Preface

Welcome to part two of my Disneyland fact list. This post will deal with every single fact, secret, or random piece of trivia that I could find in relation to Fantasyland. Fantasyland has a much more complex history than Main Street, so it was sometimes confusing trying to get all the facts to make sense in text form.

I am almost certain that there are many facts I may have missed with this land in particular. As such, I will likely be updating this post a lot in the future.

In case you missed it, you can check out my Main Street U.S.A. facts here. Enjoy!

Fantasyland

1. Like the buildings on Main Street, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle was built using forced perspective. Essentially, as you go up along the castle, each story and window is slightly smaller in scale. Because the top of the castle is built smaller than it would be normally, it appears to be farther away. The castle, in reality, is only about 77 feet tall.
2. Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is technically backwards. When designers for the park built the model of the castle and presented it to Walt Disney, they flipped the top of the miniature around. Upon seeing this, Walt preferred the way the castle looked flipped, believing it to be more welcoming to guests. Nowadays, the view of the castle that guests get as they enter Disneyland is actually the backside.
3. One of the biggest myths surrounding the castle has to do with the small, flat spike that is buried in the ground within the building. Many have incorrectly claimed that this spike represents the geographical center of Disneyland. In reality, the spike is one of many survey markers that are used across all the Disney resorts which help create measuring points for future projects. This particular marker in the castle was used to help designers align the middle of the castle with Main Street. The true geographical center of Disneyland is somewhere around Fantasy Faire.
4. To the front left of the castle is Fantasy Faire, a relatively quiet area of the park where you can meet some of the Disney princesses or watch a show in the theater. In the center of the Faire is a statue depicting Rapunzel’s tower. If you are in the area after dark, you may be able to watch as the tower lights up and plays the “Healing Incantation” from Tangled.
5. A small interactable element found within Fantasy Faire is Clopin’s Music Box. This is a crank-operated wooden box that, when activated, showcases the Festival of Fools scene from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
6. In the tunnel that leads guests from the Fantasy Faire to Frontierland, there is a board hung from the wall that displays fictional posters from various Disney movies. One of these posters displays a missing sign for Figaro, Geppetto’s pet cat from the film, Pinocchio. You can actually find this missing feline if you backtrack into Fantasy Faire. The cat is resting on a window sill just before the tunnel’s entrance.
7. Inside of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is the aptly named, Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough. This is an attraction that details the story of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty through use of short animated scenes. As you walk through this attraction, you will reach a hallway of doors. If you try to pull or push the one in the middle, one of Maleficent's goons will “yank” the door closed and laugh from behind it.
8. Snow White’s grotto is a small, quiet section found just next to the castle that features a wishing well and a collection of marble statues. These statues were created by an Italian sculptor and given to Walt Disney in 1960, who then wanted to display them in the park. He asked John Hench to find a place for them. The issue was that all of the statues were the same height. As a result, John utilized forced perspective to make Snow White appear larger than her dwarven friends.
9. As you enter Fantasyland from Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, there is a crest that rests above the drawbridge’s entrance way. This is the Disney family crest.
10. The drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle has only been lowered twice in its lifetime at the park. The first was during the opening day of Disneyland on July 17th, 1955, and the second was when they reopened Fantasyland after its major refurbishment in 1983. Additionally, this castle is the only one in any Disney park to have a working drawbridge.
11. During the 1980s, Fantasyland went through a massive refurbishment period in which many older rides were updated, and the entirety of the land underwent aesthetic changes. The original Fantasyland was themed more heavily off of a renaissance fair, while the 1980 overhaul had a larger focus on theming Fantasyland towards fairytale and medieval architecture. The renovation also had many rides’ locations changed in order to clear up the congestion that often occurred in the land.
12. The King Arthur Carrousel is much older than the park itself. While we do not know its exact age or date of construction, it is speculated to have been built in 1922 where it could have been found at Sunnyside Beach Park in Toronto, Canada.
13. The King Arthur Carrousel has many white horses that carry guests on the ride. One horse in particular, named “Jingles” due to its adornment of bells that hang off its saddle, has a bit of a history all by itself. The horse was both the leading stallion of the ride and Mrs. Disney’s overall favorite. During Disneyland’s 50th anniversary, Julie Andrews, the actor who played Mary Poppins, was elected the park’s ambassador. Following the celebration, Jingles was dedicated to Andrews, where it was painted with her favorite colors as well as symbols representing Mary Poppins.
