The Sharing the Magic statue is similar to the Partners statue found in the central hub. However, Roy’s posture is more modest and diminutive than Walt’s depiction in the Partners statue, representing Roy’s willingness to stay out of the limelight.
Blaine Gibson, whose numerous contributions to the Disney company include creating the life-like faces of the audio-animatronic presidents in the Hall of Presidents, created Sharing the Magic.
Administrative Offices and Commercial Offerings
Any authentic town requires certain administrative buildings. Main Street, U.S.A. is no exception, and includes both a chamber of commerce and a city hall. Both serve real-world functions. The Chamber of Commerce is the package pickup location for guests shopping in the Magic Kingdom, and stately City Hall serves as the park’s information center, where you can exchange currency, get park maps in different languages, and receive any help you need from Disney’s guest relations department. Both of these buildings also contribute to the story of Main Street.
The sign for the Chamber of Commerce states that it was “Est. 1871.” This of course reflects the time period represented in the Town Square portion of Main Street, but it is also a tribute to the year that the Magic Kingdom first opened, 1971.
In designing City Hall, Imagineers drew inspiration from a number of different Victorian-influenced buildings, including the 1887 Larimer County Courthouse in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the 1892 City Hall of Bellingham, Washington. Fort Collins was the hometown of Disney Imagineer Harper Goff, who made substantial contributions to the development of the Main Streets at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
To the far right of Town Square, you will see Town Square Theatre, a magnificent building with gingerbread molding, detailed cornice work, and ornate balconies. If you look down when entering the theatre, you will see floor tiles that identify the year the building opened as “1901.” That also happens to be the year Walt Disney was born. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
To the immediate left of Town Square Theatre, you will see Tony’s Town Square Restaurant. Both the name and Italian cuisine of this table-service restaurant are pulled from the 1955 Disney animated classic Lady and the Tramp. The film tells the romantic canine story of Lady, a sophisticated, upper-class female American cocker spaniel, and Tramp, a stray male mutt from the wrong side of the tracks.
The animated stars from the 1955 film re-created one of the famous moments from that movie and left their paw prints in the pavement in front of Tony’s. The paw prints are inside a heart with an arrow running through it. A window inside the restaurant looks into a back alley, where silhouettes depict the most iconic scene from the movie (and one of the most famous scenes of any Disney film): Lady and Tramp meeting in a kiss while eating spaghetti.
Just outside of Tony’s, a statute of Goofy sits on a park bench. Listen carefully, as Goofy will say “Well, Howdy!” and sometimes laugh. It is one of the best photo opportunities in the Magic Kingdom. (On my last trip to the Magic Kingdom, the bench had been removed. It may or may not return.)
In Town Square, you can also see other period-appropriate businesses, including the Main Street Firehouse, a merchandise shop that features a variety of firehouse themed gifts, as well as numerous gifts for pets. Brass letters on the exterior façade of the firehouse identify it as “Engine Co. 71.” This is a subtle nod to the year that the Magic Kingdom opened, 1971. Inside the firehouse, you can find a cabinet displaying numerous fire department insignias that have been contributed by firefighters from across the country.
The Car Barn is a real working barn where the Main Street vehicles (discussed below) depart each morning. It features real bridles and harnesses for the sturdy horses that pull carts down Main Street, as well as many authentic props, including a real checkerboard and period lighting fixtures.
Next door is the Harmony Barber Shop, an actual barbershop complete with three vintage barbershop chairs. Inside you will find a drawing of the four original Dapper Dans from Disneyland hanging on the wall.
As you exit Town Square and proceed down Main Street, you will see a wide variety of shops indicative of the era, including a bakery, candy shop, watch shop, and ice cream parlor. Three of these establishments—the Emporium, The Chapeau, and Casey’s Corner—have their own distinct backstories and magical secrets that will be discussed in the next two chapters.
The Main Street Confectionery is an old-fashioned candy shop where delicious treats such as homemade fudge and caramel apples are made directly in front of guests. Vintage signs for “Cotton Candy” and “Cupcakes” hang on the walls.
Next door, the Main Street Cinema pays homage to the earliest days of the motion-picture industry. In the Magic Kingdom’s earlier years, the cinema actually played films for guests, including silent films and classic Mickey Mouse cartoons.
Look up when you enter the Main Street Cinema, and you will see a hexagonal shape in the ceiling. It’s where the projectors hung. To maintain the authenticity of the era represented by Main Street, the only cartoons played were silent.
Due to guest demand, however, Disney did eventually play cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse and sound, neither of which fit within the Main Street time period.
At the end of Main Street, on the border of the entrance to Adventureland, you will find the Crystal Palace. This popular table-service restaurant is themed as an elegant Victorian conservatory, complete with a stunning glass ceiling. It was the perfect architectural choice, as the Crystal Palace tied in well with the Victorian theme of Main Street and provided a good transition to Adventureland because of its similarity to elegant conservatories of nineteenth-century British colonial rule, when the influence of the British Empire spread its culture and architecture around the world.
