Disney has finally provided a timeline for the upcoming repaint of Cinderella Castle. ICYMI, the iconic Magic Kingdom castle will lose the link hue that was added in 2020 in the lead-up to the Walt Disney World 50th anniversary celebrations.

As reported by Scott Gustin, the project:

Begins in early January with the draining of the moat around Cinderella Castle
Involves minor changes to certain entertainment beginning January 28 (more on these below)
Requires visible cranes during the morning, which will be lowered and removed from view by noon, allowing for afternoon photos
Will wrap up later in the year

Altogether this seems as good a plan as any. We could argue over whether the castle ever needs to change colors, but in the Florida environment it’s inevitably going to need touching up of some sort on a regular basis. This plan, which ostensibly allows for less-blemished photos (it remains to be seen how the colors blend together, or if there’s any method to what gets painted when), is at least responsive to the major guest concern.

As for the minor impacts to entertainment, Disney has said that three shows will be impacted:

The morning welcome show, Let The Magic Begin
The castle stage show, Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire
The nighttime firework show, Happily Ever After

I don’t expect these to be serious changes. The first two will probably see pyrotechnics eliminated, and I could see other aspects of Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire being impacted just in the instance that there are space-related conflicts between that production and the repainting work.

As for Happily Ever After, it’s one of Disney’s cornerstone pieces of entertainment and not one they’re likely to run in any sort of “hobbled” state. I expect professionals will note the differences, and maybe some repeat guests, but my guess is first-timers will be as wowed as ever.

Original Post

Cinderella Castle will end her Rose Pink Era. As part of a host of announcements (which I’ll cover more later), Disney announced that Cinderella Castle will receive a new color palette, “which is inspired by the classic and original look of the castle.”

I’ll provide some photos for comparison, but unfortunately I’m not a good or prolific enough photographer to control for weather conditions, perspectives, and iPhone quality.

Here’s the current version of Cinderella Castle:

Here’s what it looked like pre-2020

And here’s the concept art for the upcoming re-design:

This looks pretty much like the old design, but we could always see some variation.

If you want one that looks almost-the-same-but-not-quite, here’s what Cinderella Castle in Tokyo Disneyland looks like:

I don’t really have much by way of commentary. I may be willing to comment on the occasional snack, but paint is still beyond my ken.

I always loved the castle, and while I thought the Rose Pink was a bit much at the time, I definitely got used to it. That said, we all sort of knew at the time it was a fad color job. I don’t think many of us will be too sad to see it go, if for no other reason than we already got our dozens (hundreds…thousands…) of pics from every angle.

Are you ready to say goodbye to Rose Pink?

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