Theme Park Tourist has covered the infamous Sorcerer’s Hat and the much-beloved Spaceship Earth in recent weeks, so it seemed fitting to do an article on the other Disney icons. Standing tall at every Disney park, they’re very important elements on a visual level. The foreign Disney theme parks also have icons, but they’re mostly variations on the ones listed below, so here are the histories of six American Disney icons.
1. Sleeping Beauty Castle (Disneyland, 1955)
Sleeping Beauty Castle is the first Disney castle and first Disney icon. Found in both Anaheim and Hong Kong, it was originally inspired by Neuschwanstein Castle and some French structures. The Disneyland Castle is a relatively small 77 feet tall, but it was designed with something called forced perspective in mind to make it appear larger. The walkthrough for the Castle opened in April of 1959, featuring dioramas exploring the story of Sleeping Beauty designed by someone involved in the 1959 film. It was redesigned in 1977 to look like the windows on Main Street, U.S.A. The walkthrough was closed in 2001, presumably because of fear of terrorist attacks after 9/11, but it reopened seven years later in 2008 with the original design, utilizing technology that wasn’t available in 1959. Now over fifty-five years old, Sleeping Beauty Castle is a favorite Disney icon of many theme park enthusiasts.
2. Cinderella Castle (Magic Kingdom, 1971)
Image: Chad Sparkles, Flickr (license)
The second icon was Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom, which debuted the same day as the theme park itself. It’s more than twice the size of the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Anaheim, but still uses the same forced perspective to make it look even larger than its actual size of 189. Cinderella Castle was envisioned to be the primary visual magnet (known to Imagineers as a ‘weenie’), drawing guests from Main Street to the center of the park.
Cinderella Castle was made to look like bricks were used in its construction, but that’s another illusion. It’s actually primarily made of steel and concrete, with real gold and gold leaf for the two largest spires. When Cinderella Castle was being built there was to be a suite for Disney family and executives but, since Roy O. Disney died shortly after Walt Disney World opened, it was never finished and the area has instead been used as an office. It has since been renovated to become the luxurious Cinderella Castle Suite.
There’s the belief that Cinderella Castle was made to be taken down easily during a Florida hurricane, but that’s a myth; it would take months to take apart completely.
3. Earful Tower (Disney’s Hollywood Studios, 1989)
Image: Disney
The Earful Tower was the Disney icon that preceded the infamous Sorcerer’s Hat. It’s inspired by the water towers found on Hollywood studio backlots in the early- to mid-1900s, which were used as safety measures against fires on film sets. The only thing that really separates it from the tower at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, in fact, is the Mickey Mouse ears. The name is a pun for the Eiffel Tower. Though this icon was demoted in recent years, it has been making a comeback on official merchandise as the
4. Tree of Life (Animal Kingdom, 1998)
The Tree of Life, a staggering 145 feet tall and 50 feet wide, is the centerpiece of the Animal Kingdom since it opened. Around 325 carved animals are on the surface of the tree and its trunk, and it’s toped with over a hundred thousand translucent, green leaves that were placed individually to actually blow with the wind. It’s truly something wonderful to behold. The Tree of Life holds the unique privilege of being one of the only Disney icons with a backstory. Here it is, in case you’re not familiar:
Once upon a time, no vegetation would grow on Discovery Island. There were no trees, no shrubs, no flowers, nothing. It was a barren piece of land. Then, one day, a tiny ant planted a seed and made a wish. He asked for a tree to grow – a tree large enough to provide shelter for all the animals. Magically, the ant’s wish came true and a tree began to grow — and it kept growing until there was room beneath its limbs for all the animals from A (ants) to Z (zebras). And as the tree continued to reach for the heavens, the images of all the animals that took shelter beneath its shade appeared on its trunk, roots, and branches.
The Tree of Life wasn’t the first idea the Disney Imagineers had for an icon for the Animal Kingdom. Other ideas included a Noah’s Ark or a carousel featuring animals of the land, the sea and the sky. When the Imagineers settled on the Tree of Life, they had to think about Florida’s hurricane weather when considering how to design and build it. One plan was to make a geodesic dome structure, but that was scratched. They decided on an oil rig as the base skeleton of the tree’s trunk. The original intention was for it to be based on The Lion King, but Eisner wanted to tie it in with the second movie from recent Disney acquisition Pixar, A Bug’s Life. Still, the Platinum DVD of The Lion King has a reference to the Tree of Life, adopting the name for Rafiki’s tree.
5. Mickey’s Fun Wheel (California Adventure, 2001/2009)
Mickey’s Fun Wheel is a ferris wheel that stands 160 feet tall, based on the 1927 Wonder Wheel at Coney Island. It was originally known as the Sun Wheel but was reconfigured and named after Mickey in May 2009. The change was part of the Paradise Pier updates. Mickey’s Fun Wheel is a little more intense than your typical Ferris wheel, enough that sick bags are offered in each gondola.
6. Grizzly Peak (California Adventure, 2001)
Image: Disney
The 110-foot tall man-made mountain that is Grizzly Peak is hard to miss at Disney’s California Adventure and was created with big steel cages, which were then carved as rocks. Not too long ago Disney considered using the mountain for a new version of the Country Bear Jamboree theater, along with a gold rush mining adventure. The infrastructure of Grizzly Peak unfortunately made that unfeasible.
I hope you learned a little about one of the first things you see when you arrive at many Disney parks. Share your favorite on our Facebook page or in the comments below!
