Rumor that drawbridge cant be raised

[Indiana Scott]

I don't know if it was discussed here but over on MC there was a panicky thread about how the new railings on the castle drawbridge would keep it from ever being raised again.
I'm glad to report that during our trip last week I was able to take a close look at the bridge and the railings are indeed removable.

Each post has a 3" steel dowel coming out of the bottom of it. Then there's a corresponding hole drilled into the bridge deck. Here you can see the hole and in person if the light is bright enough, you can see the steel dowel.


The underside of the bridge has a steel sleeve that is bolted to it - this receives the posts dowel. At the bottom of the sleeve is a bolt that secures the dowel from the fence post.
Hard to see in this pic but you can just make out these sleeves.


I think the thing that threw some people is that the forward most post on each side has some mortar applied to secure the post since it is set in stone and there's no access to the bottom of it to install the sleeve. It makes the post look permanent but could be removed in minutes.



So I'm happy to say this rumor is debunked. I think the railings could easily be removed in less than an hour.

Scott

 

[DharmaLou]

That's pretty cool - I wonder if they'll ever have occasion to have to raise it again. It's been a long time!

 

[grnflash]

I think it's a shame though that they removed the alcove benches on the bridge. It's the little things like this that make DL so immersively magical to me. I'm just glad that I made my kid sit for some photos on the bridge seats when we were there in June.

 

[Indiana Scott]

They raised it on the 50th anniversary so maybe they'll raise it again on big anniversaries. I dunno.

 

[Jerryp49]

Great catch with the photos. It was also rumored that the mechanism to raise the bridge was removed or neutered in 2005 during the 50th refurb.

 

[Fantaluminishes]

They raised it on the 50th anniversary so maybe they'll raise it again on big anniversaries. I dunno.

The last time the drawbridge was raised was for the "New Fantasyland" renovation. It was lowered for the re-opening in 1983. As far as I know, this was the only time the drawbridge was raised and lowered since opening day.