This past December, Disneyland Paris announced a number of updates coming to the theme park in advance of the park’s 30th anniversary in 2022. Included in this is a complete refurbishment of Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant or Sleeping Beauty Castle. Although the park remains closed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, work has begun on the castle.
The French website, Outsidears.fr, obtained a video from the company’s internal social network showing its current progress. According to screenshots from the video, the castle is virtually hidden by scaffolding.
Because the park is currently closed to guests work on preparing the castle for the refurbishment can commence at a rapid pace. In addition, Disney can also utilize areas around the park for staging and equipment that would otherwise not be available if the park was open to guests. “The absence of visitors allows the steel juggernaut to rise faster than initially expected, with the yard and deck used to store equipment and allow for more efficient maneuvering,” stated Outsidears.fr. Disney is aiming to have all the prep work and decorative scrim up before the park is scheduled to reopen this April.
According to a construction worker in the video, once the park reopens, guests will still have access to the interior of the castle. In addition, workers will have access to all areas of the castle, thereby allowing Disney to do through renovation.
“Several turrets are also, according to our information, already being manufactured off site,” states the website. “The removal and installation of the new towers promises to be masterful using a mobile crane, enough to reproduce well-known images dating from the construction of the castle in the early 1990s.”
Sleeping Beauty’s Castle opened with the park on 12 April 1992. It is also one of the few castles where guests can walk through as an attraction. The walkthrough attraction consists of a dimly lit cavern with the large dragon sleeping silently. Occasionally it will ‘wake up’, puffing smoke and growling. The dragon is 27 meters (89 ft) from head to tail and was the largest animatronic figure yet built when the park opened. Other areas of interest in the castle are La Galerie de la Belle au Bois Dormant, a gallery of displays which illustrate the story of Sleeping Beauty in tapestries, stained glass windows and figures, La Boutique du Château, a shop selling Christmas ornaments year-round, and Merlin l’Enchanteur, a shop specializing in handmade glass figures, all are located on ground floor.
Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant has undergone a number of overlays and enhancements throughout the years. The most recent enhancement – in 2011 – included a new color-scheme and new multicolored LED lighting. For the Disney Dreams nighttime spectacular show its moat was fitted with water fountains, the upper window was replaced by doors that open to reveal a LED lighted star and Central Plaza stage was removed in order to increase the viewing area.
Disneyland Paris has also decided to undertake renovating the gazebo found on Main Street U.S.A. Disney posted an image of a virtually stripped down gazebo, completely enclosed in a tarp.
