Disney Castles

Disney Castles

The Disney castle in Germany is almost unforgettable in today’s world. The childhood of almost every person born from the 90s downwards is incomplete without at least one story involving the Castle. The Cinderella story, Rapunzel and the long hair, sleeping beauty, beauty, and the beast, etc., all featured the Disney castle in one form …

The DISNEY CASTLE in GERMANY

The Disney castle in Germany is almost unforgettable in today’s world. The childhood of almost every person born from the 90s downwards is incomplete without at least one story involving the Castle.

The Cinderella story, Rapunzel and the long hair, sleeping beauty, beauty, and the beast, etc., all featured the Disney castle in one form or another.

The Disney castle in Germany is the Neuschwanstein castle located in the village of Hohenschwangau, Allgau, Bavaria.

The Neuschwanstein castle is the closest physical replica of the Disney castle as represented in the fairy tales. It was built by King Ludwig II who was known as the mad king between 1868-1892 (Read more about its beautiful story!).

Picture by MarcHendersonPhotograph on flickr.com

Today, the Castle has multiple relevances as it serves as the logo of the Walt & Disney movie production company, and a symbol of a fairy tale in real life.

Read more to learn all the amazing stuff about the Disney castle in Germany.

Top 6 most asked questions about Disney Castle, Germany.

#1 – Where is the Disney castle in Germany?

Tourists ask this question all the time. If you would like to visit the Disney castle, it is located in the village of Hohenschwangau in the hills of Allgua, Near Fussen, Bavaria.

You can travel by road, or partly by train. The Fussen railway is the closest to the Castle, from where you can join public transport to the Castle. According to King Louis II, the location of the castle is one of the most beautiful to be found, holy and unapproachable, a worthy temple’. 

Do not fret because although it is still holy and beautiful, its owner died a long time ago, and it is now approachable.

#2 – Which castle is Disney castle based on?

As stated earlier, the Disney castle was modeled after the Neuschwanstein castle, in Bavaria. But then comes the next question, what was the Neuschwanstein castle modeled after?

King Louis II AKA Mad King Ludwig grew up in a fancy Hohenschwangau castle, and upon assuming the throne as the prime ruler of Bavaria, he sought to recreate his Hohenschwangau home (a neo-Gothic medieval-styled castle) more grandly and beautifully.

He aimed to make it his resting abode where he could retreat away from the world.

That explains why shortly after the Castle’s construction began, it was nicknamed the New Hohenschwangau castle.

#3 – Where did the idea of the Disney castle come from?

The Neuschwanstein castle was pioneered by King Ludwig’s idea of fantasy, fairy tales, and magnificence.

According to Insider, it was the murals and the amazing decorations and style of the Neuschwanstein castle that prompted the Disney team to model the fairy tale castles after it.

King Louis II was a big dreamer, and Disneyland focused on creating dreamlike fairy tales; so they found a match. 

#4 – How big is the Disney Castle in Real Life?

Although the description of the Castle in each fairy tale may slightly differ, the Neuschwanstein castle that is the real Disney Castle is built on the top of a rock, just above the Pollat Gorge in the Bavarian Alps.

It has Romanesque designs and unique paintings.

The Castle has many rooms and interior structures, (originally planned to have 110 rooms), but only 14 chambers have been completed up until date. It is 65, 000 sq ft large and has five (5) floors. It consists of the following rooms:

  1. The Lower Hall
  2. The singers’ Hall
  3. Throne Hall I
  4. Throne Hall II
  5. The Anteroom
  6. The Upper Hall
  7. The Bedroom,
  8. The dining room
  9. The Oratory,
  10. The Passage
  11. The Dressing room,
  12. The salon
  13. The study
  14. The Grotto

These rooms are open to tourists, and they have incredible wall paintings and neo-classical designs.

From the outside, the Disney Castle is painted white with black-blue turrets and positioned on a hilltop.

It is impossible to tell the tale of Hollywood without mentioning Walt Disney. The company has produced many magical tales and fantasies for about 99 years now starting from cartoon mice to CGIs and real-time animations.

In 1985, Walt Disney adopted a background castle as part of its logo. The background castle had Walt Disney written across it like a rainbow.

Today, the logo is a complete depiction of the Cinderella castle, colorful and complete with the towers, windows, and a moat.

Their movies often give viewers a brief tour of the castle’s outer part before settling into a pictorial form. 

There have been a series of debates that the Cinderella castle as depicted in Walt Disney is the Neuschwanstein castle of Bavaria, but the company officially denied this assertion, further stating that the castle in the logo was not designed with the Neuschwanstein castle in mind.

The company went ahead to modify the castle to make it look less than the Hohenschwangau castle and more of the Peter Pan and other fairy tale castles. It is rumored that the castle in the logo now serves as a prototype of the Disney Castle in Paris.

Having taken ideas from the Hohenschwangau castle to design some of their fairy tales, the company is not comfortable allowing its logo to be squarely dependent on the same castle.

#6 – Who designed Disney castle?

The Romanesque designs of the Neuschwanstein castle were painted by Christian Hank while the Cinderella castle was allegedly designed by Imagineer Dorothea Redmond.

Closing Note:

So, while the Disney Castle may have been inspired by the Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria and most of the fairy tale castles modeled after it, the Disney logo has been modified to look different from the Neuschwanstein castle.

Walt Disney and co would rather have an imagining to take the glory for their logo but we do know that it was inspired by the Germany Castle which lies near Fussen, in Bavaria, Germany.

For more information on the Neuschwanstein castle, click here to see our articles.

Which Castle is the Disney Castle Modeled After?

