Culture
Disney Secrets
Betcha didn't know this!
Magic Tunnels and Elevation
The entire Magic Kingdom in WDW is actually more than an entire story elevated above the surrounding countryside, lending itself to a network of underground tunnels, dress shops and more. They came into design when it dawned that seeing a cast member from one land, in full garb, was spotted walking through multiple lands, somewhat ruining the magic. On average, you are 14 feet above the natural elevation.
Flags On Main Street USA, in the Magic Kingdom USA, there are a tonne of flags. However, as you may know, there are laws surrounding the raising and lowering of all American flags. To get around this and to keep all (bar the single main flag) up consistently, there are always some minor discrepancies, meaning that the flags stay up for patrons 24/7. And did you know that the flag poles dotted around also acted as lightning rods? Strange, but true.
EPCOT Tunnels Magic Kingdom isn’t the only park to have underground access tunnels! EPCOT also houses a few of its own, although to a far lesser extent.
EPCOT Golf Ball Insulation The famous EPCOT golf ball is built in two layers, allowing for all rainwater to run off and into proper drainage systems, meaning that the ground underneath never gets wet.
Coloured Water The waters in WDW are tinted a muddy green colour. No, that’s not dirt or sewage runoff, that’s on purpose, as it disguises the fact that the water is never more than a few feet deep, giving the illusion of depth.
Frequent Bins Bins are never more than a few steps away in the parks – in fact there’s a set maximum distance, calculated by the number of steps taken by your average guest before littering: 30 steps. And even if a guest DOES decide to litter, there are people on guard to pick up the trash before it hits the ground!
Gum Patrons to the WDW theme parks will know that gum is not for sale anywhere in the grounds. It’s a quick, easy way to minimise the amount to gum left underfoot. And if you decide to bring gum into the parks from outside, you can rest assured that Disney staff are on hand to clean it up immediately. Just compare Disney to any other park – no gum ?
Invisible Barriers Occasionally, a ride needs updating, building or demolishing. These sites obviously need to be screened from the discerning public and in doing so Disney erect barriers – in a certain greenie colour. People don’t really twig that these barriers exist due to their colour and bright adverts placed on them. The tinge has been dubbed “Go Away Green” and is applied not just to off-access areas but to anything imagineers don’t want you to see, such as fire hydrants.
Piped Smells Pioneered by WDW on Main Street USA in the front of the Magic Kingdom, pleasant, food like smells are piped into the air, making patrons hungry for certain foods which are on sale. This technique has been adapted across all Disney parks and even Las Vegas to encourage betting. They were so revolutionary, the even coined their own name: Smellitzers!
Forced Perspective Disney Imagineers quickly realised that if their signature icons in the parks – the castle, golf ball, tree of life etcetera – became too tall, they would be forced to be adorned with red flashing lights. The solution was simple – forced perspective. The size and angle of bricks on the castle, for example, make people think it is far taller than it actually is. Equally, Main Street USA was built at an angle that made it appear longer or shorter than it actually was.
EPCOT Original Purpose EPCOT was, until recently, intended to be an actual city! It was Walt’s dream – an Experimental Prototype Community (or City) Of Tomorrow. It was to feature a hotel, industry, school, underground transport centre and more. Eventually this was abandoned and the park became, well, a park. But the dream lives on. In fact, a model of the city can be found on the People Mover in Magic Kingdom, WDW.
Christopher Robin Bedroom In the English pavilion in EPCOT there is a blocked off area, in which is a bedroom, visible through a frosted glass windowed door. On the bed, there are toys from Winnie the Pooh. The room is, in fact, Christopher Robin’s bedroom, originally a meet-and-greet room. Since it was abandoned, it has been left in state.
Free Water Florida can be hot. And Disney knows this. So instead of buying water, which is on sale in copious amounts, at a price, just ask for a glass! They have to provide you with some water, gratis. Unfortunately, it IS Florida water, so it’s not the tastiest, but it is free!
The Ground At the entrance to the Magic Kingdom the walkway is painted red, so that patrons could be given the red carpet treatment. Further to this, depending where you are in the park, from land to land, the ground changes in design. They go so far as to represent in Liberty Square the tradition of waste being thrown into the street – gross, but true.
No Restrooms As an aside, Liberty Square sports no rest rooms, since in colonial times there were no public restrooms to be had!
Hotels Just because you're not staying in a resort, doesn't mean you're not welcome there! Disney would actually LOVE to have you was a meal time guest, just to fill their tables. So if you fancy air conditioning and stylised dining in, say, the Contemporary Resort, head on over!
Remember Maelstrom? Remember the references? Trolls, beasts, swords and of course, Norway at its heart? I loved that ride. Of course, now it's gone, replaced with the Frozen ride. But it's not all gone. With the old ride, there was a tiny section where the boat was open to the outside. This has now been covered up by waterfall, but the old ride is not all gone. With a nod to the old attraction, you can actually see a secret sword nestled into the wall behind the waterfall just to the right. And who says Imagineers have no sense of nostalgia?
