22 Ways Disney's Imagineers Designed Magic into Main Street, USA

Open your eyes and all your senses to see how the magic of design created one of the world’s most beloved streets, the quintessential main street, Main Street, U.S.A.. This street captures the sights, sounds and smells of idealized small-town America. (Cue the designer’s eye rolls). Correct, it is not an actual main street in the center of a small gridded town. It’s the gateway into Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Nevertheless, the Disney Imagineers’ attention to detail designed into the experience of walking down this beloved street provides great lessons for designers. At the street’s gateway under the train station, the smell of popcorn lets people know a show is about to begin and the presence of civic buildings unconsciously makes people feel safe. People are transported subconsciously to their childhood and to happy times. It’s been studied that strangers act friendlier to each other along this street. Main Street, U.S.A. is designed to evoke these emotions and reactions.

Here are 22 imagineerings that make Main Street, USA magical:

1. Theme. The street captures the sights, sounds and smells of small-town America in the early 20th century, inspired by Walt Disney’s childhood in Marceline, Missouri. Horse drawn trolleys and other old fashion vehicles ramble up and down the street. The lamps on the southern end of the street are gas lamps and the lamps at the northern end of the street are electric, representing the progression of electricity during this time. Period actors are seen going about their business on the street. And the architecture of the buildings draws from the Victorian era.

2. Terminating Vistas. Main Street is anchored by the train station at its southern end and Cinderella’s Castle at the north end. The train station sits on the roughly 150 ft. by 250 ft. wide Town Square. Looking north from Town Square, Main Street frames Cinderella’s Castle, giving it a grand appearance. It is the park’s landmark, towering at 180+ ft. tall, providing orientation wherever you are in the park. It sits on a circular plaza, the hub of decision making, where the streets radiate out to different lands.

3. Civility. Town Square is the gateway to Main Street. As noted by Marissa Scalera in You’re on Stage at Disney World, the civic uses located on Town Square – City Hall, the firehouse, a theater – set the tone for law and order. They are subliminal reminders to be on your best behavior and meant to suggest you are safe. There are also lots of “eyes on the street” provided by security cameras and cast members.

4. Block Size. Center Street intersects Main Street near its middle, defining Main Street as 2 blocks long. Each block is approximately 160 ft. long by 90 ft. wide. Center Street does not continue as a through street given that there is not a real neighborhood to connect to. Rather it tapers into a courtyard at either end of the street creating interesting seating spaces. The intersection of Center Street with Main Street is necessary to break up the monotony of the building façades. The corner buildings are taller and more substantial than the interior buildings, anchoring each block. And sunlight is allowed through breaking up the shadows created by the buildings. Of interest to note, Center Street intersects Main Street at an 80-degree angle rather than the suspected 90 degrees. (Scalera 2002)

5. Forced Perspective. The buildings along Main Street appear taller than they actually are with the use of forced perspective. The buildings are 2 or 3 stories tall and vary from approximately 30 to 35 ft in height. The ground level floors have traditional heights varying from 11 to 14 ft. in height. The 2nd floors are shorter in height and the 3rd stories are even shorter. Some site that each floor is 7/8th scale of the floor below it. But this is not always the case. The point is, the buildings are scaled to look taller than they actually are. (Imagineers 2010)

6. Street Width. Main Street is approximately 60 ft. wide from building front to building front, resulting is a 2:1 street width to building height ratio. This ratio creates a comfortable outdoor room, allowing pedestrians to relate to both sides of the street.

7. Slope. Main Street appears longer than it actually is. The buildings are gradually stepped in toward the street, angling inward toward the castle that sits beyond the end of Main Street on the far end of The Hub. The street also has a slight incline toward the castle that adds to the excitement and gander of the castle as you enter the park and eases your tired legs as it slopes down as you leave the park.

8. Architecture. Special attention is given to each building façade to give the appearance of individual property ownership while maintaining a cohesive look. The Victorian era theme and period appropriate paint colors unite the buildings. They are differentiated by architectural styling, varying heights, and different color pallets. Paint color plays an important role in both uniting and differentiating. Each building has its own color pallet, but white and cream are common accent colors on all the building facades. And the primary color of each façade is subtly integrated into the facades of its adjacent buildings.

9. Pedestrian Circulation. The primary user of Main Street is the pedestrian. This allows pedestrians to flow from the sidewalk into the street. Pedestrians can also flow from the sidewalk into the buildings where each of the businesses are connected internally with pedestrian pathways. This creates a pedestrian network of paths increasing the traffic capacity of the street. In the morning, the primary direction of flow is north up Main Street as people are arriving. And in the evening, the primary direction of flow is south down Main Street as people are leaving. These pedestrians are primarily American and tend to walk, like they drive, on the right side of the road. This pattern is capitalized on by many successful retailers who know that smart product placement is good for business. On Main Street, key food outlets, like the bakery and Starbucks, are placed on the east side of the road for fueling up, and key retail shops are located on the west side of the road for the exiting pedestrian’s souvenir purchase.

