St. Louis?

Main Street USA is a fixture in all of the Disney flagship parks.  It functions as the entry gateway to the amusement park and leads to the central castle.  The street as constructed in Disneyland and to a lesser degree in the Magic Kingdom in Orlando are reproductions of the idealized main street of Marceline, Missouri Walt Disney’s boyhood home.

Walt recreated the romanticized street of his childhood in California and Florida.  Last summer, I visited the original while driving through Missouri and experienced the town's still evident charms.

Main Street USA in Disneyland is built in a former orange grove.  Main Street USA at Disneyworld sits in a swamp.  Main Street Marceline is in the middle of a heartland agriculture district--with no evidences of oranges or aligators.  Walt seems to have had a habit of building his Eden in places where it was a foreign idea.

Of course, if not for the actions of one man, I might not be sitting in a hotel preparing to go to Orlando tomorrow.  Instead, I'd be headed to St. Louis.

Walt Disney was concerned that Disneyland was primarily being used by residents of California.  He was convinced that he needed to have an East Coast gate to reach a broader audience.

So he began an aggressive search for a spot to place his next Main Street.  Niagara Falls was considered, but rejected because it would be too cold in the winter.  Other sites were considered and for a variety of reasons rejected.

Walt finally became convinced that St. Louis would make the perfect location for his East Coast park.  He met with civic leaders and everything was in the process of being prepared.  What better place for Main Street USA than the very state that inspired it?

At the final meeting with civic leaders, everyone was positive and encouraging.  Only one man seemed concerned.  In the course of the meeting, he asked Walt twice if he planned to sell alcohol at the park.  When Walt replied that he intended to have a family friendly park and would not sell alcohol, the man told Walt that without alcohol the park would never make any money.

The meeting ended, and Walt was supposed to sign the papers formalizing the deal the next morning.  So angered by the man who questioned his plans, Walt ordered his plane readied, cancelled the signing and left to scout locations in New Orleans and Florida.

The rest of course is history.  Walt once again imposed his childhood home upon a place with no relation to it.  Marceline, Missouri remained a sleepy town.  St. Louis went without a Disney park.  And a sleepy town in central Florida has exploded into the number one tourist destination in the world.

Depending on your perspective, one man is to praise or blame for the way everything turned out.  His name--August Busch, Jr.  The CEO of Busch Brewing.  He couldn’t imagine Disney World without a cold Budweiser.