Poll: Disneyland has outgrown Sleeping Beauty Castle

Disneyland has outgrown Sleeping Beauty Castle

  • Yes

    Votes: 48 30.0%

  • No

    Votes: 112 70.0%
  • Total voters
    160
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland are five parks with only two good castle designs between them, Cinderella Castle and Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant. The Chinese castles are hardly something to envy with Enchanted Storybook Castle being particularly emblematic of all that is wrong with Disney’s contemporary approach to theme parks.
 
eddie104

eddie104

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland are five parks with only two good castle designs between them, Cinderella Castle and Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant. The Chinese castles are hardly something to envy with Enchanted Storybook Castle being particularly emblematic of all that is wrong with Disney’s contemporary approach to theme parks.
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Well even though the Shanghai castle might not that special to you overall it is still unique to that park.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
eddie104 said:
Well even though the Shanghai castle might not that special to you overall it is still unique to that park.
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Unique is less important than having a good design. Enchanted Storybook Castle is a hulking mass with a smorgasbord of ornament glued onto it. Tokyo Disneyland would not be improved by throwing a bunch of crap onto Cinderella Castle.
 
shortstop

shortstop

Well-Known Member
Paris’s castle is beautiful. It wasn’t as big in person as I expected it to be, but I didn’t mind because it didn’t need to be.

There’s also nothing wrong with Cinderella Castle being so large. I disagree that its size means it is soulless or has no charm. It would be grossly out of place in DL but fits perfectly in MK where they utilized a much different design philosophy.
 
Stevek

Stevek

Well-Known Member
shortstop said:
Paris’s castle is beautiful. It wasn’t as big in person as I expected it to be, but I didn’t mind because it didn’t need to be.

There’s also nothing wrong with Cinderella Castle being so large. I disagree that its size means it is soulless or has no charm. It would be grossly out of place in DL but fits perfectly in MK where they utilized a much different design philosophy.
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Agreed. Cinderella Castle in DL would look completely out of place IMO.
 
daringstoic

daringstoic

Active Member
DL's castle is totally underwhelming and I agree with the OP. I didn't notice it as much on my first visit, but I was just there on Sunday only 8 days after being at the MK and just...yeah, it's lame. Sorry purists, but you can barely see it from Main Street and the trees in the hub are almost taller than it now. I tried to take a photo from my usual Castle shot spot and it was completely hidden behind the trees. I thought it was odd as I walked up Main Street that there weren't any Photopass photographers lining up, but it's because you can't even see the castle from there. There's no "wow moment" as you step through the train station and get a full view of the castle for the first time like the MK and DLP have. There are also barely any good fireworks viewing spots, and with the additions of projections, the tiny castle is extremely limiting in terms of the nighttime shows they can do. I'd love to see them do a hub redesign similar to what they did at the MK to fit more people in and make the castle a little more impressive.
 
eddie104

eddie104

Well-Known Member
shortstop said:
Paris’s castle is beautiful. It wasn’t as big in person as I expected it to be, but I didn’t mind because it didn’t need to be.

There’s also nothing wrong with Cinderella Castle being so large. I disagree that its size means it is soulless or has no charm. It would be grossly out of place in DL but fits perfectly in MK where they utilized a much different design philosophy.
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I think you may have upset the DL posters but yes I totally agree with you. MK is my home park but I love the Paris castle a little more because it is just so beautiful with the way it blends into the surroundings of the rest of the park.
 
shortstop

shortstop

Well-Known Member
eddie104 said:
I think you may have upset the DL posters but yes I totally agree with you. MK is my home park but I love the Paris castle a little more because it is just so beautiful with the way it blends into the surroundings of the rest of the park.
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Meh, I won’t weigh in on the DL vs WDW fan debate. I grew up more of a WDW regular but have now become more of a DL regular, so I empathize with both sides of the aisle, so to speak.

