Sleeping Beauty Castle
| Sleeping Beauty Castle | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disneyland Park |
| Land / area | Fantasyland |
| Type | Castle icon |
| Opened | July 17, 1955 |
| Designer | WED Enterprises |
| Height req. | 77 ft (23 m) |
| Status | Operating |
Sleeping Beauty Castle is the castle at the centre of Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, and the icon of the Disneyland Resort. Opened with the park on July 17, 1955, it is the oldest of all Disney park castles and the only one whose construction was personally overseen by Walt Disney. A version under the same name formerly stood at Hong Kong Disneyland before being replaced by the Castle of Magical Dreams in 2020.
Design
The castle's principal model was Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, the 19th-century palace of Ludwig II, supplemented by French references including Notre-Dame de Paris and the Hospices de Beaune. Herbert Ryman produced the early concept work, Fred Joerger built the model presented for Walt Disney's approval, and construction drawings were only begun in January 1955, leaving roughly seven months to build the structure before opening day.
At 77 feet (23 m), Sleeping Beauty Castle is the smallest of the Disney castles. Walt Disney wanted a friendly rather than forbidding building, and the modest scale was intentional. Forced perspective does the rest of the work: stones, windows and other details are larger at the base and progressively smaller towards the turrets, so the castle reads as considerably taller than it measures. Its spires are finished with gold leaf — a detail long retold in Disney lore as an extravagance Walt Disney approved over the objections of his more cost-conscious brother Roy.
The castle was named for Sleeping Beauty as promotion for the animated film then in production, although the film was not released until 1959, nearly four years after the castle opened. The building has a working drawbridge over its moat, but it has been lowered only twice: on opening day in 1955, and again in 1983 for the dedication of the rebuilt Fantasyland.
Castle walkthrough
The upper floor was originally empty space with no planned use. Walt Disney disliked the waste and asked his designers to find a purpose for it, and on April 29, 1957, the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough opened inside. Visitors climbed through a series of dioramas telling Aurora's story, first designed in the style of Eyvind Earle, the production designer of the 1959 film, with later versions using dolls and revised scenes.
The walkthrough closed in October 2001 and remained shut for seven years; no official reason was given, although the closure is widely associated with security concerns following the September 11 attacks. It reopened on November 27, 2008, restored in the spirit of the original Earle-designed version but using new techniques, including projected and digital effects, to animate scenes that had originally been static. An alternative viewing room at ground level shows a virtual version of the walkthrough for guests unable to climb the stairs.
Role and redecoration
Because Walt Disney's weekly television programme introduced the park to American audiences, the castle became a corporate symbol as well as a park landmark: a stylised version appeared in the Walt Disney Pictures production logo from 1985 to 2006. For Disneyland's 50th anniversary in 2005 the castle was decorated with gold accents and a large crown. A major refurbishment in 2019 repainted it in brighter blues and pinks and added sparkling details to the roofs.