Sleeping Beauty's Castle

       SleepingBeautyCastle           

The original Disneyland in Anaheim has a Sleeping Beauty's Castle that is loosely based on a real European castle (with the top turned around, for reasons I won't go into here). Disneyland in Paris has a much prettier castle, but I don't believe it is actually based on any real castle anywhere. It is very photogenic, though, and the gold trim you see on the castle is the real thing.

In this version of the castle, the ground level has several shops, and the mezzanine has some walk-through displays and beautiful stained glass. In addition, beneath the castle is a cavern inhabited by a very impressive dragon. I have a picture of the castle interior, if you are interested.

At one time there were fireworks over the castle every night, but the neighboring French towns whined and complained and now there are far fewer (never mind the economic boom that they've enjoyed due to the proximity of the park).

In French, this castle is called Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant.

Photographed in April, 2002.

Photographed in April of 2002.