MARK This episode of Yesterworld is sponsored by the Ye Olde Proppe Shoppe, so make sure to stay ‘til the end to learn about their fantastic theme park-inspired products. And when you find something you fall in love with, use my code, YESTERFREESHP, or the link in the description to get free shipping.
When it comes to the symbols of the Disney theme parks, there are few as iconic as the castles - and while the original Disneyland castle may not be the most grand in appearance, the fascinating story of its walkthrough attraction shows that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. So let’s explore the history and debunk some of the long-standing myths of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough.
(Opening sequence) --- From the very beginning of development for Walt Disney’s ambitious theme park, it was always planned to have a castle. In Walt Disney’s initial pitch, he referred to it as a medieval castle; in concept art, it was simply the Fantasyland Castle, and some even referred to it as King Arthur’s Castle; but when Disneyland held its grand opening in July of 1955, the matter was cleared once and for all.
(Footage of the opening day broadcast.)
ART LINKLETTER Where would you like to go of all the places in Disneyland? Pick any one.
LITTLE GIRL To the great, big castle, where Sleeping Beauty is.
LINKLETTER Oh, you want to go to the castle!
MARK Sleeping Beauty’s Castle became an instant icon of the park, but its name was more of a promotional tool for the in-development animation than a recreation of how it would appear in the film. And though it was certainly an icon of the park, the castle did not open with an attraction. I wanted to clarify this because during the park’s construction, some newspapers described a planned Sleeping Beauty experience, and what’s really strange is that one report from the grand opening details an unfinished attraction within the castle. But this just couldn’t have been possible…or could it?
(Cue Twilight Zone theme.)
Despite this misinformation, the inside of the castle was just empty space with leftover construction material, though it did feature two small shops in the passageway. However, it was clear even from the very beginning that visitors wanted to go inside Sleeping Beauty’s Castle; some even snuck in on opening day through an accidentally left open side entrance.
But the unused space within the castle had always bothered Mr. Disney, so when looking for ways to promote the upcoming Sleeping Beauty, he had an idea. One day, he took artist and Imagineer Ken Anderson and set decorator Emil Curie up to the castle’s empty interior. The following is a reenactment as described by Ken Anderson.
(Three animated figures with Disney, Anderson, and Curie’s faces posted onto them, JibJab-style, are superimposed onto vintage footage of the castle.)
WALT DISNEY (VOICED BY KEVIN FROM DEFUNCTLAND) “Come with me. There’s nothing in the castle. No room in the castle…But I want you to look at things.”
(They make their way up to an attic, filled with cats.)
KEVIN Making their way up to the first floor, they became surrounded by a hundred or so that had been living and breeding within the castle.
DISNEY “I want you to put Sleeping Beauty in here. You can do it. It’s little, but you can do it.”
KEVIN As Ken and Walt talked, Emil picked up an empty sack, and suddenly Emil’s all-white clothes turned gray as thousands of fleas latched onto his body, and then onto Walt and Ken.
DISNEY “Don’t panic, fellas. Don’t panic. I’ll get somebody up here with the wagon.”
(He zips off-screen to make a phone call.)
DISNEY “Hello? This is Walt. Walt Disney. Set up a car right away.”
(They head back outside.)
KEVIN Making their way back down, a motorcycle with a sidecar quickly pulled up to the trio.
DISNEY “Don’t get into the crowd.”
(He takes a seat in the sidecar and the motorcycle zooms off, leaving the other two behind.)
MARK Unable to endure the fleas, they disobeyed Walt and ran through the crowd towards the wardrobe department.
(They arrive, reuniting with Walt, who’s now wearing a spacesuit.)
DISNEY “You didn’t go into the crowd, did you guys?”
ANDERSON (VOICED BY JACK FROM PARK RIDE HISTORY) “Oh, no, Walt.”
DISNEY “But how the heck did you get here?”
ANDERSON “One big leap, Walt. What do you think?”
MARK After the incident, it’s said that Walt Disney’s staff advised him to…um…swiftly rid the cats from the castle, but Walt refused. Instead, he had all one hundred or so cats bathed and groomed and found them new homes.
Anyway, back to the story. A short time later, legendary artist Ivan Earle began working on concept art for the walkthrough in the form of dioramas. The job of interpreting and reproducing his work was up to artist and Imagineer Ken Anderson. He would also be the one to bring the artwork to three-dimensional life through a series of displays that would primarily consist of plywood cutouts. Since the castle had very limited space, the team would use forced perspective to create a sense of depth when looking at them from a direct angle. Some of the scenes had as many as fifty separate flats to create this very convincing illusion. Imagineers also implemented movement, air jets, fake fire effects, and Pepper’s Ghost, serving as a foundation of sorts for the effects of future attractions.
(Footage from the Disneyland show.)
DISNEY The symbol of this enchanted land - indeed, of Disneyland itself - is Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.
