Rumor has it, Cinderella's Castle is going under renovations ....

[despina]

starting the 13th of Sept, anyone else heard of this???

 

[princessgirl2238]

they'll be taking off the gold details, also it's already under some renivations for the spend the night in cinderella's castle- it won't be anything too bad

 

[despina]

spend the night, what is this??? despina

 

[cstraub]

What is "spend the night in the castle"?

 

[cstraub]

Found it:

It's every little girl's dream come true: spending the night in Cinderella Castle.

Such sleepovers will be part of a "Year of a Million Dreams" national promotion that the Walt Disney Co. announced Wednesday night.

Every day for a year, beginning Oct. 1, a family will be picked to move into the "royal chambers" and spend the night at the Magic Kingdom castle.

The promotion, along with a worldwide advertising campaign called "Where Dreams Come True," is aimed at surprising visitors with previously unimagined experiences, Disney officials said.

"We'll be empowering our cast to basically deliver some once-in-a-lifetime experiences to some of our guests," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

Some people wandering the Disney property will be handed scrolls inviting them to gala balls. Riders on Pirates of the Caribbean might find pirates taking the seats beside them. Others will be handed "Golden Fastpass" tickets that allow them to get into much shorter Fastpass lines at rides all day.

One family even will be picked in the next year to have Magic Kingdom to themselves for a few hours.

The campaigns also will involve a handful of new attractions, including the previously announced "Finding Nemo: the Musical" show at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and a new "The Seas with Nemo and Friends" ride through Living Seas at Epcot. A couple of other rides, such as Space Mountain, are going to get changes.

But the chance to spend the night at Cinderella Castle is sure to get the most attention from little girls and their parents.

"If we came here to Cinderella's Castle, you would meet her," said 7-year-old Adalina Harris of McAllen, Texas, who was visiting the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday with her parents and brother.

Disney lore has it that about 10 stories up from the castle moat, an apartment was built when the castle was opened in 1971. Whether it was intended to be Walt Disney's apartment (he died in 1966) or his brother Roy's, the apartment was never finished and never lived in. Until now.

The winning visitors will be picked at random through a system being developed by consultants, a Disney spokesman said.

The visitors could be picked in the parks, in Disney hotels or even at Downtown Disney, where the general public can wander for free -- just as long as they're on Disney property.

This new campaign comes immediately after Disney's "Happiest Celebration on Earth" promotion for Disneyland's 50th anniversary, which was credited with boosting attendance at Disneyland and Disney World.

"Perhaps this campaign may yield good results as well," said Ady Milman, a business professor at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida.

This year, Disney opened a major attraction -- Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom -- but no major attractions were announced for the coming year.

Instead, Disney will focus on visitor experiences, such as the castle sleepovers.

But why stop with the castle, wondered Ron and Anita Dick of Wichita, Kan. They were visiting Wednesday with their teenage grandchildren, who they said loved Tower of Terror.

"They need to put an apartment there. If they did Tower of Terror, that would interest the teenagers," she said.

Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.

 

[BlindTyldak]

"Spend the night in the castle" is part of the Year of a Million Dreams promotion. Every day someone will be picked to spend a night in a private room in the castle itself.
Edit: or the better explanation.

 

[makinorlando]

What is "spend the night in the castle"?

It is part of the Year of a Million Dreams celebreation that is starting in October. Lucky families will have this "wish" bestowed upon them.....

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/Million-Dreams.htm

 

[brock]

Pick me! Pick me!!
How awesome is that?!

 

[esdras]

I like the Tower of Terror idea - a lot of people would go for that.

Another, of course, might be the Haunted Mansion.

Castle, ToT and HM - probably the top three. I can't immediately think of another that would work really well.

It's too bad they didn't do that - three families each day could have had a "one in a million" experience.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

I can't wait to see Cinderellas Castle back to normal!

 

[safetymom]

Pics of crane in place beside castle at MK

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=1770063
They are in Castle Crane Aug 06

They moved the crane in beside the castle before the park opened this morning. I went over to take pictures to show everyone the castle is not blocked by the crane. You have to look really hard to see it is there.

No walls around the front of the castle. You can still walk through the castle. There is a wall around the crane at the back of the castle and the sidewalk is blocked off by the wishing well.

 

[TLHB70]

I would love to spend the night in the castle! Oh, how I wish.........

 

[praisehim5]

The last time we were there the crane was in front of the castle getting read for this last time. Now the crane is taking it down. I have a crane in last times pictures and now a crane for this one. I for one would like to see the castle just as it is, with out the crane.

 

[frayedend]

Last week my DW said "hey look up there, are those people?" I looked up at the castle (which my two boys call Mickey's castle, and thanks to all the nice folks who didn't correct them last week every time they saw "mickey's castle")
and two men in construction gear were entering a doorway fairly high up the back side of the castle. So yes, it seems they are working on the apartment.

 

[Jennasis]

If I remember correctly, the apartment renovations won't be complete or ready for occupancy until mid-December. Bummer, since my trip is the beginning of November.

 

[dpic]

I can hear it now--"we spent the night in the castle, and all you heard were toilets flushing all night long"...."The castle isn't as magical as it's cracked up to be--I saw some wallpaper peeling, They really need to renovate that place."..."We couldn't get a wink of sleep. We get to bed early, and first there were loud fireworks, next a couple of mice started talking loud in the next room, then some fairy ran through our room and jumped out the window. Finally, just as we got to sleep near morning all these kids started laughing and yelling outside our window! We'll never stay in this place again! Next time, we're off-site!"

 

[Dan Murphy]

I can't wait to see Cinderellas Castle back to normal!

 

[Lesley]

Hmmm...I really like the gold accents, but the plaque in the front doesn't do it for me so much. I'll miss the former but not the latter. But, hey, seriously, it wasn't a big birthday cake or anything (almost glad to have missed that one...)

I guess we'll have to try to get castle pics before the 13th. Not that I don't have about 300,000 pics of the castle already (and at least 20 of how it is now....).

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I will miss the gold trim and characters on the castle, but certainly not the big old-lady broach that was pinned on the front of the castle during HCOE. I was looking at a video we had made of CSC a couple of years ago and it seemed kind of weird seeing the castle NOT decorated.

 

[BamaFan121s]

We get to bed early, and first there were loud fireworks, next a couple of mice started talking loud in the next room, then some fairy ran through our room and jumped out the window. Finally, just as we got to sleep near morning all these kids started laughing and yelling outside our window! We'll never stay in this place again! Next time, we're off-site!"

I literally just spit Diet Pepsi on my keyboard. I think some came out my nose too.