The new Castle of Magical Dreams at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.
Credit: © Hong Kong Disneyland Resort

What if you could combine all your favorite characters and cultures featured in Disney films into one amazing attraction? Hong Kong Disneyland has done just that.

This year, the new-and-improved Castle of Magical Dreams was revealed at Hong Kong Disneyland. Built atop the park’s existing Sleeping Beauty Castle, the Castle of Magical Dreams incorporates a variety of female characters and their storylines into one diversity-celebrating architectural feat.

The Castle of Magical Dreams has more than a dozen towers, each representing a female character from a Disney film. Each character has her own tower, complete with elements from her story. Tiana from The Princess and the Frog (2009), for example, is represented by a tower with a water-lily motif. The tower representing Mulan (1998) features a cherry blossom pattern. At the top of each tower also sits a finial (ornament) chosen to represent each character. For example, Belle’s tower, from Beauty and the Beast (1991), is adorned with an enchanted rose. Together, the unique towers celebrate the diversity of Disney’s female characters.

The designers did not forget about the characters’ beloved sidekicks. Inside the castle, visitors will find 13 columns topped with such friends as Pua and HeiHei, from Moana (2016), and Merida’s triplet brothers from Brave (2012).

Many of the female characters in Disney films must overcome obstacles. Disneyland’s engineers had to tackle obstacles of their own. The Castle of Magical Dreams is made up of 15 massive parts. Each portion was built and painted off-site. The parts were then shipped to Hong Kong Disneyland and put together using a crane.

Because of the ongoing pandemic (global outbreak) of the coronavirus disease COVID-19, many people cannot travel. So, while you wait to visit Hong Kong Disneyland’s Castle of Magical Dreams, try drawing a castle of your own! You can take your favorite parts from movies—Disney or otherwise—to create a unique structure. Who knows, one day you may design a creation for a Disney park.

December 21, 2017

Eighty years ago today, on Dec. 21, 1937, the animated motion picture Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered before a star-studded audience at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The first full-length animated feature produced by a studio, Snow White achieved instant critical success. The film also began a lengthy popular run with its wide release in 1938. The Walt Disney Company movie revolutionized animation with its brilliant visual effects. Snow White ranks among the most popular motion pictures ever made.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Credit: © Walt Disney Productions

Tickets to the 1937 Carthay Circle Theatre premiere of Snow White were among the hardest to get at that time in Hollywood. The elite list of attending stars—all taking an unfamiliar back seat to Walt Disney and his wife, Lillian—included Milton Berle, George Burns, Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, and 9-year-old Shirley Temple. Many thousands of people gathered outside the theater to be a part of the event.

In January 1938, after Snow White premiered at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, The New York Times described the film as “sheer fantasy, delightful, gay, and altogether captivating.” Since then, millions of people around the world have agreed and continue to agree with that critical opinion, and the film remains a popular challenger to such recent animated Disney hits as The Lion King, Aladdin, and Frozen.

To mark the classic film’s 80th anniversary, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs returned for a brief run in select cinemas. Department stores issued Snow White-themed clothing lines. Numerous figurines, jewelry, plates, and other collectibles featured Snow White waking with Prince Charming’s kiss, and television’s Disney Channel ran a nostalgic 80th anniversary program that included a rousing rendition by the popular rock group Fall Out Boy of the Dwarfs’ song “Heigh-Ho.” And, of course, Disney Stores across the country are overflowing with Snow White-themed items for the Christmas shopping season.

Disney adapted Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, a famous collection of German folk tales published in the early 1800′s. The film tells how the beautiful Snow White triumphs over the evil plotting of the Wicked Queen with the help of seven dwarfs who live in a forest. Each of the seven dwarfs has a distinct comic personality that matches his name—Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy. The young woman eventually marries the handsome Prince Charming.

At the time the movie was made, Disney was taking a huge gamble in creating a feature-length cartoon. The expensive film took four years to make, and there were predictions that it would fail with a public accustomed to short cartoons. But the movie was an immediate international success. Disney received a special Academy Award for “a significant screen innovation.” The award consisted of the traditional Oscar statue and seven miniature statuettes.