Like most people on the internet, we love ranking things. When it comes to visiting Disney parks, one of our favorite activities is to compare and contrast. We’ve even ranked all the Disney parks and ranked all the rides at Walt Disney World. Each park has its strengths and weaknesses, and parsing those out helps us figure out what it is we appreciate about Disney parks. In this post, we rank the iconic castles of the Disney parks.
We don’t rank all the castles in Disney parks, as Magic Kingdom contains several other than Cinderella Castle, like Belle & Beast’s and Ariel & Prince Eric’s, for example. (Rapunzel’s toilet tower is sort of a castle too, right?)
It should go without saying that this list is subjective. I’ve tried to explain how each castle succeeds and fails in my mind, and I even had to shuffle the list as I wrote. At the end of the day, though, this comes down mostly to personal preference.
For each castle on this list, we’ll start with a small, scrollable gallery (use the arrows on the left and right) before going into a discussion of the castle.
Honorable Mention: Fortress Explorations, Tokyo DisneySea
If we really counted it as a castle, Fortress Explorations would be the top of the list. Quite simply, this is one of the best spaces in a Disney theme park.
For starters, it has stunning exterior design. Even without the inside space, it’s one of the most beautiful features in a Disney park. It’s a coastal citadel, carved into the land around it. Best of all, it captures beautifully the main theme of Tokyo DisneySea—the relationship between humans and the sea.
The inside of the Fortress is somehow even more impressive. It features a great bar/restaurant, Magellan’s, and the single best space to explore in a Disney park. You can wander around the fortress for probably an hour or more, stumbling across a Foucault Pendulum, illusions, stunning art, games, and a host of other displays all celebrating the history of exploration.
Oh, and it's the home base of S.E.A., which pretty much makes it the most important spot in Disney parks for a certain brand of hardcore fan.
Honorable Mention 2: Castle of Magical Dreams, Hong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland officially has a new castle—the Castle of Magical Dreams. After some closure-related delays, the castle officially debuted in late 2020. For several reasons, we haven’t gotten a chance to visit it in person yet (which is why it gets Honorable Mention status ahead of the rest of the list), but here’s a look at it:
Ngchikit, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
And TDR Explorer has a fantastic video discussing the castle, including its details celebrating thirteen Disney princesses.
Once we’re able to confirm how it looks in person, I think this castle will likely compete with the #5 castle on our list, Shanghai’s Enchanted Storybook Castle.
Basing the castle on a variety of Disney princesses, including several modern princesses, is an interesting approach. One thing to note is that culturally (according to Jason Surrell’s The Haunted Mansion - Imagineering a Disney Classic) in Hong Kong “more is better.” This is also reflected in the numerous small lands of the park. While the panoply of princesses may feel a bit odd to me, I’m happy to see local culture embraced.
Here’s the old castle, which was nearly identical to the Sleeping Beauty Castle of Disneyland (California):
Something about that castle just bothered me in a way it didn’t in Disneyland. It could have been the contrast with the mountains in the background, which some find charming (and with good reason as its a realistic backdrop for a castle). It also probably had to do with the fact that it wasn’t an original—it just didn’t make sense to build this icon in 2005 the way it did in 1955.
But the new castle addresses that head on. It’s a new castle for what will essentially be a new park in years to come. The old castle’s diminutive, copied presence was a metaphor for the park as a whole. Now, Hong Kong Disneyland is getting a huge makeover, too, and we look forward to the future!
5. Enchanted Storybook Castle, Shanghai Disneyland
Something had to come in fifth, and the Enchanted Storybook Castle at least somewhat deserves it. The gargantuan castle is something of an eyesore. Like the rest of the park, it does a good job of demonstrating that bigger is not always better.
While the large castles in Florida, Paris, and Tokyo all serve as “weenies”—directional focal points guests can use to orient themselves in the park—the Enchanted Storybook Castle, despite its enormous size, fails this simple task.
The castle looks similar from multiple angles, which causes problems in the gigantic park, where a wrong turn can take you quite out of your way. What’s more, the size of the park makes the castle less impressive. It never looks small, but it also doesn’t quite impress from a distance.
That said, up close it is an impressive structure. It houses two attractions, a restaurant, and a shop. We’re big fans of making the castles functional spaces, preferably in ways that are accessible to all who wish to explore. Shanghai Disneyland’s castle earns high marks in that regard.
And while I might not love its overall appearance, it does have some beautiful elements. The shape of the castle is quite cool, with a multitude of pinnacles, edges, corners and curves.
4. Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom
First thing’s first—the new paint job:
I don’t like the new color scheme, but I don’t much feel like harping on that point. The castle used to be tied for the third spot on this list, and now I’ve officially dropped it to fourth because of my preference for the old color scheme, which lives on in Tokyo.
Sleeping Beauty Castle is a great centerpiece, but Cinderella Castle is the better icon. From the moment you enter the Magic Kingdom, Cinderella Castle commands the scenery.
Main Street U.S.A., with some help from forced perspective, truly builds toward the castle in a way that isn’t possible in California. And honestly, even once you’re past the forced perspective, it sure looks big as Tinker Bell flies down the wire away from it.
Throughout the park, you’ll frequently spot the castle, allowing it to effectively serve the purpose of “weenie”. Cinderella Castle set a benchmark for theme park icons that gave us other great icons, including Spaceship Earth and the Tree of Life.
So what does Cinderella Castle get wrong? I strongly believe the castle should be an open place, and Cinderella Castle is not that.
