With its pastel Victorian-style buildings, antique automobiles ahoohga-oohga-ing, sparkling sidewalks, and an atmosphere of what one writer has called "almost hysterical joy," Main Street is more than a mere conduit to the other enchantments of the Magic Kingdom. It's where the spell is first cast.

Like Dorothy waking up in a Technicolor Oz or Mary Poppins jumping through the pavement painting, you emerge from beneath the Walt Disney World Railroad Station into a realization of one of the most tenacious American dreams. The perfect street in the perfect small town in a perfect moment of time is burnished to jewel-like quality, thanks to a four-fifths-scale reduction, nightly cleanings with high-pressure hoses, and constant repainting. And it's a very sunny world thanks to an outpouring of welcoming entertainment: live bands, barbershop quartets, and background music from Disney films and American musicals played over loudspeakers. Old-fashioned horse-drawn trams and omnibuses with their horns tooting chug along the street. Vendors in Victorian costumes sell balloons and popcorn. And Cinderella's famous castle floats whimsically in the distance where Main Street disappears.

Although attractions with a capital "A" are minimal on Main Street, there are plenty of inducements -- namely, shops -- to while away your time and part you from your money. The largest of these, the Emporium, is often the last stop for souvenir hunters at day's end, so avoid the crowds and buy early. You can pick up your purchases later at Package Pickup or have them delivered to your hotel or mailed home.

The Harmony Barber Shop is a novel stop if you want to step back in time for a haircut ($14 for children 12 and under, $17 for all others). Kids get complimentary Mickey Ears and a certificate if it's their first haircut ever. The Town Square Exposition Hall is actually a shop and exhibit center where you can see cameras of yesteryear and today. The shops in Exposition Hall are a good place to stock up on batteries, memory cards, and disposable cameras.

Main Street is also full of Disney insider fun. For instance, check out the proprietors' names above the shops: Roy O. Disney, etched above the Main Street Confectionery, is the name of Walt's brother. Dick Nunis, former chairman of Walt Disney Attractions, has an honored spot above the bakery. At the Hall of Champions, Card Walker -- the "Practitioner of Psychiatry and Justice of the Peace" -- is the former chairman of the company's executive committee. At last glance, Michael Eisner still didn't have his own shop; considering the company's recent political upheaval and Eisner's departure in 2005, perhaps he never will. Maybe new Disney chief Bob Iger will fare better.