They’re iconic for a reason. They inspire breathless wonder. They’re orienting navigational centers. They’re feats of engineering. Though they come in all shapes and sizes, park icons all have one thing in common: they come to represent a park’s stories, settings, and style in our hearts and minds. The road to icon status isn’t always easy, as you might have read in our complimentary list of Demoted and Demolished Lost Disney Parks icons.
Below, we’ve collected eleven of the most memorable, photogenic, and widely recognized theme park icons on Earth (in order of their introduction). Which have you seen? Which strike the greatest emotional and adventurous chord in you? Tell us in the comments.
1. Sleeping Beauty Castle
Image: Disney
Where: Disneyland Park and Hong Kong Disneyland
The Story: The first Disney Parks icon is also the smallest – at only 77 feet tall, Sleeping Beauty Castle is a pocket-sized fairytale castle, perfectly scaled for the cozy, comfortable, and warm Southern California park. Though its paint scheme has varied over time (from gray to flamingo to pastel pink), Sleeping Beauty Castle remains a beloved park icon for Walt’s original Magic Kingdom.
Originally to be named after the studios’ first princess, Snow White, Walt ordered the last minute name change to promote the his then-upcoming film Sleeping Beauty, which opened in theatres four years after its namesake castle.
Inside: Walt famously challenged his Imagineers to utilize the tight space inside the miniscule castle for more than the storage closet it was originally used for. A charming walkthrough of dioramas retelling the tale of Sleeping Beauty through artistic vignettes has been located there ever since. Closed after the September 11 attacks on New York City, the walkthrough was closed for safety reasons in 2001. In 2008, the walkthrough reopened with new, multimedia, technological touches.
2. Cinderella Castle
Image: Disney
Where: Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland
The Story: At a towering 189-feet, Cinderella Castle far outmeasures Sleeping Beauty’s. Legendary Disney Imagineer Herb Ryman – who is also responsible for Sleeping Beauty Castle – designed the castle as an amalgamation of real life castle styles through centuries, transforming from a Medieval stronghold at ground level to a Renaissance palace at its peak.
Though Walt Disney World fans tend to taut its statistics, not everyone is a fan of Cinderella Castle’s prominence and stature. Outspoken Disney Imagineer Rolly Crump (who worked alongside Walt in the original design of Disneyland) noted such in a controversial 2018 interview with the Los Angeles Times: “It had no feeling of Disney,” he said of Magic Kingdom. “When you go to Disney World and you see the castle, you want to genuflect … and that disturbed me.”
Inside: At Magic Kingdom, a high-end character dining restaurant resides in the castle’s upper floors. In Tokyo, a Cinderella walkthrough similar to California’s Sleeping Beauty walkthrough – though in a much grander scale – occupies the same space.
3. Spaceship Earth
Image: Disney
Where: Epcot
The Story: Spaceship Earth is a 180-foot tall geodesic sphere covered in 11,520 white isosceles triangular panels. Epcot was intended to be a sort of permanent World’s Fair, with Spaceship Earth taking on the role of the Fair’s grand icon – a role held in previous World’s Fairs by the Eiffel Tower, the Seattle Space Needle, and New York’s Unisphere.
An architectural wonder, the sphere’s enormous weight (more than 15 million pounds) is supported by steel pylons dug 120 feet into the earth.
Inside: Believe it or not, this floating sphere contains a 15-minute dark ride. Each pavilion at Epcot is dedicated to one area of research. Spaceship Earth’s topic is communication, and its eponymous dark ride tracks communication from the Stone Age, through the Renaissance, and into the Internet era of today.
4. Studio Gates
Where: Universal Studios Hollywood, Florida, Japan, and Singapore
The Story: The white marble gates of the Universal Studios Arch are identifiable even a world away. Each of the four sets currently in existence is purposefully unique. Hollywood’s is classic, streamlined, and modern. In Florida and Japan, the gates take on art deco qualities. Singapore’s is topped with a pagoda-style roof and perpetually decked out for Southeast Asian holidays.
5. Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant
Image: Disney
Where: Disneyland Paris
The Story: Though it translates to “Sleeping Beauty’s Castle,” this towering palace has little in common with its similarly named counterparts except a color scheme. When tasked with opening their first European park, Imagineers struggled with what icon to choose. While all three other Disneyland-style parks had a central castle, there are real castles all over Europe, some much more extravagant than Disney’s. After tossing a few ideas around, it was decided that any castle acting as the centerpiece of a Parisian park needed to forget reality and instead take on a whimsical, fantasy twist. The result is a fortress that’s much more elaborate, colorful, and storybook than any of Disney’s earlier attempts, and it works wonders.
