Showing posts with label Little Known Facts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Little Known Facts. Show all posts

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Main Street USA - Little Known Facts

Main Street USA! Every visitor's first taste of Disney magic. It starts with this amazing view of the trains station. If that doesn't say welcome, I don't know what does!

Main Street USA was inspired by Walt's home town of Marcelline, Missouri. When he started planning Disneyland, Imagineer Harper Goff showed Walt some pictures of his home town of Fort Collins, Colorado around the turn of the 19th century, and Walt like it. So Main Street USA is part Marcelline, part Fort Collins, and a lot of Harper Goff's and Walt Disney's imaginations.


These cannons in the main hub were actually used by the French Army in the 1800's but were never used in battle.


In the Opera House, which houses Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, also showcases this amazing caenstone sculpture by French artist George Lloyd. He sculpted it in 1932 and gave it to Walt Disney in 1962. It was placed in the Opera House in 1965 with the opening of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

Walt Disney had an apartment built above the Firehouse on Main Street. Whenever he was in the park, he turned on a light to let employees know he was present. A light now burns in the window all the time as a tribute to Walt.


The gas lamps on Main Street are antique gas burning lamps from the 1800's. Most of the lamps were purchased by imagineer Emile Kuri from Baltimore, Maryland and installed them in the park in 1955.

This cigar store indian harkens back to a time when trade stores were recognized by a symbol - barber shop poles, scissor for tailors and Native Americans were associated with tobacco products since they were given credit for introducing tobacco to Europeans. When Disneyland first opened, the stores that are now music stores actually sold tobacco, and since Main Street is supposed to represent an all-American town around the turn of the 20th century, the cigar store indian was set out front as a symbol. It's still there, even through the tobacco store is long gone.

The Plaza Inn is one of our favorite places to eat. The building has some interesting things about it -- It is one of the original restaurants from the opening of Disneyland in 1955, and was originally called the Red Wagon Inn. It was one of Walt's favorite restaurants in the park. It has some actual antique furnishings and decorations from the 1800's and the stained glass ceiling and woodwork from the old St. James home in Los Angeles. It is said that Lillian Disney had a big part in the decor of the Plaza Inn. She loved antiques!Probably one of the icons of Main Street is the Partners statue, sculpted by Blaine Gibson and was originally installed in WDW, but this copy was installed in main hub in Disneyland in 2001. It is a lovely addition to the central passage way of Disneyland and epitomizes the feeling of Walt when he said, "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."


Carnation Cafe and a chef named Oscar.

The Carnation Cafe is certainly one of our favorite places to eat in Disneyland. We love their breakfast and lunch menus. Below are some pictures of our favorite meals and our favorite places to sit in the cafe.


This is the Oscar Special and it is one of our favorites for breakfast.

This is Chef Oscar. He has been working at the Disneyland Resort for 55 years!! He has some great stories to tell too.

Mr. Diva and Oscar chatted quite a bit on our last trip to Disneyland. We were sitting in one of our favorite little corner spots by the double doors. Chef Oscar told us that when they expand the cafe next year that he may be retiring. If that if true, it will be a very sad day for us!!

This is another favorite breakfast, the Breakfast Croissant with an Iced Coconut Latte.

And we are sitting at our favorite spot next to the window in the back. I love sitting by that window. In September when we came in to the cafe for lunch, it was empty but for one couple and they seated us here. Then we noticed that one of the other two people in the cafe was DICK VAN DYKE! I didn't take a picture or stalk him, but it was a huge thrill!

Now for lunch, Mr. Diva likes the French Dip Sandwich and fruit.

I like the Loaded Baked Potato Soup with fruit and of course...and Iced Coconut Latte.


That's right, we score our favorite spot again!

Now tell me you aren't going to order the Loaded Baked Potato Soup and an Iced Coconut Latte the next time you're there. It looks scrumptious doesn't it??


Chef Oscar can ususally be found hanging out on the weekends.
As you can see -- I never veer from something that is a winnner!

If you ask nicely, Chef will sign a copy of the Loaded Baked Potato Soup recipe for you.
This was on a girls day at the parks and he sat down with us and chatted for about a half an hour and then signed our recipes.
We love the Carnation Cafe and Chef Oscar!!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

This is Not the Center of Disneyland




That's right folks! Contrary to popular folklore, this gold dot under the back side of Sleeping Beauty's Castle does not represent the very center of Disneyland. There are a lot of stories regarding this and various debates, but it appears that this little gold dot is merely a spot for
surveyors. It does line up directly down the center line of Main Street and up to the Train Station, but unfortunately is not the very center of Disneyland.





This aerial photo shows Disneyland back in the 1950's with the central hub as the center as noted by the intersecting red lines. The blue line at the back is approximately where the golden spike is located, making it obvious that the spike is not the center, but rather on the central line allowing surveyors to estimate elevation and such.

photo from smd4

With the addition of Toon Town, the center has moved farther North, but the spike still isn't the center. And since it was there before Toon Town, it can't be surmised that it was placed there to represent the very center of Disneyland.

This becomes a heated topic for some, which I find rather entertaining! If you would like to read a few of these discussions, here are a few sites that discuss this little golden spot.

Mousepad Discussion

Visions Fantastic

Finding Mickey

Enjoy!