Why is Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland When film wasnt even done?

[Carl Aird]

Why is Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland When film wasn't even done?
Why wasn't it Cinderella's castle?
Sleeping Beauty didn't open till 59
Did they plan to have the film coincide with park opening?

 

[plutolovr]

Why wasn't it Cinderella's castle?

Can't answer your question about Sleeping Beauty Castle, but to let you know it's Cinderella Castle, not Cinderella's.

 

[umichigan10]

I think it was built to promote the upcoming film

 

[SueM in MN]

Why is Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland When film wasn't even done?
Why wasn't it Cinderella's castle?
Sleeping Beauty didn't open till 59
Did they plan to have the film coincide with park opening?

[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty_(1959_film)”]Sleeping Beauty started production in 1951,[/URL] so time they spent time promoting Disneyland on the Disney TV show also promoted the movie when the castle was shown.

Cinderella opened in 1950, so by the time Disneyland opened in 1955, the movie had been out for 5 years and was out of circulation. It was re-released in 1957.

I don’t know why the choose to do Sleeping Beauty Castle, rather than Cinderella castle at Disneyland, but it may have been that they thought it would be better to promote a movie that had not come out yet instead of promoting one that was being re-released.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) The Imagineers WERE working on a Snow White Castle.
2) It was renamed to promote the movie.

 

[cigar95]

When Disneyland opened, the idea that everything had to be a tie-in with something else was not yet the law of the land. Back then, it would have perfectly acceptable for a fairy-tale character to be represented in Fantasyland just because it was all part of the theme of the land.

That there would be a movie in the not-distant future was just a bit of "icing on the cake".

 

[jworkkul]

To put something else into this conversation, the first time I went to WDW in 1983 we ate at King Stephan's Restaurant that is now CRT.

 

[SueM in MN]

To put something else into this conversation, the first time I went to WDW in 1983 we ate at King Stephan's Restaurant that is now CRT.

Oh, yes.
We ate at King Stephan's Too.

 

[DISHoppy]

When Disneyland opened, the idea that everything had to be a tie-in with something else was not yet the law of the land. Back then, it would have perfectly acceptable for a fairy-tale character to be represented in Fantasyland just because it was all part of the theme of the land.

That there would be a movie in the not-distant future was just a bit of "icing on the cake".

Perhaps not, but Walt helped invent the marketing concept and it carries through to all things Di$ney today. Back in the day The Wonderful World of Disney TV show was a prime marketing vehicle for Disney movies, Disneyland, and later the plans to build Walt Disney World (aka: The Florida Project) before Walt passed away.

-Kevin

 

[WDSearcher]

To put something else into this conversation, the first time I went to WDW in 1983 we ate at King Stephan's Restaurant that is now CRT.

It was King Stephan's Banquet Hall! MUCH more royal that way.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

You think that's bizarre, Pirates of the Caibbean opened 48 years before the movie!

 

[ktlm]

1) The Imagineers WERE working on a Snow White Castle.
2) It was renamed to promote the movie.

I've heard that. The version I heard is that it originally wasn't going to be a specific princess at all. The Imagineers were calling it "fantasy castle" or "fantasyland castle" as they were working on it. Then there apparently was a decision to put a princess on it, and the plan was for it to be Snow White's castle since she was the 1st Disney Princess. However, as Sleeping Beauty was in production, they subsequently decided to name the castle Sleeping Beauty castle to promote the movie. Supposedly there is a video clip of Walt on opening day where he slips and calls it Snow White's castle, but I haven't ever seen it. Again, I don't know if any of this is true, but that is the version I've heard.

 

[mesaboy2]

You think that's bizarre, Pirates of the Caibbean opened 48 years before the movie!

 

[Raenstoirm]

Oh, yes.
We ate at King Stephan's Too.

Apparently my dh used to love it there when he was little because his name is Stephen. He thought it was named after him!

 

[Micca]

I've heard that. The version I heard is that it originally wasn't going to be a specific princess at all. The Imagineers were calling it "fantasy castle" or "fantasyland castle" as they were working on it. Then there apparently was a decision to put a princess on it, and the plan was for it to be Snow White's castle since she was the 1st Disney Princess. However, as Sleeping Beauty was in production, they subsequently decided to name the castle Sleeping Beauty castle to promote the movie. Supposedly there is a video clip of Walt on opening day where he slips and calls it Snow White's castle, but I haven't ever seen it. Again, I don't know if any of this is true, but that is the version I've heard.

In the video of opening day at Disneyland you hear the announcements to open the drawbridge(or words close to that) to "Fantasyland Castle."Perhaps as they got settled in a bit they thought to officially call it Sleeping Beauty castle. A lot of Disneyland history is well-documented, there's probably the precise info on this floating around.

 

[pequele]

To put something else into this conversation, the first time I went to WDW in 1983 we ate at King Stephan's Restaurant that is now CRT.

HAHA I totally had to reread that several times as I thought you said Stephen King's restaurant!!! HAHAHA I was trying to figure out how the "King" of horror found his way into the Happiest Place on Earth!