LEFT : Sleeping Beauty Castle in California has a working drawbridge . PHOTO BY ADRIENNE WHITE . RIGHT : With its new paint refresh , Cinderella Castle in Florida evokes the original color scheme of the California castle . PHOTO BY JUDD HELMS
BUILD IT TALLER ! Even the iconic castle is bigger at Walt Disney World . In Disneyland , Sleeping Beauty Castle is only 77 feet tall and designed in a 19th-century Bavarian style with spires extravagantly finished in gold leaf .
Over in Magic Kingdom , Cinderella Castle stands a towering 189 feet . This skirts the regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration , which require buildings over 200 feet to install blinking lights at the top .
Done in a 15th-century Gothic style , Cinderella Castle is not just taller than its counterpart ; it also houses a restaurant and a suite originally intended for the Disney family . The suite is now used as a special perk for celebrities and contest winners ( see our August 2021 issue to look inside ). Those golden accents are anodized aluminum , but they still gleam in the Florida sun !
One of my favorite similarities between the two very different castles is the Disney Family Coat of Arms . In Disneyland , look up as you enter from the drawbridge to see it . In Magic Kingdom , spot it atop the pillar on the left side of the walkway entrance from Fantasyland .
The Disney Family Coat of Arms . PHOTO BY JUDD HELMS