10. Storefront details. The area between the sidewalk and the storefronts is a transitional space. Awnings and recessed doorways, which are always open, draw the sidewalk into the building creating an easy flow between outdoor and indoor space, between sidewalk and store. Eye level windows showcase merchandise. And casual seating provides an invitation to sit and stay.

11. Smellitizers. Scents evoke nostalgia. Popcorn carts positioned at either end of the street tell your nose that a show is about to begin. The scent of vanilla and baking cookies can be detected on Main Street where the bakery pumps out smells of confectionaries. The smells of ice cream, hot dogs and french fries are comforting reminders of small-town America.

12. Sounds. Your ears transport you to the turn of the century as well. Some of the sounds are obvious, like show tune music tracks, the whistle of the train, and the Dapper Dan Barbershop Quartet. Other sounds are more subtle, like the side courtyard window cracked open to hear music lessons and the clop of the horses purposefully louder shoes.

13. Utilidors. Activities and uses like utilities, supplies, maintenance workers, and cast members moving through the park, are kept out of sight in utilidors under Main Street. These backstage activities are equivalent to back alley operations. Given that Walt Disney World is located in Florida and at sea level, tunnels could not be built below ground. Instead, these utility corridors were built at grade and Main Street was built above them.

14. No Litter. Walt Disney took a special interest in keeping the streets of his parks clean. He studied people to see how long they would hold a piece of trash in their hands before littering it. The answer turns out to be about 30 ft. So today, you can’t walk 30 ft. in Disney without running into a trash can. These trash cans are enclosed so you can’t smell the garbage and they are equipped with sensors to alert nearby cast members when they are ¾ full. Trash bags are then put into an Automated Vacuum Assisted Collection (AVAC) system that suck the bags at 60 mph in tubes that go through the utilidors to a central processing point, according to the Daily Meal. Much of the trash is diverted for recycling.

15. Go Away Green. Trash isn’t the only thing that disappears out of sight. As pointed out by House Beautiful, unsightly objects, like utilities, back doors, and buildings in the background, are painted a gray shade of green, a color affectionately known as “Go Away Green.”

16. Clean Streets. Additional measures to keep the streets clean include no gum sold and a complete hose down every night. According to Offhand Disney, after the park closes, the custodial crew rolls out a 150 ft. fire house to wash everything down.

17. Street Trees. No street would be complete without street trees. Oak trees line the street, but are noticeably spaced out further and are smaller than the typical main street. This is to allow an easy flow of pedestrians between the sidewalk and the street and to not overwhelm the scaled down architecture. Every night gardeners trim the trees, keeping them generally between 15 to 20 ft. tall. This also allows for a feeling of intimacy on the street.

18. Street Furniture. The curb, street trees and “furniture zone” provide just enough interest to delineate the sidewalk and street, but not too much to obstruct the flow of pedestrians between them. Items found here include lamp posts, trash cans, signage, hitching posts and statues. The curb provides the additional function as acting as a seat for parade viewing.

19. Highly programmed. Besides its use as a gateway to the park and a place to eat and shop, the street is highly programmed to bring people back throughout the day. The horse drawn trolley offers rides. Entertainers, like the Dapper Dans, sing in the street. An afternoon parade marches through every day. The early evening flag retreat ceremony commands an audience. And every night fireworks fill the sky.

20. Wayfinding. You will not be lost and you can always find a bathroom. Information is everywhere in the form of signage, maps, and cast members to give you direction. And the landmark Cinderella’s Castle, will orient you to your location.

21. Solar Orientation. Main Street lies on a north-south axis. The southern side of Cinderella’s Castle terminates the view at the northern end of the street. This orientation allows the sun to shine like a spotlight on the southern side of the castle for most of the day.

22. Hidden Mickeys. Who doesn’t love a fun scavenger hunt? For the kid in each of us, the Imagineers have designed Hidden Mickeys, three circles shaped like Mickey Mouse, into the nooks and crannies of Main Street. You can find one in the floor tile at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant, on the gears of the horse pulling the Main Street Trolley, and on the candy bins in the Main Street Confectionary. There are dozens of Hidden Mickeys along Main Street. You will have to find them yourself.

What did we miss? We’d love to hear about any other design secrets that add to the magic of Main Street. Do you have a favorite Imagineered design that you’ve used in your work? Over 20 million people pay to visit the Magic Kingdom every year. Walt Disney and his Imagineers have obviously done something right. Is this experience worth replicating?

Source: Google Earth