Is Main Street USA a "Land"?

[Gemini Cricket]

A very interesting question was posed by Bacon on another wonderful board and I thought I'd ask it here. (My apologies to the Bacon-meister.)

Do you consider Main Street USA to be a 'land' like Adventureland, Frontierland etc?

AND

Is Toon Town its own land or is it part of Fantasyland? Is New Orleans Square its own land or is it part of Frontierland?

Let's discuss.

[melmel]

New Orleans Square is a land because Walt specifically said that it was the first new land added to Disneyland. Also, he said that it was his favorite land. *nod*

[JoeCool]

Main Street USA is a land as is Toontown and New Orleans Square.

[NemoZorro]

I would agree; we think of Main Street as a "Land".

[ALIASd]

A Street of Mind

[SCUBAbe]

no, it's a street.....and toon town is a town. A town i never visit...kind of like pacoima or watts, but a town just the same...

[jurgenb52]

While by its name it might not be considered a "Land" but it is a very distinct seperate themed area of the park, much like New Oreans Square, Critter (::cough::Bear ::cough: Country, and what is this "Toontown" you speak of... not familiar with any such place.

So, call it whatever you want, but whether you consider it to be a "Land" or something else, the seperately themed areas of the park are all distinctly different and most of them have a nice transition into the next.

[mrmainstreet]

Why not? It's considered one of the 5 original lands. It is distinctly themed and detailed, has shops, attractions, and eateries. The only thing different about it is its the land you have to enter and exit through.
Other than that, the only distinction is that it lacks 'land' in its name, but then so do New Orleans Square and Toontown.
Most everyone accepts it as its own land, and it is labeled as such on all the maps.

[Jspider]

yeah just stick with the maps

if it has it's own little bar thing for listing attractions and it's made distinct from everything else then that area IS a "land"

[NWRREngineer]

I consider it a "land". It has its own distinct theming and its own entrance from the hub. The fact that you have to pass through it from the main gates tends to make it seem less like a "destination".

[Alan]

You have to think about how they laid out the park and the design of "The Wondeful World of Disney"/ The park is a giant movie where when you enter and exit the park, it is like walking through the opening and closing credits. Just like the TV show, it had a entry and exit point not associated with the lands other than to direct you to them.

[PragmaticIdealist]

New Orleans Square is a land because Walt specifically said that it was the first new land added to Disneyland. Also, he said that it was his favorite land. *nod*

I question whether or not this statement is true.

There is a duality to Disneyland. It is, at once, everyone's hometown as well as a magic kingdom. Main Street, U.S.A. is, in reality, Main Street, Disneyland, U.S.A.

There is Disneyland City Hall, the Disneyland Opera House, and the Disneyland Emporium. "The Bank of Main Street", formerly Bank of America, was mistitled by people in The Company who did not understand the original design intent of Disneyland's creators. Similarly, the "Disneyland" in the Disneyland Opera House's sign was removed a couple of years ago by people in The Company who also did not understand the conception. In it, the semi-autobiographical Main Street, U.S.A. is universalized, but still based in fact, not fiction.

Main Street, U.S.A. is everyone's hometown, but mostly Walt Disney's. And the themes of the fiction-oriented Adventureland; Frontierland; Fantasyland; and, Tomorrowland are found in the reality of the time when and place where Walt Disney spent his formative years.

In "The Disneyland Story", Walt Disney says that Disneyland is divided into "four cardinal realms" that radiate from Central Plaza "like the four cardinal points of the compass".

Ever since its opening in 1955, Disneyland's realm of Frontierland has always had an area devoted to New Orleans. New Orleans Square is, properly, an expansion of this part of Frontierland. Walt Disney said that New Orleans Square captured the spirit of the port city "when she was the gay Paris of the American frontier".

Although both Bear Country and Mickey's Toontown opened after Walt Disney's death, the original design intent of Frontierland's creators is able to be preserved by thinking of Bear Country, later renamed Critter Country, as an area within that realm. The theme of the frontier is present in all the stories found in both New Orleans Square and Critter Country.

Additionally, considering Mickey's Toontown an annex of Fantasyland is consistent with the original design intent of that realm's creators.

Disneyland is still everyone's hometown, as well as a magic kingdom with four cardinal realms that radiate from Central Plaza like the four cardinal points of the compass.

[PragmaticIdealist]

Mickey's Toontown is slightly different in that there is a clear attempt made by its creators to parallel Main Street, U.S.A. So, that situation and the fact that Mickey's Toontown has a clear boundary in the form of the tracks of the Disneyland Railroad do separate Mickey's Toontown from Fantasyland and from Disneyland, itself. I would not refer to Mickey's Toontown as an equivalent to Frontierland or Tomorrowland, though.

Mickey's Toontown is an annex or a special attraction that is somewhat divorced from the rest of Disneyland.

[Tom Chaney]

Maybe it because I'm older than dirt and set in my ways, but I can't quite accept Disneyland as having any "lands" except Frontierland, Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. For one... nothing else is named "Blah-Blah_land." Main Street is just Main Street. Admitedly a unique place... and I love it ... but it's not a land. Though set in a different era, Main Street is normality. (perhaps normality as Walt preferred it.) It leads to the lands... which are exotic. NOS & Critter Country are an extension of Frontierland. Toontown... at best... is an extension of Fantasyland.

[Flaming Cabin]

as much as new orleans square..