that Cast Members are people, trash is actually produced, people actually get sick, restaurant kitchens are still the clattering restaurant kitchens you know back home, and cowboys talk to astronauts all the time.
While the Magic Kingdom is home of the utilidor that earns the name "The Utilidor", there are actually two other similar structures at Disney properties. The second largest is at EPCOT (of course it is! Remember our origin story?) but it is much, much smaller at just 700 feet in length. It is a straight line that runs under Innoventions West, Spaceship Earth, and Innoventions East.
There are also some small underground areas at Disneyland, though they hardly form a corridor. In fact, at most other Disney properties, Cast Member services and utilities take place on the same level as the park, just conveniently tucked outside, behind, and in undeveloped pockets of the park. For example, think of the bridge you see when you take the path between Pandora and Africa at Disney's Animal Kingdom. It has tall walls you can hardly see through for a reason: It's a Cast Member passageway.
Have you seen the utilidor yourself? What were your impressions? Share your comments!