Agreed on Paris though. Beautiful castle with beautiful landscaping. Not to mention the dragon, and no ugly stage out in front (looking at you, MK).
 
nevol

nevol

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
daringstoic said:
DL's castle is totally underwhelming and I agree with the OP. I didn't notice it as much on my first visit, but I was just there on Sunday only 8 days after being at the MK and just...yeah, it's lame. Sorry purists, but you can barely see it from Main Street and the trees in the hub are almost taller than it now. I tried to take a photo from my usual Castle shot spot and it was completely hidden behind the trees. I thought it was odd as I walked up Main Street that there weren't any Photopass photographers lining up, but it's because you can't even see the castle from there. There's no "wow moment" as you step through the train station and get a full view of the castle for the first time like the MK and DLP have. There are also barely any good fireworks viewing spots, and with the additions of projections, the tiny castle is extremely limiting in terms of the nighttime shows they can do. I'd love to see them do a hub redesign similar to what they did at the MK to fit more people in and make the castle a little more impressive.
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Good point. It is interesting walking through the hub at disneyland and seeing that most people are not even looking at the castle. There might be a dozen people at a time out of a thousand stopping for photos. At Disneyland Paris, everybody is stopping for pictures. Disneyland paris doesn't need as many rides, because the castle and leisurely environments is worth the price of admission. Improve guest comfort at disneyland, improve the castle (sorry!) and couple that with the best magic kingdom overall and you would certainly have the best theme park on the planet.
 
M

mlayton144

Well-Known Member
The whole number of rides argument is a little juvenile , If Disneyland didn’t have so many rides and history , there were be absolutely no point in even going there. Silly to even compare to Florida as one is mostly a locals killing a day or weekend destination and the other is a place most people plan whole vacations around

All that being said , Horrible idea changing the castle as it would be blasphemous to destroy one of the few remaining remnants of what started it all
 
nevol

nevol

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
mlayton144 said:
The whole number of rides argument is a little juvenile , If Disneyland didn’t have so many rides and history , there were be absolutely no point in even going there. Silly to even compare to Florida as one is mostly a locals killing a day or weekend destination and the other is a place most people plan whole vacations around

All that being said , Horrible idea changing the castle as it would be blasphemous to destroy one of the few remaining remnants of what started it all
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I am always brought back to the point that St. Peter's Basilica/The Vatican was relocated, rebuilt, added on to. And that nations' capitals move throughout history.

If the castle is respectfully left alone, then the company has to start to treat the rest of the resort with more respect. As walt's original, the resort is hardly treated or feels like a global flagship. The late 90s/early 2000s resort expansion and DCA, and everything from the arrival sequence at Mickey and Friends up to the esplanade, is blatantly disrespectful to guests and the legacy and significance of disneyland, diluting both.
 
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Practical Pig

Practical Pig

Well-Known Member
Earlier, I said I think a slightly taller castle would be fine, providing the original had to be replaced for whatever reason. But really, DL's castle, with it's shortcomings, is my favorite castle of the lot. Some of that is pure nostalgia, but I also appreciate that it is the castle most firmly rooted in real-world architecture (thanks Neuschwanstein) while still expressing a transporting fairy-tale whimsy. In a hypothetical reconstruction, the structure above the battlements could easily be stretched upwards twelve or fifteen feet increasing it's visual impact from the first-impression Main Street view while still respecting it's iconic and historic integrity.

The others, save Hong Kong's original hollow copy and Shanghai's size-obsessed Princess Prison, are fantastic and fantastical expression of fairy-tale imagination. I also get the appeal of that. Cinderella's Castle in WDW is great for WDW. Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant in France is stunning in how much fairy-tale whimsy was packed into that, and it suits the park perfectly. But they come from a different design philosophy than Anaheim's original, and the original philosophy is no less wonderful now than when it was first conceived. The expression of it could be a smidge stronger, but it doesn't need re-inventing.

And don't get me started on the girth vs. height competition going on in Asia.
 
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Disneysea05

Disneysea05

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
nevol said:
It looks larger in these images than it does today. Tree growth?
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It’s remarkable how much of a difference the size of trees make.

Love the castle like it is but I do wish the view down Main Street could look like this again.
9E5F375A-601A-41F7-8B5E-F09CB90499FD.jpeg
 

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