You’ve little question heard the city legend that the spires on Cinderella Fortress at Walt Disney World are detachable in heavy winds. Each time a hurricane is heading in the direction of Florida, pretend pictures of the icon with its prime eliminated go viral on social media. (Up to date October 11, 2024.)
That bought even worse with Hurricane Milton, “thanks” to the rise of AI providers. I’ve seen pictures of a flooded Magic Kingdom, Spaceship Earth with a large gap in it, and Cinderella Fortress torn aside–all handed off as actual on social media. Extra amusingly, I’ve additionally seen pictures of a jacked Pluto rescuing a drowning youngster and different nonsensical pictures created as parody.
All of this impressed us to revisit this put up from the DTB Archives, when this really did occur! Albeit at Tokyo Disneyland and never for a hurricane. Once more, that half is an city legend. Cinderella Fortress can’t be rapidly disassembled and it actually just isn’t lowered into the underground Utilidors throughout hurricanes. The pictures listed here are actual ones, from when Tokyo Disneyland undertook a large multi-month refurbishment mission!
Throughout that refurbishment, its Cinderella Fortress was solely begins scrims, and the highest spire was eliminated and repaired off-site.
To our information, this has by no means occurred earlier than with both model of Cinderella Fortress, or every other Disney fortress, for that matter. Positive, there’s the enlargement mission at Hong Kong Disneyland, however that’s totally different. As such, we thought it’d be enjoyable to share some pictures of this unprecedented dismantling. Even when you’ve got no plans to ever go to Japan, this isn’t one thing you see daily…or each decade, for that matter.
Earlier than we delve into the small print of the Cinderella Fortress overhaul mission at Tokyo Disneyland, I need to give a fast “plug” to the city legend concerning the spire elimination at Walt Disney World. If you happen to’re unfamiliar with it, try the Snopes web page answering the query, “Are the Spires on Disney World’s Cinderella Fortress Detachable in Case of Hurricane?” It’s a hoot.
As that factors out, that is an previous however thriving city legend. It paperwork a number of outstanding cases of the Walt Disney World delusion spreading, with some tales having appeared within the mainstream media way back to the Nineteen Nineties. From the supposed easy elimination of the spires through cranes to the extra far-fetched reducing of the whole fortress into the bottom, that options some debunked gems.
What follows is the unique put up and pictures I took of Cinderella Fortress with the highest spire eliminated–earlier than AI pictures have been even a (mainstream) factor…
As for what’s happening with Cinderella Fortress at Tokyo Disneyland, we have been fairly stunned to stroll into the park and see this at present. We’ve been watching this mission, however thought it was a comparatively easy refurbishment to spiffy issues up.
Final week after we final left the park at closing, we observed a flurry of development exercise, together with some prospers being faraway from Cinderella Fortress (we’ve additionally seen a ton of seen progress within the Magnificence and the Beast village, however that’s one other replace for one more day). We spent the previous couple of days within the metropolis, returning to the parks at present as soon as the vacation weekend crowds subsided.
As we approached through the monorail, we couldn’t fairly imagine that the highest spire had been completely faraway from Cinderella Fortress. Actually, we didn’t at first. It took seeing it once more from the monorail platform after which confirming as soon as extra what we thought we noticed wasn’t really an optical phantasm.
Right here’s a better take a look at the present spire elimination and different (de)development on Tokyo Disneyland’s Cinderella Fortress:
We’re undecided what else this Cinderella Fortress refurbishment entails–as famous above, we didn’t anticipate it being practically this substantial of a mission within the first place. We anticipated some reworked particulars, new roofing, maybe a contemporary coat of paint and a modified colour scheme–akin to what occurred final 12 months at Sleeping Magnificence Fortress in Disneyland. It could appear that Tokyo Disney Resort has extra bold plans–with development crews clearly logging lengthy hours to satisfy the deadline.
It’ll be fascinating to observe progress on these Cinderella Fortress renovations, and see else is dismantled, rebuilt, added, and so forth., alongside the way in which. Even for those who’re not planning a visit to Tokyo Disney Resort within the close to or distant future, hopefully you not less than loved this distinctive take a look at a fairly unusual mission!
Planning a visit to Tokyo Disney Resort? For complete recommendation, one of the best place to start out is our Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea Journey Planning Information! For extra specifics, our TDR Resort Rankings & Opinions web page covers lodging. Our Restaurant Opinions element the place to dine & snack. To economize on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash put up. Our What to Pack for Disney put up takes a singular take a look at intelligent gadgets to take. Venturing elsewhere in Japan? Seek the advice of our Final Information to Kyoto, Japan and Metropolis Information to Tokyo, Japan.
Your Ideas
What do you consider seeing Cinderella Fortress’s prime spire eliminated? Is it surreal to see the fortress with out its prime? Do you discover this fascinating, or would you like to not see the park icon like this? If you happen to’ve visited Tokyo Disney Resort not too long ago, what did you consider all the development? How, if in any respect, did it impression your journey? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation right here? Any questions? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
