Cinderella's suite life
No glass slipper needed to live fairy tale for a night
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 25, 2007 Video
Since it began its "Year of a Million Dreams" in October, Walt Disney World has been giving away vacations, dinners and mouse-ear hats, letting families have the Magic Kingdom to themselves for a morning, or seats in parade floats, or just little moments of stardom.
But for many Disney fans, the centerpiece, the highlight -- and the most Disney of dreams in the company's big, 15-months-long promotional campaign -- begins today.
For every night through the rest of the year, someone will get picked to sleep in Cinderella Castle.
The Sentinel got an advance look Wednesday at the castle's new guest suite. The three rooms blend 17th-century decor and 21st-century amenities with a 1950 movie.
"People just relate the castle with Disney magic. It's so emblematic," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. "The notion that 'I could actually spend the night in Cinderella Castle' is so special to people. I've announced this to audiences multiple times. . . . Always spontaneous applause."
As Disney and other tourist resorts enter 2007, they do so with uncertainty in the wavering tourism economy beset with nervous international travelers and domestic visitors worried about gas prices and weather.
Walt Disney World is opening a handful of new shows and attractions (Finding Nemo -- The Musical had its official premiere Wednesday night) that visitors expect. But it's the notion of Disney dream fulfillment that's creating buzz, and it's clearly showing up in sales and bookings, Rasulo said.
Such dreams have included big and small giveaways, offered to randomly selected guests or write-in entrants. Far more often, they feature simpler, intimate moments arranged spontaneously by park employees, and those have been just as effective, Rasulo said.
On Wednesday, for example, bakers at Magic Kingdom's Main Street Confectionery invited Tiffany and Savannah Hemond, twin 12-year-old daughters of Larry and Sue Hemond of Maine, to dress up in aprons and help make sweets while other customers watched.
"Things small and large have had enormous responses," Rasulo said. "We are just thrilled with how the dreammakers' spontaneous events have been going. We're thrilled with what we're seeing in Internet buzz, sales and bookings."
Nothing has caused more buzz than the Cinderella Castle suite. People have always wanted to sleep there, long before the Year of a Million Dreams, said Eric Jacobson, senior vice president of creative development for Walt Disney Imagineering, the company that designs Disney attractions.
When Walt Disney World was being planned, Walt and Roy Disney had envisioned a family apartment in the castle. But while the space was carved out midway up the castle, the apartment was never built. Disney World opened in 1971, and almost from the beginning, Disney planners talked about creating a place there for guests, Jacobson said.
"The time was right to make it happen. Everybody got together on our team and said, 'Let's do the suite! It's such a great thing for our guests to talk about,' " Jacobson said. "The idea of staying in the Magic Kingdom in the castle is the most requested dream by our guests. If you say, 'If you could do anything you want at Walt Disney World, what would it be?' It's 'Stay in the castle.' "
For seven months, Jacobson's team of engineers, designers, artists and craftsmen and Walt Disney World construction workers have been trying to figure out what Cinderella's guest rooms might be like, then building them.
Now each day an eligible Walt Disney World guest will be selected randomly at a park or Downtown Disney by early afternoon, and he or she will be invited to stay in the castle with up to five family members or friends. The Disney staff will help them move in from wherever they are staying.
The celebration ends Dec. 31. Disney officials say they have not decided what they will do with the rooms after that.
Starting today, visitors will arrive by slipping through a door in the castle breezeway. An elevator takes them to the third floor, opening to a richly paneled foyer decorated with stained glass, a mosaic floor, framed, original Cinderella movie concept art by renowned Disney artist Mary Blair, and a glass display case containing a single glass slipper. Nearby, a 24-hour concierge will be on hand to take care of their every need.
Like the foyer, the entire 650-square-foot, three-room suite (roughly the size of many business hotel suites) is a mix of 17th-century French luxury, 21st-century conveniences, and 1950s-era Cinderella movie motifs.
"That was the biggest challenge, blending the 17th century with 21st-century amenities, and still keeping true to our medieval castle," said the project's interior designer, Cathy Carverof Imagineering.
The two queen-size beds, tables, wardrobes, chairs and other furnishings are either antiques, with flourishes such as 24-karat gold inlays, or, as with a sofa bed, made to look like period pieces with custom-made touches. Two framed mirrors -- one in the parlor and one in the bedchamber -- transform themselves, at the touch of a remote button, into 37-inch LCD TVs. The 17th-century desk has inlaid wood and inlaid computer hookups. Bathroom sinks resemble wash basins; faucets resemble handpumps. A waterfall flows into the whirlpool spa tub.
And throughout -- in the art, the stained glass, the carvings, the knick-knacks, -- are little reminders of house mice, the pumpkin carriage, the fairy godmother, the prince and Cinderella from the 1950 movie.
"This is her home. You are now experiencing Cinderella's home. This is her guest suite," Carver said.
Scott Powers can be reached at
spowers@orlandosentinel.com 407-420-5441.
