Cinderella Castle
| Cinderella Castle | |
|---|---|
| Park | Magic Kingdom |
| Land / area | Fantasyland |
| Type | Castle icon |
| Opened | October 1, 1971 |
| Designer | WED Enterprises |
| Height req. | 189 ft (58 m) |
| Status | Operating |
Cinderella Castle is the central castle and park icon of Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and in a near-identical form also stands at the centre of Tokyo Disneyland. Modelled on the castle from Disney's 1950 animated film Cinderella, it opened with Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971, and at 189 feet (58 m) it remains the tallest structure in the park, visible from the Seven Seas Lagoon and from much of the surrounding resort.
Design and construction
Chief designer Herbert Ryman, who had also worked on Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Park, drew not on a single building but on a composite of European sources. Documented inspirations include the French châteaux of Chambord, Chenonceau, Chaumont and Fontainebleau, the palace of Versailles, the Alcázar of Segovia in Spain, and, most visibly in its romantic silhouette, Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. The result is a romanticised late-Gothic palace rather than a copy of any one fortress.
Construction took about 18 months and the castle was essentially complete in July 1971. Despite its stone appearance, no bricks were used: the structure is a steel frame — some sources cite roughly 600 tons of steel — clad in concrete and fibreglass, anchored to a concrete foundation and built to withstand hurricane-force winds reported at up to 110 miles per hour. The exterior counts 18 towers and spires among its elements, along with decorative gargoyles.
The height was chosen deliberately. At 189 feet, measured from the bottom of the surrounding moat, the castle stops just short of the threshold at which aviation rules would have required a flashing red warning beacon on its tallest spire. As at Disneyland, forced perspective is applied throughout: architectural details shrink in scale as they rise, making the castle read as taller and more distant than it is. It is more than 100 feet taller than Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Inside the castle
A vaulted passage runs through the castle from the hub to Fantasyland, lined with five mosaic murals designed by Imagineer Dorothea Redmond and executed in hundreds of thousands of pieces of Italian glass, some fused with real gold and silver. The mosaics retell the story of Cinderella in panels.
The castle has housed a restaurant since opening day. It opened as King Stefan's Banquet Hall — named, incongruously, for the father of Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty — and was later renamed Cinderella's Royal Table, a character dining location. A stage in front of the castle hosts live shows, and the forecourt forms the backdrop for the park's nighttime spectaculars, for which the castle serves as a projection surface.
High in the castle is a single apartment, the Cinderella Castle Suite. The space was originally left unfinished, at various times considered as an apartment for the Disney family or as offices, and was completed as a suite in 2006–2007 for the Year of a Million Dreams promotion, after which stays were awarded as prizes rather than sold.
Redecorations and overlays
The castle has repeatedly been altered for park anniversaries. For Walt Disney World's 25th anniversary in 1996–1997 it was dressed as a giant pink birthday cake, complete with candy and candle decorations — the most drastic transformation in its history. For the Happiest Celebration on Earth in 2005 it received gold trim and a magic mirror that cycled through images of the other Disney castles. In 2020, ahead of the resort's 50th anniversary, it was repainted in a new scheme of royal blue roofs, iridescent accents and deeper pink upper walls; for the 50th celebration itself, which began October 1, 2021, it carried a large "50" medallion and additional gold decoration.