Theatrical analogy

Disneyland staff use theatrical terminology. This is to emphasize that a visit to the park is intended to be similar to witnessing a performance. For example, visitors are referred to as Guests and park employees as Cast Members. On Stage refers to any area of the Resort that is open to Guests. Backstage refers to any area of the Resort that is closed to Guests. Costume is the attire that Cast Members who perform the day-to-day operations of the park must wear. Terms such as uniform are not used. Show is the Resort's presentation to its Guests, such as the color and façades of buildings, placement of rides/attractions, costumes to match the themed lands. When signing credit card receipts for souvenirs or food, Guests are asked for their autograph.
The theatrical motif extends to aspects of the park's layout and design. For example, entering the park requires you to pass through one of two tunnels underneath the Main Street Train Station; akin to an opening curtain. The windows above Main Street serve as credits, containing names of key people who worked on the park. Each of the lands was originally presented as a unique act, with transitions between lands much like transitions between scenes in theatre or film

Backstage
Backstage areas include closed areas of attraction, store, and restaurant buildings, as well as outdoor service areas located behind such buildings. Although some areas of the park, particularly New Orleans Square, have underground operations and storage areas, there is no park-wide network of subterranean tunnels, such as Walt Disney World's utilidors.
There are several points of entry from outside the park to the backstage areas: Ball Gate (from Ball Road), T.D.A. Gate (adjacent to the Team Disney Anaheim building), Harbor Pointe (from Harbor Boulevard), and Winston Gate (from Disneyland Drive).
Berm Road encircles the park from Firehouse Gate (behind the Main Street Fire Station) to Egghouse Gate (adjacent to the Disneyland Opera House). The road is so called because it generally follows outside the path of Disneyland's berm. A stretch of the road, wedged between Tomorrowland and Harbor Boulevard, is called Schumacher Road. It has two narrow lanes and runs underneath the Monorail track. There are also two railroad bridges that cross Berm Road: one behind City Hall and the other behind Tomorrowland.
Major buildings backstage include the Frank Gehry-designed Team Disney Anaheim, where most of the division's administration currently works, as well as the Old Administration Building, behind Tomorrowland. The Old Administration Building additionally houses the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas visible on the Disneyland Railroad.
The northwest corner of the park is home to most of the park's maintenance facilities, including:
Company vehicle services, including Parking Lot trams and Main Street Vehicles
Scrap yard, where the Resort's garbage and recyclables are sorted for collection
Circle D Corral, where the Resort's horses and other animals are stabled
Parade float storage and maintenance
Distribution center for all Resort merchandise
Ride vehicle service areas
Paint shop
Sign shop
Backstage also refers to parts of show buildings that are normally not seen by guests. Backstage areas are generally off-limits to park guests. This prevents guests from seeing the industrial areas that violate the "magic" of on-stage and keeps them safe from the potentially dangerous machinery. Cast members can also find some solace while they work or rest, as backstage offers alternate routes between the park's various areas.
Many attractions are housed in large, soundstage-like buildings, some of which are partially or completely disguised by external theming. Generally, these buildings are painted a dull green color in areas not seen by guests; ostensibly, this choice has been made to help disguise the buildings among the foliage and make them less visually obtrusive. Most of them have off-white flat roofs that support HVAC units and footpaths for cast members. Inside are the rides, as well as hidden walkways, service areas, control rooms, and other behind-the-scenes operations. Photography is forbidden in these areas, both inside and outside, although some photos have found their way to a variety of web sites. Guests who attempt to explore backstage are warned and often escorted from the property.
The boundary between on and off-stage is demarcated at every access point. Everything within guest view when a door or gateway is open is also considered on stage. It is from this point, that characters start playing their part. That way, when the door is open, guests will not accidentally see a person out of character backstage.
Various amenities exist for Cast Members backstage when they are on breaks, or before and after their scheduled shifts. A number of cafeterias, now run by Sodexho, offer discounted meals throughout the day. These include Inn Between (behind the Plaza Inn), Eat Ticket (near the Team Disney Anaheim building behind Mickey's Toontown), and Westside Diner (located in a lower level beneath New Orleans Square). Partners Federal Credit Union, the credit union for employees of The Walt Disney Company in Orange County, provides nearly 20 ATMs backstage for cast member use and maintains an express branch at the Team Disney Anaheim building.

Transportation
Walt Disney had a longtime interest in transportation, and trains in particular. He even built a miniature live steam backyard railroad, the "Carolwood Pacific Railroad", on the grounds of his Holmby Hills estate. Throughout all the iterations of Disneyland during the seventeen or so years when Mr. Disney was conceiving it, one element remained constant: a train encircling the park.[6] The primary designer for the park transportation vehicles was Bob Gurr who gave himself the title of "Director of Special Vehicle Design" in 1954.

Disneyland Railroad

Disneyland Railroad engine #2.
Main article: Disneyland Railroad
Encircling Disneyland and providing a grand circle tour is the Disneyland Railroad, a short-line railway consisting of five oil-fired and steam-powered locomotives, in addition to three passenger trains and one passenger-carrying freight train. Originally known as the Disneyland and Santa Fe Railroad, the D.R.R. was presented by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway until 1974. From 1955 to 1974, the Santa Fe Rail Pass was able to be used in lieu of a Disneyland "D" coupon. Laid to three-foot gauge, the most common narrow gauge measurement used in North America, the track runs in a continuous loop around The Magic Kingdom through each of its realms. Each turn-of-the-19th-Century train departs Main Street Station on an excursion that includes scheduled station stops at: Frontierland Station; Toontown Depot, the gateway to Fantasyland; and, Tomorrowland Station. The Grand Circle Tour then concludes with a visit to the "Grand Canyon/Primeval World" dioramas before returning passengers to Main Street, U.S.A.

Disneyland Monorail System
Main article: Disneyland Monorail System

Monorail Blue travels over the former Submarine Voyage ride which is now the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland.
One of Disneyland's signature attractions is its monorail service, which opened in Tomorrowland in 1959 as the first daily-operating monorail train system in the Western Hemisphere. The monorail guideway has remained almost exactly the same since 1961, aside from small alterations while Indiana Jones Adventure was being built. Four generations of monorail trains have been used in the park, since their lightweight construction means they wear out quickly. The most recent operating generation, the Mark V, was installed in 1987 when more modern trains built by Ride & Show Engineering eliminated the old ALWEG Buck Rogers-style trains. The monorail shuttles visitors between two stations, one inside the park in Tomorrowland and one in Downtown Disney. It follows a 2.5 mile (4 km) long route designed to show the park from above. Currently, the system is operating with only one monorail (purple) and offering one-way trips only while the Mark VII generation is being prepared.
The original destination of the monorail was the Disneyland Hotel. With the creation of Downtown Disney in 2001, the new destination is Downtown Disney, instead of the Disneyland Hotel. The physical location of the monorail station did not change, however the terminal is now separated from the hotel by several Downtown Disney buildings, including ESPN Zone and the Rainforest Café.