Chapter 6 - Magic Kingdom - Main St. USA - West Side
 Posted May 2017/updated June 2021/July 2022
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We'll be visiting the following:

- Emporium - Main St. Side
- Disney Clothiers
- Main St. Athletic Club
- Memory Lane
       - House of Magic
       - Tobacconist
       - Coca Cola Refreshment Corner
- Casey's Corner
       - The Piano Player
- First Aid/Baby Care
- Crystal Palace


Main St. USA West Side of Town

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In this Chapter we’re going to head down Main St. USA. You probably didn’t know that there are 52 store fronts on Main St. USA. Main St. is basically a re-creation of Walt Disney’s hometown, Marceline, Missouri. Walt had many fond memories and considered this the perfect USA home town.

Most people rush through Main St. USA thinking that there are no attractions, but just Shops, are missing a lot. Main St. USA is an attraction. It is sights, sounds, and smells. Main St. USA is filled with music, entertainment, history and atmosphere. It was  Walt Disney's heart and soul, it was so important to him that every Disney park around the world has a Main St. USA. It’s Americana as Walt Disney saw and experienced it. So we’re going to take our time and explore Main St. USA, not just the shops, but also all of the rest it has to offer.

On our tour we will start by going up the East side of Main St.in this Chapter, then the west side in the next Chapter. So let’s get started.
Main St. USA is always seasonally decorated
for Halloween and Christmas.

Emporium - Main St. Side

The Emporium during Holiday’s is also seasonally and beautifully decorated.

The Emporium can be confusing to guests. In viewing the store from the outside you would think that the Emporium ends with the Emporium Gallery (yellow store front). However, when the store was expanded using Center St. West, it is now possible to walk from Town Square all the way to Casey's Corner without ever venturing outdoors. In actuality, the west side of Main Street is now one continuous shop. Throughout the "stores" are a number of signs entitled "Emporium Store Guide."


Walking into the Emporium we find that it’s divided into these 5 different areas.
  • Souvenirs/Snacks/Home Gifts
  • Toys/Boys’ Apparel
  • Seasonal Magic Kingdom Logo
  • Costumes/Girls’ Apparel
  • Men’s/Women’s Apparel
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  We briefly looked into the Emporium in Chapter 4 – Town Square – West Side.



The Emporium is the store in the Magic Kingdom where guests can shop for everything from toys and clothing to houseware. The Emporium is the largest store in the Magic Kingdom, it covers the entire West Side of Main St. Emporium has several entrances and plenty of windows, which are decorated with scenes from various Disney animated films.


Emporium Interior and display Windows depicting scenes from Disney animated films (Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty shown)
The Main Street Flower Market
The Flower Market was one of the most beautiful set pieces in all of the Magic Kingdom; the expanded Emporium, that replaced Center St and the Flower Market, now occupies that area.

The Main Street Flower Market shown here in this photograph from 1975.

Resource:
The Hallmark Card Shop

 The Walt Disney Company had a long standing licensing agreement with the Kansas City-based greeting card company Gibson, that went back to 1931.  Although Gibson had the licence for greeting cards after Disneyland opened, Hallmark was back in the fold in the 1970s. The Card Shop was also referred to as the Hallmark Shop.  Located off of Center Street on the left side of Main Street, it sold stationary, party items and gift wrapping.It closed in 1985 and was replaced by Disney Clothiers.The images below is the back of a 1974 Date Book given away at the shop.

Search:
But the individual store names Disney Clothiers, Main St. Athletic Club, Main Street Fashion & Apparel, and Hall of Champions are not listed by name on a map but fall under the general term of "Emporium”.
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However externally it has several different stores fronts and signage:

  • Emporium
  • Disney Clothiers – became part of the Emporium during the expansion in 2001
  • Main St. Athletic Club – also became part of the Emporium in 2001
  • Main Street Fashion Apparel (also has and had the signage of Hall of Champions)
According to Cast members the west side of Main Street is just known as the Emporium "complex."









Displays are always seasonal. Here you see Halloween and Christmas.



