I've talked about this in other threads, but I will add some additional thoughts here. The "Winter Castle," as it is known during the holiday season, is really comprised of 2 elements: fake snow covering the top of it, and icicle lights at night. The icicle lights at night had already begun to become less sparkly and glow-y in the last year or two. In other words, the icicle lights of 2013 and beyond did not look like the lights of 2012 and prior. There was a certain glow that was missing, and it just was not as spectacular (still beautiful, though).
The one reason why I think there will be a Winter Castle of some sort -- a bit different/enhanced from just the "Diamond" version there now -- is that the DLR website still mentions it:
"Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle: Marvel at Aurora’s majestic, snow-capped castle glistening with snow, ice and 80,000 LED lights—the perfect photo-op backdrop!"
Generally, when DLR wants people to forget that something ever existed because it's not coming back this year (as in the case of Believe in Holiday Magic fireworks), or if they are not 100% certain it will be back, they will remove any mention of it from their website.
The fact that the Winter Castle is still mentioned on the DLR site and has not vanished is a good sign that it could be 'winter-fied' in some way. Maybe they can add some extra lights to it for more of an icicle effect. Or maybe they will find some way to slap that fake snow on it without messing up the Diamond-ish décor. I think it could be a more subdued version of the Winter Castle, but I believe that they will do something to it to make it seem wintry in some way.
Stay tuned to the
Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread, for news as it comes in, rumors, speculation, etc -
http://www.disboards.com/threads/di...d-5-awaiting-details-for-2015.3358217/page-39