Club 33 Actually more of a DisneyLand secret this one, although it is stashed away in WDW too. Hidden behind a muted green wooden door is an entrance to a secret elite club for entertaining high end guests. The door is coloured in "go away green" and is discretely labelled with the number "33". For Disneyland Resort's Club 33, members will pay $25,000 upfront, and then $10,000 every year after. For Walt Disney World, the up front cost is higher. Members will pay $33,000 to join and the annual fee is $15,000. Executive platinum membership costs $30,000 per year and carries a whopping $100,000 initiation fee. There is, for both, a long waiting list. What happens behind the locked doors? Who knows.
Cinderella's Fountain Around the back of the castle in Magic Kingdom is Cinderella's Fountain. Painted behind her is a golden crown, which adults have to curtsey or bow to place on her head, whilst from the point of view of a child, that crown is always on her head anyway! Now, think about what happens to all that money tossed into the fountain and other wishing wells. Want to know what happens to it? Disney collects them all up regularly, chemically cleans them then donates them to charity in a lump sum each year after being used for change. Wishes do make dreams come true…
EPCOT Spaceship Earth Photogenics Ever find that you can't quite capture the light display of Spaceship Earth in EPCOT on your digital camera quite right? That's because the wavelength of the lights used over the entire surface were specially chosen to react to your retinas but NOT digital appliances, yet still play on your eyes.
Some missing EPCOT rides…
Missing Lands of EPCOT
Flags On Main Street USA, in the Magic Kingdom USA, there are a tonne of flags. However, as you may know, there are laws surrounding the raising and lowering of all American flags. To get around this and to keep all (bar the single main flag) up consistently, there are always some minor discrepancies, meaning that the flags stay up for patrons 24/7. And did you know that the flag poles dotted around also acted as lightning rods? Strange, but true.
EPCOT Tunnels Magic Kingdom isn’t the only park to have underground access tunnels! EPCOT also houses a few of its own, although to a far lesser extent.
EPCOT Golf Ball Insulation The famous EPCOT golf ball is built in two layers, allowing for all rainwater to run off and into proper drainage systems, meaning that the ground underneath never gets wet.
Coloured Water The waters in WDW are tinted a muddy green colour. No, that’s not dirt or sewage runoff, that’s on purpose, as it disguises the fact that the water is never more than a few feet deep, giving the illusion of depth.
Frequent Bins Bins are never more than a few steps away in the parks – in fact there’s a set maximum distance, calculated by the number of steps taken by your average guest before littering: 30 steps. And even if a guest DOES decide to litter, there are people on guard to pick up the trash before it hits the ground!
Gum Patrons to the WDW theme parks will know that gum is not for sale anywhere in the grounds. It’s a quick, easy way to minimise the amount to gum left underfoot. And if you decide to bring gum into the parks from outside, you can rest assured that Disney staff are on hand to clean it up immediately. Just compare Disney to any other park – no gum ?
Invisible Barriers Occasionally, a ride needs updating, building or demolishing. These sites obviously need to be screened from the discerning public and in doing so Disney erect barriers – in a certain greenie colour. People don’t really twig that these barriers exist due to their colour and bright adverts placed on them. The tinge has been dubbed “Go Away Green” and is applied not just to off-access areas but to anything imagineers don’t want you to see, such as fire hydrants.
Piped Smells Pioneered by WDW on Main Street USA in the front of the Magic Kingdom, pleasant, food like smells are piped into the air, making patrons hungry for certain foods which are on sale. This technique has been adapted across all Disney parks and even Las Vegas to encourage betting. They were so revolutionary, the even coined their own name: Smellitzers!
Forced Perspective Disney Imagineers quickly realised that if their signature icons in the parks – the castle, golf ball, tree of life etcetera – became too tall, they would be forced to be adorned with red flashing lights. The solution was simple – forced perspective. The size and angle of bricks on the castle, for example, make people think it is far taller than it actually is. Equally, Main Street USA was built at an angle that made it appear longer or shorter than it actually was.
EPCOT Original Purpose EPCOT was, until recently, intended to be an actual city! It was Walt’s dream – an Experimental Prototype Community (or City) Of Tomorrow. It was to feature a hotel, industry, school, underground transport centre and more. Eventually this was abandoned and the park became, well, a park. But the dream lives on. In fact, a model of the city can be found on the People Mover in Magic Kingdom, WDW.
Christopher Robin Bedroom In the English pavilion in EPCOT there is a blocked off area, in which is a bedroom, visible through a frosted glass windowed door. On the bed, there are toys from Winnie the Pooh. The room is, in fact, Christopher Robin’s bedroom, originally a meet-and-greet room. Since it was abandoned, it has been left in state.
Free Water Florida can be hot. And Disney knows this. So instead of buying water, which is on sale in copious amounts, at a price, just ask for a glass! They have to provide you with some water, gratis. Unfortunately, it IS Florida water, so it’s not the tastiest, but it is free!
The Ground At the entrance to the Magic Kingdom the walkway is painted red, so that patrons could be given the red carpet treatment. Further to this, depending where you are in the park, from land to land, the ground changes in design. They go so far as to represent in Liberty Square the tradition of waste being thrown into the street – gross, but true.
