Why do you board the MK train on the 2nd floor except at Fantasyland?

[FrankDIS72]

I was thinking about the train at MK and I realized that you have to board the train on the second floor at Main Street and Frontierland, but the Fantasyland station has no 2nd floor. You board it on level ground. So why is it like that?

 

[wench]

Because the ground in Fantasyland is a higher elevation, so there is no need to build a platform higher up.

 

[Accident]

I was thinking about the train at MK and I realized that you have to board the train on the second floor at Main Street and Frontierland, but the Fantasyland station has no 2nd floor. You board it on level ground. So why is it like that?

technically it's the third floor. MK is on the second floor and why you have to walk up from the lake to get into it. There is no basements in florida or they would be flooded so everything is built above ground.

Main street is simple, walt wanted the castle hidden so you had to come around the corner and see it as a big reveal. The train station is the thing blocking your view of the castle and his design on how to enter the place where outside disappears and your immersed inside and turn the corner to see the castle.

My best guess on Frontierland is where the train needs to go. There is a lot of backstage on that side of the park so the train needs to go over at least 1 road and 2 rides to stay on the edge of what we call magic kingdom. Building up the dirt to keep the train higher up is a common technique disney used to hide the edge of the park and the train is already in the air so leave it there. a road and 2 rides go under the train. it's to hide backstage from the park.

Fantasyland actually goes back to the original property plans. Originally there was going to be a hotel (Arabian themed) directly east of fantasy land. The monorail loop was going to be altered to actually go from contemporary, to the other hotel and then around and over tomorrowland to get to the mk stop. The train needed to be lower on that side of the park to get that view + the tomorrowland and contemporary view. if it was higher, the monorail would be higher and a better backstage view that would have needed to be hidden. if you stop and look at tomorrowland knowing this, you can see where they originally planned it to run by how the different buildings are positioned and the raceway is where it is. They actually built half of the monorail track but now it's used as spur to get the monorails back to the "round house" where they are stored overnight (most of them) and worked on.

 

[DisneyOma]

All those people entering the park would have to get over the tracks if it was on the "ground". And some idiots would wander down the tracks instead of across them...

 

[Robo]

They moved the original ground-level Frontierland station to an "upstairs" position when they built Splash Mountain.
Some of the Splash ride takes place outside the MK area proper ("outside the berm,") and to access those sections, the train had to rise above it.
(Consider that you can see (through a glass window) Splash's "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Riverboat" below the train as it passes through the Splash area.)

Here's a photo of the original Frontierland (ground-level) RR Station-

(From http://www.omniluxe.net)

 

[bbjunkie]

Robo...that is a great shot pre-Splash. (I remember pre-Splah. I am old. )

 

[CarolynFH]

They moved the original ground-level Frontierland station to an "upstairs" position when they built Splash Mountain.
Some of the Splash ride takes place outside the MK area proper ("outside the berm,") and to access those sections, the train had to rise above it.
(Consider that you can see (through a glass window) Splash's "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Riverboat" below the train as it passes through the Splash area.)

Here's a photo of the original Frontierland (ground-level) RR Station-

(From http://www.omniluxe.net)

Since you have to walk down to enter Splash, is it possible that the RR tracks are on more or less the same level they were, and Disney excavated underneath to build Splash? Anyone know?

 

[Robo]

Since you have to walk down to enter Splash, is it possible that the RR tracks are on more or less the same level they were, and Disney excavated underneath to build Splash? Anyone know?

They raised the station.

If they had dug significantly DOWN, they'd be flooded.

 

[DisneyOma]

Since you have to walk down to enter Splash, is it possible that the RR tracks are on more or less the same level they were, and Disney excavated underneath to build Splash? Anyone know?

You walk up first, don't you? Up those stairs?

 

[IrishNYC]

This can happen with any railroad. I live about 1/2 mile from a railroad station that is raised about 2 stories. The stop 1 mile before it is both raised about 1 story above grade at the west end of the platform, and 1 story below grade at the east end. The station 2 mils after our station is about 2 stories below grade. It's all about what worked for the engineers designing or redesigning the tracks.

 

[CarolynFH]

They raised the station.

If they had dug significantly DOWN, they'd be flooded.

Remember, the guest area of MK is built one story above grade - the Utilidors are underneath everything in the original part of MK.

You walk up first, don't you? Up those stairs?

You walk down steps to Splash - and then you climb stairs up to the RR station.

That's why I was thinking they might have kept the RR tracks at their original level and just excavated the fill that had been used to build up around and over the Utilidors and serve as the ground level for the guest areas of MK.

Does anyone know for sure?