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Sleeping Beauty Castle has been the symbol and centerpiece of Disneyland since the park opened July 17, 1955.
There wasn’t an attraction in the castle when the park opened—just an empty space on the castle’s second level.
According to the 1987 book Disneyland: Inside Story by Randy Bright, the castle was never intended to host a show.
However, “empty spaces were an anathema to [Walt] Disney.”
He challenged his Imagineers to use the limited space.
After an unexpected encounter with the cats and fleas living in there,
the Imagineers designed a walk-through attraction.
It opened April 29, 1957.
The results in 1957 were quite different from the pictures in this Yesterland article.
The initial dioramas reflected the style of artist Eyvind Earle, the brilliant Production Designer of Walt Disney’s 1959 feature Sleeping Beauty, who gave the film its distinctive design.
He personally painted most of the film’s backgrounds.
And Earle was directly involved with the creation of the Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through.
The Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through was redesigned in 1977.
New dioramas replaced the Earle originals.
Presumably, someone felt that Eyvind Earle’s style looked dated by the standards of 1977.
(We now admire the mid-century style, but it was seriously out of fashion in 1977.)
The 1977 dioramas had more movement and depth.
They were highly detailed.
However, they looked like Main Street Emporium display windows; they lacked the artistry of Eyvind Earle.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, guest attendance and revenue at the Disney parks and resorts plummeted.
Disney cut theme park and resort operating costs wherever they could.
On October 7, 2001, Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through was closed “for refurbishment.”
Over time, Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through dropped off the refurbishment list.
The attraction’s sign disappeared from its portal.
Disneyland’s guest count and revenue recovered, but the doors to Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through didn’t reopen to guests.
Disneyland never announced the permanent closing or provided an official reason.
There’s widespread speculation on the Internet that the reason is due to security concerns.
Other possible reasons include cost (although Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through was not particularly costly to operate, it wasn’t particularly popular either) and accessibility.
There’s also a difference of opinion about whether the dioramas are still in place behind the locked doors.
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