Main Street, U.S.A. | |
---|---|
Disneyland | |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | July 17, 1955 |
Magic Kingdom | |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | October 1, 1971 |
Tokyo Disneyland | |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | April 15, 1983 |
Disneyland Park (Paris) | |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | April 12, 1992 |
Hong Kong Disneyland | |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | September 12, 2005 |
Shanghai Disney Resort | |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | June 16, 2016 |
General Statistics | |
Theme | Early 20th Century Marceline, Missouri and Fort Collins, Colorado |
Main Street, U.S.A. is the first "themed land" inside the main entrance of the many 'Disneyland'-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world.
Each Main Street, U.S.A. (except Tokyo Disneyland and Shanghai Disney Resort) has a train station above the entrance. At Disneyland Park, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland, Sleeping Beauty Castle stands in the distance beyond the end of the street. The area near here is referred to as Town Square; most of the day, there are characters available for a meet and greet here. At the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, Cinderella Castle stands at the end.
Town Square is home to City Hall, in which the Guest Relations office is located. Further along Main Street, the names painted in the windows on Main Street serve as credits for some of the many people, Imagineers and others, who contributed in some way to the creation of Disneyland. Largely they appear as fictional businesses (gyms, realtors, dentists), and they often refer to a hobby or interest that the person honored. Ub Iwerks's window, for example, refers to his prowess with cameras. For Disneyland's 50th anniversary, on July 17, 2005, a first-story window on each Main Street was unveiled with a dedication to all the cast members (employees) who had worked for Disney throughout the years. The streets are paved with resilient asphalt to prevent aching of feet. In July 2015, Disneyland expanded their Main Street U.S.A. with a Main Street Arcade in honor of their 60th anniversary.
Inspired by Walt Disney's hometown of Marceline, Missouri (as in the film Lady and the Tramp), Main Street, U.S.A. is designed to resemble the center of an idealized turn-of-the-20th-century (c. 1910) American town. According to Harper Goff, who worked on Main Street, U.S.A. with Walt, he showed Walt some photos of his childhood home of Fort Collins, Colorado. Walt liked the look, and so many of the features of the town were incorporated into Main Street, U.S.A. Another significant source of inspiration for the Main Street, U.S.A. concept came from the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, which Walt Disney visited twice in the 1940s.