Main Street, U.S.A. (Disneyland)
Main Street, U.S.A. is the entrance land of Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Opened with the park on July 17, 1955, it recreates an idealised American small town at the turn of the twentieth century, and every guest entering or leaving the park passes along it. The street runs from Town Square, just inside the entrance tunnels beneath the Disneyland Railroad station, to the Central Plaza hub, where it ends in a direct view of Sleeping Beauty Castle. It holds few conventional rides; instead it functions as the park's threshold, its main shopping and dining district, and the route along which parades travel.
Design and inspiration
Main Street was shaped chiefly by Walt Disney's memories of Marceline, Missouri, the small town where he spent part of his childhood, with further influence from Fort Collins, Colorado, the hometown of art director Harper Goff, who worked on the street's early designs. The buildings present a town of roughly 1890 to 1910, the era of gas lamps giving way to electric light — a transition the street itself enacts, with gas lamps at the Town Square end and electric lamps toward the castle.
The architecture uses forced perspective to make the street feel longer and the castle taller. Ground floors are built close to full scale, while the upper storeys are progressively reduced, so the buildings appear taller than they are. The upper windows of the shops carry painted names presented as the proprietors of fictional businesses; these are in fact credits honouring Disney employees, imagineers and others who contributed to the park. The street's period detail extends to its transport: horse-drawn streetcars, a fire engine, an omnibus and other early motor vehicles still carry guests along its length.
Above the fire station in Town Square sits a small private apartment built for Walt Disney, who used it when staying at the park. A lamp in its window was lit to signal his presence; since his death in 1966 the lamp has been kept burning in his memory.
Attractions and buildings
The Disneyland Railroad's Main Street station overlooks Town Square, and its trains circle the whole park from here. The Opera House on Town Square, which served as the park's lumber mill during construction before opening to guests, has housed Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln since 1965. That show, built around an Audio-Animatronic Abraham Lincoln, was first presented at the 1964 New York World's Fair before moving to Disneyland. Also on the square are City Hall, which handles guest relations, and the fire station with Walt's apartment above it.
Further along the street, the Main Street Cinema shows early animated shorts, and the Penny Arcade preserves coin-operated amusements of the period. The Emporium, occupying much of the west side, is the park's largest souvenir shop. Near the hub, the Plaza Inn restaurant — opened in 1955 as the Red Wagon Inn and renamed in 1965 — serves the Central Plaza end of the street.
Role in the park
Walt Disney described the park in cinematic terms, and Main Street performs the role of an opening sequence: it establishes time, place and mood before the lands beyond the hub present their own settings. It is also the park's ceremonial space. The dedication plaque recording Walt's opening-day words stands in Town Square, the flag retreat ceremony is held there, and parades step off or finish along the street, which is lined for them each day. At closing time the flow reverses, and Main Street's shops, many of which stay open after the rest of the park, form the last part of the visit.
Versions of Main Street, U.S.A. open most castle-style Disney parks worldwide, but the California original remains the only one Walt Disney personally walked and the only one containing his apartment.