A Detailed Look At Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle
With Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary right around the corner, now seems like the perfect time to share some amazing artistic details about the theme park’s beloved icon, Cinderella Castle.
Photo: Matt Stroshane
Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World was completed in July of 1971 after 18 months of construction, and the moat surrounding it contains about 3.37 million US gallons of water.
That’s over 3 full size olympic swimming pools! Imagine having that in your backyard!
Photo: Disney
The Exterior
There are a total of 27 spires on Cinderella Castle. Originally there were 2 extra spires planned, making the total 29, however they were removed before construction due to the fact that you couldn’t easily see them from anywhere in the park.
Photo: Twitter/Bioreconstruct
Of course the beauty of the castle is incomparable with its golden spires and blue rooftops that reach to the sky. You can’t help but be drawn to look at it, which is exactly what the Imagineers want you to do.
Disney is quite the master when it comes to forced perspective. It’s an art form that tricks the eye as it causes you to see buildings taller than they really are.
So the higher you look up on the castle, its features are actually getting smaller and smaller. The highest spire on the castle is almost half of the size your eye sees it as! Pretty cool, right?
Image Credit: Disney
At first glance you might think that Cinderella Castle is made of stone and marble, however that’s actually not true.
Although it appears that way, the caste is actually made of steel and concrete which makes it a very stable structure.
The Interior
Just the experience of walking thru Cinderella Castle is amazing in and of itself, but add in the beautiful murals tucked away inside and this structure becomes absolutely stunning.
There are five gorgeous mosaics lining the wall of the archway of the tunnel through Cinderella Castle. The series was designed by Disney Imagineer Dorothea Redmond and was set in place by a team of 6 artists.
It took these talented artists 22 months to complete the entire mural, with each panel being 15 feet by 10 feet and shaped inside a Gothic arch design.
There were over 300,000 pieces of Italian glass with more than 50 different colors used in the mosaic.
The tiles are hand cut and were fused together with sterling silver and 14k gold, and some tiles are even as small as the head of a tack!
Image Credit: Disney
One of my favorite details about the mural is the scene with Cinderella’s step sisters.
As Cinderella tries on the glass slipper that’s a perfect fit, you can see that one step sister’s face is red with anger while the other is green with envy.
Photo Credit: Disney
Next time you’re visiting Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, be sure to take some time to enjoy this incredible piece of art, both inside and out!