MARK To house the walkthrough, the exterior of the castle would see quite a few changes, including a new entrance into the shops, which were reduced in size to fit the new stairwells. Initially, part of the attraction would have let visitors onto the balcony to view knights that had fallen asleep, so this middle portion of the castle was enclosed, and the two balcony entrances were given curtains. The idea was eventually scrapped, but the enclosed middle portion, as well as the later enclosed left balcony entrance, would be used for a special part of the walkthrough. But the balcony would still get some use, as princesses, celebrities, and Cast Members would occasionally wave down to visitors.
The grand opening for the walkthrough was held on April 28th, 1957, and was attended by Walt Disney himself and the now grown-up Shirley Temple Black. Of course, they’d met for the first time at the 11th Annual Academy Awards in 1939, and had stayed close over the years. In front of a captivated audience, she told the story of Sleeping Beauty and assisted Walt in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. And finally, the door many had longed to enter was the official entrance into the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough.
SOUND CLIP FROM SLEEPING BEAUTY “And our story begins on that most joyful day.”
CHORUS On that joyful day
(From this point, footage of the walkthrough is shown dual-screen, with the virtual DVD walkthrough the right and a mixture of photographs and concept art on the left. Occasionally, it’ll switch back to single screen when discussing a narrower detail.)
MARK Entering the castle, and after reading the introduction to the story, you would climb up a dimly lit staircase to the first floor of the attraction. The first three diorama scenes were at this level, with the burning of the spinning wheels, the fairies watching over the princess, and the curse coming to pass.
From there, you climbed up the stairs to the second level, with Scenes 4-6. The first was the main hall, where the kingdom was deep asleep, followed by Princess Aurora under the curse in her sanctuary. This scene in particular was featured in the only known publicity photo taken actually inside the attraction.
You’d find the sixth scene after going through a doorway titled “Meet Maleficent’s Demons,” and were actually three separate displays that, for many years, were simple known as ‘The Mystery Scenes.’ As you remember earlier, I mentioned the enclosure of the middle section of the castle and left balcony entrance, as these modifications were done specifically for these scenes…but I’m gonna skip past the first display, and you’ll see why in a minute. For the second display, you’d peek through a keyhole and see Maleficent’s evil goons blinking back at you. The illusion was achieved using two small mirrors on the figures, which reflected the eyes of whoever was looking through. The third display used a similar effect, only this time, the entire room seemed to be filled with the blinking eyes of the goons. Now the reason, I skipped past the first one is because the virtual walkthrough seems to have accidentally left it out, as inside the first scene was a single blinking goon that set up the second scene with two goons and the third with all of the eyes.
Down a flight of stairs and leading back to the first floor was the seventh scene, which showed Maleficent deploying her evil minions. Down another flight of stairs led to a seemingly bottomless pit that was achieved with a series of mirrors, but this also featured an echo chamber. Using special recording devices and playback mechanisms, visitors shout and hear their voices reflected back in a continuous echo.
Further in the hall, you came to the final two scenes. First was Maleficent in her dungeon - and though it wasn’t shown in the virtual walkthrough seen here, the scene featured a hanging skeleton prop from above. Then came the final scene, utilizing Pepper’s Ghost, in which countless spinning wheels had been set on fire. As you made your way to the attraction’s exit, you would suddenly see the shadow of Maleficent appear on the wall with a terrifying laugh and a clash of lightning.
And thus concludes the original version of the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough. Now, I can already sense a few of you heading towards the comments to ask why I didn’t talk about the true love’s first kiss scene, but this wasn’t actually a part of the original version. After the attraction opened, Walt realized it was a bit too dark and lacked a happy ending, so going back to Ivan Earle’s original concept art, the scene was included around six weeks later.
And though the walkthrough gained a scene, it wasn’t long before it lost a few. Visitors spent so much time mesmerized by the scenes featuring the blinking eyes that the walkthrough became more of a long, backed-up queue…so within a few years, this was blocked off to the public. Another lost part of the walkthrough was the shadow of Maleficent, as it supposedly terrified children and they refused to round the corner.
In its early years, the walkthrough was very popular, and for a time, you could even order your own Sleeping Beauty Castle through Hills Bros. Coffee. The walkthrough was also a pretty unique way to view a number of sequences that would appear differently - or not at all - when the film debuted in 1959. The downside of this was that when the film did release, many went in expecting to see the more iconic scenes from the movie.
By the late ‘70s, Disney executives felt the walkthrough was becoming outdated, and also wanted to fix the narrative to closer match the film. So it was decided to give the dioramas an update, but the direction they chose was to more closely resemble the new displays outside Main Street’s Emporium. The end result was…you’ll see for yourself.
(1970s commercial)
ANNOUNCER Disneyland’s most recognizable landmark is Sleeping Beauty Castle, entrance to Fantasyland. Here, the realm of storybook characters comes to life.
MARK From the very moment you set foot in the new walkthrough, it was clear the changes were drastic. Much like the film, the first display opened with the kingdom on their way to the castle to celebrate the birth of the princess. This was followed by the Queen (Maleficent) arriving at the castle and delivering the curse upon Aurora. The third display was one of the only scenes that would reappear from the original, in which all the spinning wheels in the kingdom had been set on fire.