14. Outside of the carousel is a sword embedded into an anvil-shaped stone, which is inspired by the legend of Excalibur. Until 2006, one lucky girl or boy who pulled the sword would actually have it lift up from its resting place. In that scenario, they would be crowned the King or Queen of Disneyland for the entire day.
15. Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States, visited Disneyland during his retirement from presidency. Of all the rides at the park, the former president refused to ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant because of the animals’ association with the Republican party.
16. There is an old organ that can be spotted near the Dumbo ride. This organ was what originally played the music that accompanied the flying elephants. It is said that the organ would be able to produce sound that could be heard from one mile away. It has since been replaced by speakers but remains visible in a glass case as a relic from the past.
17. When standing outside of Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, look towards the large window on the second story of the building. Every so often, the Evil Queen will pull back the curtains and reveal herself. She will look down upon the guests below before disappearing as quickly as she arrived.
18. Also outside of Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, just below the window that the Queen looks down from, there is a golden book that details the story of Snow White with a golden apple resting upon a stand nearby. If you touch said apple, you will hear the Queen’s wicked laugh and an accompanying crackle of lightning.
19. Within the opening bedroom scene in Peter Pan’s Flight lies a collection of toy blocks. Keep a close eye on those toys as they often spell something different depending on when you ride. The words can be anything from “Peter Pan” to “Walt.”
20. The two Captain Hook animatronics featured in Peter Pan’s Flight depict the captain with his hook on the wrong hand. In the film, Hook’s hook is placed on his left hand while the ride shows him with it on his right hand. This is a result of Imagineers wanting the captain to duel Peter Pan with a sword and, realizing it would look better if he held the sword in his left hand, opted to switch the hook’s position. This oddity is not present in the Magic Kingdom’s version of the ride.
21. Towards the end of your experience on Peter Pan’s Flight, keep an eye out for a lantern being hung from a pirate’s hook. This is a remnant of an extinct Fantasyland restaurant, once known as The Chicken of the Sea. Later renamed to Captain Hook’s Galley, this was a restaurant located in Fantasyland that resembled a giant pirate ship. A sign just outside the eatery that depicted the restaurant’s name was once supported by the hook that now holds a lantern on the Peter Pan ride.
22. Pinocchio’s Daring Adventure contains a scene in which two donkeys are locked in cages. One of these animals is dressed in a yellow bow tie. Supposedly, this tie was continuously stolen again and again by guests until Imagineers moved the prop out of reach.
23. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is based on an animated adaptation of the children’s book, The Wind in the Willows. In the book, Toad Hall, the home of Mr. Toad, is described as having seven chimneys, but only a single fireplace. If you look at the facade for the ride in Disneyland, you can spot the seven chimneys while the interior features only one fireplace that you crash through.
24. Basil Rathbone is the narrator for the The Wind in the Willows section of the film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. This man also played Sherlock Holmes in early film adaptations of the character. In honor of the famous actor, the silhouette of Sherlock Holmes can be spotted in a window of a building during Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.
25. The Alice in Wonderland ride was the first dark ride to be added to Fantasyland following the opening of Disneyland. The original incarnation of the ride opened during June of 1958.
26. During the previously mentioned 1983 refurbishment of Fantasyland, Alice in Wonderland acquired an entirely new scene. Before, guests would end the ride just after the outdoor section by making a u-turn into the loading area. Thanks to the refurbishment, the “Unbirthday Party” scene was added to give the ride a new finale.
27. The Alice animatronic that you see at the table in the unbirthday scene is, according to some, the same figure used during the 1984 refurbishment. She was added to the ride during this time as a response to guests complaining about the lack of the character during the original ride’s duration.
28. Like Alice in Wonderland, Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride did not feature the title characters in their original incarnations. The original idea was for guests to be able to see these ride’s scenes through the main characters’ points of view. Because of guest complaints, however, all these rides now feature the title characters with the exception of Mr. Toad.
29. Unique to the Alice in Wonderland ride is that the original voice actor for Alice, Kathryn Beaumont, returned during the 1983 refurbishment to record an all new narration track.
30. Just outside of Alice in Wonderland is a large, yellow mushroom that once acted as a ticket booth for the ride. On top of this structure you will find three pairs of shoes (six in total) belonging to the smoking caterpillar. Many like to say that these shoes were left here after the insect turned into a butterfly.
31. The Mad Tea Party, more often referred to as “the teacups,” was originally positioned where the King Arthur Carrousel is today. It was eventually moved to be next to the Alice in Wonderland ride as they share a movie inspiration.
32. Mary Blaire, the lead artist for It’s a Small World, was the one who came up with all of the current designs for the teacups in the Mad Tea Party ride. The original cups were either blank or had generally less extravagant designs.