Always tastefully done to match the surroundings inside and out on Main St. USA
Up on the back wall of the Emporium Gallery, part of the 2001 Emporium expansion (and for Disney historians, it used to be where West Center Street was), is a mural which depicts a number of Imagineers, not happy customers and employees. These Imagineers were responsible for the design, story, and execution of this addition. One of the Imagineers that you should know is, Joyce Carlton. Her likeness can be found in the lower left corner of the painting.
Joyce is credited with creating the attraction "it's a small world" for the 1964 New York World's Fair. She also worked on the animated movies "Cinderella," "Peter Pan," "Sleeping Beauty," and "Lady and the Tramp." In 1982, Joyce moved to Central Florida where she could concentrate her efforts on Disney World as a Senior Show Production Designer. She is also the first female Disney cast member to reach the 50 and 55 years of employment milestone.

If your interested there is an excellent background story to the Emporium, check these links:

Disney Clothiers

The Disney Clothiers is the yellow building. The Disney Clothiers only sells character merchandise.
There's a large range of character clothing, and accessories, all of which features some form of Disney character endorsement.
This shop opened on February 24, 1985 and stocked some of the higher-end fashions, as well as jewelry.  It was later swallowed up by the Emporium when it expanded.  The store had wonderful themed artwork hanging on the walls.
Click on photo to enlarge
Photos by: https://waltdatedworld.com/id166.htm

Main St. Athletic Club/Hall of Champions/Main St. Fashion Appeal

Main Street Athletic Club Sports clothing shop on Main Street in Magic Kingdom, opened June 1995, taking the place of the Penny Arcade, House of Magic, and Main Street Book Shop.

The Main Street Athletic Club/ Hall of Champions / Main Street Fashion Apparel is located after The Disney Clothiers.
Hall of Champions opened in 2006, it was a modified version of the Main Street Athletic Club which preceded it. The decor of the shop was altered to allow for a broader selection of merchandise, as well as incorporate an element of variety that paid tribute to some of the pioneers in sports history. The walls are covered in team photos, trophies, plaques and athletic equipment, celebrating the achievements of the various sporting leagues and sports heroes.

Now store is called Main Street Fashion Apparel, however the merchandizing is still the same.       
The canopy outside these shop have changed several times over the years. From 1971 for the opening it said Penny Arcade, then in 1995 Penny Arcade closed and became Main St. Athletic Club. Not sure what the Canopy read then, but in 2006 the sign was Hall of Champions. By 2013 the canopy said Main Street Fashion Apparel.
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Penny Arcade 1971 - 1995
Taken in 2003
Taken in 2012
The historical changes in the Emporium are not easy to follow since so much has changed on Main St. since the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971.
Taken in 2002
Taken in 2012
For more on the Emporium:
Memory Lane 
Let's make soon sense of the timeline and changes in this corner of Main St. over the years. 
House of Magic

House of Magic was another one of the original opening-day stores in the Magic Kingdom. It was located on the left side of the street, next to the Tobacconist Shop.
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2020
The store sold tricks such as playing cards, wands that turned into handkerchiefs, monster masks, puzzles, books and gags such as fake arm casts.  Cast Members working at the store could often be counted on to perform various tricks.  House of Magic closed on March 19, 1995 to be part of the Main Street Athletic Club, which than became part of the larger Emporium just a few years later.
 
In 2017 the marquee was changed to bare the original signage for the House of Magic. (Why?)
 
There was also a magic shop in Fantasyland called Merlin's Magic Shop from March 1972 until May 1986. (See Chapter 21 – Magic Kingdom – Fantasyland – Part 2)
In 2015, this window was spotted on New York Street at Disney's Hollywood Studio.  It was not an actual store, only a set dressing.
Source:
Main Street Tobacconist Shop
When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, there are a shop called “The Tobacconist”.  The Tobacco shop was located on the left side of Main Street between the House of Magic and the Refreshment Corner (now Casey’s corner). The shop sold tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, hand carved pipes, and loose leaf tobacco.
 
The Tobacconist closed in 1985 and was replaced by the Main Street Stationers, which sold cards, and stationary and was sponsored by Gibson Greeting Cards. The Stationers closed just 4 years later when it became the Main Street Book Store. In 1995, like the other stores around it, it became part of the Main Street Athletic Company.
 
