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Walt's Light

Main Street USA - Firehouse: Walt Disney's apartment is located directly above the Fire Station next to City Hall. The lamp in the window is always on to show his spirit is always present!

Submitted by FM reader Rachel: In your Disney Facts section it's mentioned that the apartment above the fire station was Walt's and the light is always left on in memory of him. That's mostly true, it's to remind everyone that he is always there with them EXCEPT when his daughters are in the park, then it's turned off out of respect for them and their loss of their father. Just wanted to add that bit of info to your already wonderful page.

- Thank you! FM ºoº

Walt's Firehouse Pole

Main Street USA - Firehouse: This pole connected the Disney's private apartment to the bottom floor of the firehouse. Walt, who was usually excited to start his work in the park, would slide down the fire pole. However, it was covered up after an overzealous guest climbed up and introduced himself to the Disneys.

Disneyland's Flagpole Base

Town Square - Main Street USA: Legend has it that Emile Kuri, lead designer for Disney Studios, had witnessed a car accident on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The car had dislodged an antique street lamp from its base. Kuri, paid $5 for the ornate lamp post and even offered to haul it away himself. Kuri then used part of that lamp post as the base for Town Square's 65 foot flagpole.

Main Street Bank - Disney Gallery

Main Street USA: The newly opened Disney Gallery occupies the same location previously used by the Main Street Bank. Before ATMs were so prevalent, Disneyland was home to a working Bank of America branch. Unlike most branches, the Disneyland Bank of America was open to customers on Sundays and Holidays. Disney Gallery guests will find that the bank's old vault is still inside, though it no longer contains any cash or Disney-themed money orders.

Disney Gallery - Main Street Bank Vault

Main Street USA: The newly opened Disney Gallery occupies the same location previously used by Disneyland's Main Street Bank (Bank of America). From 1955 to 1993, Bank of America sponsored the location on Main Street USA. The bank was a necessity before the prevalence of the ATM and this Bank of America branch was unlike most, because it was open to cash strapped customers on Sundays and Holidays.

In addition to cash withdrawals, Disneyland's Bank of America branch offered souvenir money orders and checking accounts with Disneyland checks.

Walt Disney's Griffith Park Bench

Opera House - Main Street USA: This ordinary wooden bench, has an extraordinary history. According to Walt Disney, the idea for a Disney-themed amusement park came to him while sitting on a park bench. He thought about creating a new kind of amusement park, while he watched his daughters ride the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round. The park bench that Walt Disney sat on, while he imagined what would become Disneyland, is currently on display in the Opera House lobby.

Walt Disney's Griffith Park Bench

Opera House - Main Street USA: According to the plaque, this ordinary wooden bench, has an extraordinary history. While he watched his daughters ride the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round, Walt Disney thought about creating his own, specially-themed amusement park.

The very park bench that Walt Disney sat on, while he Dreamed up Disneyland, is currently on display in the Opera House lobby.

Disneyland's Antique Gas Lamps

Main Street USA: The lamps along Main Street are authentic 19th century gaslamps. In 1955, Disneyland designer Emile Kuri purchased the gaslamps by the pound from Baltimore, Maryland. More than 150 years old at the time, the antique lamps were being replaced and were meant to be sold off as scrap. (Additional lamps may have also been acquired from St. Louis, Missouri and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)

Note: Disneyland used to have a Cast Member dressed as a 19th century lamplighter, who actually lit the gaslamps at dusk.

Hotel Marceline

Main Street USA: To find the Hotel Marceline, take a turn off Main Street USA toward the lockers on Center Street. This Disney detail is another part of Main Street USA's small town America theme.

Note: The Hotel Marceline acts as a tribute to the town of Marceline, Missourri. Though the Disney family moved around quite a bit, Walt Disney spent his some of his most formative and memorable years there in Marceline.

Red Wagon Corn Dogs

Plaza Street - Main Street USA: For many guests, the trip to Disneyland isn't complete without one of the Red Wagon's corn dogs. Located next to the Plaza Inn Restaurant on Plaza Street, the concession stand also acts as a reminder of the original Red Wagon Inn.

When Disneyland opened in 1955, many of the attractions, shops and restaurants featured corporate sponsorship. The Red Wagon Inn was sponsored by Swift Premium Foods, also known as Swift & Company. The name Red Wagon Inn came from the Swift & Company official logo, a red horse-drawn wagon. For years, The Red Wagon Inn was the only Disneyland Park restaurant that served full-course meals, which of course, featured Swift's Premium Meats. When Swift's Red Wagon Inn closed, the site became a cafeteria, offices and a sponsor's hospitality center. After some Re-Imagineering, Disneyland remodeled the site and opened the Plaza Inn Restaurant in July of 1965.

Note: Swift & Company also sponsored Main Street's Market House and the Chicken Plantation House in Frontierland. Swift's official Disneyland sponsorships ended in 1962, when the Chicken Plantation was closed to make room for New Orleans Square.

Disney Baby Care Center Portrait

Main Street USA - Baby Care Center: At the end of Main Street, to the far right just before the Plaza Inn Restaurant, is the official Baby Care Center. Just inside the lobby to the left is a black and white baby picture in an oval frame. That portrait in the baby care center is of Walter Elias Disney himself!

Disneyland Tobacco Shop

Main Street USA: This Cigar Store Indian acts as a marker to Disneyland's past. Located behind the wooden figure, was the original location for the Disneyland Tobacco Shop. When Disneyland opened in 1955, tobacco & smoking were very much in vogue, as Hollywood portrayed smoking as debonaire & glamorous. According to Yesterland.com, until it was closed permanently in 1991, the shop offered cigarettes, pipes, tobacco paraphernalia and even complementary Disneyland matchbooks.

- Why a giant wooden statue of a Native American (American Indian)?
Introduced at a time in History when most people were illiterate, emblems were used to advertise the wares available at specific shops. Oversized locks or keys symbolized locksmiths, red & white striped poles for bloodletters/barbers, anvils for blacksmiths/metalworkers and scissors denoted shops for tailors/dressmakers. Since Native Americans introduced tobacco to European explorers and settlers, Cigar Store Indians were used as a symbol to the masses that tobacco was sold at that specific shop.

Center Street

Main Street USA - Center Street: Blocked by the fruit cart, there is an alleyway leading off of Main Street toward Nestle Ice Cream's Main Street Cone Shop. Found between the Market House and Disney Clothiers, Ltd., the alley that bisects Main Street is actually named Center Street.

The other side of Center Street is home to the Carnation Cafe.

Equine Cast Members

Every Disneyland Cast Member wears a name tag, even the horses that pull the trolleys up and down Main Street USA. Another odd piece of trivia, Disneyland's Horse-drawn Streetcars are currently sponsored by National Car Rental.

The draft horses found on Disneyland's Main Street are usually Percherons or Belgians. Percherons originate from the Perche region of France and Belgians from the country of Belgium. Disneyland uses these two breeds of draft horse because they are known to have more relaxed temperaments.

Equine Cast Members

Every Disneyland Cast Member wears a name tag, even the large draft horses that pull the streetcars up and down the tracks on Main Street USA.

The draft horses found on Disneyland's Main Street are usually Percherons or Belgians. Percherons originate from the Perche region of France and Belgians from the country of Belgium. Disneyland uses these two breeds of draft horse because they usually have relaxed temperaments.