8 Facts and Secrets About Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom was the first park that opened at Walt Disney World on October 1, 1971.  There was a lot of care and detail put into creating the park which means a lot of cool secrets and interesting tidbits about the intentional placement of many elements of the park.  Here are eight fun facts and secrets about the Magic Kingdom:

8 – The Magic Kingdom theme park is actually not the main level.

There is actually a complete tunnel system under the entire park.  This park was constructed in this way with the park on the second (and in some cases, third) level so that the supplies, trash, etc. can be stored on the main level.  This allows the magic to be preserved in each land so that carts with supplies and trash aren’t in guest areas being transported around the park.  It also allows the cast members from each land not to pass through other lands while in a different costumes.  It wouldn’t preserve the magic of Adventureland if a Frontierland cast member walked through.  The imagineers take very special care to keep each land separate and make them each an immersive experience.

7 – There is a special late-night castle show called the “Kiss Goodnight”.

If you stay at least around a half-hour after park closing a special show takes over the castle with lights and music.  It is called the “Kiss Goodnight”, and it is performed each and every night.  It is great since the crowds thin out and the crowds at the monorail, boat, and bus transportation clear out, too.  We figure you can either spend your time waiting in line to get back to your resort, or you can hang around and get more Disney magic!  We choose Disney magic!

6 – Many of the American flags do not have 50 stars.

It is true if you look at the many flags around Main Street, USA at the Magic Kingdom, you will notice that they do not have 50 stars.  The reason for this is that if the flag had 50 stars it would be an official American flag and would have to be taken down during inclement weather.  The main flag that overlooks the Town Square area is a real American flag that is brought down each evening to a flag retreat ceremony where the flag is properly folded and presented to a veteran selected each day.  It is an amazing ceremony that you should catch if you haven’t seen it before.

5 – The Seal of the United States is at the Hall of Presidents.

You may have heard the myth that the Hall of Presidents is the only place other than the White House allowed to use the Presidential Seal. While this isn’t actually true (it’s not the Presidential Seal), it is the official seal of the United States and it took an actual act of Congress to get the seal added to the attraction. It is in the carpet with a fence around it at the Hall of Presidents and is a true piece of history and our American culture that guests get to experience day in and day out at the Magic Kingdom.

 4 – The utilidor system provides trash control.

There is an amazing system that handles trash disposal.  The system allows trash to be eliminated to the tunnels through chutes.  The trash is then sorted and disposed of in the appropriate locations so that it can be appropriated discarded based on whether the waste is recyclables or regular trash.  This is an extremely efficient system that also prevents trash from being transported around the Magic Kingdom, thus preserving the magic for all of the guests there.  This system has been widely documented and marveled over.  Not only that, but you can also actually see it on certain tours you can take of the tunnels.

3 – There are 13 lanterns for the original 13 colonies.

Head over to Liberty Square and count the lanterns in the Liberty Tree.  You will count 13 different lanterns.  This is intentional as these lanterns represent the original 13 colonies in America.  There are several other great details in Liberty Square, like how the shutters hang from being mounted with straps because in that time the hangings would have been melted down to make bullets.  The sidewalk is also colored to resemble the sewer system that would have been in place where waste was dumped in the streets.  Pretty neat, huh?

2 – There is no gum sold.

You will notice that there is no gum sold at any of the stores on property at Walt Disney World.  When the Magic Kingdom was built, no gum has ever been allowed or sold at the park.  This is in an effort to keep the park clean and pristine looking for years and years to come.  Walt Disney had always been concerned about every single detail and seeing gum and trash around the park stuck to things would take away from the perfection of the lands and the park in general.

1 – Lots of costumes create lots of laundry.

There are over a hundred different costumes that make up the cast members that work in the Magic Kingdom.  Between the different attractions, the different lands, the different gift shops, the characters, parade performers, show performers, etc. there are a lot of different costumes and laundry that is generated.  Disney provides and cleans all of these costumes for each and every cast member.  This creates a ton of laundry.   The laundry teams work around the clock to clean and press each costume so that they are show-ready for all of the cast members.  There is no way the average person could keep up with this workload!