For Shanghai Disneyland, the Imagineers were careful to avoid overt references to American culture and branding when they were designing the park. So instead of Main Street, U.S.A., they devised something called "Mickey Avenue" as their entrance into the park. This land spatially unfolds similar to Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure, with a relatively pathway to the end of the lane and storefronts that feel cozier and more neighborhood like. Only rather than 1920s Los Angeles, this avenue houses Mickey Mouse and his friends. In that sense, it's more like Mickey's Toontown, and the architecture at some of the facades certainly echoes that. At Goofy's Toys, this is perhaps the strongest, as bulbous columns and whimsical rafters and towers and colorful trim accent a cartoonish version of a charming village store. And when Christmas lights are added to the mix? Well, it feels even more fantastical. But that's okay, because that's exactly the effect the Imagineers were trying to give this "authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese" theme park!
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| Goofy's Toys is perhaps the biggest example of the Toontown/Buena Vista Street hodgepodge that defines Mickey Avenue. |
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