PHOTOS - A detailed look at the Magic Kingdom's completed Cinderella Castle makeover

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Completed new-look Cinderella Castle

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Posted: Monday August 24, 2020 2:22pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Despite a global pandemic that shut down the parks and a lot of construction work for four months, the visual refresh of Cinderella Castle completed just 6 months after its announcement in February.

The moat has been refilled as the final step in completing the new look for Cinderella Castle

The 189ft castle was hand painted from the very base of the structure to the top of the spires.

Completed new-look Cinderella Castle

The new paint is a radical departure from the original color scheme, and offers varying looks depending on the position and intensity of the sun.

Forced perspective make the castle appear taller than it really is

The Magic Kingdom icon is recognized as the most photographed structure in the world.

The glistening gold pops in the intense Florida sun

Over the years the Castle has been transformed to provide a backdrop for various celebrations. Perhaps the most famous (and conntroversial) was probably the pink Castle Cake from the 1996 25th Anniversary of Walt Disney World. The most recent transformation was much more subtle, and was for The Happiest Celebration on Earth in 2005.

Completed new-look Cinderella Castle

Despite popular myth, the castle is not built of bricks, and it cannot be taken down in the event of a hurricane. The castle is however built to sustain severe weather.

Many different shoes of color were applied by hand to the bricks

Click the gallery for a look at the new Cinderella Castle from all angles.

The new paint appears metallic in bright sunlight

Discuss on the Forums

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kevlightyearAug 11, 2021

Yes, clearly. Found a video from July, and in realtime it's definitely not solid white, but still very bright!

BrianAug 11, 2021

Also the flag on the right most turret.

TouchdownAug 11, 2021

Look at Woody, it’s a long exposure. Woodys blurry because he’s animated.

kevlightyearAug 11, 2021

This image from Blog Mickey of HEA with the 50th crest kinda blew my mind. The background is so strikingly white! It must be a combination of super powerful projectors and highly reflective paint, right? Maybe it's a long exposure trick with this picture, but still impressive.

DoleWhipDreaJul 25, 2021

Great, I'll never be able to unsee it... :banghead: I wonder if something got warped from the heat?

ImperfectPixieJul 24, 2021

Very likely the mounts on the castle are dead on, and the ones on the back of the crest itself are off.

Captain BarbossaJul 23, 2021

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the mounts are spot on and Disney screwed up the crest. Seems to be their style nowadays.

ImperfectPixieJul 23, 2021

I dunno...that looks pretty dead-on to me. I really think the crest is crooked. Even the decorative molding on each side of the crest looks a little crooked.

Disstevefan1Jul 23, 2021

I am hoping the person was just not directly in front of the castle and we are seeing an optical illusion. Worst case, no problem, just pull it off and replace the command strip. 😀

JoeCamelJul 23, 2021

Take the castle crane and lift on the lower left support ever so gently........ Oh, I want video when they do it

Captain BarbossaJul 23, 2021

@Splashin' Ryan hit the nail on the head. Due to the way that the mounts are installed on the castle, there’s no easy way to straighten the crest. But even if there was, they wouldn’t do it. It’s barely noticeable. No one is going to see it unless they’re standing up close (almost underneath it) while staring directly at the point. The 50 doesn’t look off at the slightest, even up close, and that’s the most important thing.

brb1006Jul 23, 2021

Splashin' RyanJul 23, 2021

They won't be able to fix it. The piece was slid into supports that were installed months ago so the supports themselves are likely the ones causing the slight misalignment and therefore the supports would also need to be re drilled into the castle facade for a fix. https://blogmickey.com/2021/04/mounts-installed-on-cinderella-castle-for-disney-world-50th-anniversary-shield/