All the ornate fillagree that has been added to Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is coming down. On Sunday I snapped a few photos of the castle partially undone. The decorations were up for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Disney’s themeparks. That ends this month.
Alas, some of the decorations have done some damage to the castle in their removal. I’m sure this can be repaired, but damage like this is all over the castle. It’s my understanding that the castle will get some much needed care and repair and that no new decorations will go up for the next promotion – The Year of a Million Dreams – which begins in October sometime.
The chief element of the new promotion will be random situational give aways of various products and experiences for guests in and around the parks and resorts. Disney will be utilizing a system that randomly selects a time and location for a certain giveaway and then directs Cast Members to that very specific location (such as table 12 at Plaza Inn or the family getting off Spaceship Earth). More as details are released and prize awarding commences.
Finally, in the back of the castle part of the courtyard is closed off and a crane is partially hidden behind some temporary walls. It’s an eyesore, but apparently too much work time is lost moving the crane into position every night to store it backstage. It will probably be gone by this weekend.
Any thoughts on the new promotion? Think it will draw in the crowds?
Similar damage happened after the 25th castle cake. It happens and is repaired.
The new promotion is a grasp at straws.. just like the 100 years of magic was.
Can’t they go a little while without some marketing gimmick? It’s been non stop since 1999. Shouldn’t WDW draw crowds just by being WDW?
I did Keys to the Kingdom a few weeks ago, and our CM mentioned that one of the “million wishes” is going to be a night in Cinderella Castle. That would draw me back in. Its not just a marketing gimmick…its all about plusing the magic.
I missed the “town hall meetings” that were taking place for MK CMs this week, but I did find out that each merchandise location will be performing one magical moment per hour and at least one “wow” magical moment per day. More fun for kids, more free stuff given away, and, yeah, more work for CMs, but that was a given anyway. The hourly magical moments are small: for one store, it’s a piece of candy to a “sweet pin trader” and the wows are mostly more photo ops, like decorating the Christmas tree in Liberty Square.
I think it’s a great promotion anyway and I think the really big giveaways will make a lot of cool stories to pass around the park. I love the name, I love the logo – it’s got OUR castle, so there! and I’m looking forward to the new name tags at the end of the month too!
Can WDW draw crowds just by being WDW? Well, can Coke outsell other beverages year after year, by just being Coke? No, they have to have new promotions (some with Disney) and spend more in advertising than any other beverage company, year after year. What’s wrong with promotions? Why do themes offend people so? They break up the monotony and make it look like a new and exciting trip for people who have already been there several times. The average person doesn’t sit on the internet and read Disney blogs and think about going to Disney, after all. They have to be pushed into it.
I can’t wait. Even if my family and I don’t get a single thing from the promotion, I can’t wait to read the stories of those who do.
This is pure Disney magic, the way it SHOULD be.
How I get information about my celebration sweet sixteen in the orlando cinderella castle or another place.
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