Sleeping Beauty Castle – Disneyland Attraction

disneyland paris castle

Wherever they’re located, all Disneyland parks have at least one fairytale castle that embodies the imaginary world of fairy tales. Each building is built according to a different theme and architectural style. For France, the Disneyland Paris castle brings to life the magnificent and sumptuous palace of Sleeping Beauty. It stands out from its California counterpart thanks to its decor and structure, which are faithful to French architecture, as well as to the offers it provides.

Disneyland Paris Castle, a veritable royal palace?

The Disneyland Paris Castle is the ideal replica of Princess Aurora’s royal residence in the animated film Sleeping Beauty. From the outside to the inside, it frames all the decorations in this magical place. The château is built in the midst of an exceptional landscape punctuated by carefully tended vegetation. It has several towers, some of which are decorated with stained glass windows. Inside, you’ll find all the details that mark this animated film.

The construction of the Disneyland Paris castle is a gigantic investment requiring monumental work. To build it, Disney called on a dozen engineers and thousands of workers. The work took over 4 years to complete, starting in August 1988 and finishing in April 1992. This 50 m-high castle dominates the surrounding area with its dizzying spires, carefully decorated turrets and royal blue roofs.

To transport visitors to the wonderful world of Princess Aurora, this estate has 2 attractions that can be explored on foot. As its name suggests, the Dragon’s Lair is home to a 27-meter-long dragon that occasionally awakens to blow smoke from its nostrils. If you’re a decorator, you might be interested in the Sleeping Beauty Gallery. It boasts a rich collection of illuminations, tapestries, sculptures and stained glass.

Disneyland Paris has two stores on the first floor. Visitors can also shop in the Château Boutique. They can buy souvenir items that could be given as Christmas, wedding or vacation gifts. Merlin the Enchanter’s cavern features several decorative items embodying the magic theme.

fireworks over sleeping beauty castle in paris

Is it possible to sleep in the castle?

The Château at Disneyland Paris is a wonderful place of dreams and fantasy. So it’s only natural that everyone would want to stay there for several days. This is a place for visitors only, as there are no rooms for overnight stays. It is therefore impossible to sleep on site. However, the site has created several accommodation hotels for multi-day and overnight stays in the park.

What are the hotels at Disneyland Paris?

Disneyland Paris offers its visitors around 7 hotels. Each establishment offers a different range ofaccommodation, depending on the level of comfort, proximity to the castle and quality of facilities. These include the Disneyland Hotel, the New York, the Newport Bay Club, the Sequoia Lodge, the Cheyenne, the Santa Fe and the Davy Crockett Ranch. These places make it possible to enjoy Disneyland Paris to the full without having to worry about accommodation. They offer comprehensive services specially designed to meet everyone’s needs.

Why stay in hotels near Disneyland Paris castle?

Staying near the park allows you to take full advantage of all the events organized on the site where Sleeping Beauty Castle is located. Thanks to its infrastructure, visitors can enjoy special effects and pyrotechnic shows every evening. They can stay very late at the site without worrying about the return journey after the visit.

For attractions that take place very early in the morning, you can avoid the queues by arriving before everyone else. Visitors who have been able to sleep on the park are sometimes the only ones who can enjoy these events. A free shuttle bus takes them to the site every day. In general, hotels on the park decorate each room according to the magical, fairytale theme of Disney’s Wonderland. A Disneyland holiday in one of these locations allows visitors to live out their dreams without interruption, even in bed.

How do I choose a hotel at Disneyland Paris?

To make the most of their stay at Disneyland Paris, visitors need to consider a number of criteria. This allows you to enjoy the adventure without having to worry about all the problems and unforeseen events. In this case, you need to choose the establishment that offers services in line with your budget. Room capacity is a priority, as it ensures the necessary comfort during your stay.

If budget allows, choosing hotels close to the park is also the best idea for making the most of your Disney adventure in Paris. In this context, the Disneyland Hotel is the place to be. It’s right next to the park gates. He is also often praised for his famous “Sleeping Beauty” suite. In fact, it’s the ideal place to live the adventure to the full.

