We’ve just talked about things that are well-executed with which I philosophically agree, and in some ways this falls under the same category. I’m uneasy with the idea of character meet-and-greets, yet I realize that they’re here to stay at Walt Disney World and there’s nothing we can do about it. So, if we have to have them they can at least be done well, and fit their surroundings. Thankfully, that is the case with the new Town Square Theater, which occupies the space on Main Street, U.S.A. formerly home to The Walt Disney Story, various preview centers, and later the Main Street Exposition Hall. The Expo Hall had areas dedicated for character-themed photo ops, but they were clumsily organized and poorly integrated into their surroundings. The Theater, which opened earlier this year, involved a total reconstruction of the building’s interior and finally uses a show space specifically designed for its intended use.

Where this project diverges from things like Carsland or Avatarland is that it isn’t obtrusive, doesn’t occupy a large tract that prevents future development, and doesn’t soak up vast resources that could be better spent elsewhere. It doesn’t “feel” wrong where it is. Best of all, the meet-and-greet is fairly seamlessly integrated with Main Street. The idea of “Toontown” taking over Main Street gave me a severe case of the vapors when rumors about this project began to emerge, but thankfully from the exterior the building looks exactly like it should – the Town Square Theater. Inside you pass through a number of waiting areas that slowly ease you into the cartoon world, but in perhaps the most merciful aspect of the project Imagineers decided not to go with the over-done and corny “toon” stylings of over-inflated, plastic-looking furniture and accessories, with “moldy fig” sagging lines and faux-”whimsical” zaniness. While some of the accessories in Mickey’s dressing room are still slightly too oversized for my taste, it looks far less fake than the slapdash surroundings often found in Toontown-like theming and works well in making the cartoon characters seem to overlap with real-world surroundings. The use of real materials and more realistic designs is a huge improvement over the plastic-y, on-the-nose “toon” look.

I’m sure you’ll find more super-detailed walkthroughs of the attraction online; I merely strolled through and took some photos of details which I found interesting. Unfortunately for you budding theme park explorers, the operations staff is so ruthlessly efficient in cramming people through that it’s pretty much impossible to examine, much less photograph, most of the details, and there’s probably a lot of references in Mickey’s dressing room that have yet to been discovered simply because there’s no way to catch a second to examine them. But here are a few things I did notice…

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