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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 |
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Would you like to go inside Sleeping Beauty Castle? Not just across the drawbridge and through Sleeping Beauty Castle… and not just into Glassblower shop… but actually up into the Castle? |
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Then look for the entrance to the Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through. It’s located between the Glassblower and the Tinker Bell Toy Store. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2000 Entrance |
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This door and canopy might be the most modest entrance to any attraction in the park. Or you can think of the entire Castle as the attraction building, in which case this “A” ticket attraction has the grandest attraction building of all. Let’s hope you don’t mind stairs. You’ll be going up stairs twice and down stairs twice. You’ll see ten sophisticated miniature dioramas, each with little animated figures. You’ll hear music from the Sleeping Beauty film score—which was adapted from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1890 Sleeping Beauty ballet—as well as appropriate sounds from the various dioramas. If you have a stroller, park it. There are many steps inside. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 Magnificent manuscript pages |
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Illuminated manuscript pages, like those of the Middle Ages, tell the story of Sleeping Beauty. If you take time to read (and admire) them along the way, you’ll enjoy the dioramas even more because together they tell the story of how and why Princess Aurora grew up as Briar Rose, unaware that she was a princess—and what happened after she turned 16. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 The kingdom’s loyal subjects trekking to the castle to celebrate the infant princess |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 Maleficent predicting death for Aurora from the prick of her finger on a spinning wheel |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 King Stefan and Queen Leah handing off their baby to Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 Briar Rose, on her 16th birthday, still protected by the three good fairies |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 Dancing with an imaginary prince portrayed by an owl |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 Prince Phillip awakening Princess Aurora with love’s true kiss |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 Stairs back down the stairs to the exit |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2001 And they all lived happily ever after |
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The dioramas and manuscript pages were fun to look at. But the best part of the Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through is just being inside the world-famous castle. |
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Sleeping Beauty Castle has been the symbol and centerpiece of Disneyland since the park’s televised opening event on 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 dioramas in 1957 were quite different from those in this Yesterland article. Initially, they 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 look. He personally painted most of the film’s backgrounds. Earle was also 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 his 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, and 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, 2001, 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.” |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2002 In 2002: Locked door, no sign |
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At first, just the attraction’s sign disappeared from the tournament tent canopy above the door. Then the canopy disappeared too. Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through dropped off the refurbishment list. By the time Disneyland celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2005, the park’s guest count and revenue had recovered—but the door to the Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through didn’t reopen to guests. Disneyland never announced a permanent closing and never provided an official reason. There was widespread speculation online that the reason was due to security concerns. More likely, the real reason was cost. Although the Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through was not particularly costly to operate, it wasn’t particularly popular either. There was the question of accessibility. Although the attraction was exempt from ADA requirements because it predated the 1990 law, Disney was striving to make attractions accessible to all guests, whenever possible. For years, there was a difference of opinion about whether the dioramas were still in place behind the locked doors. The bigger question was whether the attraction would ever return. It turned out that it didn’t matter if the dioramas from 1977 were still there—because folks at Disney had something better in mind. On July 17, 2008, Disneyland officially announced that the Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough would return by the end of the year: The interior of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland will open in time for the December holiday season, offering guests a “reawakened” version of its classic walkthrough presentation kissed with vibrant scenes of Aurora, her charming prince, the evil Maleficent and other characters from the beloved fairy tale film. It wouldn’t simply involve dusting off the little dolls from the 1977 version. Disneyland would do it right: When the attraction is unveiled later this year, the “show” will differ from the dioramas of the 1980s and ‘90s, returning to the unique style of the original 1957 show and motion picture. Enhanced with new scenes and special effects magic, the re-Imagineered attraction will employ technology not available in the 1950s to represent scenes from the story of “Sleeping Beauty,” including the magic of good fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, and the more sinister spells of the evil Maleficent. In other words, the attraction would combine the legendary art of Eyvind Earle with the technology of 2008 to make the Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough better than ever. It would represent the combined talents of the Imagineers from the 1950s and from 50 years later. Disney also addressed the accessibility issue: For the first time, guests who are unable to climb stairs or navigate the passageways of the Castle will be able to experience the walkthrough “virtually” in a special room on the ground floor of the Castle. The new Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough (with Walk-Through no longer hyphenated) opened to guests at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 26, 2008—just in time for the long Thanksgiving weekend. |
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Photo by Joe Perrigoue, 2008 New tournament tent canopy entrance |
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The 1977 version had been closed for more than seven years—and the 1957 version with the Eyvind Earle art had been closed for almost three decades. Disneyland guests posted glowing reviews of the 2008 version online. The consensus was that the Imagineers had succeeded magnificently. Once again, the castle wasn’t just a symbol of Disneyland and the entrance to Fantasyland. It contained a jewel of an attraction. |
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Photo by Joe Perrigoue, 2008 New dioramas in the style of Eyvind Earle |
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Photo by Joe Perrigoue, 2008 Maleficent |
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Photo by Joe Perrigoue, 2008 Watching the spinning wheels burn |
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If you can find the 50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Disc of Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, you’re in for a treat. There’s a bonus feature about the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough at Disneyland. The CGI visuals are spectacular. Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering Tony Baxter and Imagineer Chris Merritt provided fascinating commentary about the 1957 version of the attraction, what they found inside the Castle, and how they brought the walkthrough back to its original glory. The good news is that the 2008 version is still open for Disneyland guests to enjoy. |
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© 2023 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated July 7, 2023 |
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