Main Street is a town in transition, a place of arrival and of heading out on new adventures. This story parallels the experience of Walt Disney World Guests entering this section of the Magic Kingdom. It's a place of comings and goings, with a bright future ahead (be it the "new century" or exciting theme park adventures that await in other lands). It's fitting that the town and the street are anchored by a train station.
Train stations like that of the Walt Disney World Railroad were often the point from which towns in America formed and grew. The railroad was the lifeline of the community, where supplies, mail and other goods would come and go. This is also the place where new people arrived in town and bold citizens set out on adventures in the uncharted west.
The ticket office at the front of the station is packed with detail, much of which is difficult to photograph (so you'll just have to visit for yourself). Once you have your ticket, head inside to wait for the train. Here, you can take in the lovely wood furnishings, gas chandeliers and marble flooring, or keep yourself entertained with the Mute-o-Scopes and other entertainments (moved here in 1995 after the closing of Main Street's Penny Arcade).
The interior also features large murals at either end, which help tell the story of how the railroads opened up the American West. The first shows lumberjacks felling trees to clear the land and build trestles, allowing trains to pass across rugged and uneven terrain. The second depicts the ceremony of the Golden Spike, when the last spike was driven into the ground at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, completing the First Transcontinental Railroad.
The Station Master calls out, "The Walt Disney World Railroad now arriving from a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom." With a whistle and a belch of steam, a genuine antique locomotive rolls into town, bringing new passengers along with it. For those of us boarding at Main Street, we'll be headed west. Next stop: Frontierland.
No comments:
Post a Comment