We all love and know that icon of icons, the Disney castle! It triggers memories of fantasy worlds and happy times. Is the castle just the stuff of imagination, or is there a real Disney castle on which Disney modeled his design?

Disney Castle

Well, the answer is yes, there is a real castle behind the Disney castles. The Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella Castles specifically are modeled on the Neuschwanstein Castle near the town of Fussen in Bavaria, Germany. 

Neuschwanstein Castle perches on top of a hill in the Bavarian Alps for all the world like a castle from Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty

A real fairytale castle

Neuschwanstein castle Germany
a fairytale castle
Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle means New Swan Castle in English and it’s one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. In fact, over 1 300 000 people visit it every year.

It was built in the nineteenth century by King Ludwig II. You only need to look at the castle to know why he was called the Fairytale King. The castle is all turrets and towers and medieval mystery.

It was this magical look that gave Walt Disney his inspiration for the Disney castles that feature so prominently in his films and at Disneylands around the world. And it came to be, of course, the universally recognised logo of the Walt Disney companies. 

King Ludwig’s inspiration

Neuschwanstein castle Germany
a fairytale castle in Bavaria. Which inspired Walt Disney.
Neuschwanstein Castle Germany

It’s clear this king loved beautiful things. In designing Neuschwanstein Castle, he looked to the great composer Richard Wagner for his inspiration.

As you move through the castle, you can see how lovingly Wagner’s operas and characters are reflected in the interiors of many of the castle’s majestic rooms. 

At the same time, the King also liked his comforts. Yes, the castle was more modern than you might think. 

At first sight, Neuschwanstein Castle may seem to hark back to the middle ages, but it was built with all the modern technology that 19th century Europe had to offer.

It boasted flushing toilets on every floor and an air heating system for the whole castle. No freezing baronial halls for these ladies and knights!

Unfinished business

King Ludwig II began building his castle in 1869. The project was intended to take three years to complete.

But this Fairytale King must have been something of a perfectionist as construction ran on and on and on. 

He died in 1886 before the castle was finished. In fact, the great Throne Room – of Byzantine proportion and occupying two stories of the castle – did not yet feature a throne.

The world’s first Disney castle

The world was treated to its first view of Walt Disney’s fantasy castle in 1950 when the now-classic animation, Cinderella, was released.

Sleeping Beauty Castle was opened at Disneyland, California.
Sleeping Beauty Castle

Imagine the excitement in 1955 when the first real-life Sleeping Beauty Castle was opened at Disneyland, California. Families could literally visit a castle straight from the storybooks!

This Sleeping Beauty Castle is the oldest of the Disney castles and is the only one whose construction was overseen by Walt Disney himself.

You can almost smell the fresh winds as they blow off the Bavarian Alps, or hear the grinding of an ancient drawbridge. The similarities are undeniable.

Disney’s dizzying heights

The Sleeping Beauty Castle is 23m high. Cleverly, the original designer, Roland E Hill, used ways to make the castle seem much taller.

He designed elements that were larger at the base and progressively smaller towards the top.

This illusion was taken even further when the castle was given a makeover in 2019. The pink shades at the base of the castle were made a little richer.

Then they were gradually lightened towards the top of the castle to give the effect of great height

It’s as if this magic castle really does reach up to the skies. 

If tall castles are your favourites, don’t skip the article about the tallest castles in the world you can visit.

Enchanted visits

When you begin your walk through the Sleeping Beauty Castle, you step into a fairytale.

Scenes from the story of Princess Aurora come to life with 3D models and dramatic sound and special effects.

It begins with the announcement of the birth of Princess Aurora. As you wind through the passages and rooms of the castle, you are treated to a view of the baby Aurora as she receives magic gifts from the fairy godmothers.

You see the king and queen watching as all the spinning wheels in the land are burned.

And of course, there is the plot changing scene where everyone in the castle sleeps and sleeps.

Highlights of the story unfold as you walk through the castle: you meet the wicked Maleficent, the charming Prince and fiery dragons.

Disney castle snippets

There is no definitive Disney castle. The Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella Castles are both Disney flagship castles.

You can see a Cinderella castle at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida or at Tokyo Disneyland.

Disney Cinderella's castle
Disney World , castles
cinderella’s castle

Like the Sleeping Beauty Castle, the design was inspired by real and fictional palaces and castles of Europe such as Versailles, the spire of Notre Dames de Paris and the Moszna Castle in Poland.

Again, designers point to Neuschwanstein Castle as the main inspiration. 

The Florida castle took nearly two years to complete and stands around 58m high. More than 30m taller than the Sleeping Beauty Castle in California.

Interestingly, the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Paris Disneyland needed some special attributes to help it compete with the real castles and palaces that families in Europe are used to seeing.

So it, too, is taller and bigger than the original Sleeping Beauty Castle, standing some 51m high.

It receives regular fun and exciting overlays to celebrate anniversaries or the launch of a new film. And … there is a dragon to be seen in its depths that weighs 2500kg!

A castle to look forward to

Disney castle fans can look forward to the reopening of the Hong Kong Sleeping Beauty Castle in late 2020.

Rumour has it that the new-look castle will showcase all the Disney princesses we’ve learned to know and love. 

If their fifth-anniversary overlay is anything to go by, we can expect this to be spectacular.

That celebration saw the castle shimmer as Tinker Bell’s Pixie Dusted Castle. The gold pixie dust glistened in the sun by day and was lit up at night.

Disney castles around the world

Summary

Walt Disney visited many castles around Europe for his inspirations, but Neuschwanstein Castle is one that had a profound impact on him.

Later building all the fairytale castles in the Disney empire he gave Neuschwanstein tremendous popularity among the travellers and fans of Disney.

Thanks for reading this article and we have many more interesting facts about castles in our blog section.