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INTRODUCTION

Sleeping Beauty Castle, the entrance to Disneyland's Fantasyland, lies at the end of Main Street. This symbol of Disneyland, with its towers and turrets and flying pennants, is a true fairytale castle. Take a walk through the castle and relive the story of Sleeping Beauty, presented in a series of vibrant animated scenes.

ATTRACTION

Sleeping Beauty Castle opened on Disneyland's Opening Day, July 17, 1955. The neo-romantic castle, which has become a beloved symbol of Disneyland, was inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany and designed by Imagineer Herb Ryman. The castle has many interesting architectural details, including water spouts shaped like squirrels and the Disney family coat of arms above the entrance.

The working drawbridge has only been publicly lowered twice: once when the park opened in 1955, and again when Fantasyland was rededicated in 1983. It's quite common to see swans and ducks swimming serenely in the moat.

The Castle Walkthrough attraction tells the story of Sleeping Beauty in a series of brightly illustrated storybook pages and animated 3-D window scenes inside the castle. Guests enter a doorway on the back side of the castle, and proceed up the stairs and through the passageways. Along the way there are windows that look into rooms where scenes from the the movie are portrayed. Most scenes contain some additional special effects.

The 77-foot castle was extensively decorated for Disneyland's 50th Anniversary celebration. Banners and tapestries draped the towers and walls, pennants flew from the towers, and five elegant crowns adorned the turrets. Golden accents abounded, from the castle railings to the parapets, the bejeweled crowns themselves, and the golden "hidden Mickey 50" above the castle's entry. And with the addition of high-tech lighting and projection systems, the castle has become an animated backdrop for Disneyland's firework spectactulars as amazing choreographed lighting effects illuminate the castle and images of stars, flying atoms or even hitchhiking ghosts are projected on its walls.

During the holidays, patches of snow adorn the castle's turrets as it becomes Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle. At night thousands of LED lights transform it into an ice palace covered with glistening snow and icicles. During several nightly light shows the ice shimmers and shines with additional lighting and color effects.