33. Within the Mad Hatter shop in Fantasyland is a large mirror hanging over the cash desk. If you stare at the mirror for long enough, the Cheshire cat will appear from behind the glass.
34. The store that rests behind the castle, the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, was once themed after Peter Pan and was called Tinkerbell Toy Shop. As such, four characters from the film were displayed outside the building, carved into the wood. They included Tick-Tock Croc, Captain Hook, Smee, and Nana the Dog. You are still able to see those first three characters outside the shop though Nana has since been removed.
35. The Red Rose Taverne is a dinery found in Fantasyland that is heavily themed after the 2017 remake of Beauty and the Beast. Inside the restaurant, you can see some of the characters as they appear in the film sitting in plain sight. They include Mrs. Potts, Chip, Lumiere, and Cogsworth.
36. The two sleigh-styled cars of the Casey Jr. Circus Trains were originally parts of the King Arthur Carrousel before it belonged to Disneyland. They were removed from that ride and placed onto the train prior to the park’s opening.
37. You may notice that all of the wheels of the Circus Train are blue with the exception of those found on the second train car from the front. These wheels are black in color due to this car being the true method of locomotion for the attraction. It is this car that pushes the engine in the front and pulls all other cars in the back and, thus, has special wheels for braking and bearing heavier loads.
38. The statue depicting Monstro the Whale that swallows guests as they ride the Canal Boats is a remnant from a never-built ride. Allegedly, the ride saw guests be swallowed by Monstro and sent down some watery rapids before eventually being plopped out into a pond.
39. A clever use of sightlines is utilized in the Storybook Land Canal Boats. The village from Pinocchio, complete with Geppetto’s Workshop, is one of the many scenes on the ride that depicts a famous Disney property. Behind this village is a miniature mountain range that is similar to ones that can be found in Italy. Even further behind these mountains is the clearly visible Matterhorn. The placement of this village allows for the Matterhorn in the background to not break the sightline of the scene.
40. Each of the boats in the Storybook Land Canal is named after a female Disney character. Some of these boats include Tinkerbell, Aurora, Cinderella, Wendy, and so on.
41. It is said that the golden parts of It’s a Small World’s exterior are made of real gold that Walt had purchased for Disneyland. The story states that Disney found that using real gold for the building’s trim would be a cheaper long-term investment as continuously repainting the fake gold paint would be far more costly.
42. Mary Blaire was the artist and character designer for the dolls and set pieces seen in It’s a Small World, as she was admired for her modern artistic style. There is one doll holding a red balloon in the France section of the ride that is meant to represent Blaire herself.
43. To enhance the idea that we all live on one planet and all share the same sun and moon, one of both of those celestial bodies have been placed in each section of It’s a Small World.
44. At the end of It’s a Small World, in the room that has postcards from around the world, look at the stamp that displays a bunch of heads sailing on a ship. One of those heads is meant to resemble Charlie Brown from the Peanuts.
45. Potentially the most well known of all Disneyland trivia is one that states that there is a basketball court hidden inside the top of the Matterhorn Bobsled ride. It was once rumored that the basketball court was included as a way to skirt around Anaheim's restrictions on especially tall structures. By including the court, Disney was able to claim that the ride was a sporting facility, and thus it would be allowed by the city. This is only a rumor, and a false one at that. The court, in reality, is just a small room with a hoop and backboard. The more accepted reason for its existence is that it was a rest area for the employees who acted as mountain climbers on the Matterhorn.
46. During the Yeti chase in the Matterhorn, the riders will pass a pile of broken climbing equipment and vehicles. One of those objects is an original bobsled ride vehicle that was used on the rollercoaster in its early years in the park. Another hidden relic is a broken gondola that was used in the Disney Skyway. The skyway was one of the earliest attractions at Disneyland and had, at one point, gone through the Matterhorn when the mountain was built in the path of the gondolas’ trips.
47. Frank Wells was the president of the Walt Disney Company from 1984 to 1994. He was a climbing enthusiast and had the goal of climbing each of the tallest mountains in the world. He unfortunately died in 1994 as a result of a helicopter crash while on a trip to Nevada. A tribute to the man lies within the Matterhorn in the form of an equipment box reading, “Wells Expedition,” which sits among the other items mentioned previously.
48. The Yeti was not originally part of the original bobsled ride. It was added during the mountain’s 1977 refurbishment. It was then updated again in 2015, giving the Yeti more expressive and animated movements. Additionally, the creature’s name is Harold.
49. The Matterhorn holds the title of the first tubular steel roller coaster ever built. Prior to its inception, most roller coasters were made using wood. Tubular steel allows for designers to incorporate loops, corkscrews, and other maneuvers due to tubular steel’s ability to bend.

As was the case in the last post, please feel free to give me new facts about Fantasyland that I may almost certainly missed, correct me on any facts that may not be completely accurate, or just let me know if any of these facts change in the future!

The next post will be on Tomorrowland. See you again soon!