Chapter 3 - Gateway to Main Street, Train Station   Jan 2024                     
In the previous Chapter we briefly looked at the Walt Disney World Transportation system for getting to the Magic Kingdom. If you missed it, check here to go to Chapter 2 Magic Kingdom - Getting there
Picture
We're at the Happiest Place on Earth

Entrance, Tickets, Will Call, Check in

We're leaving the transportation areas and have arrived at the Gateway (Main Entrance) to the Magic Kingdom
Picture
And as we’re standing in front of the Ticket turnstiles, to your right are ticket sales, guest relations and the Will Call windows. If you don’t have your tickets, now is the time to get them.

Remember if you’re coming with us, you may need a park hopper, because in these Chapters we’re going to cover all of the Walt Disney World Theme parks. If you’re not sure what you need, go to :
                                 https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/tickets/  for ticket information.

Turnstiles?
Guests no longer walk through the traditional turnstiles found in the past. Instead, they tap their MagicBands or park tickets to a ticket reader, stick their fingers on for a quick scan, and off they go.
We’re all set?

Then once through the scanning turnstiles, we are inside the entrance plaza. Looking up, in front of you is the WDW Main Street Railroad Station.
click on photos to enlarge
Special information which most people may not know about.

You can mail a letter or postcard from anywhere in Walt Disney World, the Theme Parks or Resorts. Just pick up a postcard at most any shop in the parks or write a letter using the stationary in the Resort room. Most shops usually have stamps for sale, if not they can direct you to one that does. All Disney resorts have stamps for sale too. And there are mails boxes throughout Walt Disney World. But…………

If you want to make it official! Head over to The Newsstand shop, located just to the left of the turnstiles as you enter the park, before you go underneath the train station. They have an official Main Street U.S.A rubber stamp to make your mail official! It can also be stamped at City Hall.
 
Now Back to our tour!


To the right of Gateway Plaza are lockers and strollers for rent and above is the........

Magic Kingdom Welcome Show (pre Feb 2017)

PictureThe Train Station is specially decorated for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.


Before Feb 2017, if guests got to the Magic Kingdom early they may have had an opportunity to participate in the Welcome Show and Rope drop. About 15 minutes before the parks officially opens at the Magic Kingdom guests were allowed though the turnstiles to the Entrance Plaza. The Welcome show usually starts about 10 minutes before the before the park opens. The Mayor of Main Street would come out on the walkway of the Train Station, and greets everyone. Followed by a lively song and dance routine, then the WDW Train pulled into the Main Street station with Mickey and all the gang. 
Best Selling Rugs
They would introduce the First Family and encourage everyone to help countdown to open the park. Fireworks light the sky, and Magic Kingdom is officially open!

 If you want to see what the Welcome Show at the entrance plaza was like, go to this Video link, it shows the last Welcome Show done at the Gateway Plaza. Gateway Welcome Show

Once the Park has been officially declared open the cast members who are tending the ropes across the tunnels would begin walking into Town Square.

Note: As of Feb 2017, the Welcome Show was moved to the Cinderella's Castle Stage.
And this link is to view the new Welcome Show now taking place on the stage in front of the Castle, Castle New Welcome Show 

The First Family was usually picked from among the First Guests to arrive at the Park. Check out this web site for more information on the First Family of the Magic Kingdom.  Picking First Family 
Memory Lane:                 75 "InspEARations" of Mickey Mouse

In 2004, to celebrate Mickey's 75th Birthday, 75 individual life-sized statues of Mickey have been created. The artistic displays were in the front of the Magic Kingdom at and around the entrance.

The statues were approximately 6 feet tall and weigh more than 700 pounds. They were created by a wide variety of folks including Disney Legends, artists, actors, musicians and athletes. (see below)

They were at the Magic Kingdom from January through April 2004. After that, they toured cities around the US and Disneyland in California. Sotheby's auctioned every statue in 2005 with proceeds benefiting charities chosen by each artist.

More on InspEARation

Train Station from the Entrance Side

But hold on we’re not going to leave the Plaza just yet. Let’s take closer look at the Main Street Train Station above the Plaza.
Disney had a love of trains from an early age. When he got his first home as an adult, he built a half-mile scale model railway in his backyard which he called the "Carolwood Pacific Railroad."

At Disneyland, the railroad was one of the first attractions he planned. Then when he began the designing WDW’s Magic Kingdom, he made sure that the train station was located at the entrance to the park. One of the first things guests to the Magic Kingdom see as they approach the park is the Main Street Railroad Station -- and one of the first sounds they hear is most likely a train's steam whistle.
click to enlarge
The Magic Kingdom Railroad has featured classic steam-powered trains since its opening in 1971.