The Cigar Store Indian, Big Chief Seegar remains as a tribute. He can be found in front on the Crystal Arts shop, on the northeast corner of Main and Center Street at the Magic Kingdom.
Connections:
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New Century Clock Shop

This was one of the original Magic Kingdom shops when the park opened in 1971. It was on the west side of Main Street, next to the Emporium. The shop sold Elgin watches and clocks. Elgin National Industries and Disney had signed a five year watch and clock contract in 1971 that stipulated that Elgin be the official manufacturer of timepieces sold in Walt Disney World.

Most of the Disney watches were produced by the Bradley Time Division of Elgin National Industries and bear the Bradley name on the face.

 You could buy watches here that commemorated such events as America on Parade, Mickey's 50th Birthday and even a Disco Mickey Mouse watch!  Most watches sold at the theme parks during the 1970s retailed between $6.95 to $100. The shop closed in April, 1986 and the new timepiece sponsor at the parks became the Seiko Watch Company, which had a subsidiary company named Lorus.  Once New Century Clock Shop closed, Uptown Jewelers took over the selling of Disney timepieces at its shop across the street.

Resource:
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Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner

Located on Main Street in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, opened on October 1, 1971. Refreshment Corner was a quick-service, turn-of-the-century Main Street style restaurant known for its Coca Cola connection and Ragtime performances. It was more of a snack stop.
Although ordering is done inside the body of the building at a large counter, guest seating is located outside the restaurant. In the guest seating, guests were entertained with old-fashioned music performed by ragtime pianists at certain times of the day. The Dapper Dans also make appearances to accompany the pianists at certain times of the day and duets have been known to occur between guests and the pianists.
In 1995, it was renamed Casey’s Corner.
Research:

Casey's Corner

Who doesn’t love a good Hot Dog? It’s the fans favorite.

It wouldn’t be a complete tour of the Magic Kingdom without a ballpark frank at Casey’s Corner. Casey’s is located on end of Main St. right after the Emporium.
All American Pastime - Baseball and Hot Dogs


It opened in 1995 and is themed after a poem “Casey at Bat” by Ernest Thayer written in 1888 – a date referenced on Casey’s sign overhanging the corner of Main Street. The prose is a Baseball poem about Mighty Casey’s last at-bat for his team, the Mudville Nine, who is trailing 4-2. While the poem doesn’t end well for Casey, Walt Disney did turn the whimsical rhyme into an animated short film in 1946. It was a segment featured in Make Mine Music.
In keeping with the baseball theme, Casey’s Corner’s décor is all in energetic color, and of baseball from a bygone era, bright red pinstripes decorate the walls and to the counter is designed to look like a concession stand. Baseball Memorabilia and old photos adorn the walls. Among the photos in the backroom of Casey’s Corner there is a picture on the wall that are not baseball players but of Disney Imagineers all sporting mustaches.
Hot Dogs, there are many options for toppings, if you’d like to try something other than a classic dog or foot-long. A favorite is the Chili-Cheese Dog, it’s messy, but is definitely worth it. The Barbecue Slaw Dog is piled high with pulled pork, coleslaw and barbecue sauce which is interesting. Whether you prefer a fancier dog or the classic, where you can put your own toppings on top, Casey’s is easily the best place in Walt Disney World to enjoy a hot dog, all in a fun and nostalgic atmosphere.

 Check out Casey’s Corner’s Menu (current):
Casey’s Corner is currently hosted by Coca Cola.

There is limited dining space inside, but the seating outside the restaurant is a great place to stop. At the corner of Main Street U.S.A., the outdoor seating gives guests an incredible view, through the hub, to Cinderella Castle. With umbrellas at most tables, it’s the perfect spot to rest and enjoy a meal with a great view.


And to add to the Casey experience….

Casey's Corner Piano

Outside of the restaurant sits an upright piano, where you can frequently find a pianist. Dressed in the same red and white as Casey’s Corner, the pianist typically plays a large selection of old-time melodies and ragtime songs from Baseball’s years gone by. 

