MK's First Floor.....

[iluvdisney01]

Has anyone ever been down the corridors (I believe they're called "Utilidors"?)located on the first floor of MK? I'm curious what it looks like and how busy it is. It'll be great if you have pictures as well. Thanks!

[Kileli]

i doubt any regular person is allowed down there, but that would be cool to see. how do you get down there anyway? it has them in a show on the travel channel

[Harrison Hightower III]

actually there is a tour for people to go down there that shows the marvels of it. Sadly its only for adults because a child would be devastated if they saw Mickey with his head off or Cinderella smoking!


HHIII

[xfkirsten]

I've been down there - I used to work at MK. :smile: I was so excited to be down there at first - like any Disney geek, I was excited to see the famed Utilidors! So at first I was saying "I get to see the Utilidors!" ...and less than a month later, I was saying "oh... I have to see the Utilidors. *puke*" LOL. It's neat to see at first, but after awhile you realize it's SO plain. My roommate and I always used to compare it to the corridors at Stargate Command, for anyone who's ever watched Stargate SG1. It's just big concrete corridors lined with pipes. Stuff drips on you from said pipes, and makes you wonder if you're going to grow a third arm where it drips on you. LOL And parts of it smell awful. Under the Jungle Cruise especially, it always smells like someone ripped a bad one. And it's easy to get lost in if you don't know your way around. It's arranged in a big ring, with a few satellite corridors that go out under the lands, but it's so easy to get disoriented while you're down there. I got lost the first time I went to pick up my paycheck! As for how busy it is, it depends where you are. By the entrance/costuming/the Mousketeria it's pretty busy, since most everyone entering the Utilidors goes through there. And under Main Street (where there's a lot of offices) it's more moderately busy. But someplace like the end of the corridor under Adventureland/Frontierland there's hardly anyone there.

As far as pics go, I don't have any, since you're not allowed to take photos down there (and such illicit photos would fall under VF's "no backstage photos" policy).

[Harrison Hightower III]

Thanks fo that!!!


HHIII

[iluvdisney01]

Thanks for the info! I'll probably take the tour when I go there next year. It;s kinda good they don't allow kids. I wouldn't want the magic ruined for them. At least for adults, seeing backstage is part of the Disney magic.

[Harrison Hightower III]

Good Point.


HHIII

[xfkirsten]

Thanks for the info! I'll probably take the tour when I go there next year. It;s kinda good they don't allow kids. I wouldn't want the magic ruined for them. At least for adults, seeing backstage is part of the Disney magic.

It's definitely a good thing that they don't allow kids. The Disney magic that you see "upstairs" (as CMs call it) doesn't really exist in the tunnels, and you see things that do ruin the magic. I remember coming back inside after a set once and a group of Magic Music Days participants was walked by the character zoo as everyone was changing out of costume. There were some pretty horrified looks on their faces when they saw that, and these were older high schoolers. For some people, that doesn't ruin the magic (I lived it daily, and it didn't ruin it for me) but for some people it really does. And I certainly wouldn't want a little kid to see that.

I worked for SeaWorld's entertainment department for awhile, too. We had one off-property event at a big Christmas tree lighting ceremony, and we were forced to share changing space with the ceremony's other performers (despite our protests that children shouldn't be seeing that). I was getting out of costume after we came back in, and a kid that couldn't be more than four walked in and saw someone crawling out of Shamu - she froze, her face crumpled, and she looked like she was going to cry. There's a reaon that children aren't allowed backstage, and that sort of situation is exactly why!

[CarouselOfProgress]

That's kind of freaky, that you are on hollow ground when in MK. What if the ground water all of a sudden decides to seep in and fill in the tunnels, as the swamp reclaims WDW. -_^

[DisneyParksFan]

That's kind of freaky, that you are on hollow ground when in MK. What if the ground water all of a sudden decides to seep in and fill in the tunnels, as the swamp reclaims WDW. -_^

LOL

I'm not sure, but I thought they had pumps down there are something.

It is sort of weird thinking that you're not on solid ground...

