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WDWalways
05-10-2002, 06:21 AM
I have been wondering this for year's and now I'm gonna ask you guys to see if anyone knows the answer.... How come Sleeping Beauty's castle in Anaheim and Paris are so totally different??? The only thing I can come up with is that one is the castle she grew up in and the other is the castle she moved into after getting married (can you tell I'm female???) -- is there a real reason?? I don't know why they just didn't do a Beast's castle in Paris --- that's what I would have loved as a die-hard B 'n B fanatic!!

Ghoulish Delight
05-10-2002, 07:08 AM
I don't know if they've come up with a plausible story, but the real reason is because they decided they needed to do something different in Europe. They were building in a country full of REAL castles. Evidenced by the inauspicious opening of the park, Europeans can be a hard to please bunch. But building mock-ups of castles in the birthplace of castles would have been seen as downright American piggishness and the never would have stood for it. So they decided to go with a more 'fanciful' look to the castle, something unique and non-Eurpoean. Which, of course, doesn't fit into the story.

WDWalways
05-10-2002, 07:36 AM
Originally posted by Ghoulish Delight
I don't know if they've come up with a plausible story, but the real reason is because they decided they needed to do something different in Europe. They were building in a country full of REAL castles. Evidenced by the inauspicious opening of the park, Europeans can be a hard to please bunch. But building mock-ups of castles in the birthplace of castles would have been seen as downright American piggishness and the never would have stood for it. So they decided to go with a more 'fanciful' look to the castle, something unique and non-Eurpoean. Which, of course, doesn't fit into the story.

See, this is why I don't understand why they decided to call it Sleeping Beauty's Castle also. If you ever see pictures or Disney Classic figurines of the Beast's castle it's pretty close and being France and all I think they should have just called it that.

mikala
05-10-2002, 06:19 PM
As of Wednesday night, they had a show on The Travel Channel for Family Vacations Week. It had a feature on Disneyland Paris.

One of the Imagineers gave reasoning for this, as while the United States does not have castles, Europe has tons of them, and they needed to make the one for the park stand out from the normal residential castles.

Makes sense. Hope this answers your question...


I LOVE DISNEYLAND..BRING BACK THE SUBMARINES.

gn2dlnd
05-10-2002, 06:37 PM
Originally posted by mikala
...and they needed to make the one for the park stand out from the normal residential castles.

I love the phrase, "normal residential castles!"

awinner
05-10-2002, 10:30 PM
correct me if i am wrong...disneyland has sleeping beauty castle while wdw has cinderellas castle...at least that what they said on the travel channel

Nigel2
05-10-2002, 10:33 PM
Your right, ours has a diorama inside while theirs has a resturant and moasic murals:)

tabacco
05-10-2002, 10:45 PM
awinner: That's right, but he was asking about DLP ;)

AliKzam
05-11-2002, 12:04 AM
My theory is this:
Disneyland had a plan for the castle before they named it. I've heard before they named it Sleeping Beauty's Castle to tie it in with the movie they were planning on releasing at any time (though not until four years, later, but how were they to know). Disneyland Paris was designed in the 80s, three decades after the original. Because it was Euro Disneyland and not Euro Disneyworld, they wanted to have Sleeping Beauty's Castle, as well (even though Tokyo Disneyland has Cinderella's Castle-- this is just a theory). I believe they wanted to make it look more like the Castle from the film. "Sleeping Beauty" had artistry that resembled medieval paintings and tapestries (I learned that from the special on the video!). There's a lot of symmetry involved with that era's art. If you notice, the trees around the castle (in the pictures) are all square and angular. And the castle does sort of resemble the one in the film.
While the "we didn't want to offend the French" spin is good, now (the French were offended, after all), I think they were just trying to pay homage to Sleeping Beauty in a very beautiful and detailed way.

cemeinke
05-18-2002, 07:56 AM
Just back from Paris & DLP I couldn't resist comenting on this one.

DLP's Sleeping Beauty's castle is very much based on the original movie and really is close to the Eyvind Earl artwork. Disneyland's castle is really a reworking of Neuschwanstein (Mad King Ludwig's Castle in Germany and what most American's think of when thinking fairy tale castle), and was named sleeping Beaiuty's castle to market the new film.

I think Sleeping Beauty was a bigger hit in Europe than the US (witness the release of Sleeping Beauty on DVD in France and not here). They seemed to have a greater appreciation for the aesthetics of the film, so it makes sense to recreate it there.

The interior stain glass by the way is beautiful, I hope I'll be able to share some photos soon. And the dragon... ah, getting a bit jealous

:crying:

Lacrosse Boy
05-21-2002, 04:18 AM
They should call it something else, a different character's name of castle.