This was followed by the fairies sending the princess out into the forest, giving her a very awkward wave goodbye. From there, you came to the iconic dance with the imaginary prince. Stare at the scene long enough and you’ll notice Prince Erik (sic) spying on her through the bushes. Not creepy at all. From here, you’d find Maleficent in her dungeon with her minions, then a scene featuring the princess following the strange lights to her inevitable fate.
Then came a display showing the iconic battle between the prince and the dragon, which actually paid tribute to an unused concept by Ivan Earle for the original version. After this came the second display carried over from the original, featuring true love’s kiss. (Clip of the diorama’s slow motion.) Any second now. Any second. They should have called this true love’s slowest kiss. (The Prince finally reaches Aurora.) There you go. The walkthrough concluded with the iconic ending from Sleeping Beauty, where the fairies argue over which color the princess’ dress should be
(Clip from the movie.)
FLORA Pink!
MERRYWEATHER Blue!
MARK While the updated scenes made for a more cohesive narrative experience, many felt some of the magic was lost, and it was often referred to as ‘the Barbie doll version.’
However, now comes the most controversial and much-debated aspect of this story. On October 7th, 2001, the Sleeping Beauty Castle was suddenly closed without notice for a supposed refurbishment. But it wasn’t long before this ‘refurbishment’ became an unofficial closure, and it’s believed around 2004, the attraction was mostly gutted, as several of the original figures were used in a diorama on Main Street. So…what happened?
(Clip from a documentary.)
IMAGINEER In 2001, we took a long, hard look at it, and we said, “Gee, you know, this doesn’t live up to what people remember in the movie. We probably maybe want to let it go to sleep like Sleeping Beauty did for a few years…maybe, hopefully, to awaken.”
MARK While this explanation was also confirmed by a Disney spokesperson, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t talk about the unofficial side of the story. But I want to make clear this is all pure speculation.
(Cue X-Files theme.)
According to these sources, in the early 1990s, Disney executives wanted to close the walkthrough for good due to its low capacity and attendance numbers. They actually did close the attraction in October of 1992; however, this was met with major protest, and was quickly reopened. By the late 1990s, it was becoming clear that a major refurbishment was needed, both in terms of updated show scenes and some infrastructure that was allegedly in a state of disrepair. But then came the tragic events of September 11th, and the walkthrough closed just 27 days later.
The common explanation from insiders revolved around safety concerns as a potential future target. The problem with that theory is that Magic Kingdom’s castle never saw the same treatment despite having a full-service restaurant on the inside. But unlike Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, Cinderella’s Castle was actually profitable. I don’t want to get too old tin-foil-hat conspiracy theorist on you, so I’ll let you come up with your own conclusion…but suffice to say, many believe Disney executives at the time wanted to close attraction anyway, so they used safety concerns as a scapegoat.
(Clip from Monsters, Inc.)
MIKE It never would have gotten out if you hadn’t been cheating last night!
RANDALL Cheating?! I… Cheating. Right.
MARK Regardless of the true reason behind its closure, the walkthrough was abandoned and off-limits for almost a decade, leaving many to wonder if it would ever reopen. However, due to the passionate efforts of Imagineers like Tony Baxter, after months of reports and speculation, in 2007 Disney officially announced the walkthrough would, in fact, return. And on November 27th, 2008, the day many of the fans had been waiting for finally came. The walkthrough was reopened.
The reimagined experience was met with unanimous praise, as it both paid tribute to the original dioramas while at the same time bringing them to life with incredible illusions and top-notch Imagineering. The update even saw the return of the lone, abandoned keyhole scenes featuring the goons…though obviously, this version was quite different. There’s actually only one scene in the entire attraction that was kept from the 1977 version: disregarding the burning wheels display for the iconic dragon duel. The true love’s kiss scene was also faithfully recreated from the original, and the shadow of Maleficent was reinstated back into the attraction.
One of my favorite aspects of the reopening was the reveal of props that were discovered from the original 1957 version. In the ‘90s, a letter was published to E-Ticket Magazine from a Cast Member who’d found the original Maleficent figure in the back of one of the displays. Another later wrote in having discovered the goons, and provided a photo as proof - which, at the time, was the only public image of these figures. With the reopening came a display of these remarkable pieces of attraction history…minus the first goon, who still remains missing. So at the end of the day, just like a fairy tale, the story of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle Walkthrough has a happy ending after all.
But what isn’t a fairy tale is being able to have your favorite signs of the parks in your own home, like this one I recently got from the Ye Olde Proppe Shoppe, and now proudly hang above the entrance into the my office. It really puts me in the mood for exploring theme park subjects. I know when you check out all the options they have, you’ll find something you have to get for yourself. So use my code, YESTERFREESHP, or click on the link in the description to get free shipping.
As always, thank you so much for watching, and a special thanks to Jack from Park Ride History and Dan from Disney Dan for helping me with that little skit you saw earlier. Also, make sure to check out the new Yesterworld Discord. And I’ll see you next time on Yesterworld!