From: Rich_Koster@agwbbs.new-orleans.LA.US (Rich Koster)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney
Subject: Disneyana - Backstage Tour Pt. 4
Distribution: world
Date: 12 Oct 92 21:56:56 CST
Organization: The Amiga GateWay BBS * New Orleans, La.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 * SPOILER -- This whole article should not be read if you think you *
 *            might someday take the Innovations In Action - Behind  *
 *            The Scenes Tour at Walt Disney World which takes you   *
 *            "backstage" at the Magic Kingdom, including inside the *
 *            Utilidor tunnel system!  This article is a big spoiler,*
 *            SO BEWARE, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!! :-)                *
 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
Part 4: "It's not chocolate, it's sawdust sh*t!"
 
We've all heard the quote "It all started with a mouse".  Our tour guide
said she'd rather think of it as "It all started with Walt Disney"
because it was his creativity and innovation that made Mickey Mouse and
everything that came after Mickey possible.  Our guide took us to the
flagpole at the foot of Main Street USA and pointed out the plaque at
its base, dedicating the park to Walt Disney.  A guest on our tour said
he'd heard that "The Walt Disney Story" attraction was closing for
"renovation" and that reaction to that closing would determine whether
it was reopened or not, but that the space would probably be used by
the nearby Disneyana store next to Tony's Town Square restaurant.  Even
though we were all on a tour made up of Disneyana conventioneers, we
were all saddened to hear this.  We all thought it should stay open and
that the reason why the attraction has low attendance is because of its
location and because it is not promoted.  Most people don't even know
it is there.  If they do reopen it after renovation, they should apply
today's audio restoration technology to the film's soundtrack -- some
of the clips of Walt's voice are difficult to understand because they
were made with the low fidelity equipment of the time, and they need
the enhancement that today's technology can give them.  With that in
our minds, our tour walked in front of "The Walt Disney Story" which
was still open (and which contained an after-movie exhibit of scale
models and drawings of the planned changes to Tomorrowland at the
Magic Kingdom and the rest of WDW -- but more on that in another post!)
 
We were led in between Tony's Town Square restaurant and the Disney
Vacation Club store to the fence at the end of that street.  We went
through the cast member passageway to the paved parking area behind
Main Street USA and Tomorrowland, which we had driven through at the
start of the tour.  We boarded our bus there and exited under the
railroad tracks.
 
Passing by the Contemporary Resort, we were told how when it was being
built each room had been prefabricated off-site complete with wiring,
plumbing, lights, and all the furniture.  These completed rooms were
then slid into the frame left for them in the building.  This we had
heard before, and you probably have too.  But what was new to us was
that the innovative plan also called for these rooms to be renovated
in a similar way -- just slide the old ones out and slide in newer
ones.  Since this was a brand-new idea, they hadn't figured on one
little detail that messed up this renovation plan... The Florida
humidity made the rooms expand after they were slid into place, so
it was impossible to slide them back out again!
 
There are a lot of innovative techniques used at WDW, some of which
the guests don't see.  WDW is much like a city or county in that it
provides necessary services to its area such as as fire department,
waste collection and processing, drainage control, and the protection
of the environment -- but as David Brinkley said in the report we
were shown, WDW does a much better job of it than most cities.  Much
of it is hidden (such as underground utilities) or blends into the
landscaping so well that you aren't aware of it.  The meandering
drainage canals are mulched and grassed to look like rivers.
 
As we drove past the Magic Kingdom parking lot we were told that it
was paved on an incline so drainage can be controlled.  Vehicles drip
oil which mixes with the water runoff when it rains.  This contaminated
water could harm the vegetation, so the imagineers directed the runoff
into a strip of ground along the lot where it filters through layers of
sand as it sinks into the ground.  By the time it reaches the golf
courses nearby it has been cleaned of contamination.  Have you ever
noticed the large clump of trees in the middle of that parking lot?
It certainly is strange to take up such a large area with trees when
sometimes parking is at a premium.  Well, the trees are there to hide
a large sinkhole in the middle of the parking area.  There is also a
sinkhole described as a bottomless pit in the water next to the Odyssey
restaurant at Epcot Center (not the lake at Epcot, but the water next
to the Odyssey in Future World).
 
