There are five Disney resorts in current operation with a sixth rapidly on the way. Disneyland Paris has the one remaining unique castle out the bunch, but is uniqueness going to allow it to win THE CASTLE BATTLE.
Tonight we have part 1, the next two days a twitter debate, and after we conclude with part 2 and a winner.
Contenders
La Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Disneyland Paris)
Cinderella’s Castle (Disney World / Tokyo Disney)
Sleeping Beauty’s Castle (Disneyland California / Hong Kong Disneyland)
Profile
Theres no denying to begin with that the Disney World and Tokyo Disney Cinderella’s Castle takes up a huge amount of space for its building. Its wide, its tall and its got all the pomp and circumstance that it can afford.
Transpose that look to the fairytale escape that is the Sleeping Beauty castle that was the original hosted in both California and Hong Kong! It was a nice European castle built into the heartlands of America. The Chinese liked it so much they demanded an exact replica brought into the new HKDL when built.
Paris contrasted with the scenes before, being in the centre of Europe, most people had seen a castle and the current offerings while majestic, built in fairytale and big centre pieces for an American park didn’t cut it for the European audience, so more adventure was thrown in and less scale, to create a serene castle built into a hillside with a moat, dragon and waterfall.
Sadly Sleeping Beauty’s Castle comes in last here, its profile just isn’t that grand and many current projection shows just don’t work on that scale. Paris comes in a close second with its unique look but again the castle doesn’t look so all encompassing to gaze upon. Queue the Cinderella spectacular size and footprint and it looks shocking in scale.
1 point to the Cinderella Castle!
Fighting capability
If they were in a real fight who is going to stand up longest and keep the battle running?
Well firstly comes Paris with its easy approach with the hills, you could quite literally run up the side and hit the highest towers. The Dreams flame torches show that the castle walls could put up a fair fight and include the fact that its the only castle to be actual concrete, it’s holding up better than its fibre counterparts.
Cinderella’s Castle puts up a huge moat and frightening appeal, it’s loud over heard fireworks show that it could easily fire off charges to enemy hands. In Disney World its surrounded by a no fly zone and lots of big lagoons to protect it from people reaching it. However its a HUGE target and built from fibre, assuming they don’t cake it up again. It’d probably rip apart in minutes.
Sleeping Beauty’s castle takes a pink palace and keeps it small and lean. Its not got a water surround but has stood the test of time so far. It’s had a fair few storms to have stood up to as well. Its low profile and plenty of flat surface provides large areas for an army to fire from. If you’ve seen the balloons that fly at halloween, the castle may be able to put more than its fair share of fight back.
Point to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle!
Join us on twitter @DLRPRoundup and get your thoughts in on the #CastleBattle