Disneyland Tuesday - Let's talk about the castle.

**Barbaraann** · 08-23-2005, 04:23 AM

Sleeping Beauty Castle sits at the end of Main Street. It is all decorated up for the Anniversary at the present time. It is 77 feet tall and you walk through it to get to Fantasyland. The cast le is actually backward. Word is that Walt Disney thought it looked better that way.

What do you know about the castle?

**yensid98** · 08-23-2005, 06:31 AM

Once upon a time there were a few dioramas inside the castle that told the story of Sleeping Beauty. Guests were able to walk through the castle and view them, but after 9/11 fear of attacks closed the castle and sealed the lovely dioramas inside. Legend has it that after the dioramas have slept for a thousand years a shining prince will come along and re-awaken them from their slumber.

**ttztotdca50** · 08-23-2005, 08:08 AM

Cats lived in the castle before the dioramas came. The cats had millions of fleas, which got EVERYWHERE in Disneyland. A different species of fleas killed the cats' ones.

Some cast members liked to eat their lunches at the top of the castle.

The castle drawbridge only opened twice, on 7/17/55 and after Fantasyland's renovation from circus tarp to the village-style (what it is today).

PS: Walt Disney DID like the castle the way it was, Barbaraann. The imagineers showed off what the castle would look like, with what is now the front, in the back. Walt Disney looked at the back and said he liked it better because it had more spires.
All of this info was from Mouse Tales.

**Aura of Foreboding** · 08-23-2005, 10:54 AM

The Castle Walkthrough opened in 1957, housing paintings by Eyvind Earle. In the late 60s (1968), the current (or rather more current) dioramas were placed in there. The diorama of the dragon was boarded up in late 2000 and replaced by a tapestry type image of the dragon.

In or about 1997, the two paintings ("Sword of Truth" and "Love's First Kiss") were added just beyond the drawbridge.

Walt has called it The Fantasyland Castle, the Disneyland Castle, and Sleeping Beauty Castle. He flubbed up in one of the episodes of Disneyland and called it Snow White Castle, but never intended it to be such.