>Magic in the Details of Main Street USA

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In the past, I’ve written about the Details in the Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios, that help to make for Magical Experiences while you are in Walt Disney World. There are Details in The Magic Kingdom that can help make Magical Experiences as well. And as I sit to write about the details in the Magic Kingdom, I find myself with so many Details about Main Street USA, that I feel compelled to split the Details of the Magic Kingdom into more than one article. So, as I present today the Magic of the Details in the Magic Kingdom, it will be a two part article, continued tomorrow. Here today is part one, The Magic in the Details of Main Street USA.

As you enter the Magic Kingdom and walk up Main Street USA, the first details that many people miss are the buildings on Main Street. Everyone notices they are designed and presented as businesses from back at the turn of the 20th century in a smaller town in the mid-west, but what you might miss is the fact that the buildings seem taller than they are. The Disney Imagineers used what is called forced perspective to make the buildings seem like they are two or three stories tall. The only buildings that do not get smaller as they get higher are Exposition Hall, and the Main Street Train Station. Another detail about the buildings on Main Street USA that you might not know is that the windows are closer to the ground than most windows are, because Walt Disney himself wanted them lower, so kids could have the Magical Experience of seeing what was inside them.

Another detail that is you may miss, is one that I have mentioned before, but it is one of my favorite Unknown Magics in Walt Disney World. On the side street to the right

as you are walking toward the Castle, there is a nice little sitting area where the street dead ends. This is a wonderful place to sit and have a snack or just to relax from the hustle and bustle of the park. As you are down in this alleyway, look up at the windows on the second floor. One of them is a Dance and Voice studio. If you stand here for a few minutes and listen, you can have a Magical Experience because you will hear lessons being given either in tap dancing or

singing with a piano or other musical accompaniments. This is one of the details that the Imagineers added to make Main Street USA more realistic.

At night when you look at the windows on Main Street, some of the windows are lit up as if there are people still in the buildings. Although some of the buildings have storage areas on the second floors, most of the rooms that are lit are just for effect to make Main Street seem as if there are always people there.

Another detail on Main Street USA that makes you feel as if you are in the past is the music that is played. Not only is it time period appropriate, but it is also very bouncy and upbeat. Making you feel even more excited than you are, when you first walk in, even if you don’t realize it. Another thing that the Imagineers do to change our mood or enhance your walk up Main Street, that you might not even really notice at first, is to make you feel comfortable by producing the smell of fresh baked cookies. If you walk past the Main Street Bakery, you can smell this wonderful smell, and it can take you away from the rush and noise of Main Street and help you to have more Magical Experiences.

Great Details aren’t found only on the outside of the buildings on Main Street USA, they are found in them also, In Tony’s Town Square Restaurant, for example, there is a statue of Lady and the Tramp, that goes along with the heart you can find outside the restaurant, which is based on the Spaghetti scene form the Lady and the Tramp. Across the Town Square, at Firehouse 71(which is named this after the year the Magic Kingdom opened) there are patches from fire companies from all over the world. This is a very neat tribute to the rescue workers that help us every day.

Other great indoor details can be found at the other end of Main Street at Casey’s Corner. The back of this wonderful little hot dog shop is a very cool place to sit and eat. On the one wall there is a huge screen playing sport related Disney shorts, from way back when. But the details come in as it has bleachers and the floor is laid out as a baseball diamond. What great touches to add to a place to get the feeling of eating a ballpark hot dog.

There is one other detail on Main Street that kids today may not understand, and may be miss understood, but it definitely adds to the turn of the century feel of Main Street USA. This would be the cigar store Indian. Originally it was in front of a tobacco shop, when the Magic Kingdom first opened. The shop has been closed now for quite a while and the Indian has been moved down the street a little ways.

So, now you know, Main Street USA has many Unknown Magics that the Imagineers have added to enhance your enjoyment of walking down a busy street at the turn of the 20th century. These details are sometimes visual, sometimes aural and sometimes aromatic, but they are there to add a Magical Experience to the beginning of your day in the Magic Kingdom. So, next time you go to the Magic Kingdom, don’t rush down the street take the time to look, listen and smell your way to a great day.