The Partners Statue
At the far end of Main Street, directly in front of Cinderella Castle, is a plaza known as the central hub, from which you can travel to the lands of the Magic Kingdom (other than Frontierland, which must be accessed from Liberty Square or Adventureland). In the middle of the hub, you will see the most famous statue in all of Walt Disney World, the Partners statue, which depicts Walt Disney holding hands with his most famous creation, Mickey Mouse.
The statue was unveiled in the Magic Kingdom in 1995, two years after the first version debuted in Disneyland in 1993 for Mickey Mouse’s birthday. As was the case with Sharing the Magic in Town Square, Blaine Gibson sculpted the statue. Walt’s expression was Gibson’s depiction of Walt happily watching guests enjoy the park. One of Gibson’s early (discarded) sketches included Mickey Mouse holding an ice cream cone.
A plaque in front of the statue reads: “We believe in our idea: a family park where parents and children could have fun—together.”
If you look closely at Walt Disney’s tie, you will see the initials “STR,” which stands for Smoke Tree Ranch. This was an area in Palm Springs, California, where Walt at one time owned a vacation home.
Main Street Vehicles
The Main Street Vehicles both entertain guests and support the theme of a growing small town at the turn of the last century. The Main Street vehicles consist of a variety of old-fashioned modes of transportation that ferry guests from Town Square to the central hub during the morning hours of the Magic Kingdom. The fleet of vintage vehicles includes:
A miniature fire truck
A double-decker bus
Four horse-pulled trolleys
Three horseless carriages
Two jitneys (old fashioned cars)
Belgian and Percheron breeds, very large draft horses that weigh almost a ton each, pull the trolleys. The horses live and are cared for at the nearby Fort Wilderness Campground. They wear plastic horseshoes because they are easier on the hoofs of the horses and on the street itself.
The jitneys that travel up and down Main Street have special mufflers that help replicate an authentic “sputtering” sound of turn-of-the-last-century automobiles.
The vehicles themselves appear to b
e completely authentic, and guests feel as if they have travelled back in time to a romantic, bygone era. The mere presence of these vintage vehicles contributes to the charm and nostalgia represented throughout Main Street.
The Citizens of Main Street, U.S.A.
While beautiful buildings, welcoming shops, and enticing restaurants are great, a town is nothing without the citizens who live there, and Main Street is far from an abandoned city. In fact, Main Street, U.S.A. is filled with numerous residents who humorously interact with guests and further support the story of a welcoming town.
You can interact with the dapper and humorous Mayor Christopher George Weaver; socialite Hildegard Olivia Harding, who continually champions for women’s suffrage with her friend Miss Beatrice “Bea” Starr, the chairman of the Main Street Thespian Society; and choir director Victoria Trumpetto, who is always happy to belt out a few songs. You can also talk to Scoop Sanderson, Main Street Gazette reporter, town councilmen, and pin trading expert, and boisterous Chief Smokey Miller of the Main Street Volunteer Fire Department. All of these “citizens” are dressed from head to toe in bright, period-authentic costumes.
The Dapper Dans are my favorite characters on Main Street. This barbershop quartet sings, tap dances, and interacts with guests in a fun, upbeat experience. The Dapper Dans wear signature pin-striped suits with bright colors, bow ties, and straw hats. This harmonious group sings a-cappella tunes including:
“Yankee Doodle Dandy”
“Somebody Stole My Gal”
“Mr. Sandman”
“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”
But the Dapper Dans are so much more than singers. They humorously interact with guests in vaudeville-style acts, which both entertains guests and adds to the authenticity of Main Street.
The Main Street Philharmonic is a twelve-piece brass and percussion ensemble that plays a combination of old-school marching songs, big band tunes, and classic Disney songs, including “Alexander’s Rag Time Band,” “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” and “76 Trombones.” The members of the Main Street Philharmonic are dressed in classic red and white uniforms, and provide tunes that add a spark and pep to all guests who visit Main Street.
The Sounds and Smells of Victorian Era Perfection
Although the visuals of Main Street, U.S.A. are equal parts joyous and exciting, Imagineers incorporated other sensory elements to further immerse guests in the story of Main Street. Live music plays a critical role in this storytelling experience, as performed by the Dapper Dans and the Main Street Philharmonic. But pay close attention to the background music. It embodies the time period depicted, with many ragtime tunes. Among the songs you might hear:
“Daisy Bell” (1892)
“Hello! Ma Baby” (1899)
“The Entertainer” (1902)
“Meet Me in St. Louis” (1904)
“Beautiful Beulah,” “Summer Magic,” and “Flitterin”’ from the 1963 Disney live-action film Summer Magic
The delicious smells of Main Street also contribute to the welcoming atmosphere represented throughout the land. As mentioned above, you smell the buttery goodness of the Main Street popcorn cart as soon as you step into Town Square. Just ahead, the sweet aroma of cookies, fudge, and candy wafts from the Main Street Confectionery. However, the smells inside the candy shop are different from what you smell on the street, as Disney uses a special technique of pushing artificial aromas onto Main Street in order to amplify the naturally created sweet smells of the confectionery. This real and artificial smell combination continues with the nearby Main Street Bakery, where the enticing smells of freshly baked pastries and hot coffee tempt the many passesrsby.