Decorating the château

The decoration of the Disneyland Paris chateau is designed to respect the architectural style of the great French buildings and the magical theme of the fairytale world of Disney. These factors generally influenced the choices made by the designers of this place, whether for the decoration or the construction of the castle.

Disneyland Paris castle: what is its affiliation with France?

When building the Château de Disneyland Paris, Imagineers wanted to adopt an architectural style identical to that of the ancient French royal buildings. To find inspiration and create an original work, they visited monuments such as Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, Chambord Castle and Saint-Séverin Church. Its shape is inspired by the buildings of Mont-Saint-Michel, while its stained-glass windows are identical in design to those in the châteaux of the Loire Valley.

The towers, roofs and weather vanes tinted with 23-carat gold leaf come from the structure of the Château d’Usée under the Duc de Berry. The entrance arch is decorated with the fleur-de-lis, the French symbol. The choice of pink for its exterior walls also takes into account the contrast it could have with the gray skies of Paris. The entire building faces south, and most of its walls are colored pink. This gives the best possible profile of the château against the often gray skies of Paris.

Decorations inside the Disneyland Paris castle

examples of decoration inside the Disneyland Paris Chateau

Inside, Disneyland’s Paris castle is decorated with 9 tapestries depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty. The stained-glass windows opposite Fantasyland feature the main scenes from the animated film. These are reminiscent of the scene in which the fairies give Princess Aurora a rose to symbolize her beauty and two doves to represent her song. When light enters the château, the stained-glass windows create an optical illusion, superimposing these two symbols.

Stairs lead up to the top of the tallest tower, behind a glass case with a gem-covered lid. They lead directly to the Sleeping Beauty Gallery. All the decorations tell the story of Princess Aurora, with stained glass windows, figurines, still lifes, tapestries and more. All the details of the scene are carefully preserved in this tower. Some of the settings are also reminiscent of the enchanted forest where Aurora lived with the 3 fairies before returning to her parents’ palace.

Installing the château’s exterior decorations

Theexterior of the Disneyland Pariscastle is marked by the Dragon’s Lair. This is home to the world’s largest audioanimatronics. This 27-metre work brings to life the creature that lurked in the castle’s dark caves in the animated film. To add realism to the scene, the dragon is sometimes animated before visitors’ very eyes. He wakes up, grunts and emits a puff of smoke.

The stained glass windows are the highlight of the exterior design of the Château de Disneyland Paris. These are indeed very rare and exceptional works, since they are the work of Paul Chapman, a stained glass specialist from Great Britain. This expert is often called upon by the Queen of England to design the stained glass windows in her palace.

The exterior landscape of the Disneyland Paris castle is designed to resemble that of the animated film Sleeping Beauty. That’s why the site is surrounded by carefully tended vegetation. To achieve this, the trees are pruned into geometric shapes and lit up at dusk. For this last event, visitors can enjoy a fireworks show every evening, just before the park closes.

Unlike the Sleeping Beauty castle in California, the one in Paris has a brand new gadget at the entrance. It’s a hat with Mickey ears, featuring Mickey, Donald and Pluto. The color of this gadget changes to the rhythm of the music and special effects played inside the castle.

10 things you don’t know about this castle

Would you like to find out more about this castle? We’re going to give you 10 facts about Sleeping Beauty’s castle that you probably don’t know. Ready to go? Here we go:

  • Europe, but especially France, is home to the real Disney princess castles. As you can imagine, the château couldn’t be moved to the park. So they had to recreate one!
  • The designers of Sleeping Beauty had to reduce the size of the castle. Why? Simply because the park’s creator really wanted to create an atmosphere within the château itself.
  • When you climb up the turrets, stop for a few minutes. The little bumps on the walls are, in fact, carved snails.
  • The stained-glass windows inside the Sleeping Beauty gallery give a real insight into the story of Sleeping Beauty.
  • Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Paris is the only castle to have its own dragon.
  • At the top of the château are unique weather vanes. Feel free to look at them and determine what they represent.
  • The castle’s designer insisted on having a few stores downstairs.
  • To allow wheelchair access to the stores, the designer had to create an illusion of elevation.
  • The coat of arms is truly a centerpiece of the château.
  • The château faces north-south.
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