Flashback to 1957: Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough and Shirley Temple Black

Shirley Temple Black Opens Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough
April 29, 1957, marks an important anniversary for Sleeping Beauty Castle. It was on this date that Walt Disney and legendary film star Shirley Temple Black officially opened Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough. Originally, there were no plans for the castle to have any kind of show, but Walt found a way. Guests climbed a staircase through the castle and walked by miniature dioramas that told the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.

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  • Walt Disney, Disneyland and Shirley Temple – can it get any better!?

  • Last I heard they had no plans to reopen this attraction because it wasn’t wheelchair accessible. I wonder if there are any new plans to move the dolls to an area so that they are accessible for everyone. I really miss it and I can’t be the only one…

  • It looks like they did reopen it!!! Yahooo!!!!!

  • im so happy they brought it back…and now better than ever..i was told it was going to be closed permanently back in 2001..wow i was 16..lol…and the best part is, i tell my little sister thats my castle since my name is all over it! ha..

  • I have grown up going to Disneyland, I love it! Surprisingly, it was my teenage daughter that showed me the entrance into Sleeping Beauty’s castle last year. I never knew it was there! Now we make it part of our day to go through the castle. It is fun learning something new about a park I thought I knew so well. 🙂

  • well about it being closed…when i spoke to a cast member in 2001 i was told it was closed due to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 ..but its open now! WOO HOO! HAIL TO THE PRINCESS AURORA!! lol…yeah…im a dork 🙂

  • It is open. I was there last week and walked through. It was awesome!! 🙂

  • It is open, it has been for quite awhile. There is a handicap accessible area to the west side of the back of the castle. Not quite as neat as the whole walk through, but still beautifully decorated.

  • I was at Disneyland for my daughters 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago, being her 1st time. I was looking for a place to nurse her and found the room and just thought it was a place to rest. I had no clue what it was, I thought it was just showing us about Sleeping Beauty. LOL, how funny! It was quite cozy though, my daughter fell asleep.

  • It’s been open for a while now. I have to stop by there whenever we are there! No matter how many times I have been through it. <3

  • I am so glad that they have the walk thru again…but sad that the art gallery over Pirates of The Caribbean is gone.

  • Where exactly is the entrance for this? I remember going through as a kid but I don’t remember where it was.

  • Mama, Daddy and I walked through it in 1957. When you looked at the “Kiss” tableau, there were faux pink rosebuds just inside the glass, and the smell of roses was wafted into the air. Magic.

  • Has it really been that long ago? We lived just a mile away and when Disneyland was under construction, all I could imagine was that we would drive down a road and big cut out of Mickey Mouse would be on the shoulder waving! Walt Disney taught me how to imagine magic!

  • I can’t believe I never realized this, but didn’t the film “Sleeping Beauty” come out in 1959? That’s four years before the park was opened, and two years before this photo was taken! And it’s always been Sleeping Beauty’s Castle… does anyone know, was the movie inspired by Disneyland’s attraction, or was the film in the works when the park opened, and they used the park as an opportunity to give people a glimpse at the future film? It seems like it would make sense to make in Cinderella’s castle (I know that one’s at Disney World), since that film had already been released.

  • I too remember this when I was younger and was elated to see it was re-opened. I was able to take my kids through it and they both thought it was awesome (even though they are boys and would never admit to liking the movie) =)

  • The new version is so much better than the version with the dolls. Sleeping Beauty is one of the most beautifully animated films ever made and this walkthrough celebrates that.

  • Mmy husband proposed to me in the walk through so I was devastated when it closed. I’m glad to hear it’s open again. I have a beautiful sketch of the castle hanging over my bed. It was my most treasured wedding shower gift.

  • I would love to see this. The castles are such a central piece of both Disneyland and Disneyworld and I think it’s everybody’s dream to get to have a peek inside. I live on the East Coast and we splurged and took the kids to Disneyland for the first time a few years back…. Add this to the reasons to go back… : )

  • Great photo.

    Its awesome that the castle walk-through is open again.
    I love how they based it on the original attraction show and gave it some 21st century effects.

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