No Restrooms As an aside, Liberty Square sports no rest rooms, since in colonial times there were no public restrooms to be had!
Hotels Just because you're not staying in a resort, doesn't mean you're not welcome there! Disney would actually LOVE to have you was a meal time guest, just to fill their tables. So if you fancy air conditioning and stylised dining in, say, the Contemporary Resort, head on over!
Remember Maelstrom? Remember the references? Trolls, beasts, swords and of course, Norway at its heart? I loved that ride. Of course, now it's gone, replaced with the Frozen ride. But it's not all gone. With the old ride, there was a tiny section where the boat was open to the outside. This has now been covered up by waterfall, but the old ride is not all gone. With a nod to the old attraction, you can actually see a secret sword nestled into the wall behind the waterfall just to the right. And who says Imagineers have no sense of nostalgia?
Club 33 Actually more of a DisneyLand secret this one, although it is stashed away in WDW too. Hidden behind a muted green wooden door is an entrance to a secret elite club for entertaining high end guests. The door is coloured in "go away green" and is discretely labelled with the number "33". For Disneyland Resort's Club 33, members will pay $25,000 upfront, and then $10,000 every year after. For Walt Disney World, the up front cost is higher. Members will pay $33,000 to join and the annual fee is $15,000. Executive platinum membership costs $30,000 per year and carries a whopping $100,000 initiation fee. There is, for both, a long waiting list. What happens behind the locked doors? Who knows.
Cinderella's Fountain Around the back of the castle in Magic Kingdom is Cinderella's Fountain. Painted behind her is a golden crown, which adults have to curtsey or bow to place on her head, whilst from the point of view of a child, that crown is always on her head anyway! Now, think about what happens to all that money tossed into the fountain and other wishing wells. Want to know what happens to it? Disney collects them all up regularly, chemically cleans them then donates them to charity in a lump sum each year after being used for change. Wishes do make dreams come true…
EPCOT Spaceship Earth Photogenics Ever find that you can't quite capture the light display of Spaceship Earth in EPCOT on your digital camera quite right? That's because the wavelength of the lights used over the entire surface were specially chosen to react to your retinas but NOT digital appliances, yet still play on your eyes.
Some missing EPCOT rides…
- Simulated Bullet Train Ride - A unique variation on Disney's CircleVision 360 show. Guests would have found themselves standing aboard a vibrating recreation of the passenger compartment of a Japanese bullet train. Looking out through the oversized faux windows in this passenger car, they would have been treated to a high-speed travelogue as some of Japan's most beautiful scenery whizzed by the windows. The attraction was planned for the Japan Pavilion at Epcot.
- Bobsled Ride - A roller coaster, similar to Disneyland's Matterhorn, planned to be built inside a mountain behind the failed Switzerland pavilion. It went through two different iterations before being scrapped.
- Time Racers - A high-tech thrill ride about fast-forwarding through history that was to replace Spaceship Earth.
- Rhine River Cruise Ride - A cruise down Germany's most famous rivers, including the Rhine, the Tauber, the Ruhr and the Isar. Detailed miniatures of famous landmarks would also be seen, including one of the Cologne Cathedral. The ride entrance and the building that would have housed it are still visible at the Germany pavilion.
- Thames River Cruise Ride - Designed as part of the UK pavilion, this full-scale water ride would visit key London landmarks. Concept art from 1986 shows the Tower of London, Victoria's Tower, and the Houses of Parliament.
Missing Lands of EPCOT
- Costa Rica Pavilion - A Costa Rican-themed area, featuring a large greenhouse filled with tropical plants and birds.
- Equatorial Africa Pavilion - An area themed after the countries of Equatorial Africa, featuring a 60-foot treehouse and a live show called "Heartbeat of Africa".
- Iran Pavilion - An Iranian-themed area, proposed during the planning of Epcot, featuring a dark ride exploring different parts of Persian history and a shopping area based on a bazaar. Scrapped after the Iranian Revolution.
- Israel Pavillion - An Israeli-themed area, advertised on billboards when Epcot opened, designed to recreate ancient Jerusalem and featuring a courtyard stage and open-air restaurant. Remained unbuilt due to budget problems and security issues.
- Puerto Rico Pavilion - A Puerto Rican-themed area which may have been planned for the projected "Phase II" expansion of Epcot.
- Soviet Union Pavillion - A Russian-themed area planned for the projected "Phase II" expansion of Epcot. It would have been based on the Moscow Kremlin, and dominated by a replica of St. Basil's Cathedral. Scrapped after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
- Spain Pavillion - A Spanish-themed area advertised on billboards circa 1986, with a design blending elements of Barcelona and Madrid, featuring a boat ride, a film on Spanish history, and a restaurant.
- Switzerland Pavilion - A Swiss-themed area, intended to bring a Matterhorn Bobsleds-style ride to Epcot.
- United Arab Emirates Pavilion - A Middle Eastern-themed area, with a magic carpet ride attraction and a show featuring cultural and scientific achievements of the Middle East.
- Venezuela Pavilion - A Venezuelan-themed area, featuring a waterfall, a high-rise built into a cliff, and an aerial tram ride.