The train station was the first thing visitors saw after passing through the ticket gates.  Walt Disney had always been a fan of railroads, his house in Missouri was on the main line of the Sante Fe and he was often found watching the trains pass by.  After finding financial success Disney re-immersed himself in his railroad hobby and built the Carolwood-Pacific Railroad, a train large enough for him to ride on, in his backyard.  For as long as Walt had the concept of a park in his head it was surrounded by a railroad.  The berm that kept the visitors from seeing out of the park made a perfect right-of-way for the railroad.  However, to ensure that guests could not see outside the park the train's seats were long benches that only faced inside the park.

The double-decker bus was modeled after the ones that ran along New York's Fifth Avenue.  The ride vehicle was an interesting choice for Disneyland because the Main Street area was created to extol the virtues of small town America.  In many ways the Omnibus, representing big city life, feels a bit out of place on Main Street. 

The view of Main Street U.S.A. from the train station shows many staples of the area.  The building to the left is City Hall.  It opened as an administration building but is now used as the Disney version of Guest Services.  The Fire Station stands next door.  It houses a working fire engine and the room above the garage is where Walt's original apartment was.  The yellow building is called the Emporium and today is one of the largest shops in Disneyland.

The Main Street concept was very popular with the public and the press.  One New York Times article read, "The Entrance takes you into 'Main Street U.S.A.-'-a re-creation of the typical American town of 1890.  Like everything else in the park, down to the railroad trains and park benches, 'Main Street' is built on a 5/8 scale."  The UpJohn Pharmacy was a working model of a pharmacy from the olden days.  It featured a wall of medical items as well as an old-style soda fountain.  Today the shop is called New Century Timepieces and sells all sorts of Disney-related watches and clocks.

Disneyland sported four large objects in the parks called wienies.  The wienie was designed to attract visitors into each area of the park.  The castle at the end of Main Street beckoned guests into Fantasyland, a stern boat wheeler for Frontierland, a rocket ship welcomed visitors into Tommorrowland and a gateway made of spears and skulls set the tone for Adventureland.  Sleeping Beauty's Castle was an amalgamation of famous European castles, the most obvious influence being from Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany.  The attraction was originally empty, but with time a walk-through depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty.  A 1957 article said, "For the future, Walt is thinking of ideas for Sleeping Beauty Castle.  He plans to tell this story in three-dimensional, animated views.  He wants fairies flying through the scenes sprinkling pixie dust.  And he wants a life-sized spinning wheel like the princess had when she picked her finger on the spindle and fell asleep for 100 years."  The attraction is currently closed until January, 2003.