Sleeping Beauty Castle
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This is an article about a castle at Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland. For the castle at the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, see Cinderella Castle.
Sleeping Beauty Castle is the fairy tale structure at the center of three theme parks owned by The Walt Disney Company. Two are based on classical German fortresses, and one is a Swiss-French-Bavarian hybrid in architecture.
The first is at the original Disneyland, the only Disney park to be completed and walked through by Walt Disney. It is constructed of wood and stucco with pre-fabricated turrets. It was originally to be called Snow White Castle, and in fact Walt mistakenly referred to it as such in an interview. Disney had the animated feature Sleeping Beauty in the works, and decided to name the building for the forthcoming feature, which debuted four years after Disneyland's opening.
The castle is the smallest of the Disney castles, but many feel the smallness gives the castle a quaint charm. It is commonly quoted that Walt Disney himself wanted a smaller castle because in medieval Europe the nobility and lords built large imposing castles to intimidate commoners, so Disney wanted a more accessible castle. In fact, Walt had a profoundly stretched budget when constructing his Magic Kingdom, and in spite of the positive spin he tried to place on it, the castle was made as large as he could afford. He corrected this in Florida, where Walt was heavily involved in the early schematic design of the park. Although he didn't live to see the completed park, there is a photograph of him on the future site of Cinderella Castle, marked by a large yellow "X".
Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle was completed in 1955. Formerly home to several dioramas depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty, the walk-through attraction was discontinued in 2001. It is widely speculated that this was in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, however another theory speculates that this is due to the fact that it cannot accommodate handicapped guests.
The second Sleeping Beauty Castle is at the Disneyland Paris, although the official name is Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, essentially Sleeping Beauty's Castle. The castle was built in a much more fairy tale-inspired style than the first Sleeping Beauty Castle to appeal to Europeans, for whom castles are a more regular sight. Though smaller than Cinderella Castle, it is regarded as the most visually stunning of all the Disney castles. The castle was completed in 1992. Inside the castle is just as impressive, if not more so, here there are two walkthrough attractions and two specialty stores. The first attraction is a walkthrough telling the story of Disney's Sleeping Beauty. It's a beautiful display of tapestries, stained glass windows, little bronze statues and some ‘sleeping' suits of armour. The other walkthrough is below the castle. Between rocks and behind the waterfall is the Dragon's Liar(La Tanière du Dragon). The Dragon is the biggest animatronic in whole Disneyland Paris and one of the most beautiful ever with the enormous size of 27 metres. It was decorated for the 5th anniversary of the park, and was turned into a giant jester's hat.
The third Sleeping Beauty Castle is located at the Hong Kong Disneyland park. Its design is exactly the same as the original Disneyland castle, right down to the colours used when the original opened in 1955 - this helps differentiate it from Disneyland, which now has more vibrant colours. The final turret was put in place on November 18, 2004, and opened on September 12, 2005.
Additionally, the Disneyland castle is the symbol of many parts of The Walt Disney Company. It is the logo for Walt Disney Pictures, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, Buena Vista Music Group, Buena Vista International, and Buena Vista Television. It is also heavily featured in advertisements for the Wonderful World of Disney, on ABC and the Disney Channel.
See also
- Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria which served as one of the many inspirations for Walt Disney and his Imagineers in designing the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. Neuschwanstein is less than a century older than the Sleeping Beauty Castle.
- Château d'Ussé in France, the inspiration of Charles Perrault to write the fairytale Sleeping Beauty. Curiously, however, it served as one of the inspirations for the design of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland.[link][link]
| Icons of the Disney Parks and Resorts | |
|---|---|
| Disneyland Resort: | Sleeping Beauty Castle | Grizzly Peak |
| Walt Disney World Resort: | Cinderella Castle | Spaceship Earth | The Sorcerer's Hat The Tree of Life |
| Disneyland Resort Paris: | Sleeping Beauty Castle | The Earful Tower |
| Tokyo Disney Resort: | Cinderella Castle | Mount Prometheus |
| Hong Kong Disneyland Resort: | Sleeping Beauty Castle |
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