There are 4 trains on the Magic Kingdom Railway and each is named after people close to Walt Disney:
  • No. 1 Walter E. Disney - Built 1925
  • No. 2 Lilly Belle - Built 1928 Lillian Bounds Disney was married to Walter E. Disney for 41 years.
  • No. 3 Roger E. Broggie - Built 1925 Roger Broggie was head of the Disney Studios Machine Shop and instrumental in developing the mechanical aspects of all Disney attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
  • No. 4 Roy O. Disney - Built 1916 Roy Disney was Walt's older brother, mentor and lifelong business partner.

Picture

They were purchased from United Railways of Yucatan in 1969, disassembled and shipped to a Florida, where they were rebuild and renovated. The passenger cars were also built new in the same facility where the locomotives were renovated.

 The original steam boilers used wood burners, but the locomotives were converted to oil burners, for obvious reasons. Using wood or coal would be much too labor intensive and require lots of storage space.

Park Entrance Tunnel to Magic Kingdom's Town Square

It's time to go through the Tunnel and take a few minutes to visit the train station and appreciate the amount of detail that was put into it. 
As you're going through the tunnel, make sure you pick up the Magic Kingdom Guidemap and the Times Guide, which is a Schedule of Events in the Park. The guide to the Magic Kingdom and all of the event that will take place.

Train Station from Town Square side and inside the Train Station

Picture



Once through the tunnel and we’ve come out in Town Square and in front of the Main St Railroad Station.

The Main Street Train Station was designed to resemble a similar upscale, turn-of-the-century station that existed in Saratoga Springs, New York.

 The Walt Disney Main St Railroad Station is the second most photographed building in the Magic Kingdom, after Cinderella’s Castle.


click on photos to enlarge
Most people know about the Walt Disney office window underneath the clock on the front of the train station, but that's about it. Few people stop and appreciate the classic railroad artifacts and detail throughout the upper and lower floors in the train station, such as the train bulletin and the detailed waiting room on the upper floor.  ​
Picture
A little Christmas spirit
Picture
The upper level has some turn-of-the-century arcade games. Notice also the beautiful woodwork, light fixtures, and the hand crafted benches inside the station. The attention to detail is astounding from the floors to the window shades. Also there are several works of art that represent the history of railroading and the westward expansion of the United States.

Art, history, and invention intersect at many occasions throughout Walt Disney World.
 
The murals on the upper lobby of the Walt Disney World Railroad’s Main Street Station are probably the most definitive examples of the combination of these three fundamentals of Walt Disney World.

The American era of exploration and the ever-growing frontier is illustrated by one mural showcasing the use of the natural resources in the construction of the railroads’ lines and, in the second mural, the depicts the driving of the golden spike. With the driving of the last spike history was make by linking east and west.

Reference:
Picture
SPANNING THE CONTINENT From the laying of ties to construction of trestles, railroads could not have spanned the continent without the abundance of America’s forests.
The lower level holds a number of additional displays and details as well as some Disney Railroad History. Search carefully, because up on one of the shelves in the lower level you will find the lost and found department for the Train Station: Aladdin's lamp, Winnie the Pooh's "hunny" pot, Captain Hook's hook, and other characters' belongings waiting to be picked up. Some park guest lost and found items are there too. Also look for the artificial leg with the name Smith on it (a Mary Poppins joke).

And if you listen you’ll hear a telegraph at the train station tapping out in code Walt Disney’s speech at Disneyland’s opening in 1955.

Reference:
Picture
A GOLDEN SPIKE IS DRIVEN With the driving of the last spike linking east and west, telegraph wires buzzed across the nation with the news of the great accomplishment.
Departures and Arrivals Board

