The word “Disney” holds a mythic status for many people. Urban legends and misinformation lead many Walt Disney World guests to believe their vacation spot is an Oz of sorts, a fantastical city with outlandish inner workings. To some extent, it is, but not in the hyperfictionalized way some assume.
During my time as a Disney World cast member, I observed assumptions guests made about Disney that weren’t true. In this article, I’ll share some of the guest musings that I found most fascinating. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including an interview with a Disney theme parks filmmaker and Disney World’s newest dining location opening.
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Assumptions Guests Make About Disney
About a decade ago, I was a frontline cast member at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. During my time with Disney, I worked in Merchandise, or “merchantainment,” as Disney called it.
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Some days, I interacted with guests at the park’s stroller rental location and main entrance gift shop. Other shifts, I worked backstage all day, completing delivery routes. These roles allowed me to experience the full gambit of what cast members do for guests, and the varying perspectives that guests bring to their Disney vacations.
Among those were assumptions guests would make, at no fault of their own, about how Disney operates or how to spend a day in the park. Some of these related to Disney theme parks’ fabled place in the cultural zeitgeist, and others simply amounted to misunderstandings of vacation planning.
Below, I share some of the guest observations that I hope you’ll find either amusing or helpful, and perhaps can provide some insight into seeing the parks in a new way. It’s important to note that these anecdotes reflect my own personal experience, and each of the tens of thousands of cast members would easily have a different list of their own.
Here are six assumptions guests make about Disney that aren’t true.
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You Can Go Backstage to Catch Pokémon
This one dates me a bit. Summer 2016 saw the debut of the immensely popular Pokémon Go mobile game, in which players search real-life locations to capture imaginary Pokémon.
I was working at Disney during this time, and Pokémon Go eventually presented a problem in guests venturing into backstage areas, locations where the game happened to assign rare Pokémon.
Disney is very strict about the distinction between “backstage,” its back-of-house spaces, and “onstage,” its guest-facing areas. Backstage is for cast members only. Guests are not allowed, even if they’re mere feet away from obtaining a rare Pokémon.
As silly as this seems, it does speak to the cultural phenomenon that Pokémon Go commanded at the height of its popularity. It was everywhere, and everyone was playing it.
Nothing is Free
Walt Disney World is expensive, and ticket prices are increasing every year. However, many guests assume that nothing comes for free, that they have to pay for literally everything. This isn’t true.
Guests staying at Disney World hotels receive several free perks, including transportation to and from all the theme parks and extra time in the parks before the general public. However, I can see how one could chalk this up to being included with the price of a resort stay, and therefore not 100% free.
One of the biggest freebies is water. Bottled water costs money, yes, but cups of water are free at any dining location. This isn’t exclusive to Disney. Any theme park you visit, whether it’s owned by Disney, Universal, Six Flags, SeaWorld, or any other company, must provide free cups of water to all guests. The best bang for your nonexistent buck is any Disney Starbucks location, which offers large water cups and adds ice. The Orlando heat is brutal. If you feel thirsty, that means you’re already dehydrated. Drink water!
A free service that sometimes gets overlooked in the parks is the first aid station. There’s one in every Disney theme park, and they provide over-the-counter medicine free of charge. This includes items like Advil and Pepto-Bismol. They also have semi-private, curtained-off medical beds if you’re not feeling well and just need a moment to lie down.
Here are the locations of each first aid station:
- Magic Kingdom: On Main Street, U.S.A., between Casey’s Corner and The Crystal Palace
- EPCOT: Near the Odyssey building, between Test Track and the Mexico Pavilion
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: On Hollywood Boulevard, at the very front of the park, immediately to your left after entering
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: On Discovery Island, next to Creature Comforts / Starbucks just before the bridge to Africa
Walt’s Head is Frozen
One of the wildest urban legends about Walt Disney is that he was frozen upon his death, in the hopes that he’d one day return to life and run his company again. Theme park guests, understandably curious, sometimes inquire of cast members about the validity of this myth.
Sorry to disappoint, but Walt’s head is not frozen at the top of the castle. After Walt died in 1966, his body was cremated. His remains were buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Rented Strollers and Wheelchairs Can Park Hop with You
This assumption that guests made was specific to my workstation, and I saw it every day. Many guests assume if you rent a stroller or wheelchair for the day, you can take it anywhere, as long as you don’t take it off Disney property. This isn’t true.
Guests can rent strollers and wheelchairs to use in the Disney parks on a day-by-day basis. Rental locations are located at the front of each park. If you purchase a rental for the day and you park hop, your rental privileges are valid at the second park you visit, but the stroller or wheelchair can’t physically park hop with you.
You’ll need to return your stroller or wheelchair to the rental location when you leave your first park, then retrieve a new one at the second park you visit. Just show your receipt, and you’re good to go. You won’t need to pay the rental fee twice. The more you know!
Disney and Universal Don’t Like Each Other
Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando are often pitted against each other as bitter rivals. As theme park destinations in the same city, they’re definitely in competition with one another from a business standpoint, but the cadence of one resort toward the other isn’t malicious, especially when it comes to the workforce.
Many Disney World cast members are also Universal Orlando team members, working for both resorts, sometimes even on the same day. These individuals are some of Orlando’s hardest-working, passionate residents, and a big part of what makes the city function.
Quite a few Walt Disney Imagineers previously worked for Universal Creative, and vice versa. For example, Scott Trowbridge, the Imagineering executive who spearheaded Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney, was a huge proponent behind Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal Islands of Adventure. Thierry Coup, a now-retired longtime Universal Creative executive, worked at Imagineering early in his career on a never-built revamp of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. Jeff Vahle, former Walt Disney World President, publicly congratulated Universal on social media when the new Epic Universe theme park opened in 2025.
Where the guest is concerned, two companies vying for attention by building awesome attraction after awesome attraction is a good thing!
There Are Underground Tunnels Everywhere
One of the most circulated urban legends about Disney World is the supposed network of tunnels located underneath the theme parks. Stories tell of creepy hallways and an underground city.
There is a network of unseen employee facilities, but it comes with some big caveats. The utilidors, a combination of the words “utility” and “corridors,” are located below the public theme park spaces of Magic Kingdom. They serve as a means for cast members to travel out of sight of guests and are home to back-of-house facilities like costuming and cafeterias.
While it makes sense that they’re thought of as “underground,” the utilidors were built at ground level. Magic Kingdom was built on the “second floor” above them.
All Disney World cast members, no matter which park they’re working at, visit the utilidors on their first day of work. It’s quite the mic-drop of a first day on the job. Guests can see a limited area of the utilidors during the Keys to the Kingdom tour.
The “underground city” misnomer may have its roots in Walt Disney’s original plans for EPCOT as a functioning “city of tomorrow,” literally. This concept didn’t last long after Walt’s 1966 death, and the ideals of the EPCOT project were instead adapted into the theme park we know today. In any case, the utilidors aren’t a city, and no one lives there.
There is a small set of utilidors under World Celebration at EPCOT, but those pale in comparison to the labyrinth of Magic Kingdom’s network. There are no utilidors at Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
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