The Disney’s in the Details: Main Street, U.S.A.
Today we tour the land that serves as the entryway to Magic Kingdom – Main Street, U.S.A.! One thing you will notice is that I’ve skipped the famed windows that feature the names of various Disney legends. These windows are numerous and could be an entire post on their own! (Actually – let me know in the comments below if you’d like to see that!) To get this into one post, I had to save them for another time, but you’ll notice below I threw in a couple of my favorites! So without further delay, let’s take a stroll down Main Street, U.S.A.! When you first enter on the right hand sign you will notice this little sign:
If you look at my forthcoming post on Tomorrowland (check back on October 24!), you’ll notice a stark contrast with the stroller parking sign featured there. The quality of the features in Main Street is top notch, and they are some of the best details in the park! Just next to this you will find some fun signs for the gift shop attached to Mickey’s meet and greet!
And tucked away in the flower bed out front is this little sign looking for heroes:
Past the flower bed you will come to a sign for Town Square Theater, where you can meet the big cheese himself! This sign is impressive by day but really beautiful at night when all of Main Street lights up with bright white lights.
Continuing past this you will come to Tony’s Town Square Restaurant, where you’ll find Goofy on the bench out front waiting for you:
Moving past Tony’s you’ll come upon a large wall that hides a cast area. However, being Disney it is covered with a really neat mural:
Next to this is my favorite sign in all of Walt Disney World. It is so detailed and pretty! I hope everyone takes an extra moment to find this one on your next visit. It is a detail worth noticing!! For me it always reminds me of the old Disney cartoon where the hats fall in love. 🙂
Just past this is the Confectionery, which you can smell before you see! The sugary aroma hangs in the air as you walk past this magical sweet shop!
Just past this is the Main Street Cinema, which used to actually show old movies but has now been reduced to mostly a gift shop. The signage outside is still lovely, though!
Just next door is Uptown Jewelers. Unfortunately, I realized after I got home that I had a terrible glare in my photo of the sign. For now, just the watch sign will have to do, but I will be back to update with the proper sign!
Next to this is a little “alley” where you can have a silhouette made or just find a quaint table and relax. This is one tiny section of the park that hasn’t been monetized. An oasis between gifts shops! It also houses one of my favorite details in the Magic Kingdom. If you walk down into this area and look at these two windows, you can actually hear the lessons going on inside!
Other windows down this passage are portals for sorcerers!
Getting out of this little area and back onto Main Street, you will see the Crystal Shop just ahead. If you haven’t stopped in here before to see a live glass blowing demo, it is really worth stopping to watch. I also love the glasses and mugs that can be personalized by etching your name in the glass; they make a great souvenir!
Next is the Main Street Bakery and the home of Starbucks in the Magic Kingdom! This smells almost as good as the Confectionery, with fresh roasted coffee clearly in the air. It is almost impossible to walk by on an early morning trip!
If you make it past the Bakery, the next thing you will smell is fresh cooked waffle cones at the Ice Cream Parlor next door. It is hard to get down Main Street without craving a snack of some kind! 🙂
Just around the corner from here on the right is The Plaza Restaurant. This is an often forgotten but excellent table service restaurant. Inside you’ll find intimate seating, reasonable prices, excellent service, and a yummy menu! You should stop by next time you’re in the area!
And now let’s cross the street and head back toward the train station down the other side of Main Street. The first staple that you will see here on the corner is Casey’s Corner – home of gourmet hot dogs! Now since we’ve been talking about the pleasant smells that line the other side of Main Street, it should be mentioned that Casey’s reeks of sauerkraut. The smell wafts out of the building and into the neighboring gift shop.
Outside you can find these guys marking the entrance:
And if the smell of sauerkraut hasn’t drawn you in as you walk by, you’ll find this last little sign as you continue down Main Street:
Next on this side of the street you will pass the Hall of Champions, which is mostly an apparel store. I may be in the minority, but I still miss when it was the Penny Arcade!
Right in this area, if you look around, you will find this door for Disney casting. Every time I look at it I still have a little hope that maybe I’ll get to work for Disney one of these days!
Just next to Hall of Champions you will find The Emporium Gallery, which mostly houses seasonal items and other gifts.
Just past the Gallery you will enter the actual Emporium! This is the epicenter of of Magic Kingdom shopping, housing a little bit of everything from all around the park. The building is marked with large signs and beautiful stained glass windows over the doors.
Out front I also found these beautiful markers next to the doors:
Just next door to the Emporium you will find the Harmony Barber Shop, home of pixie dust haircuts! That’s right, kids of all ages can really get their hair cut inside Magic Kingdom! Reservations are recommended by calling 407-WDW-PLAY.
Moving past this, before you get to the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom sign up station, you can find this interesting poster. I’ve always wondered about this one! We’ve had great luck with our readers giving us info up to this point. Does anyone know the story on this oddly placed poster?
Then, of course, there is the Sorcerers Building itself. I have to say I like this better than the old Fire Station, but I have quite a card collection! What does everyone think of the change?
In this area you will also see several other little details like a place to catch a ride on the Fire Engine:
And also a place to tie up your horse or mail a letter:
Just past this we will reach the end of our tour at the Chamber of Commerce. I love the rich wood sign that marks this building!
And, of course, there is a sign out front marking where you go to pick up your packages. I’ll take the package that contains another grand circle tour of Main Street, please!
As we come close to finishing this series, what would you like to see next? I always appreciate your ideas and feedback so please let me know in the comments below. And as always thanks so much for reading!