Inside: Passing across the drawbridge, the interior of the Castle is an open atrium where stone trees hold up scalable staircases and balconies that pass stained glass windows telling the story of Sleeping Beauty. Underneath is La Tanière du Dragon – the Dragon’s Dungeon – a walkthrough encounter with a sleeping (but easily disturbed) animatronic dragon chained into the castle’s dark grotto who earned a spot in our coveted Countdown of the Best Animatronics on Earth – a must-read for Disney Parks fans.
6. The Chinese Theater
Image: Disney
Where: Disney’s Hollywood Studios
The Story: Disney’s third theme park was intentionally designed as a half-day experience, born of then-CEO Michael Eisner’s love of (and career in) the film industry. Half idealized, romanticized Hollywood history and half industrial soundstage-littered “studio,” the arrival of the New Millennium didn’t fare well for the park as the tired soundstage look and the allure of going “behind the scenes” shriveled and died, taking with it the park’s official icon, the Earful Tower (a Mickey-hatted water tower).
To celebrate Walt Disney’s 100th birthday in 2001, a giant, 122-foot tall Sorcerer Mickey hat was positioned at the end of the park’s beautiful, Main Street style Hollywood Blvd., towering senselssly over the park and standing in front of a delicate and thoughtful recreation of Hollywood’s iconic Chinese Theater. It didn’t make much sense that a giant hat would be at the end of a hyper-realistic 1930s Hollywood street, and it made even less sense to cover the beautiful Chinese Theater – a built-in park icon! – for it. The twelve-story hat fell in 2015 (after a staggering 14 year life) revealing the theater once again.
Fun Fact: Disney has waffled on officially accepting the theater as the park’s icon. Maybe it’s because of the park’s imminent complete rebuild that will bring a Star Wars land and Toy Story Land, effectively eliminating what’s left of the “studio” style. The transformation already sent the Earful Tower to our list of Demoted and Demolished Lost Disney Parks icons. So rather than highlighting the incredible and impressive ready-made icon built into the park’s “Main Street,” in some material, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror’s Hollywood Tower Hotel stands alongside Cinderella Castle, Spaceship Earth, and the next icon on our list…
7. The Tree of Life
Image: Disney
Where: Disney’s Animal Kingdom
The Story: The perfect icon for a wildlife and conservation themed park, the Tree of Life stands an impressive 145 feet tall. The tangled and gnarled root system of the banyan tree spreads over many acres, forming animal habitats, bridges, tunnels, and walking trails for visitors.
Over 300 animals appear “carved” onto the tree (which is actually sculpted around the metal skeleton of an old oil rig). The Tree of Life was also Disney’s first ever park icon meant to resemble a natural feature.
Inside: Originally proposed as a theatre for a show based on The Lion King, then-CEO Michael Eisner suggested that the inside of the tree become a 3-D show based on Disney-Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. The show, “It’s Tough to be a Bug,” continues to play today. Because the park opened seven months before the movie premiered, the show inside the tree acts as a prequel set before the film.
8. Pharos Lighthouse
Image: Alberto Alerigi, Flickr (license)
Where: Universal’s Islands of Adventure
The Story: Universal’s first attempt at a true theme park made of individual themed lands, Islands of Adventure blew away the park-going community with its innovative use of technology and a commitment to detail not seen since Disney’s best. Pharos Lighthouse stands on the water at the entrance of the park. The lighthouse is modeled after the very real Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. At night, its very real beam radiates and revolves, guiding visitors into – or out of – the park.
Fun Fact: Pharos Lighthouse is part of the park’s entrance land, Port of Entry. Modeled after a seaside community built by all the cultures of the world coming together, Port of Entry is full of details, surprises, and secrets that rival Disney’s standards. Though it can’t be seen from the ground, when viewed from above the land around Pharos Lighthouse forms a halo with rays emanating from it, with the lighthouse at the center.
9. Carthay Circle Theatre
Image: Disney
Where: Disney California Adventure
The Story: Set at the end of Disney California Adventure’s 1920s-themed Buena Vista Street, Carthay Circle Theatre is a picture-perfect icon to represent the electric optimism of the sunset-colored City of Angels. Of tremendous importance to both California history and Disney history, the Carthay was where Walt took his biggest gamble, premiering Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as the first ever full-length animated feature film. At 89 feet tall, the Carthay Circle Theatre is 12 feet taller than its sister, Sleeping Beauty Castle, at Disneyland Park, which stands straight across from it.
