Difference between revisions of "Main Street USA"

Revision as of 22:40, 23 December 2011

Main Street USA is a land in the Magic Kingdom.

The Train Station at the entrance to Main Street USA

Attraction History

Main Street USA opened along with the rest of the Magic Kingdom in 1971. The opening day attractions in Main Street were the Walt Disney World Railroad, The Main Street Vehicles (the Jitney, Fire Engine, Horseless Carriage, Horse Cars and Omnibus), The Penny Arcade, The Main Street Cinema, and the Harmony Barber Shop. The Walt Disney Railroad took guests around the park in a real steam engine stopping in Fronteirland. The Main Street Vehicles allowed guests to travel in the ways of the past. Guests could ride any of the vehicles from the front end of Main Street, to Cinderella’s Castle and back. The Penny arcade featured old style games and Moving Picture Machines, which would allow guests to view old movie serials. For just 25 cents The Main Street Cinema allowed guests to see full silent movies as well as old Disney shorts.

In 1973 Main Street USA got two major additions. The first addition was the Swan Boats. The Swan boats were located at the hub of the Magic Kingdom and allowed guests to peddle around the hub and the Swiss Family Treehouse. The other addition to Main Street was The Walt Disney Story. Located in the Gulf Hospitality House, The Walt Disney Story was a biographical movie about Walt himself and played simultaneously in Walt Disney World and Disneyland. The first major closure in Main Street USA happened in 1983 when the Swan Boats closed. The Boats which had originally numbered eleven, had been cut down to five before being closed. The explanation for the closure was that the Swan Boats were too expensive to keep running. In 1992 Main Street lost another attraction when the Walt Disney Story closed. The film was becoming too deteriorated to keep showing. A gift shop and information center known as the Exposition Hall replaced the Hospitality House and thus The Walt Disney Story.

In 1995 the Penny Arcade, which had been an opening day attraction finally closed its doors. It was replaced along with the Main Street Bookstore and the House of Magic by the new Main Street Athletic Club. Another opening day attraction would soon follow in the Penny Arcades footsteps, when in 1998 the Main Street Cinema was redone. Instead of being a classic movie theater like it had always been, the Cinema was re-themed into a Disney art gift shop. The facade on the outside was changed to read “Now Showing: The Art of Disney”. Inside the new Cinema, you can still see old Disney shorts being played on a screen in the back of the shop.

In 2001 the last major attraction change happened when the Harmony Barbershop was moved from West Center Street to Town Square. The move was made so that the Emporium could expand into what had previously been the barbershop. Besides the barbershop as of January 2012, Main Street has two opening day attractions left: The Main Street Vehicles and the Wald Disney World Railroad.

The Main Street Windows

Main Street USA also has special meaning symbolically. This starts when guests enter the park and go under the Walt Disney World Railroad (the opening curtain). As guests continue onto Main Street they will notice that the ground is red which symbolizes the red carpet and the credits begin. The credits, are located on the upper level of the Main Street shops. They come in the form of the shop windows, which have the names of important people in the Disney companies history. These names are usually attached to a fictional business in order to tie it in with the rest of the land. Walt Disney's Window is the last one people see when entering the park and the first one the see when leaving it. His window states, Walter E. Disney Graduate School of Design & Master Planning.

The Statues

Main Street USA is home to two of the most famous statues in Walt Disney World, the “Partners” statue and the “Sharing the Magic” statue. The “Partners” Statue was added in 1995 and shows Walt Disney pointing forward while holding Mickey Mouse's hand. The plaque on the statue says, “We believe in our idea: a family park where parents and children could have fun – together.” The statue is placed at the central hub of the park in front of Cinderella's Castles. “The Sharing the Magic” statue is located in Town Square and was built in 1998 in honor of Walt's brother Roy O. Disney. The statue shows Roy and Minnie Mouse sitting together on an ornate bench. The plaque below the bench is engraved with the dedication speech Roy gave at the grand opening of Walt Disney World.

Shopping History

Main Street USA has always been known as one of the best places to shop in Walt Disney World. Although some of the opening day shops are still around, many have been closed, re-themed or moved. In the table below, the basic information of each store is given including store name, location, merchandise sold and the opening and closing dates.