Recently I was watching Discovery HD Theater, there is a show called Disneyland Resorts Behind the Scenes, in it they show a Golden Spike in the Castle. This Golden Spike is the geographic center of Disneyland, does anyone know if such a thing exists in the MK???
Thanks,
Don
choearfan1@gmail.com

the 'golden spike' at disneyland is a myth. if it were ever the center of the park to begin with (and it wasn't), it would no longer have been once toontown was added. anyway.

it's a survey marker that quite visibly runs the center of main street USA.

as far as WDW goes, again, even if there were one, changes in the property would have nullified it. no park itself has one. there is a spot said to be such in Epcot, but not really the case.

According to a link right here on Mouseplanet -

http://www.mouseplanet.com/magicyears/my122200.htm

the spike is indeed the geographic center of DL. I know there are a lot of urban myths out there, but I always heard that this one was true.

might also want to see this thread: http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=66725

figured i'd go right to the source.. this is actually on cstephens' page. first map of Disneyland

http://www.colddeadfish.net/images/DLR50th/237d.jpg

granted it's a map and may not be to exact scale, you can see that the castle is not near the center of the park.

that and if i'm not mistaken, the marker is towards the back of the castle. which would make it even further from the center.

a couple of other examples:
http://davelandweb.com/construction/images/12_06_DSC_3199.jpg http://hollywoodlostandfound.net/pictures/people/WaltDisneyMap.jpg

ETA: just for fun, i took one of the maps into a photo editing program, cropped it so it covered just the park area and then determined the exact center by pixels and i ended up almost dead center in the central plaza/hub area (just a little off to the left, but it could have been my cropping)

also, in case scale comes into question, ariel views of the park from 55/56

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/bananaphone5000/GORILLLAS/aerial55-B.jpg (large one)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Disneyland_aerial_view_in_1956.jpg

After looking at all of the pics linked to above, it does look as if the plaza is more central than the spike. But then who is to say that the spike isn't the center of all of the property Disney owns in that location? In other words, if it's meant to include more territory outside of the berm to the north?

But I though this comment was the most telling -

Dave Smith (Disney Archivist). Dave Smith has informed me that there is currently no consensus at Walt Disney Imagineering as to the purpose of this marker.

I know a lot of the urban myths like the colorblind bulldozer have been put to rest. I kinda like that this one still has a few legs to it.

If it's true or not I still think it makes a good story.....and i am still wondering if there is such a thing at the MK.

my answer still stands. it's not true at DLR (as the maps and photos show) and there's no such identifier at WDW, either at a park or on property.

but yes, it makes for a great story.