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EDIT: THE CASTLE IS NOW COMPLETED "IN THE BRICK"!
Facts:
Name: ............................................................................Cinderella Castle
Location:..................Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Tokyo Disneyland
Architect:....................................................Herbert Ryman and Associates
Classification:..........................................................Theme Park Attraction
Construction:.......Steel-braced frame with concrete work and gypsum plaster
Year:........................................................................................1970-1971
Height:..................................................................................189 ft (58 m)
Set:
Theme: Landmark
Pieces: 534
Cinderella Castle Front by Tereglith, on Flickr
After the runaway success of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, Walt Disney set his sights on a grander goal: the construction of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. And a grander park required a grander landmark to center it. Disney called upon Herbert Ryman, designer of the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland, to create a new castle to center the Magic Kingdom. Ryman drew inspiration from his own previous work, as well as the castle portrayed in the film Cinderella, and historical castles such as Castle Neuschwanstein and Alcazar of Segovia.
Building in Florida presented a challenge that designers had not encountered in California: hurricanes. A common urban legend holds that the castle can be taken apart and stored safely during a storm, but the truth is actually rather more impressive. Imagineers designed the structure to be able to withstand winds of up to 110 mph (175 km/h), and more besides. It has proved its strength time and again, most recently in 2004 when it withstood the full force of then-Category-2 Hurricane Charley.
In addition to serving as the public face of the Magic Kingdom, Cinderella Castle serves a number of other purposes. It contains a restaurant (Cinderella's Royal Table), a lavish luxury hotel suite, a zipline station at its pinnacle (for the actress who plays Tinker Bell in various stage productions performed in front of the castle), and it is a functional landmark for navigation. Its central location and great height allow park guests to use it as a "Weenie", theme-park jargon for an easy visual reference for their present position in the park. The castle is so recognizable that even the FAA uses it as a landmark - it serves as the easy-to-locate center for the federal no-fly zone over the entire resort.
More than forty years after its completion, Cinderella Castle still reigns as the most recognized and beloved building in all of Florida. Its fantastic design allowed it to surpass older sister Sleeping Beauty's Castle as the quintessential Disney building, and its phenomenal construction will enable it to greet park visitors for decades to come.
(This baby is staying together for a good long while, so C+C just might be acted upon if you care to give them. Thanks for reading/viewing! More and larger pics can be found on my flickr account.)
