Every Nook & Cranny Tells the Story

One of the cornerstones of Imagineering storytelling in the Disney Parks is the concept of long shot, medium shot and close-up. The idea is that everything from a wide, establishing shot to the tiniest detail all works in unison to support the story, rather than distract from it. This notion, inspired by filmmaking, is taken to the level of art at Disneyland Paris.

This week, we've looked at Town Square on Main Street, U.S.A., in fairly broad strokes, but there are so many more little elements that come together to transport us to a turn-0f-the-20th-century American town. Take the corner pictured above, for example. This block of buildings sits adjacent to the Main Street Transportation Co. On the corner is a shop called Ribbons & Bows, specializing in items for infants and small children.

Parked just outside the shop are these beautiful, period baby carriages. With the variety of strollers and push-chairs seen throughout the park, these may not immediately call attention to themselves, until you realize they're props placed here to reinforce the time period of the story. Step inside, and you'll find yourself in a space inspired by a Victorian-era nursery.

Next door to Ribbons & Bows (and Bixby Brothers, originally a menswear store now also selling children's items as an extension of Ribbons & Bows) is Dr. Bitz's Dental School. As you may recall from earlier articles, this is one of my favorite sorts of details. It's not a real place which can be visited in the park. Instead, it exists for the sole purpose of creating a sense of realism and community.

The upstairs windows above the entrance to the School of Dentistry are adorned with their slogans: "9 out of 10 Patients Go to Bitz" and "Guaranteed Painless or Your Teeth Back!" You'll also spot a list of the Dentists in Training (in fact, the names of the chief Imagineering designers who worked on Disneyland Paris - Jeff Burke oversaw the design of Frontierland, Tim Delaney did Discoveryland, Tom Morris did Fantasyland, Eddie Sotto was responsible for Main Street and Chris Tietz headed up the Adventureland team).

Listen closely, and you can make out the sounds of the dentist and his less-than-comfortable patient. The voice of the dentist, by the way, was played by Imagineer Eddie Sotto (hence the initials E.S. Bitz).

Literally every corner of Town Square is packed with detail. Step around to the north side of the Ribbons & Bows building, and you'll find the Kitty Hawk Bicycle Shop, Orville & Wilbur Wright proprietors. The sign in the window says the shop is closed for "Flight Testing." Again, it's not a real shop, but incorporating this nod to the Wright brothers is both correct to the period (they made their first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903) and supportive of Main Street's theme of progress and innovation.

Perhaps more than any other Main Street Disney's Imagineers have created, the Paris version is also rich with period advertising. Note the ad for Dr. Johnson's Pink Pills for Pale People, painted on the brick wall alongside the bicycle shop. It's just the sort of "cure all" medicine that was popular in the late-1800s.

Other ads promote actual places which can be visited during a day at the park. The wall above sports an ad for Harmony Barber Shop (the original name for what is now Dapper Dan's Hair Cuts), offering "The Closest Shaves on Main St." and on the opposite corner of the Town Square can be found this billboard for Thunder Mesa River Packet & Steam Navigation Co. They're promoting river excursions on the steam-powered Mark Twain sternwheeler, connecting to the story of nearby Frontierland. (Fans of Disneyland in California may recognize this billboard, since a version was later added to that park.)

The level of detail on Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland Paris is such that you can spend hours here and never see it all. Elements of the story touch everything, from this pretty yellow house tucked away in a corner to the trashcans, emblazoned with a logo for the Main St. Sanitation Dept. (Note the silver disc above the logo on the side of the can. Although Disneyland Paris now offers designated smoking area, guests still have a tendency to smoke throughout the park. Discs like this gives smokers a place to snuff out cigarette butts before disposing of them.)

Even signs asking guests to dispose of trash in the proper receptacles are crafted using period graphics.

Finally, just when you think you've seen it all, you might stop to rest on a curb as I did on my recent visit to the park. Of course, it was only then that I noticed this:

It's a contractor emblem, set into the sidewalk to identify the company or individual who built the place. In this case, it's a tribute to Elias Disney, who worked as a contractor in Chicago at the turn of the last century. The date 1901, of course, is the year Elias and his wife Flora created not a sidewalk, but a life who would go on to be one of the most influential individuals in history.