Gone With The Family

Adventures in Family Travel

Beautiful Disney Castles

Disney Travel / by / 43 Comments

Disney Wordless Wednesday post – Theme: Castles

We have been fortunate enough to visit three Disney parks and see three distinctive castles and it’s always that first glimpse of the castle that gets me truly excited about a trip to Disney.  I remember when, as a child, the Sunday broadcast of The Wonderful World of Disney was an event that our entire family looked forward to and it was the image of the castle and Tinker Bell flying over it sprinkling her pixie dust that I associated with both the television show and Disney itself.  That image of the castle symbolized the magic of Disney for me then and still does today.       

Disney World – Orlando

Most of our Disney trips have been to Disney World in Orlando so we are most familiar with Cinderella’s Castle.  Our very first trip to Disney World in Florida was early in 1997 when Katie was just 4 months old.  The park was celebrating it’s 25th birthday and the castle in Magic Kingdom was done up like a birthday cake.  It wasn’t exactly what I expected but it was fun to see a bright pink castle.

Disney World-Cinderella's Castle - 25th Birthday

Since then we have seen the more traditional looking Cinderella’s Castle a number of times.  Emma also visited Disney World as an infant, however, she was 4 years old the first time that we visited and she was able to anticipate the trip.  This photo was taken on that special first day in Magic Kingdom when she was seeing Cinderella’s castle for the first time.

Disney World-at Cinderella's Castle

On our most recent trip to Disney World we even saw the castle magically lit up at night like I’ve never seen it before.

Disney World-Cinderella's Castle at night

Disneyland California

We have also visited Disneyland in California where Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is the focal point of the park.  The girls were just as excited to see this castle as they each had been the first time that they saw Cinderella’s Castle. 

Disneyland-in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Disneyland California

Disneyland Paris

We recently visited Disneyland Paris where there is another version of Sleeping Beauty’s castle (known in French as Le Château de la Belle au Bois).  There was quite a bit of construction around the castle as the park was preparing to celebrate it’s 20th birthday, however we managed to get a couple of good photos by maneuvering a bit to find a better vantage point.   

Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland Paris

While discussing our trip to Disneyland Paris, I let it slip that there are also Disney parks in Tokyo and Hong Kong and that one is under construction in China.  Emma has now decided that one of our travel goals is to visit all of the Disney parks so it might not be long before we add a couple more castles to our photo collection!

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Comments

  1. Mary @ The World Is A Book

    I love this beautiful castle collection through the years and at different places. The birthday cake decor looks so fun! Emma has one of the best travel goals ever. Sounds like a great plan! You know Tokyo has 2 Disney parks next to each other =)

    Reply

  2. Mark

    Oh I absolutely HATED the Pepto Bismol 25th Anniversay Castle. I was so glad to see it back to normal.

    Still – gotta love photos of the Disney castles!

    Reply

  3. Lisa Goodmurphy

    Thanks, Mary! Emma has lots of great plans – you ought to see her list of where she wants to go! I didn’t know about the two Disney parks in Tokyo until I read your posts. I would love to visit Japan and if/when we do then I’m pretty sure that we’ll have to fit in some time at Disney as well.

    Reply

  4. Lisa Goodmurphy

    LOL – I don’t think I’ve ever heard it referred to as the Pepto Bismol Castle. I had no idea before we arrived that the castle was going to be decorated like that so it was quite a shock. We returned two years later and everything was back to normal and looked the way I imagined Cinderella’s Castle to look.

    Reply

  5. Holly

    Ugh, that 25th birthday castle still makes me cringe 😉 Love all the other pictures though. It’s neat to see all of them together and I really like that shot of Cinderella’s castle at night – I’ve never seen it lit quite like that. It’s gorgeous!

    Reply

  6. Steve

    Katie and you husband both making an appearance in the same post? This is a special occasion! That’s actually the first picture I’ve ever seen of Cinderella’s castle all done up as a birthday cake. It doesn’t look that bad to me, but I’ll defer to those who had to deal with it on a frequent basis.

    Reply

  7. Debra Ann

    I love your castle collection of pictures and Emma’s goal. What a great adventure to visit all the castles!
    I remember being shocked to see the cakecastle, it was ghastly!
    I grew up watching the Wonderful World of Color and seeing Tinkerbell fly around the castle in the opening scene was always so exciting. It symbolized all the magic of Disney for me as well.
    Thanks for sharing and for linking up today:)

    Reply

  10. Lisa Goodmurphy

    It seems a lot of people really hated the birthday cake castle! It was my first trip to Disney so I was a bit shocked at first but I got over it rather quickly because, after all, I was at Disney!!

    Reply

  11. Lisa Goodmurphy

    It didn’t really bother me either – then again we were only there for 3 days. After the initial shock of seeing a pink castle then I mostly forgot about it.

    Yes, I went to all the trouble of scanning a photo (I know I’m a loser) in order to include a photo of Katie at Disney when she was a baby.

    Reply

  12. Lisa Goodmurphy

    I was a bit shocked to see the pink castle when we arrived at Disney that first day because it was the Wonderful World of Disney castle image that I was expecting to see. We didn’t even realize that Disney was celebrating a big birthday so we walked in and I thought they had changed the castle! I quickly put it out of mind though with the excitement of my first visit to Disney!

    Reply

  25. Amy

    Kids love Disney. The Disney people do such a good job and kids always want to go back. Just one question…Can I stow away in your luggage when you go to the Hong Kong Disney????

    Reply

  26. Michele @ Malaysian Meanders

    In the last 10 months, we’ve been to the ones in California, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. It’s been great! I like the birthday cake castle, but maybe because I’m only seeing it in a small picture instead of having my expectations dashed upon arrival at the park.

    Reply

  27. DIStherapy

    YES! We are 3 for 3 as well, and the great debate over which castle is next rages on. See you there!!

    Reply

  42. Travel and Trots

    The kids look so happy! Have you told them about the real-life castles that have inspired the Disneyland replicas? If not, do read my link here: -and tell them. Because its always nice to know that our fairytales evolved from some real tangible place!

    Reply

  43. Disney Glow

    This article is very informative for us. I’m excited to delve into the enchanting world of Disney castles with these 5 Fun Facts! Disney’s iconic castles have always held a special place in our hearts, and it’s fascinating to discover the unique stories and details from around the globe. I also write article on this topic.

    Reply

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