Magic Kingdom

History

Planning and Construction

Although the construction of the Magic Kingdom started about a year after his death, Walt Disney himself had a lot to do with the planning and design of the Magic Kingdom. Modeled after the design of Disneyland, Walt wanted the Magic Kingdom to be an improvement on his original park. To accomplish this, the first level of the Magic Kingdom was a series of tunnels, that would be used to transport cast members, trash and food around the park. These tunnels, called Utilidoors came straight from Walt himself, who while visiting his Disneyland park, allegedly saw a cowboy from Frontierland going to the costume rooms. Due to the fact that that the Florida water table was so close to sea level, the Utilidoors could not be underground, and were instead installed as the “first floor” of the Magic Kingdom. The Utilidoors allow a lot of the everyday functions of the park to be hidden from the views of the guest, this completed Walt's dream of keeping the illusion going for the guests. The Utilidoors were the only part of the initial construction. Another upgrade to the Magic Kingdom, was the Avac Systems. The Avac systems devolved in Sweden where a trash collecting system, which allowed garbage to be suctioned away, through a series a tubes to the dumping point. This allowed the cast members to keep the trash under control and out of the view of the guests.

Opening

The Magic Kingdom was opened to employees, construction workers, local leaders and there families on Labor Day 1971. Soft openings like this would continue until the official opening day of October 1, 1971. On opening day it was expected that nearly 100,00 0 people would be attending, and Florida state troopers were called in. To the disappointment of many however, only 10,000 people actually showed up. At the time a lot of news outlets were reporting that traffic would be a nightmare, and this scarred many potential guests away. New pundits called the park a flop, but by November of that year, people were lining up for miles to get into the park. The height of the grand opening came between March 23 and March 25, when the Magic Kingdom, Disney's Contemporary Resort (dedicated by Bob Hope), and Disney's Polynesian Village Resort were all dedicated. On hand was the World Sympathy Orchestra, an Orchestra comprised of 60 nations and led by Maestro Arthur Fielder. Also on hand were Julie Andrews, Buddy Hackett, Glen Campbell, Meredith Wilson and Jonathan Winters.