Where the Magic Begins (Disneyland Paris - Main Street USA)

Member Name: cookie334

Product:	Disneyland Paris - Main Street USA
Date:	08/02/09 (214 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful, magical, lots of hidden extras

Disadvantages: I guess some would say the lack of rides

Let the Magic Begin.........

Main Street USA is the place you will find yourself when you first enter the main Disneyland Park in Disneyland, Paris. It is where the magic begins. It is officially classed as a "land", however it differs greatly from the other "lands" within the park as there are no rides, no shows as such and to be honest I think it is bypassed without much thought by quite a lot of the visitors to the park.

However, if you look a bit deeper, you will find that Main Street USA has a lot more to offer than you first imagine.

You will enter Main Street USA under Main Street Train Station and as soon as you emerge from under the bridge, you will catch your first glimpse of Sleeping Beauty's Castle at the end of the beautiful street lined with old fashioned looking buildings. It's not common knowledge, but the buildings along the street are built with a slight slant. This makes the walk out of the park look longer than the walk into the park, to deter people from leaving, making them not want to take the long walk to the exit.

There are two arcades which run alongside the main street. These are often much less crowded than Main Street and can be handy to avoid the crowds. You will find lots of hidden extras in these arcades - ATM machines, coffee/snack vendors, toilets and souvenirs to purchase.

If heading to another land, you can hop on the train at the station and jump off in whichever land you want to be. There is also the option to take a street car from the beginning to the end of the street. However, I highly recommend that you take a walk along the street when first entering the park, so as to truly appreciate the magic that is Main Street USA.

There are many shops and boutiques along the street where you can purchase all the usual Disney merchandise. City Hall is situated just in the entrance of the park. This is where you can book restaurants or find out information about shows etc.

There are a few little counter service food shops including Casey's Corner with their fantastic hotdogs, or Markethouse Deli which has a seating area in a side street off the main street which is lovely to sit and have a morning coffee in the summer. There are also a couple of restaurants, Walts where you can have a table service meal, or Plaza Gardens where you can have a buffet meal. The entrance to Walts can be found on the corner between Main Street and another of the side streets. You will enter downstairs to a very grand hallway with a piano and be taken upstairs for your meal. The restaurant is set out in different areas, with only 3 or 4 tables to a "room", so it is a very quite and intimate place to have a lovely meal. If you can, be sure to visit around parade time and ask for a window seat facing onto Main Street USA. You will have a fantastic view of all the floats and it will add a fantastically magical feel to your meal. The other restaurant, Plaza Gardens, is often missed, as it is at the end of the street and is set back from the main walkway, through a little garden. We have only ever eaten here when it hosted the character tea party and it was a lovely experience. However, the tea party is no longer held here, but you can have a buffet meal and sit in the conservatory area overlooking the garden and Central Plaza at the top of the street.

There is also a barbers, a photo shop, pin trading areas, baby care centre, character meet and greets and I'm sure there will be more that I have forgotten but these are all pretty self explanatory so I wont go into too much detail about these. There are shows at Central Plaza at the top of the street and of course the parades will all pass through Main Street USA. If you visit at a special time of year (e.g. Christmas, Hallowe'en etc), the street will be decorated with amazing lights and other decor. Apparantly at christmas time the snow falls on Main Street USA every day, however, during our trip it was snowing anyway, so I can only comment to say that the real snow did indeed give it the magical, christmas feel that we were expecting.

I don't want to spoil too much of the hidden magic of Main Street USA, but for anyone planning a visit, be sure to listen as you walk. Not only will you hear music playing, but if you listen carefully, you will hear a whole host of sounds coming from the first floors of the buildings, including a dentist's drill. Be sure to have a good look at the signage, some are very amusing and you can give yourself a moustache if you find the mirror outside Dapper Dan's Haircuts. Another thing to look out for are hidden Mickey heads and other little secrets. Without giving too much away, not everything is what it seems in Disney. If you think you saw something some place before and it's not there on second glance, chances are you're not mad, you did see it, but it's changed.

Of course, at the end of the street, you will find yourself at the foot of the castle and you will be faced with the choice of taking one of the paths through to one of the other lands, visiting the castle, or popping underneath for a peak at the resident dragon lurking in the caves beneath. For the lucky minority the magic continues from here on in, but to most, this is just the point where it all begins.

Well I hope you have enjoyed your virtual tour of Main Street USA in Disneyland, Paris. So many of these things go unnoticed by so many of the visitors that pass through it in their mad rush to get to the "more exciting" lands beyond. Yet it's these hidden extras that make Disneyland, Paris truly special for me and will enable me to go back time and time again. No matter how many times I visit, I'm sure I will find something new each time during my relaxing stroll down Main Street USA. It is also these extras that bring the magic to life for my children and they make it an adventure to see who can uncover the most secrets each time we visit.

So if you're lucky enough to take that stroll, make sure you take it all in and really live the magic that is Disney ;)

Summary: Take the walk