WDWalways
05-21-2002, 06:34 AM
Originally posted by Lacrosse Boy
They should call it something else, a different character's name of castle.

That was exactly my point --- why have 2 totally, completely different Castles be called the same when the newer of the 2 in France could have been just called something else. I just find it weird --- at least the 2 Cinderella Castle's are almost identical -- that makes more sense to me.

cemeinke
05-21-2002, 08:00 AM
Ah, but the one in Paris is really called: Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, so you can think of it as Disneyland's French cousin.

Lacrosse Boy
05-21-2002, 09:59 AM
cemeinke-That translates to "The Castle of the Beauty Sleeping", which is Sleeping Beauty. I was talking about a different character all together

mad4mky
05-21-2002, 10:12 AM
Originally posted by Lacrosse Boy
cemeinke-That translates to "The Castle of the Beauty Sleeping", which is Sleeping Beauty. I was talking about a different character all together

Well, at this point, it would take a big undertaking to change the castle to another be another character's ...the beautiful stained glass windows in the castle depict the whole Sleeping Beauty storyline......These stained glass windows are breathtaking, and besides the dragon in the dungeon, these windows are part of the reason why this castle is by far the best of the 3 castles I have seen at the Disney parks. I am sure others would agree.

cemeinke
05-21-2002, 10:53 AM
Originally posted by Lacrosse Boy
cemeinke-That translates to "The Castle of the Beauty Sleeping", which is Sleeping Beauty. I was talking about a different character all together

Actually it translates to "The Castle of the Beauty of the woods sleeping, which is far more interesting ;) ( love those sleeping woods)

Besides the Paris castle actually looks like the castle in the movie, so if you were going to rename one of them, it ought to be the original since it's the most generic and you can't see the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough anymore anyway.

gn2dlnd
05-21-2002, 04:39 PM
Was our Castle never called the Fantasyland Castle? I thought for sure that was its original name, after reading this thread I'm not so sure anymore. I've always been a little bothered by the fact that it looks nothing like the artwork in the movie. It DOES, however, look just like a slightly smaller version of that castle at the beginning of The Wonderful World Of Disney.
;)

cstephens
05-21-2002, 04:51 PM
Originally posted by cemeinke
C'est ne pas une signature

OK, totally OT, but shouldn't that be "Ce n'est pas une signature"?

AliKzam
05-21-2002, 05:13 PM
Okay, I know you're all just kidding, and you don't really want our Sleeping Beauty Castle taken down, seeing it is the first thing thing you think of when you hear the name, Disneyland (then you think of your favorite ride). And I'm sure you can imagine they probably had a design for the castle before they had a name. And I know you know that tearing a structure down that is named for a film before the fact is foolish and would never actually want that. Even if we could never actually go inside it, again and only be able to tell our children and grandchildren about, it's still no reason to tear it down or rebuild it. But since you know all this, there's no reason for me to be saying this. Right? ...Right?

cemeinke
05-21-2002, 06:03 PM
Originally posted by cstephens


OK, totally OT, but shouldn't that be "Ce n'est pas une signature"?

Je ne sais pas, je ne parle pas Francais.

;)

cemeinke
05-21-2002, 06:06 PM
Originally posted by AliKzam
Okay, I know you're all just kidding, and you don't really want our Sleeping Beauty Castle taken down, seeing it is the first thing thing you think of when you hear the name, Disneyland (then you think of your favorite ride). And I'm sure you can imagine they probably had a design for the castle before they had a name. And I know you know that tearing a structure down that is named for a film before the fact is foolish and would never actually want that. Even if we could never actually go inside it, again and only be able to tell our children and grandchildren about, it's still no reason to tear it down or rebuild it. But since you know all this, there's no reason for me to be saying this. Right? ...Right?

Nah, you don't have to tear it down, just re-theme it to the new name. Throw some seaweed on it, hey it's Ariel's Castle. Plop a few dunes in front, hey It's Jasmine's Palace. Hey, dangle a surf board or two and you could have Lilo & Stich Castle...there really is no end to this...

Oh, and yes I am (was) kidding :D

Lacrosse Boy
05-22-2002, 04:22 AM
Originally posted by cemeinke


Actually it translates to "The Castle of the Beauty of the woods sleeping, which is far more interesting ;) ( love those sleeping woods)

Besides the Paris castle actually looks like the castle in the movie, so if you were going to rename one of them, it ought to be the original since it's the most generic and you can't see the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough anymore anyway.

I'm only in second year Frence, so I don't know some words.;)