For millions of visitors each year Disney’s theme parks are ‘the happiest place on Earth’ – a perfectly choreographed world where fairytales come to life.
But behind the castle turrets and picture-perfect parades lies a hidden world: that of the company’s thousands of workers.
Here, the Daily Mail brings together the stories of employees across the company’s globe-spanning empire of parks. They offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a very different side of Disney.
The code nobody wants to hear
Every workplace has its own jargon – but Disney’s may be among the most colourful.
One of the least glamorous is the whispered ‘Code H.’
According to Karen, a cast member at Disney World in Florida who spoke to Fox News, the crude code is commonly used when a guest has had a bathroom accident that requires specialist cleaning before attractions can reopen.
‘A code U is urine, and code H is for poop, and then a code V is for vomit,’ Karen revealed.
The ‘H’ stands for ‘Honey,’ which is famously the favourite snack of Winnie the Pooh, meaning it is a crude play on words.
Disney consistently dominates global theme park attendance, occupying four out of the top five slots worldwide
Emo O’Brien is a veteran ‘imagineer’ at Disney who has described the position as ‘someone who works with science and imagination and pulls those together to create experiences that are emotional for our guests’
Like many operational codes, terminology can vary between parks, departments and over time. Disney does not publicly publish an official list of internal terminology.
What happens if someone dies at Disney?
Google search data shows it’s one of the most asked questions about Disney.
Contrary to persistent internet myths that ‘nobody dies at Disney,’ a number of deaths have been reported at the parks over the decades after medical emergencies.
Most recently, a 54-year-old man with a pre-existing heart condition suffered a cardiac emergency on April 2 while at the Magic Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida. He was riding the It’s a Small World boat ride attraction, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services theme park injury report, as per the New York Post.
The unidentified man’s death marks the second parkgoer to die after riding the 10-minute gentle boat ride attraction, according to the outlet.
A 22-year-old woman with a pre-existing health condition lost consciousness after riding the It’s a Small World attraction in December 2014 and later died in hospital, according to a Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services report, as reported by the Post.
In many medical emergencies like these, guests are transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where doctors make any official declaration if appropriate. That has fuelled the long-running misconception that deaths never occur ‘at Disney.’
There is no suggestion that Disney has ever impeded an unwell individual from receiving medical care to transport them outside of a park.
Away from guests’ view, cast members speak in mysterious codes and navigate through backstage areas to ensure the image of ‘the happiest place on Earth’ is never broken
The happiest cemetery on Earth
Disney workers have privately acknowledged that a common problem is guests scattering the ashes of pets or loved ones.
Doing so is strictly prohibited and anyone caught attempting to say their final goodbyes in this way can expect to be promptly frogmarched out of the park.
The Daily Mail understands that on occasion these incidents have been referred to as a ‘Code Grandma’ or a ‘HEPA Cleanup,’ referring to a specialist clean-up protocol.
Attractions are temporarily closed while trained staff remove the remains using biohazard procedures.
Disney’s hidden underworld
Many guests never realize that beneath the Magic Kingdom in Florida lies a sprawling 9-acre network of utility tunnels known as ‘utilidors’.
The ‘subterranean’ are not even technically underground.
They were built at ground level before the park itself was constructed on top of them, meaning guests walk on what is effectively the complex’s roof.
The idea was envisioned by Walt Disney himself, who was said to have become frustrated after he spotted a Frontierland cowboy strolling through Tomorrowland during Disneyland’s early years.
One of Disney World’s most fascinating secrets lies completely out of sight in underground tunnels
Disney’s underground system includes administrative offices, costume storage, a cast-member hair salon called Kingdom Kutters and the employee cafeteria
While visitors queue for churros and popcorn, cast members have backstage dining options
He feared that this instantly shattered the carefully crafted illusion that each themed land was its own separate world. The solution was ingenious.
At Magic Kingdom, cast members can traverse unseen between lands, change costumes, collect supplies and even receive deliveries without ever appearing in the wrong themed area.
The hidden complex is thought to house everything from costume departments and administrative offices to the employee cafeteria, affectionately known as the Mouseketeria, along with a hair salon called Kingdom Kutters.
Disneyland in California, meanwhile, predates the concept.
Built in 1955 on a much smaller footprint, it does not have a park-wide tunnel system, although there is a utility tunnel beneath Tomorrowland used for equipment and infrastructure.
Walt’s secret apartment
Of course before anyone worked for Disney came the man himself: the Chicago-born animation pioneer who developed the first Disneyland in Anaheim, California before it opened in 1955.
Above the fire station on Main Street sits Walt Disney’s private apartment, which was built so he could stay overnight while overseeing the park during its early years.
Look closely and you will still see a lamp still glowing in the window.
It remains permanently illuminated as a tribute to Walt’s enduring legacy.
Some of Disney’s best kept secrets are hiding in plain sight including Walt’s private apartment
The animation legend is seen here with his wife in 1962 at his Disneyland apartment
Over at New Orleans Square Station, observant visitors can hear morse code taps from the signal house
Easter eggs are everywhere
It’s not the only thoughtful touch hiding in plain sight. Disney has spent decades adding gems that might go unnoticed by even the California park’s biggest fans.
Watch out for the floral Mickey Mouse that greets guests near the entrance is replanted throughout the year to reflect different seasons and celebrations.
Guests waiting at the Disney Railroad station in New Orleans Square who listen carefully can hear Morse code tapping away from the signal house.
The secret message is actually the opening lines of Walt Disney’s famous dedication speech from Disneyland’s opening day:
‘To all who come to this happy place: Welcome! Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future,’ he said on July 17 1955.
And then there are the hidden Mickeys. Fans spend entire holidays scavenging for subtle Mickey Mouse silhouettes cleverly built into rides, architecture and scenery.
Moving mountains for park lovers
Disney cast members love to tell of the small basketball practice area hidden inside the legendary Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction. Rather than containing a full-size court as some guests have speculated, insiders have confirmed the reality is a smaller area in the attic containing a hoop.
One widely spread rumor was that this backstage secret was installed to circumnavigate local zoning restrictions that limited the height of buildings but had an exception for sporting facilities. The claim has been widely debunked, including by WDWNT.
Matterhorn Mountain houses a secret basketball hoop for cast members on their break
A spell that shall never break
There’s also the optical illusion of the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle itself. Though it may look towering in photographs, the world-famous landmark is actually surprisingly modest in size, standing at only 77 feet tall.
To make it appear much grander, Disney Imagineers used a technique known as atmospheric perspective.
The lower sections feature richer, warmer pinks while the upper towers gradually fade into lighter blue tones, fooling the eye into believing the castle stretches much higher into the sky.
Visual illusions such as these are the creations of Disney’s revered ‘imagineers,’ according to a series of interviews published by The Wall Street Journal.
These specialists ingeniously blend engineering, architecture, technology and storytelling to create everything from rides to restaurants.
Emo O’Brien, a veteran ‘imagineer,’ described the position as ‘someone who works with science and imagination and pulls those together to create experiences that are emotional for our guests.’
‘It is pretty much anything that you are looking at or experiencing as you ride an attraction, see a show or walk through the parks’ O’Brien said, revealing that the team works on 500 to 800 projects per year.
She said the motto of imagineers is: ‘If it doesn’t exist how far can we go to invent it.’
To ensure guests only see the fairytale it takes thousands of people working behind the scenes
