From October 1996 to January 1998 the Imagineers at Walt Disney World transformed Cinderella Castle into a huge pink birthday cake. This picture was taken November 1997.Wikipedia reports "It took more than 400 gallons (1514 l) of pink paint to cover the castle, which was decorated with multicolored "sprinkles," 26 candles, ranging in height from 20–40 feet (6.1-12.2 m) tall, 16 two-foot (61 cm) long candy stars, 16 five-foot (1.5 m) candy bears, 12 five-foot (1.5 m) gumdrops, four six-foot (1.8 m) stacks of Life Savers, 30 three-foot (91 cm) lollipops, and 50 two-foot (61 cm) gumballs. Additionally, more than 1000 feet (305 m) of pink and blue inflatable "icing" was needed to finish it off."
I still have a hard time looking at this. While memorable, to me this was not the best idea the Imagineers ever had.
Oh yeah, I remember this very well. I was 9 when they did it and have quite a few pictures of the cake. My aunt worked at the Magic Kingdom during this time and she would come home and tell the family how very very mad people were. Especially the first time visitors who wanted to see Cinderella's castle, not a huge cake. Horrible idea.
ReplyDeleteWe were not big fans of this cake. It was May 1997 when we saw it. We were in WDW for our friends' wedding in the Wedding Pavilion. Of course, they planned their wedding before knowing it was going to be a big huge pink cake. Luckily, Disney offered screens with pictures of the castle in its normal state to go behind the bride and groom in the pavilion. Otherwise, my friends would definitely not have been happy with their wedding pictures! :-) I'm so happy they changed it back!
ReplyDeleteI didn't really like this version of the castle. It reminded me of the game of Candyland. I feel bad for people who saw this castle as their first glance of Magic Kingdom. I am happy that it only lasted for a short time and went back to the original.
ReplyDeleteI remember this too... we went June 1997. I remember being so disappointed that the castle was different. not a shining moment in park history
ReplyDeleteWow. I have NEVER seen this photo. It looks HORRIBLE and I love pink! How did I miss this. Shame on me.
ReplyDeleteThat could well be the gaudiest thing I have ever seen! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing it for the first time and and being shocked at how horrible it was. What were they imaginearing?
ReplyDeleteI don't hate the cakestle, mostly for sentimental reasons. They didn't return the castle to its normal state until early 1998 and this was my view during my college program time. I can see how first time visitors would be disappointed. It doesn't inspire the same fairytale daydreams as the normal castle. Oh, and I can see bridezillas going nuts if they thought this was going to be in their wedding photos.
ReplyDeleteSad to say, but I still have the t-shirt of this fiasco and the "special" box it came in. **hangs head in shame**
ReplyDeleteI have to dig out some of my shots of the cake :) oh the memories. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly that while memorable, this was not my favorite look for the castle. It wasn't so bad for me or my family as we had seen it often in its natural state prior and would many more times in the future, but I felt bad for those making their one and only trip to WDW who would NEVER see the castle as it was meant to be seen. :-(
ReplyDeleteI saw this on a spring break trip with friends when I was in college and I will never forget how shocked I was to see it. I had been SO excited to see the castle and show it to my friends who had never been, and then to walk in and see a Candyland castle? I was less than thrilled for sure. It was definitely memorable though!
ReplyDeleteI remember the first moment I saw it as the monorail approached the Magic Kingdom. I also remember my son squealing with delight as my husband and I gasped in horror!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up today and sharing your Wordless Wednesday with us,
Deb @ The Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop
Seems not too many people were fans of the cake castle! This was the castle that I saw on my first ever trip to Disney World. I was shocked that the castle didn't look like I had expected but I recovered quickly - after all, I was at Disney World!!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the cake castle, but 15 months is an awful long time to have it like that. If they could have done it just for a month or so, then I think it would have been a neat little idea, but I guess with that much work to transform the castle they were stuck letting it stay for a while.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm in the minority, I really liked the Castle in pink. I thought it looked beautiful Great pic.. Amy..
ReplyDeleteWhat a creative way to celebrate! It definitely left an impression.
ReplyDeleteWow, just wow. Definitely not what we're used to.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about this until today - how fun!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool! Such a sight to see!
ReplyDeleteWe were there in Oct. 1997 and saw this castle. I think we even had our picture taken if front of it by a Disney photographer. We had seen it in the original form so didn't really mind it but can imagine the shock of a first time visit.
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