1997's Cinderella Cake Castle

[tink65]

1997 was the first visit for us! Saw the castle just like a that! I can remember standing on Main Street on our last day and telling DH that while I thought the castle was pretty I would love to come back and see it looking "normal". Never did I imagine it would become an annual (and some years semi-annual) trip!

 

[Clever Name]

Stitch's Castle was better!

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

Some food for thought on the cake (no pun intended)...Many people complained about the cake and asked WHY they would do that to the castle. The reason behind it was rather simple. When they asked hundreds of children to draw a picture of how they should celebrate Walt Disney World's birthday almost all of them included a giant cake. The entire thing is modeled off of those children's drawing.

It may not make you like the cake anymore but at least you can know why Disney decided to do it that way. =/

I guess that explains why it looked like a crappy grade school art project, or that a gaggle of snot-nosers binged on sweets then puked all over the castle.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

I hated that debacle. I tolerate the Hat, but this cake (and the awful Stitch TP that of followed a few years later) was terrible.

I'm frankly shocked there are actually people who liked it.

 

[copcarguyp71]

I hated it simply for the fact that 1996 was our first anniversary and my wife's first visit to the world. In the days before the internet nobody really knew everything that was happening or promotions that were occurring. We walked through the entryway under Main Street Station and instead of me being able to see my wife partake of the castle for the first time in her life there sat the cakestle pink nightmare.

Under different circumstances it may have been more tolerable but it was rather anticlimactic for us on that trip.

 

[KirstyLou]

I was 7 and got to see the cake like that. Appreciate the scale of the project and tbh at that age I thought it was pretty cool. But I prefer the castle as is. I'm sure I am about to open a can of worms here, but why do people hate mickey's hat in HS?

 

[Seabasealpha1]

The good news is that I perceive TDO to be too cheap to do this again...not to mention, the 90's were an interesting time when more cute-sy things like this flew better. I look on this like I look on watching episodes of "Full House".

It's nostalgic, it was cool then, but looking back...ew.

P.S.-I still love full house...but I'll be darned if that show doesn't make me cringe at least a few times with every re-run episode...

 

[ABQ]

Necropost, not sure why this thread was resurrected today as the first post of the day makes no sense.

 

[steviej]

I never saw it in person since my first trip was 98. Have to say, I'm glad I never saw it cause it looks about as good as my sister in law can cook.

I will say this though, a bulk of us here are blessed to have gone and will continue to go to WDW multiple times.

What about the people who can only afford to go once in their life? The # 1 thing Mom and Dad were probably looking forward to was seeing the kids faces when they saw that castle for the first time and instead they get stuck with that blob of :-x

 

[Disney Shib]

Couldn't have been that bad if people are still talking about it 15 years later lol.

 

[durangojim]

We actually thought it was unique and creative. I don't understand why so many people were up in arms about it. The only bummer is the first time I took my girlfriend (now wife) to WDW, half of the castle was pink because it was 1996 and they were getting ready for the cake.

 

[danyoung56]

'm sure I am about to open a can of worms here, but why do people hate mickey's hat in HS?

Most people had nothing against the hat itself, but against the placement. Here you have a beautiful structure like the Chinese Theater, and you cover it up with a huge cartoon hat. Very bad form, Disney, and very nice now to see the theater again.

 

[mergatroid]

I think that little kids would have absolutely loved it. How many times will they get to see a castle decorated as a cake right there in front of them? As an adult I found it less attractive that way but let's remember that Disney is a family park and caters to all ages. It's noticeable on here for instance where most of us I assume are adults, that when a kiddies attraction is added a lot of posters complain because it does nothing for them. Sometimes things are done that are more targeted at a particular age group and I'm guessing the castle cake was one of those occasions?

As an aside, I'd love to see any pictures of the 'cake' being constructed?

 

[danyoung56]

The problem I had with the cake was that it took away an important icon in the castle. The cake was very well done, and was very impressive. But now this cake thing was the centerpiece of the MK, not the castle we've all come to expect over the years. If there was some way that they could have done a huge cake castle thing at the entryway, I'd have been all for it.

 

[copcarguyp71]

Couldn't have been that bad if people are still talking about it 15 years later lol.

People still talk about the Edsel and Billy Beer too...notoriety does not equal quality LOL

 

[MotherOfBirds]

I was just a kid during the cake castle, so I have rosier memories of it than most. I'm not anxious for a reprisal, though.

 

[BAChicagoGal]

My very first trip to WDW was in 1997, when the castle was a cake. My grandson was 4 years old at the time. We did not make it back to WDW, until 2003. When I asked, my then 10 year old grandson, if he wanted to go to Magic Kingdom with me, and mom, he kept saying, "No". I finally, asked him why, and he said with a straight face, "Because, Grandma, the castle isn't a cake anymore".

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

My first trip that I can actually remember was in February 1997 and I was pretty disappointed because I wanted to see the real castle. I got to go back to WDW only a few years later, and of course love the real thing and much prefer it this way. But I remember adults at the time who had previously been to MK in 1997 saying that they liked the birthday castle because it was a nice change to what they usually saw.