Sleeping Beauty Castle Refurbishment Finished in Disneyland – Updates June 2019

(UPDATED 6/4/19): Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland Park has been under refurbishment for some time now, with many fans in great expectation of the unveiling and to see all the new changes. That time has come and the Sleeping Beauty Castle refurbishment is finished and it’s now reopen to the public!

We were just visiting Disneyland and got to see all the changes up close in person and I have to say that it looks absolutely stunning after the refurbishment! Let’s take a look at the latest on the Disneyland Castle after all the new upgrades:

As we told you a few days ago, Sleeping Beauty Castle has a whole new and improved color scheme, with bright and bold colors that look amazing! They really stand out when looking at it head on:

Look closely at the roof. Not only does it have a beautiful new blue paint job, but there is pixie dust painted on as well. Brilliant idea!

Everything looks better and brand new, even the banners lining the sides of the entrance:

We’ll look at it more from the opposite side, but the paint looks very fresh on the castle walls, lots of purples, blues and pinks:

As you walk up the drawbridge to the castle, you’ll notice all the gold-leaf detailing on the gate and walls:

This transports us to the back of the castle:

The back looks equally as impressive as the other side does:

The colors in the back are also bright and vivid, just slightly more muted than the front:

If you look at the towers from the back, you can see the replica of the tower that was on the Notre Dame cathedral:

Over the years, the colors and finishes on Sleeping Beauty Castle have been refreshed and updated since Disney Legend and Imagineering Artist Herb Ryman first created the concept illustration of the castle in the 1950s.

“What’s interesting about this time is that we used an ages-old painting technique called atmospheric perspective to visually heighten the castle,” said Kim Irvine, art director at Walt Disney Imagineering. “We warmed the pink hues on the lower towers and gradually added blue to lighten the colors toward the top.”

The arches on the doors look nice, a light brown tan color:

Every angle you look looks better than the last:

Let’s head down through the Disneyland Castle and out the other side:

The newly painted walls are gorgeous on the side:

Lastly we get a nice shot of Sleeping Beauty Castle at night. Try to tell me you aren’t in love…

Of course Disney had acknowledged the fact that many guests were upset about missing the Disneyland Castle for so long, and of course the realize what a huge part of the guest experience it is there.

However they have also outlined the reasons why the refurbishment was necessary and how it’s part of a bigger “Project Stardust,” which has enhanced the park and prepared it for the years to come.

Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland reopening now is perfect timing as it’s just days before Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge opens when the whole world will be watching Disneyland. It’s been a tough few months, but now the castle is looking better than ever!

(UPDATE 5/18/19):

Disneyland has just revealed a photo showing Sleeping Beauty Castle in its full glory, without the walls around it or the scrims on the sides:

You can really see all the gorgeous colors pop off the castle, and the gold leaf on the final ornaments looks especially brilliant! Also loving the pixie dust on the roofs!

I don’t know about you but I’m loving this new look!

Disney has also made an adjustment to its expected reopening date and they’ve now said that Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland is reopening May 24, 2019! Make sure to get there and take a look yourself!

(UPDATE 5/17/19):

The scrims came half way down yesterday, and today they are now all the way down so we can get a full view of the work that was done.

Let’s take a look around thanks to our friend at @Tryeverythingdaily who snapped these great shots:

(UPDATE 5/16/19): We’re getting closer and closer to the reopening of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle in only 10 days from now. Thankfully that means that a lot of the scrims are coming down and we can finally see what the beautiful job Disney has done with the refurbishment.

Disney wants everything to look in tip-top shape when millions of camera’s descend upon Disneyland for the opening of Galaxy’s Edge. That means it has to look its absolute best!

Let’s take a look:

Here we can see the front view of the castle, with only the bottom half still covered:

Wanna know what Sleeping Beauty Castle will look like when it’s totally done? This is an artist rendering of Walt Disney Imagineer Kim Irvine’s new design once it’s finished:

You’ll notice right away that the color scheme is much brighter and in your face than before. Look at the bright purples, pinks and blues on the spires:

The blue especially pops! Obviously with time and wear and tear under the California sun, the colors will fade, but I think it looks pretty amazing like this!

Notice the little stars even in the shingles on the roof, or is that pixie dust?? ?

Now let’s head around the back side of Sleeping Beauty Castle…

Even the purples and blues on the bricks on the wall look so fresh and new, it’s totally different than before! In my opinion it really brings it to life and the bold new look makes you. feel like you’re in a storybook.

These shots are all on the left of the castle, leading over to Fantasy Faire.

It’s so refreshing to see everything with a fresh coat of paint, even the fountain area has been updated.

It certainly looks like Disney is very close to totally revealing the rest of the Disneyland Castle and we could be seeing all the scrims down in the next few days. If you’re there in Disneyland right now then let’s hope they get it all finished so you can have some amazing photos in front of the castle after all!!

Stay tuned as we’ll surely have more in the coming days…

(UPDATE 5/8/19): We’re only 20 days out from the reopening of Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland and some new photos from @Bioreconstruct on Twitter show us the latest status of the currently closed castle.

This is the current view when looking down Main Street USA at Sleeping Beauty Castle:

As much as I am not happy to have the castle closed, at least the scrim they put up in front of the castle is pretty attractive looking. It’s painted gorgeously and evokes a 1950’s era Disneyland castle.

Here is a view from the front side:

Many of you are probably. really upset that Sleeping Beauty Castle is closed down right now, but as this sign explains, the long-term care of the Disneyland structures is what’s really important to ensure they are in good shape for years to come:

Heading around back we can get a view of Sleeping Beauty Castle from Fantasyland:

Naturally Prince Phillip is doing battle with the dragon here and it’s at lease a lot cooler than looking at scaffolding.

