Wandering the World October 28, 2014

The Cake Castle
AllEars® Readers Share Their Photos and Their Opinions

"I loved the Cakestle! I attached a photo of my daughter Kimberly on her first trip to Disney World in October 1996 when she was 6 years old. What wonderful memories!!" – Miriam Horner

"This was taken during a family trip in late Aug ‘96. My then 9yo (middle) daughter is in the foreground. We all HATED it – even my son for whom this was his 1st visit so he hadn't seen the ‘Original'. Just my wife and I went back in Nov for my 50th and still couldn't warm up to it." – Peter


"My family was selected to go on stage to represent 1986, which was the first year we went as a family." – The Links


"I loved the Castle Cake but maybe because I had seen Cinderella's Castle a few years prior in its original Majestic state. I was lucky enough to be working on the College Program the year of the 25th and at the end of the program Disney invited everyone on the College Program to arrive before the park opened to get their picture taken in costume with Mickey in front of the Cake. Each college or university would take a group picture with Mickey but in my case since I was the only one from Butler University it was just me and the Big Cheese!" – Tricia


Submitted by Valarie Cheimis

Castle Cake

Submitted by S. Sullivan

Castle Cake

"I loved the Cakestle, which, at 185-feet tall, was billed at the time as the world's largest birthday cake. Maybe it's because that's how I remember the Castle from my second-ever trip to Disney. There it stood at the end of Main Street, U.S.A., all pink and frosted, with Lifesavers ringing the candle-topped spires and gumdrops dotting the sides. It was so festive, how could you not love it? To me, it was like a Hansel-and-Gretel dream come true, and I thought it celebrated the landmark anniversary in spectacular fashion." – Deb Koma, AllEars® Editor

"I LOVED the cake castle! Do you remember that there was a camera at the train station focused on the Main Street? I watched the live cam a lot, a whole lot. I wished upon a star, we loaded up our four kids(6, 5, 3, and 11 months)and drove from Ohio to Orlando for our first ever trip to Magic Kingdom!" – Andrea Beck

"Since reading Deb Koma's article on the "cakestle" I feel vindicated! It's been nearly 20 years and I'm STILL taking serious heat from other Disney fans about my love of the birthday cake castle. It certainly seemed to bring out a lot of strong negative feelings from some people and I've been subjected to their opinions for a long time. Personally, looking at the cakestle made me feel just like when I was a child and couldn't wait to see what my birthday cake was going to look like and I was never disappointed. That was the feeling I got as an adult staring at that marvelous faux confection! Isn't that what Disney is all about – – bringing out the child in all of us?" — Mary Jo Salerno

"I loved the castle cake! Our kids were early teens and Tweens at the time and Disney Regulars. Everyone loved the candy castle!" – Mary Rudd

"Loved the castle. My children and grandchildren also loved it." – Carol

"The worst thing WDW has ever done. Wasn't expecting the gross looking castle. I was so happy to 'Let it go'." – Cora Lienert

"I was 6 years old. I've seen plenty of pictures of myself and my brother standing in front of that very gaudy castle. To me, though, it was perfect. It was going to be where I lived when I grew up to be a princess. I love that you have written about it! It brings back so many fond memories." – Amanda

"We were there the week a small hurricane came through Florida and some of the decorations were blown off the giant cake castle. We will always love Disney world, regardless of how it is decorated." – Jeanette Lott

"I LOVED THE BIRTHDAY CASTLE! Everything about our trip that year seemed extra magical!" – Debbie Edwards

"I hated it then and still do. It looked cheap and very artificial." – pottsdj

"My wife and I both thought that the castle looked really cool and we knew it wasn't something permanent. We saw it in 1997 when we took my 3 year old daughter to Disney for the first time. She still remembers what it was like to walk around the castle looking like a big birthday cake." – Richard Meyer

"I have to agree with you. Who doesn't love birthday cake?? We loved the Castle decorated for the 25th Anniversary. When my family went it was our first trip to Disney world. We thought the Castle was so cool.I don't understand why people didn't like it. All I can say is I wanted a piece of that cake!" — Tammy

"Wow did that bring back some memories for me – we visited WDW in October 1997 when I'm pleased to say the castle was still a fantastic birthday cake. In fact I got married during our visit at the Polynesian Resort. It was also my 2nd visit to this most magical place on earth and I'm pleased to report that we're heading there again this Christmas (my 6th visit and my granddaughter's 1st visit). I loved the castle like this and have often wondered why nothing like this has been done since." – Louise May

"If you remember they had a show where 25 families (or as many as they could find) to represent each year. Since I had been there in in 1979, my family and I were asked to represent that year! We held a banner with the year 1979 on it. I still have the guest of honor badge with the year 1979 that we were given. It was great fun to be on the castle for the show!!" – ED