Walt Disney Built A Network Of Tunnels Beneath The Magic Kingdom

The staggering 9 acres of tunnels below Walt’s “Most Magical Place on Earth” actually provide the key to answering a lot of burning questions that people might have about Disney World.

Interestingly, the idea for the sprawling underground network of tunnels supposedly came from Mr. Disney himself. Mind you, that could just be another part of the incredible legend he left behind.

Now, we know what you’re thinking. Disneyland was an unprecedented success, right? It made money beyond anyone’s wildest dreams! Well, yes, that’s absolutely true. But that doesn’t mean Disneyland is perfect.

One of the major issues with Disneyland was the lack of space. That may sound surprising, as the park was built on a whopping 160 acres of land. But the trouble was actually with the space bordering the complex.

In short, Walt had envisioned a fantasy world where nothing could break the enchanting Disney spell. But without the space for expansion — or secret tunnels — his grand vision couldn’t become a perfect reality.

When guests traveled to Disneyland in the late 1950s, they didn’t just see brightly-colored Disney stuff along the way. On the contrary, the neighborhood en route to the park was littered with non-Disney — and probably less-than-premium — hotels and diners.

Thankfully, the issue of space was an easy one to fix. Between 1963 and 1965, Disney low-key bought up 27,000 acres of land in Orlando. That’s, like, a lot bigger than the California location!

But tragedy struck before any building even started at the Orlando site. Late in 1966, the legendary Walter Elias Disney died. Yet Disney’s vision for a bigger and better theme park was left in good hands.

But the major hurdles weren’t initially how to build a network of tunnels. The first thing to be sorted was simply how they were going to construct a theme park on wetlands.

It’s pretty ingenious. And the way the Magic Kingdom has been constructed goes hand in hand with how Disney keeps the underground tunnels out of sight of the public.

Essentially, they had to build a lot and dig a lot — before construction on the park (or the tunnels) could even begin. But it wasn’t just a case of destroying everything that was already there.

And this system monitored the water levels to prevent any floods — and stopped water from leaving the environment as well. And that was only one of the steps put in place to lead the way for Disney World.

So the crew emptied and cleansed Bay Lake. They also dug out 7 million cubic yards of muck to make Seven Seas Lagoon. And they were only just getting started.

And when the lake and lagoon were brimming with water again, they became part of the site for the Polynesian Village Resort. Disney really did think of everything, didn’t it? That’s not all the company did with the mud, either.

And why is this? The tunnels are part of the answer — but it’s probably best to have an actual Disney Imagineer explain. In 2007 Gary Landrum told Disney Fact or Fiction how the construction crews used the dirt excavated from the Seven Seas Lagoon “to landscape over the first floor” tunnels.

Landrum continued to explain the design brilliance, “When you walk down Main Street USA, you may feel like you’re at ground level, but really you’re about 15 feet above ground level,” he said.

It's worth bearing in mind, too, that we’re not talking about a small tunnel or two. Quite the opposite — the space the construction team created is a truly massive 9 acres.

This idea was also explored in the Disney Fact or Fiction show. The host even asked Disney World visitors what they thought was going on under their feet. And their answers were… interesting.

“All the Christmas decorations, they gotta put ’em somewhere,” said another visitor. The woman laughed as she said this, but she’s not actually that far from the heart of the matter.

As we mentioned at the top, the tunnels were supposedly inspired by Walt Disney himself. The story goes — and no one has really confirmed whether this is true or not — that one day Disney spotted something in Disneyland that didn’t seem right.

But this cowboy was in Tomorrowland, which was presumably part of his route to his designated spot for the day's shift. Disney reportedly felt that this broke the illusion of the whole theme park.

And as Disney didn’t have the space to expand Disneyland, there weren’t many ways of moving cast members from one place to another out of the view of the public.

The word is a mash-up of “utility” and “corridor,” and it gives you a pretty good idea of what the underground spaces are used for. But for Disney World, the utilidors really make the magic happen.

There would be no lost cowboys in Tomorrowland in this Disney World. Now, cast members can wander unseen beneath Cinderella’s Castle and then appear in the right place. And that’s not all.

And because this is a 9-acre world beneath a theme park that we're talking about here, you’d better believe there are plenty of other things cast members can do down there, too.

But once you learn about the utilidors, those amenities kind of make sense. How about a barbershop, though? Yeah, you heard us right. Somewhere beneath the Magic Kingdom is a hair salon that will sort out the ’dos of cast members.

For instance, what are some of the things you need to do on a day-to-day basis? Things like, say, cashing a check. Well, cast members can do that within the utilidors as well. They can also go shopping.

And we’re not just talking about getting cast members from A to B unseen. No, housed in the middle of the utilidors is the control hub for the entire site.

Another impressive feature of the utilidors is the Disney garbage disposal system. Known as an Automated Vacuum Collection system — or AVAC — the pipes suck the trash from Disney World’s garbage cans.

That’s where they make the Disney movies and shows we all love so much. In the past, they had animators drawing the films by hand on cells in one building and then passing those along to painters and inkers in another building. There was just one problem...

Now, come rain or shine, the animation — and the animators — will be protected. But then again, the animators didn’t just use the tunnels for work purposes. And if you’re a fan of Disney artwork, you might want to look away now.

Cline even said she heard the story from Roy E. Disney himself! Apparently, the animators would entertain themselves by taking handfuls of these cells and dropping them at the top of an incline leading to a tunnel. They’d then compete to see who could skid down the furthest.

Fortunately for them, Walt Disney never found out what his son was getting up to in his downtime! So have we blown your mind about the behind-the-scenes workings of “The Happiest Place On Earth?”

That’s right: for the princely sum of roughly $129 to $149 per person (plus tax!), you can take Disney World’s Keys to the Kingdom tour. This is a five-hour deep dive into the behind-the-scenes workings of the Magic Kingdom.

This upgraded excursion is a seven-hour guided exploration of the parks, and it costs — wait for it — a whopping $275 a head (and don’t go forgetting the tax!).