Sleeping Beauty Castle is coming back soon friends, so we won’t have to look at these scrims for very much longer.

(UPDATE 4/24/19): After month’s of Construction and waiting, we finally know when the Disneyland castle will reopen.

According to the Disneyland Website, the walkthrough for Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland is reopening on May 28, 2019.

That date makes sense as it’s just in time for the opening of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge which opens that week, May 31, 2019. Disney will definitely want Sleeping Beauty Castle in tip top shape for the opening!

(UPDATE 4/19/19): The work on Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland continues, but things have reached to the highest point…literally:

The facade on the front of the castle goes all the way up to the top now and you can’t see anything behind it.

However only a few days ago you could see all the scaffolding around the roof and spires on top of the roof as they are currently. concentrated on that part:

In our last update we saw the tops of the spires being transported outside of Disneyland, and now we see they are back:

That’s a good sign and means we are probably really close to the end of the refurbishment!

One thing which I found very interesting in light of the disaster in Paris this past week is that Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland has a replica of the steeple on top of Notre Dame that caught fire and burned down. Here is the original:

And to the right you can see the replica on the top right of Sleeping Beauty Castle:

Disney still hasn’t given a date yet for the reopening but we’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear something! Continue down the article to see previous updates on the Disneyland Castle construction project!

(UPDATE 4/1/19): To say people were and still are upset about the refurbishment of the Disneyland castle would be an understatement, as missing the park’s most iconic monument isn’t exactly ideal on any vacation.

However there has been a lot of progress made to Sleeping Beauty Castle over the last couple months and while we still don’t have a re-opening date yet, the latest progress points to a good majority of the work being done.

Here is a pretty funny picture of the top peaks of Sleeping Beauty Castle getting transported from Disneyland to have work done on them:

This photo was from early in March so they may or may not already be back on the castle by now.

Right now more scrims have been put up around Sleeping Beauty Castle and the walls have been extended out which has caused some difficulty in guest flow around the area, but in the long run will make it much improved.

However looking around the sides we can see lots of touching up has been done to the rocks and the walls around the castle:

The photos don’t do it justice but the colors look very fresh and have a more purple/blue shone to them:

A look in one of the hallways:

Again everything looks nice and should be like brand new once it’s finished:

Disney Imagineer Kim Irvine talks about the beautification of Sleeping Beauty Castle:

There is still no reopening date yet for Sleeping Beauty Castle, but once we know something we’ll let you know!

(UPDATE 1/19/19): The walls are already up around Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland for the refurbishment, and people are not happy about it.  Many have taken to social media to express their displeasure with the construction understandably for some who have waited perhaps their whole lives to go to Disneyland and finally get that special moment in front of the castle.

Here are some examples:

i’m going to disneyland for the first time in a week and disneyland has decided that it’s the perfect time to do castle renovations! pic.twitter.com/kBAiFfkkmS

— syd (@sybthekib) January 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/CloMazz92/status/1082730728855617537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1082730728855617537&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sacbee.com%2Fnews%2Fstate%2Fcalifornia%2Farticle224229820.html

Some were ticked because of the recent raise in Disneyland ticket prices too:

@Disneyland ….how you gunna block off the castle the day after you raise ticket prices??????

— Brytyn (@BrytynP) January 9, 2019

While it is a shame for some guests who don’t get to see Sleeping Beauty Castle up close and personal, unfortunately these projects have to take place otherwise Disneyland would become run-down and dumpy.  That means that someone has to be there when a refurbishment happens, whether or not that happens to be your favorite attraction.  

At least Sleeping Beauty Castle should only be like this for a short time, so it’s not THAT long to wait.  Hopefully whoever didn’t get to see it this time will get a chance to come back again in the future!

(ORIGINAL STORY) According to Anaheim building permits, Sleeping Beauty Castle is getting a $300,000 replacement roof and the fiber-reinforced plastic on the turrets are getting replaced too.  This construction started yesterday January 7, 2019 and will go through at least April 2019, if not longer Reopen Date set to May 28, 2019). It will cover the outside of the building, which means the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough will also be closed starting January 17, through the reopening time.

The roof on Sleeping Beauty Castle was damaged from decorations placed on the castle as part of the park’s 60th anniversary celebration in 2015 and 2016, but will return to normal once the refurbishment is complete.

It also needs to be in tip-top-shape for Summer 2019 when Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge opens in Disneyland.  We know that Galaxy’s Edge is opening on May 31, so there is little time to spare to make Disneyland like brand new.

To go along with that, Sleeping Beauty Castle is just one in a long list of Disneyland attractions currently undergoing refurbishment after the holiday rush and before the big Summer crowds arrive.  The Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Astro Orbiter, Sailing Ship Columbia, It’s a Small World and the Fantasmic nighttime show are all attractions Disney is giving attention to in the next couple months.

It’s also not the only Disney Castle in the world getting a make-over.  The castle in Hong Kong Disneyland is currently in the middle of a multi-year re-do, rebuilding it from the ground up.  When done it will be complete with a new hub, re-transforming that area of the park.

The work is starting just in time for the “Get Your Ears On – A Mickey and Minnie Celebration” event, which starts January 18 and debuting a new Mickey’s Mix Magic nighttime show.  We also just saw photos of the new Mickey Mouse monorail passing through Disneyland as part of the festivities.

We’ll keep you up-to-date with Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland and let you know any changes in the project and when to expect it back open.

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News Source: Disney Parks Blog