Inside Disney: Theme park ensures guest safety while keeping the magic | FOX 35 Orlando
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Inside Disney: Theme park ensures guest safety while keeping the magic

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Published  March 25, 2025 7:15pm EDT
Disney
FOX 35 Orlando

Inside Disney: The magic of safety

In this installment of Inside Disney FOX 35's Stephanie Buffamonte takes a look at how Disney ensures guests safety.

The Brief

    • Walt Disney World gave media a rare behind-the-scenes look at how it maintains ride safety at Central Shops, where attractions like Space Mountain undergo extensive inspections and repairs. 
    • Disney chefs also shared how they draw creative inspiration from characters and park experiences to craft fan-favorite foods, such as the Mickey Mouse Dome dessert.

ORLANDO, Fla. - For the first time in more than a decade, Walt Disney World brought media behind the scenes to see how it cares for its rides to make sure they’re safe for guests who visit the parks.

FOX 35 Orlando also heard from chefs who are behind some of Disney’s fan-favorite foods and learned how they work to tell stories through their culinary creations.

TOURING CENTRAL SHOPS

Why you should care:

Central Shops is where Disney engineers, mechanics, painters, and artists ensure rides, like the Mad Tea Party and Space Mountain, are safe and in tip-top shape.

After every 200,000 laps, which is about 3-5 years, each train of each ride at Walt Disney World is brought to Central Shops to be inspected, tested, repaired, and painted if needed.

The rides will spend about 12-18 weeks inside Central Shops before they’re tested for an additional two weeks after that.

"We do that to help make sure that from a safety perspective, everything is functioning properly. That there are no indications, no cracks in the chassis, and there are no issues with the brakes. We do a complete teardown and do an entire rebuild, make it shiny, fix any kind of bodywork, any panels, and send it back out looking brand new," said Director of Manufacturing Fredrick Cox Jr.

BEHIND DISNEY’S FAN-FAVORITE FOODS

Dig deeper:

Of course, Disney isn’t just about the rides, but also the food and drinks. FOX 35 Orlando spoke with the chefs at Disney about how they come up with these creations and the stories they tell through them.

For example, the Mickey Mouse Dome dessert was inspired by the classic Mickey Mouse hat that one of Disney’s chefs saw a guest wearing in the parks.

"All these Mickey hats from merchandise and I was thinking, it's right in front of me," said Chef Stefan Riemer, the pastry culinary director at Walt Disney World. "I just converted the idea into something edible."

Some inspiration is more subtle and playful. Chef Stefan explains how he found inspiration through a classic Disney character, Goofy.

"I thought about Goofy, for example. I thought about the charismatic movements, like he's bouncing," explained Chef Stefan. "His movement inspired me to incorporate in, like, maybe in the semi-sweet chocolate with popping candy."

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The Source: The information in this article comes from a private media event held on Walt Disney World property. 

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