The charming architecture of the Main Street building façades, the friendly citizens, the upbeat period music, and the savory smells of candy and sweets all combine to create the ideal representation of small-town America.
More Main Street, U.S.A. Magical Secrets
Pay close attention to the lower-level windows of the buildings on Main Street. These windows are much lower to the ground than normal storefront windows. This architectural decision traces its roots back to Walt Disney himself, as Walt wanted the windows on Disneyland’s version of Main Street low enough so that children would be able to see what was inside the shops.
High above West Center Street, an alley to the right hand side of Main Street just past the Main Street Cinema, you will see two windows that read “Music & Dance Lessons, Ballet, Tap & Waltz” and “Voice & Singing Private Lessons.” If you listen closely, you can hear a singer and dancer from those windows.
A famous cigar-store Indian prop sits in from of the Crystal Arts store, an interesting relic from days of Main Street, U.S.A. past. Believe it or not, Main Street once had a shop that sold tobacco products during the early years of the Magic Kingdom. This Indian prop served as an advertisement for the tobacco shop, which has long since closed.
A number of horse-shaped, cast-iron “hitching posts” line the sidewalks of Main Street. On average, these posts are completely scraped down and repainted every other month.
Pay close attention to the many streetlights that decorate the curbs on Main Street. Near Town Square, the lamps are powered by gas, but as you travel toward the central hub, they change to electric lamps. This supports the story of travelling from the 1890s to the early 1900s.
The shops that line Main Street offer a wide variety of merchandise options, from t-shirts and jewelry to candy apples and coffee. One everyday commercial item that you will not find, however, is a newspaper. Disney does not sell newspapers anywhere in the Magic Kingdom because it does not want the stress and worry of the real world to follow guests into the park.
Real History
Walt Disney, Marceline, and Disneyland
The origins of Walt Disney World’s Main Street, U.S.A. began with the original version of Main Street in Disneyland, which opened with that park on July 17, 1955. The idea for Main Street grew out of Walt’s love for America, a romanticized version of small-town life, and a real-world need to provide Disneyland guests with both a transition from and a barrier to the real world when entering the park.
When designing Disney World’s version, Imagineers used this same ideological concept. However, the Florida version is different from the Disneyland original. In The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World (2005), the Imagineers described this difference as follows:
Main Street in Magic Kingdom Park is much bigger than Main Street at Disneyland, in keeping with the general upsizing of the entire Park and its taller Castle. It is the Main Street of a slightly larger burgeoning town. There are more signs of industrialization, and the architecture is slightly more ornate, in a style we call “Eastern seaboard Victorian.” This style came into vogue during the 1880s and 1890s as the Industrial Revolution made possible the mass fabrication of precut architectural details that could be shipped around the country. The lighter and lacier metalwork lends Main Street a more fanciful flair to illustrate the overriding optimism.
Many guests assume that Main Street (both at Disneyland and Disney World) is a replica of Marceline, Missouri, Walt Disney’s boyhood hometown. Marceline was indeed a small town with a quaint main street featuring various retail shops of the time. And although Imagineers did draw inspiration for Disneyland’s Main Street from Marceline, it was a romanticized version of the town, not a “real-life” replica. Muddy streets, power lines, and normal wear and tear that any town experiences through real-world use would certainly not be included. Instead, Walt wanted an “ideal” small town that took inspiration from towns like Marceline:
Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland is based on Walt’s recollections of his childhood home of Marceline, Missouri, though by all accounts it is more closely tied to his memories of Marceline than the reality of what Marceline was at the time. This is an example of heightened reality, a design technique used to invoke feelings of nostalgia, whether historically accurate or not. Heightened reality is a staple of t
he Imagineering toolbox, giving us the artistic license to play more directly to our emotional attachments to design details rather than to strict adherence to historical accuracy.
[The Imagineers, The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, p. 23.]
The town of Fort Collins, Colorado, also greatly influenced the design of Main Street, U.S.A. Fort Collins was the hometown of Disney Imagineer Harper Goff, who was influential in the design of Disneyland’s version of Main Street. Goff served as art director for the 1954 Disney live-action film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea starring Kirk Douglas and James Mason, and contributed many early sketches for what would become known as Disneyland. As was the case with Walt and Marceline, Goff had a special place in his heart for Fort Collins. Goff shared many images of Fort Collins with Walt, including its Victorian-style city hall, which influenced the architecture of many structures on Disneyland’s Main Street.
Walt Disney World and Commercial Expansion
When the Magic Kingdom first opened in 1971, Main Street included many of the shops and restaurants that we enjoy today. The Crystal Palace and the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor served food to guests, as did the predecessor to Casey’s Corner, the Refreshment Corner. You could also ride the Walt Disney World Railroad and shop at the Emporium, and even get a haircut at the Harmony Barber Shop, which was at the time located in a different and now extinct location.
The Backstories and Magical Secrets of Walt Disney World Page 3