Carthay Circle Theatre wasn’t the park’s first icon. Or second. Or third. Through the park’s infamously rough history (chronicled in Declassified Disaster: Disney’s California Adventure) and its many changes since, California Adventure’s icon has changed along with it. Originally the tepid metallic “Sun Icon,” it was soon replaced by the towering Grizzly Peak. As its renovation kicked up in 2007, the park became associated with the new and refreshed Mickey’s Fun Wheel before Buena Vista Street and the Carthay Circle Theatre officially opened during the park’s grand 2012 rededication. You can read more information about each in our Demolished and Demoted Lost Icons of Disney Parks feature.
Inside: On the first floor of the theatre is a speakeasy and lounge. The second floor contains the upscale and magnificent Carthay Circle Restaurant, serving gourmet Southern California fusion cuisine. Only the elite can enter the secretive Club 1901, a Disney California Adventure take on Disneyland’s exclusive Club 33.
10. Mount Prometheus
Image: Disney
Where: Tokyo DisneySea
The Story: Mount Prometheus is a towering, rumbling, very-much-active volcano, which spews smoke and flame throughout the day and night. The volcano – which disappears from certain angles by disguising itself as a grassy mountain – serves as a fittingly awe-inspiring icon to what some call the greatest theme park on Earth.
Mount Prometheus is 189 feet tall – exactly the same height as Cinderella Castle at Tokyo Disneyland next door.
Inside: A massive and all-encompassing rock caldera affixed to the mountain’s side contains the park’s signature land, Mysterious Island (based on the Jules Verne book of the same name). Indeed, Verne’s work carries through the land. The entire land is filled with metallic paths hoisted up around the circular caldera, with a lagoon of bubbling, boiling water and leaping geysers within. The mountain itself contains one of the most incredible and sought-after rides Disney has ever created – the Modern Marvel: Journey to the Center of the Earth.
11. Enchanted Storybook Castle
Image: Disney
Where: Shanghai Disneyland
The Story: For their third Disneyland-style park in Asia, Disney has changed everything. From the “traditional” layout of themed lands to the contents of those lands, almost everything has shifted. We chronicled all the details in our In-Depth: Shanghai Disneyland walkthrough. Shanghai Disneyland is a reinvented park. That’s the case with the park’s icon, too. Leaving behind Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and sort of morphing their styles together, Enchanted Storybook Castle is a brand a new take on the castle classics and is proudly trumpeted as the largest Disney castle ever built. Towering and elegant with oxidized domes, teal towers, and ornate decorations, it truly is unlike any castle to come before. Whether bigger is always better has been hotly contest among fans, but the Enchanted Storybook Castle is still a sight to behold.
Inside: Stepping into the castle, guests find themselves in a glowing, ethereal rotunda with a stunning chandelier and mosaic artwork showcasing Disney Princesses. Meanwhile, the lower level of the castle contains show scenes for the park’s one-of-a-kind Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, a sort of Jungle-Cruise-style Fantasyland adventure past sylized vignettes of Disney classics.
12. “Princesses Castle”
Image: Disney
Where: Shanghai Disneyland
The Story: Something altogether unique is taking shape at Hong Kong Disneyland… Spurred by the opening of the second Chinese Disney resort in Shanghai, Hong Kong government officials started to get serious about their miniscule park – one of the final, low-budget, cop-out parks produced at the end of Michael Eisner’s penny-pinching era. Sure, the park had already undergone a massive expansion to open three new mini-lands, Disney’s first Marvel-themed E-Ticket, and the Modern Marvel: Mystic Manor, but more would be needed if Hong Kong’s park were to stand a chance against the much larger Shanghai juggernaut.
A surprising expansion will bring about a full Marvel land (carved out of a corner of the park’s Tomorrowland), a New Fantasyland centered around Frozen, and – perhaps most surprisingly – a new castle. The concept art reveals that Sleeping Beauty Castle will remain mostly in-tact, with a towering, stretched palace of mish-mashed towers essentially being grafted onto it. The castle – so far unnamed – appears to attempt to represent the castles inhabited by each Disney Princess, though fans are distinctly divided on the final product and its promise to be the tallest Disney castle yet.
Inside: It’s almost certain space will be set aside within for something, and a pricey restaurant seems most likely. But we won’t know until this new, expanded castle lowers is drawbridge in 2020.
Ideal Icons
They inspire awe. They overwhelm. They excite. Just when you think they can’t possibly come up with another, a new incredible park icon takes center stage. Which of the icons we’ve explored are your favorites? What makes them so incredibly moving to us?
