I had to report to the Magic Kingdom at 7:30 and the tour started at 8. At first they said the tour would last one hour and I was like, really? An hour to tour both castles? Luckily it ended up lasting much more than that, nearly an hour for each castle. We were given admission to the park promptly at 8 and proceeded to make our way to the tour! Click "Read More" to go in depth into my tour and see tons of pictures from inside the castles!
Limited Time Magic Presents: Imagineer Led Castle Tours!
I was part of a group that went to Be Our Guest first. We were given the tour by Disney Imagineer Pam who who was involved with New Fantasyland. What was so great was seeing the restaurant empty since they didn't open til 10:30. Enough talk, how about some pictures!
Pam described to us a lot about the specifics of Fantasyland and New Fantasyland. Fantasyland is clean and pristine because it is taken care of by the royal family. You notice more wear once you reach the village. Beast's Castle even features pine trees to add to the "cold" atmosphere
In Be Our Guest, this is the room where guests place their order. This depicts the room that we first see Beast "warm" up to Belle. That is why the colors in here are more welcoming and there is even a fireplace to depict the warmth. And guests receive their receipts from books, another nod to Belle
An empty ballroom!
We learned that Maurice actually made the music figurine as a gift and you can find a blueprint for it in his cottage
No kids, no tanks tops, just perfect!
We got to try the gray stuff, delicious!
I ended up going back for lunch later, I can now say I've eaten in every room!
Talking about Gaston's fountain...that he commissioned himself
While waiting to switch we stopped by this fountain of Cinderella. Pam mentioned that if you're at a kid height you can see it easily but if you're an adult and you bow or curtsy, the crown behind Cinderella will line up to rest on top of her head, how genius!
Pam gave us a really great tour. I even got to ask her some questions, I asked her how it was like to work with the chefs and she talked about how they did research on provincial French dishes to incorporate into their menu and it was just so neat to be able to ask an Imagineer questions and learn directly from them.
After our detailed and delicious tour of Be Our Guest we switched over to Cathy who was the interior design Imagineer for the Cinderella Castle Suite. She was given the project in 2006 and had 6 months to complete it, and she did a magnificent job! She took us from concierge to the suite and gave us tons of insight into different elements of the room. I was an absolute kid in a candy store!
The sinks resemble the pots that people would use as bathrooms back in the day. Of course Cinderella uses the latest inventions for her guests when it comes to the bathroom!
So that's what that door is for!
Beautiful concierge lobby, guests have it available to them 24/7
The swirls on the elevator come from original Cinderella concept art by the great Mary Blair
Inside the elevator
The interior is made to resemble Cinderella's coach
In the parlor before the suite
Cinderella's treasure
They key from Jack & Gus Gus
Beautiful 30,000+ tile mosaic featuring 24k gold
It looks like a hutch to hold Cinderella's valuables but it really holds chargers!
Keep looking!
Where did she go?
She turned into a TV!
And a mirror! Magic!
Seating area
GREAT story behind the chairs. They found the pair in an antique shop and went to the shopkeeper to purchase them and he asked if they wanted the history on the chairs, they said sure! Turns out they are 13th century slipper chairs. They were chairs that held the sole purpose of women sitting in them to put on their shoes. and it's in the Cinderella suite. Go figure.
I can see my house from here!
Bathroom mosaic
There's a WD in here for Walt Disney. Psst, look under the branches
And there's a RD in here for Roy, apparently it's in the flowers
The "throne"
Fireworks in the fireplace
Hey MTV, welcome to my crib
Ended back in the lobby where we learned the clock is always set to 11:59 so the magic never ends!
It was an absolute thrill to be able to tour this suite and see it with my own eyes. It is still a dream of mine to sleep there overnight but I'll take what I can get! Cathy and her team really did a marvelous job. We asked if she had ever stayed there and she said her 6 months working on it was enough and that she wants the guests to enjoy. However, she said that when she retires she does want to stay and she definitely deserves it!
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