[xfkirsten]

That's kind of freaky, that you are on hollow ground when in MK. What if the ground water all of a sudden decides to seep in and fill in the tunnels, as the swamp reclaims WDW. -_^

Well, the women's locker room is right under the old sub lagoon, and when it rained the lagoon would get a bit too full and leak down into the locker room. During a particularly bad storm, I had to take off my socks and shoes at the door and slosh over to my locker. :icon_lol:

[Harrison Hightower III]

Man is this interesting.


HHIII

[BCC]

Yes it is...

Anyways... I would be devestated if I saw Mickey's head on the ground or one of the Disney Characters smoking... I'd be like... What the-- That doesn't fit right with me...

[ryguy222]

Does a fifteen or 16 year old fall under "Children"?? Just wondering if you want to see it it isn't that much like Xf kristen said its concrete walls with pipes running around them They brought cameras down there and they showed a character walking around with the head off. It didn't bother me.

[DisneyParksFan]

^^ You have to be at least 16 to take this tour

[LoehnWolf]

Did they restrict the time you actually spend in the Utilidoor areas? My wife thought she read it posted somewhere else that they have limited the access to the Utilidoor areas after 9/11? I guess the tour used to be even longer than it currently is. Any truth to that??

[DisneyParksFan]

^^ The tour is currently 4 hours and 30 minutes.
I'm not sure if they made the tour shorter, but I do remember hearing something about it

[xfkirsten]

I'm not sure if the tour is longer, but security was definitely heightened. I was there in 2002-03, and I remember there were a couple of security scares. For awhile, they had an extra blockade that the CM bus (that goes between the cast parking lot and the Utilidors) had to stop at. I think that only last a couple of weeks, though.

[disneyguy]

I took the tour in 2004... I think... anyway... I thought it was so awesome being the Disney freak I am... But I can see how easliy people could be tried of it. :wink:

- DG

[tonichelle]

during Magic Music Days we went "behind the scenes" and they pretty much held our cameras for ransom while we were around there... lol so watch out ;)

but it did give it a weird feeling being in Epcot after that... because the back of the set just ain't as purty as the front ;)

for me it was easy to forget it once we got back to the attractions, but it was just weird... seeing some of the characters walking around 'half dressed' was funny.

[Djali999]

Anybody who would like to see the Utilidors' major intersection under Fantasyland can do so at Disney Pix, here: http://www.disneypix.com/MagicKingdom/Utilidor/Utilidor4.htm

It appears to be from a Disney official video as the only time you'd ever see a fully costumed Mickey strolling about would be for a video shoot. They're not especially interesting, smell pretty dire at times (dumpsters are kept down there), and have lots of tiny puddles of suspicious water. "Don't Step In the Disney Puddle!"

Disney has also offically published photos a few times. I have Walt Disney World: The First Decade, and old photos of the tunnel under the Hub can be found on page 78.

[LoehnWolf]

We just got back from WDW and took the Keys to the Kingdom tour and got to go down to the first floor ,no its not the basement the Magic Kingdom is actually the second floor and was built over the Utilidoor area. They are pretty much as described. We were constantly having to step to the sides out of the way of the golf carts used to transport stuff and people around the tunnels. Its funny to see where they pop up as we traveled from Mainstreet to Tomorrowland in about half the time it would take going above ground. It really is this big underground city with all the offices and storage spaces and things. Highly recommend the tour if you want to learn more about the behind the scenes workings

[Cali Coaster]

I have never been to the Magic Kingdom before so I couldnt say. I have however been in the Tomorrowland tunnels at DL. But, that was only for the Rocket Rods queue. What it is used for now, I think, it is used for VIP's and Maitenence crews, lanscaping, ect.

[DisneyParksFan]

during Magic Music Days we went "behind the scenes" and they pretty much held our cameras for ransom while we were around there... lol so watch out ;)

but it did give it a weird feeling being in Epcot after that... because the back of the set just ain't as purty as the front ;)

for me it was easy to forget it once we got back to the attractions, but it was just weird... seeing some of the characters walking around 'half dressed' was funny.


Yeah, they did that to us too when my band went over the spring. Our guide was went insane when somebody took out their phone.
Yeah...the backstage of Epcot is pretty boring and undressed, same with behind Frontierland and Adventureland. :biggrin:

[snowwhite-4ever]

Oh I would love to go there, since I'm dreaming of working at a Disney Park, as a singer or dancer in there shows, or being an Disney Character :D