South of the parking lot we turned right onto Bear Island road and
drove over one of the canals.  We saw one of the French-designed Emile
gates which regulate water levels throughout the 43 square miles of WDW.
There water control gates float open automatically when water levels get
high and close when levels go down.  The excess surface water is not
eliminated from the property but sent through the canals to other parts
of WDW, such as the conservation wetlands or developed areas where it
isn't raining.  One practical example of why this is done is to keep
water levels in the developed areas consistant so that ferry boats on
Bay Lake are always at the same height, allowing wheelchair access at
the docks.  We were told that recently when it looked like Hurricane
Andrew might go over Orlando, part of the hurricane preparation was to
manually raise the Emile gates to move the water to the wetlands and
lower the water level in the park areas, to help prevent flooding from
the very heavy rains associated with the hurricane.
 
Bear Island road leads to where liquid and solid waste in WDW wind up
for treatment to purify the water.  What we're talking about is where
all that stuff goes after thousands of WDW toilets get flushed, folks!
We saw a *LOT* of what the guests leave "behind"!  There is now
construction going on to expand the Wastewater Treatment Plant.  We
thankfully didn't stop there and get out, but we saw a conveyer belt
emptying plop by plop what looked like, uh, chocolate into a dump
truck.  But it's not chocolate! ;-P The other tour guide on the bus
explained the process where the solid and liquid waste are separated,
then sawdust chips are mixed into the solid waste, and then it is
squeeeeezed so that more liquid comes out.  Then more sawdust chips are
added and the mixture is squeeeeezed again to get even more liquid out.
At this point that tour guide made a slip of the tongue, and instead of
saying "sawdust chips" said "sawdust sh*t"!  She got quite red-faced
and all of us broke up laughing. It was especially amusing hearing this
said by her because previously on the tour she had told us about how
the press sometimes tries to get speaking characters (Snow White,
Cinderella, etc.) to answer off-topic questions with language that
usually isn't heard coming out of those characters mouths!  She had
said it is hard to not say what you are really thinking sometimes, and
here she had done the same thing all by herself!!  There was a lot of
good-natured ribbing after this, even from the other tour guide on the
bus who said that every few weeks the cast members get together to
discuss innovations that were brought to the tours and the attractions,
and that she would let the others know about this innovation that her
fellow cast member added to the tour!!  Needless to say, very precise
enunciation was done for a while after this!
 
BTW, I wonder about the name "Bear Island" given to the road which leads
to this area.  Bears are widely known to like honey, and trucks filled
with stuff like these treated "sawdust chips" are known as honey wagons,
so I wonder if the name of the road is an inside joke... "Bear Island is
where the honey wagons go."
 
Anyway, the treated "sawdust chips" are taken in the trucks to an area
where they are dumped out, spread around, and left to dry out.  The
treated water meets state standards for discharged water.  It is not
drinking quality but is fine for watering plants and vegetation.  The
experimental tree farm is conveniently located nearby and uses this
water in a spray irrigation system.  The treated water still contains
"nutrients" which act like fertilizer on the plants.  Experimentation
continues with more advanced cleaning of waste water and solid waste
in the "Water Hyacinth Project", now known as the Community Waste
Research Facility.
 
Next to the Wastewater Treatment Plant is the Recycling Center where
cast members who want that job hand-sort all of the trash.  They
separate the various types of recyclables.  WDW lets recycling companies
take the sorted recyclables for free.  What can't be recycled goes to
a county landfill (not on Disney property). The county government has
urged a certain percentage (I think it was 30%) reduction in the
amount of solid waste going into the landfill, so Disney and others
are working on ways to be in compliance.  Efforts are becoming more
successful at reducing the amount of material going to the landfill.
We noticed that Disney soft drink cups are made from recycled materials
and have the recycle triangle logo. Disney is also using recycled paper
products and subtly promoting their use of them.
 
Our next stop was the Experimental Tree Farm.  We saw where the topiary
is grown and got out for a closer look.  We were told that one of the
cast members in charge of the care of the topiary was blind, and he
knew which topiary was which just by touch.  He would trim the topiary
based on the wire frame inside it.  Next to the topiary in many animal
shapes is a "Don't Feed The Animals" sign.  One day a tour group came
by as this blind man as watering and fertilizing the topiary and he
told the guests "That sign says 'Don't Feed The Animals' and here I am
feeding them anyway!".  Next to this area are the huge greenhouses
where trees and shrubs are grown.  WDW does not grow their own flowers
(other than flowering trees and shrubs) because it is less expensive to
buy them through commercial florists.
 
Next we headed North past the Polynesian, Disney Inn, and the Grand
Floridian resorts to see more backstage magic at the Magic Kingdom.
 
End of Part 4. Coming up in Part 5: "The Hollows of Splash Mountain"

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