                 What a combination - Hot Dogs, a perfect sitting spot with a fabulous view, and entertainment.
Jim Omohundro - Casey's Corner Pianist
The wonderful Jim Omohundro has retired, after many decades, and he deserves accolades
As part of the kickoff to The 2022 World’s Most Magical Celebration, musician Randy Morris was at the keys playing “Maple Leaf Rag,” just as he did 50 years ago on opening day at Magic Kingdom Park as a special appearance for the anniversary!

Throughout Walt Disney World Resort during our 18-month-long 50th Anniversary Celebration, a wide range of live entertainment, including classics like the Casey’s Corner piano player.

Source:

First Aid/Baby Care Station

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Between Casey’s Corner and The Crystal Palace just off Main Street are the Firs Aid and Baby Care Stations.  

First Aid Station

If you are feeling under the weather, stop by the Fire Aid Station. Whether you need Tylenol, an antacid, or even contact solution, the First Aid Station is there to provide assistance at no cost to you. You will find a licensed nurse, who is ready to treat what ails you.

Some of the most common treatments include:
Fever 
Common Cold
Headaches Insect Bite / Allergic Reactions Upset Stomachs
                                                                         Eye Irritation                                                  
                                                 Cuts / Blisters 
Should your condition warrant treatment by a physician, the nurse will provide you with a list of urgent care centers in the area? 
More information on First Aid/Baby Care Stations:
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Baby Care Center

The Baby Care Center at the Magic Kingdom is also located near the First Aid Station between Casey’s and The Crystal Palace. This center has four rooms dedicated to the many different needs of your child. If you need to purchase any baby care items, you can do so in the kitchen. The center offers Carnation Good Start formulas, Gerber foods and juices, Huggies diapers and wipes, bottles, nipples, lotions, sunscreen, and some children’s over-the-counter medications. The kitchen is equipped with a microwave, plenty of counter space and a small sink. There is a private nursing room that can accommodate up to four mothers at a time. The changing room includes 5 large changing tables and a unisex restroom. The feeding area has several wooden highchairs, as well as other chairs for parents to use while bottle feeding. You will find a television and a small table and chairs for your older children to utilize. It is one of the busier centers and they require guests to park their strollers outside of the main entrance.
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The Crystal Palace Fountain

Crystal Palace

Making a left at Casey’s Corner, you’ll see beautiful white building with glass windows all around, it’s the Crystal Palace.
As you enter the Crystal Palace it has the appearance of an elegant Victorian conservatory, you are surrounded with natural light and attractive, ornamental plants and topiaries. The center display has topiaries of Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger, whom you will meet & greet while dining.  The restaurant’s white steel supports, arched ceilings, and glass roof are tributes to the London’s first World’s Fair in 1851 the Great Exhibition Hall.
It's as impressive inside as it is outside.
It is one of the most beautiful buffet restaurants on Disney property. With meeting fun characters, to a great selection of buffet food.
There are two large dining areas and with the buffet right in the middle of these two rooms, so there are never long lines. Pooh and his friends walking around to each table to greet every guest, a great photo opportunity, and you really feel like you are transported into the middle of a Pooh storybook.
Every day is Friendship Day at Crystal palace, and that means there is always a Friendship parade to take part in! It is great fun for all the kids to march in the parade with Pooh and his friends.
It’s like being in the 100 Acre Woods with Winnie the Pooh and all of his friends – Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore.
Click to enlarge
With Crystal Palace’s windows lining their walls there is fabulous view of the castle while enjoying your meal. Again – lots of photo ops.

Reference Link on Crystal Palace: 
Crystal Palace Menu Link:
Below is a list of Shops that were and their replacements on Main St USA - Magic Kingdom
This brings us to the end of Chapter 6 - Magic Kingdom - Main St. USA.
Next Chapter #7 Magic Kingdom - Main St. USA will end our tour of Town Square and Main St. USA.
We have only touched the surface of this wonderful, magical part of the Magic Kingdom Park. There is still so much History and detail in this area for you to discover. As we said Town Square and Main St. is an attraction all by it self and to completely see and understand would take days. As you can see it took us 7 Chapters just to gloss over Magical area in the Magic Kingdom.
But stick with us after Chapter 7 we'll continue on to the rest of Magic Kingdom, where there is so much else to See, Hear, Touch and Smell.

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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.
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