General Information

Location: Inside Sleeping Beauty Castle, to enter walk through the castle archway and turn left.

Date Opened: Original version on April 29, 1957. Closed October 7, 2001. Re-opened November 26, 2008.

# of Ride Units: None, walkthrough attraction.

Ride Capacity: Probably only a few dozen before things start to feel crowed.

Restraint Method: None

Ticket Rating: A Ticket

Ride Photo: No

Advertisement

Time Commitment

Open/Close: Opens and closes with the park. Closed for fireworks.

Wait Times: There will generally be no wait at all to enter.

Length of Ride: Self guided, but for most no more than 15 minutes.

FastPass: No

Single Rider: No

Queue Description: No queue.

Access Information

Health Restriction: None.

Ride Access: Most of this attraction is on the upper floor of Sleeping Beauty Castle and requires climbing and then descending stairs. If this is not possible, there is a virtual experience available in a room on the ground floor of the castle which uses video to demonstrate the attraction.

Wheelchair Transfer: Wheelchairs can not enter the attraction.

Service Animals: Yes

Audio: Mostly just atmospheric sound effects. The virtual experience does have narration with open captions.

Weight and Size Issues: The walkway inside the castle is narrow and some may find it claustrophobic but everybody should be able to get through.

Parenting Information

Height Restriction: No

Child Swap: No

Other Issues: The inside of the castle is a low-light environment with a twisting narrow walkway. Some children may not like it, and all children should be carefully monitored.

History and Trivia

  • At this location: The castle has been part of the park since it opened in 1955, however it wasn't until April 1957 that the second story storage space was turned into a public attraction.
  • The Attraction's History: Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough actually predate the movie Sleeping Beauty which wasn't released 1959. So, in effect, they were commercials for an upcoming release. The original walkthrough was very basic, with books, atmospheric sounds, and even scents telling the story of Sleeping Beauty. In 1977 the attraction received an upgrade and new dynamic displays were added. Though the attraction had been in decline it was still a complete surprise when it was closed mid-day on October 7, 2001. No reason was ever given for the sudden closure (some hypothesized access issues, other that it was related to the war in Afghanistan which began that day raising fears that Disneyland might be a terrorism target). The walkway was closed for more than 8 years until finally reopening in late 2008.