Orlando Car Rental Travel Guide - Main Street USA

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Main Street USA is where visitors enter The Magic Kingdom theme park to begin their magical day. As you stroll along the street on your way to the rides and other attractions, take note of the detail that went into Walt Disney’s re-creation of early 1900’s America. If you prefer not to walk, there are a variety of transportation options available to take you to Cinderella’s Castle - the gateway to the lands of the Magic Kingdom. Your turn of the century vehicle choices include horse-driven carriages, omnibuses, trolleys and even a fire engine. A leisurely walk, however, will give you the opportunity to observe some of the following gems of Main Street USA ...

Main Street USA “Must See” Rides & Shows

Although the following parades progress throughout other portions of The Magic Kingdom, they begin on Main Street USA and are guaranteed to light up the faces of Disney fans young and old.

Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade

Beginning on Main Street USA and progressing through The Magic Kingdom to Frontierland, this parade is a revamped version of the “Share A Dream Come True” parade that was part of the “100 Years of Magic Celebration” in 2001. See all of Disney’s most popular characters riding on beautiful floats as they dance to your favorite Disney songs.

SpectroMagic Parade

An absolute Must See, this parade is held every evening during the busy seasons and on select nights during the slower times of the year (usually on Saturday only). Join Mickey and his pals as you take in the sights and sounds of this breathtaking spectacular that only Disney could create. A half million dazzling lights and beautiful fiber-optics create a spectacular rainbow of colors that decorate the magical floats of this parade as they make their way through the park, moving to classic Disney songs.

Main Street USA Secrets

If you head over to the Main Street Train Station, you will find a number of things that go unnoticed by most people visiting the Magic Kingdom. Listen closely, and you will hear the sound of a telegraph. The tapping that you hear is the Morse code of Walt Disney’s 1954 speech made at the grand opening of the original Disneyland theme park in California.

Lost and Found for park guests is located inside of each of the theme park’s train stations. Look up on the shelf on the first floor of the Main Street Train Station and you will find that park guests are not the only ones who have accidentally left items behind. Aladdin’s lamp along with some of the other Disney characters’ items can be seen, waiting to be re-claimed by their owners.

Disney used the principle of forced perspective (each building is made progressively shorter and more narrow) to make Cinderella’s Castle seem further away than it really is. The exact opposite is true when you are leaving. As you drag your weary bones toward the exit, the forced perspective makes it seem closer than it really is.

Disney took advantage of the average person’s walking behavior (most people walk on the right side of the street) in an interesting marketing ploy. Most of the shops on the right as you are entering the park via Main Street USA are places to eat (a lot of people skipped breakfast in a hurry to get to the park) while the majority of stores on the right side of the street as you leave offer Disney souvenirs (just in case you didn’t have time to get them while hopping from ride to ride).

Old Disney cartoons are shown in a small theater in Expo Hall where Snow White and other Disney princesses sometimes appear and sign autographs.

Before hopping into your Orlando car rental and heading to The Magic Kingdom, be sure to check Disney's Park schedule. During the slower seasons, Disney's SpectroMagic Parade only can be seen on selected evenings. We recommend visiting Walt Disney World's official site for the current hours of the park you will be visiting. And, if you haven't done so yet, make sure you reserve your Orlando Car Rental.