Other Magic Kingdom posts in this series:
- The Disney’s in the Details: Adventureland
- The Disney’s in the Details: Fantasyland Part 1
- The Disney’s in the Details: Fantasyland Part 2
- The Disney’s in the Details: Fantasyland Part 3
- The Disney’s in the Details: Frontierland
- The Disney’s in the Details: Liberty Square
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Even though I have loved all your blogs touring the park, I especially love this one because I’m always zooming down Main Street to get to the rides!! Maybe on my 100th visit, I’ll slow down long enough to enjoy all these rich details! And I, for one, would love a blog about all the windows on Main Street and the stories behind them 🙂
Thank you, Michelle! Glad you enjoyed and I’ll try to sell Len on the windows idea. I think it would be great! 🙂
I read all your blogs over the last weeks and I really love every single one! Love all the details you tell us about and the great pictures and the way you write it as well! I would like to see a blog about the windows. Can’t wait to see the next blog. I love to see everything you want share with us! Thanks and keep the great work coming. 🙂
Hi Vanessa – thank you!! I’m so happy to be able to share my love for Disney! 🙂 And that’s 2 votes for windows! 😀
I would love to see you do this sort of series around the World Showcase.
I was just popping in to suggest the same!
Ohhhh – that would be so much fun! I think that is a great idea. I’ll see if we can make that happen!
Regarding the horse poster: If I remember right, the Horse Barn/Car Barn was in the corner area now occupied by the Barber Shop. You could walk up to the door and see one or two of the horses that pull the trolley while they were off-duty. At that time, the Barber Shop was in an alley on the west side of Main Street, where the Emporium Gallery is now. When WDW expanded the Emporium, the barbers were moved to their current location. (I’m pretty sure I’m remembering this correctly but it has been several years so correct me if I’m wrong.)
Thanks for the post and this series – they have been fun and informative. Please do one on the Main Street Windows!
Very cool info! Thanks, Leah! And another vote for windows… I’m keeping track! 🙂
Main Street USA is one of my favorite spots in the Magic Kingdom. I like the in depth look at the details that make up this area. A lot of this is often overlooked. It makes me want to take look at each building, sign, wall, etc on Main Street USA to appreciate the effort it took to create this.
Hi Ken! I completely agree and I never even noticed until I started looking. There is more than I could even include!! Thank you for reading!
I love your posts about the parks and their details, especially this one! I would love to see one about the windows.
Thanks, Jenna! So glad you enjoyed and thanks for reading. 🙂
I love these posts! I’d love if you do this for all the parks, including water parks.
Thanks, Kym! I would love to do this for the other parks! Especially, Animal Kingdom!! Thanks for the suggestions! 🙂
Yes please to a future post about the Windows on Main street!! I’m thoroughly enjoying these articles and really looking forward to each one. It great to soak up the details and I’m vowing take more notice of everything on our upcoming trip. I personally can’t get enough of ‘the details’ and I agree with Kym, other parks, water parks, hotels etc. would be great too. Thank you for all your hard work 🙂
Thank you for your kind words, Nicola!! I love doing these posts for everyone! 🙂 It sounds like windows are popular…. hopefully that will be coming soon!
Awesome series! Loving each one. Yes, please do one on the windows. I was kind of sad though that you didn’t include a picture of Roy and Minnie on the bench. It’s one of my favorite details. Keep up the good work!!!
Oh Kim! This is why I don’t cheat! I didn’t like anything I took that day of the statue so I decided I would use a good one I have on file. Well- looks like I forgot!! 🙁 I will find way to slip it in and thanks for the reminder!!!
I’m not a big fan of games like Sorcerers getting center stage, but the location is fine. That said, it’s really cool to see all the theming in this post! We fly through Main Street too quickly and don’t take the time to slow down nearly enough.
Hi Dan! Thanks for you comment. It makes to so happy to hear people say they are going to look at the details next time! 🙂
Main Street USA is one of my favorite places in DW and I love all the little details you took pictures of. I won’t forget one year we went into the Chamber of Commerce and ask them if they had a list of the music playing on Main Street (my daughter, a percussionist was enamored with a marimba piece that kept playing throughout the week). Sure enough, they produced the list! Always helpful. Love Goofy’s statue too, one of my favorite photo spots!
Thanks for your comment, Linda! I totally agree that the cast make the magic. All my best memories are from amazing CMs making memories! 🙂
We love that Disney added the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. It was my husband’s favorite part of our recent WDW visit (and he’s a big Disney fan)! I love the ways in which visitors can really make Disney World their own, and that game is one of them.
I’d love to see a post on the name signs. The more posts of the details of Disney, the better!
Thanks, Megan! I’m so glad folks love the detail posts. I love doing them! 🙂
I’d also love to see a post with pictures of the jack-o-lanterns on Main Street. I wish I’d had more time to look closely at them while I was there. They’re so cute and clever. I recently even heard about an Elvis pumpkin this year!
Great article. Keep it up! I love your pics of interesting signs and things in WDW and I love your descriptions and stories to go along with it. As for other ideas, anything in the whole wDW! Love seeing the details captured just in case we didn’t see it in the parks because we were hurrying by to fast. As for me, I don’t go but once every few years and I kick myself in the butt because if the pics if the details I didn’t take or the time to look at things I would have liked. And now here it is thanks to you!
I loved reading these posts about the details! Each one I read made my resolve stronger that on our next trip, we would concentrate on more non-attraction things. For example, I vowed that I would peek into every restaurant that would let me, just to see the inside.
So I would love a post about interesting things to see or do around each of the parks, that are not necessarily attractions or shows. These posts about the details are a great start. But until I saw the sign above and your caption that it’s “a place to catch a ride on the Fire Engine”, I had NO IDEA you could ride on a fire engine! Like many commenters above, we beeline past all these awesome details, and head straight for the rides. But I swear next time we will slow down, and branch out! Thank you!