The Departures and Arrivals board on the ground floor of the Main Street station is full of little details. This lit board behind the stairs shows the current arriving and departing Trains, but is also a part of the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom (more about that in the Chapter 4 - Magic Kingdom - Town Square - West Side).
There is a lesser seen bulletin board that sits off to the side of the Main Street station that includes a list of trains split up between north and south bound trains. This often overlooked board definitely deserves a few moments of observation and contains some magic of its own. The destinations list have historical Walt Disney and Walt Disney World connections.
North Bound Trains include:
  • D. Crockett – Named after hero, senator, and legendary frontiersman, Davy Crockett. Portrayed in Disney history by Fess Parker, who also stated in The Great Locomotive Chase.
  • S. Washington – This one still has my memory stumped.
  • Mississippi – A locomotive of the Natchez & Hamburg Railroad.
  • Missouri – The childhood home of Walt Disney, Marceline, is in Missouri.
  • Roger Broggie – Roger is considered the first Imagineer and oversaw all things railroad for Walt Disney. The Walt Disney Railroad’s Roger E. Broggie is named for him.
  • Ward Kimball – Mentioned above, Ward was an animator and railroad enthusiast the fed Walt Disney’s fascination with locomotives, he had his own backyard railroad known as Grizzly Flats Railroad.
  • Lilly Belle – Recognition of Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian.
  • Whispering Canyon Line – The fictional railroad line of the Wilderness Lodge.
  • Silver Creek Express – Silver Creek is a waterway at the Wilderness Lodge.
  • Wilderness – A second reference to the former railroad at Fort Wilderness.
  • Eastern Star – The locomotive line at Disney’s Animal Kingdom that ran between Harambe and Rafiki’s Planet Watch under the name Wildlife Express Train.
South Bound Trains include:
  • Carolwood Pacific – Walt Disney own backyard locomotive.
  • Grizzly Flats Express – Animator Ward Kimball’s backyard railroad, the first full-sized railroad to reside in someone’s backyard.
  • C.K. Holiday – A locomotive of the Disneyland Railroad, with two ‘l’s in Holliday, named after the founder of the Santa Fe Railroad (then known as Atchison & Topeka Railroad, Cyrus Kurtz Holliday.
  • E.P. Ripley – A second locomotive of the Disneyland Railroad, this time named for the first president of the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad, Edward Payson Ripley.
  • Fred Gurley – A third locomotive of the Disneyland Railroad, named for Fred Gurley, the president of the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1940s and 1950s.
  • Ernest S. Marsh – Fourth locomotive of the Disneyland Railroad, added in 1959 and named for then president of the Santa Fe Railroad, Ernest S. Marsh.
  • Rainbow Cavern Line – The Rainbow Cavern Mine Train was Disneyland’s first D-Ticket attraction.
  • Rio Grand – The Rio Grande, with an ‘e,’ was the highest mainline railroad in the country.
  • Colorado – The Carson and Colorado Railroad was a western bound railroad, a coach from which would go on to become part of Ward Kimball’s Grizzly Flats. Railroad.
  • W.F. Cody – A locomotive of the Disneyland Paris Railroad, named for Col. William Frederick Cody, aka Buffalo Bill.
  • Eureka – A locomotive of the Disneyland Paris Railroad, named for the yell miners in California would make when discovering gold.
  • Wilderness Line – Named for the short-lived, but often dreamed about, Fort Wilderness Railroad.
Source:
http://www.mainstgazette.com/search?updated-max=2019-01-26T09:00:00-05:00
The upper balcony at the Main Street Train Station is a popular place to watch the Walt Disney World Parades and the Night time fireworks show. 

Since most people don’t spend time to see and experience the treasures in the Train Station we’ll help you to do it here. Enjoy.
Now it’s time to get onboard the Walt Disney World Railroad which will take you around the Magic Kingdom with stops at the station in Frontierland, then one in Storybook Circus in Fantasyland, or you can do the entire grand-circle tour back to the Main St USA station. The full 1.5-mile grand-circle tour takes about 20 minutes.
Click on photo to enlarge
But we’re going to stay in Town Square for the time being.
Coming up next is Chapter 4 – Magic Kingdom – Town Square with a photo tour of the West Side of Town Square.
A lot of attention to details was put into making your first view of the Magic Kingdom an experience.
So make sure you come back to check out the next Chapter and tour Town Square.
As of Jun 2022, we've improved all of the photos and updated several photos. This was part of the intentions on our recent trip to Walt Disney World. We will be updating several other Chapters as we go through them.

    Please your Input, Comments and what your would like to see in a future Chapter is important to us!
Afterword:
WDWMousing.com is designed to be a tour of Walt Disney World through photos. We have been to Walt Disney World countless times over the past 25 years and accumulated a magnitude of photos in that time. This website is an intention to combine two of our favorite pastimes, Walt Disney World and photography, and provide an insightful pictorial tour.
While doing so, we've done an extensive research of the internet and literary sources for background information on each area and atrraction. The information is available, but most bits and pieces are scattered all over. WDWMousing doesn't intend to rewrite the stories, legends or data, but to try and collect it into one location with reference and links to the original articles and authors. And giving rightful credit. We've stumbled through quite a bit of mis-information, most of which came to life by fans because the origins were lost, forgotten or no one seems to remember. Over the past 25 years we've also lost most of the great Imagineers that helped develop, design and build the original concepts of Walt Disney World. So we believe it's extremely important to make sure that their efforts, intentions, details and creativity in making this Happiest Place on Earth isn't lost.
So we ask for feedback, insights, and suggestions.

Thank you
WDWMousing