When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true. When Walt Disney first envisioned Disneyland, it was going to go on a little lot just behind the Disney Studios in Burbank, CA. In his initial plans, the park would have been a cute little theme park with a few attractions, but Walt didn’t stop there. He wanted a full size train, lots of attractions for the whole family to enjoy and most of all, he wanted a castle. It was then that Walt realized this piece of land would not be large enough for his dream and went in search for the perfect location, which he found in Anaheim.

Sleeping Beauty Castle was actually established long before Disneyland or even the animated feature in which it was named after. The castle began as part of the opening titles for the Disneyland TV series in 1954 and “welcomed” viewers to various Disney TV shows, along with Tinker Bell.

In the early design stages of Disneyland, it was decided that a castle would be the perfect gateway to Fantasyland and would also act as the central visual icon or “anchor” for the park making it the centerpiece of Disneyland. It was here that one of Disney’s most enduring symbols was born and the tradition of making a castle the focal point of each Magic Kingdom around the world.

Sleeping Beauty Castle is the smallest of all the Disney castles, perfectly matching the intimate scale of Disneyland, however, the Castle appears much taller than its 77-foot height. When Walt Disney built Disneyland, he was used to doing movies so the park has a lot of movies techniques used. One of these was the use of a movie set-building technique called “forced perspective”. The walls and battlements are constructed of “stones” sculpted in graduated sizes from large ones at the foundation to small ones at the turrets. This technique tricks the eyes into thinking the structure is actually much larger.

Inspired by Neuschwanstein, King Ludwin II’s royal castle in Germany, Sleeping Beauty Castle has many unique features that make it unique. Sharp eyes will notice small details such as the Disney family crest above the entrance, 22-karat gold-leafing adorning the spires, “squirrel” water spouts inspired by Princess Aurora’s woodland friends, and hand-rendered fresco paintings depicting scenes from Sleeping Beauty. On nice days, you can see a couple swans enjoying a graceful swim in the moat around the castle.

Additional Trivia and Fun Facts

• The drawbridge is an actual working drawbridge, although it has only been used twice. Once on opening day and then again for the redesign of Fantasyland.
• One of the gold leafing on the castle spires has been left undone. Many believe that Walt did this on purpose so that Disneyland will never be completed, as Walt wanted it.
• The top of the castle is actually backwards. When building a castle, it was customary to put the prettier side of the castle facing inward toward the castle courtyard. One day when Walt Disney walked past the model for Sleeping Beauty Castle, he like the back better in the front and asked that it be turned around. Because Walt Disney liked it that way better, that’s how it stayed… backwards!