You can walk through the middle of the castle to get from the park’s hub into Fantasyland, and the sides of this hallway are decorated with beautiful mosaics, but that’s a little limited given how large the structure is.
The other three spaces inside the castle are: Cinderella’s Royal Table, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and the Cinderella Castle Suite. Two of these are expensive to gain access to, and the third is the most exclusive spot in any Disney park.
If you’re a fan of Cinderella's Royal Table, I’d understand bumping this one up. I’m not, and I’d like to see the space used for something else. In a time when Disney is squeezing every up-charge out of people it can find, it would be nice if the castle were a space truly open to all guests.
3. Cinderella Castle, Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo Disneyland corrects what I consider the singular flaw of Florida’s Cinderella Castle—its lack of an attraction. Cinderella Castle in Tokyo Disneyland hits the mark with “Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall.”
The walkthrough attraction tells the story of Cinderella in the high quality fashion expected of the Tokyo park, including a look at the famed glass slipper.
If we could somehow transplant this structure into Florida, it would take the top spot on the list. But I dock points from Tokyo’s Cinderella Castle for something that isn’t so much its fault—the covered Main Street, U.S.A.
With a covered Main Street, U.S.A., Cinderella Castle doesn’t serve as the same focal point when you first enter the park. Instead, it’s revealed a bit later as you proceed through Main Street, U.S.A., at which point it’s left to look a little lonely in the open space.
Is it fair to fault the castle for this? Definitely. In designing it, the Imagineers knew what they were working with, and they chose to keep this same design. A good castle plays well with the space around it.
2. Sleeping Beauty Castle, Disneyland
Throw out everything I said earlier when discussing Cinderella Castle, and I’ll somehow try to explain how Sleeping Beauty Castle gets this second spot.
While it’s entirely obvious to us now that a castle makes a great icon, back in 1955 this was a new concept. Disney Princesses weren’t even much of a thing. The castle was originally intended to be “Snow White’s Castle”—named after a character who spent much of her story in a hut in the woods. But I digress…
There’s no truly original theme park icon on this list other than Sleeping Beauty Castle. It’s not imposing, but back in 1955, it didn’t have to be. There was no Space Mountain or Matterhorn. The park wasn’t that tall.
In 1955, there was only the question of how to create something people would remember, something that would bring magic to life as the actual and conceptual center of the park. And Sleeping Beauty Castle accomplishes those goals. It’s a foundational work of Walt Disney Imagineering.
While it originally contained empty space, Walt fixed that and had the space repurposed to a walkthrough attraction. Sleeping Beauty Castle’s welcoming, open setup is the standard that all castles should be held to.
1. Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, Disneyland Paris
It’s unique. It’s imposing. It’s beautiful. It’s open for you to explore. And it has a dragon. What more could you ask for? Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, the Disneyland Paris interpretation of Sleeping Beauty Castle, is our favorite Disney castle.
Le Château had several advantages from its conception. First, it benefited from experience. The castles that fill the second through fourth spots on this list had all been built already, providing Imagineers with a foundation for greatness.
Second, it benefited from location. Imagineers knew they had to come up with something different in order to impress European guests. Castles are entirely novel in the United States, but they’re ubiquitous in Europe.
Third, it benefited from timing. Cinderella Castle, impressive as it is, had already been copied once. Copying it again, especially in a park closer to Florida than Tokyo Disneyland, would seem a bit silly.
The product of these advantages is a truly special castle. From the outside, the castle is impressive enough. It has a sort of eclectic, unbalanced feel, with a natural touch in its integration into the landscape that surrounds it.
But as they say, it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. Disneyland Paris excels in the use of space, and Le Château is no exception. The inside of the castle is a joy to explore, both for the Sleeping Beauty display (including stunning stained glass windows) and the different views of the park. But if you dig a little deeper, you find what the castle is hiding…
A dragon! Underneath (okay, really to the left, but still) the castle is an audio animatronic dragon. It’s a pretty cool feature, and the safety standards of Paris are different enough from the U.S. (if not legally, then practically) that it will take your eyes a surprising amount of time to adjust to the darkness of the cave. All of this adds up to a visit to the dragon being a necessary part of every visit to the park.
And thats’s it! It was maybe something of a controversial pick for number one, especially for those who are eternally loyal to the American parks, but really, what's important is that all the castles are beautiful, special places. Each truly deserves its iconic status!
Disney Castle FAQ + Trivia
Which Disney castle is tallest?
The Enchanted Storybook Castle, at Shanghai Disneyland, is the tallest Disney castle, at 200 feet.
Is there a hotel room in Cinderella Castle?
Yes! The Cinderella Castle Suite is a suite inside Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World. For the most part these days it is only used for promotional giveaways. You can read more about it here.
Did Walt live inside Sleeping Beauty Castle?
No. Although Walt did have an apartment above the fire house on Main Street.
Whose castle is at Disneyland?
The castle at Disneyland is Sleeping Beauty Castle. The castle was originally intended to be Snow White’s castle, but was changed to Sleeping Beauty, presumably in anticipation of that film’s 1959 debut.
Whose Castle is at Disney World?
The castle at the heart of Magic Kingdom is Cinderella Castle. The castle is modeled after the King’s Castle from the 1950 film Cinderella.
Whose Castle is at Disneyland Paris?
The Disneyland Paris castle is also a Sleeping Beauty Castle, though with a different (French) name (Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant) and a very different design from the Disneyland castle.
Whose Castle is at Hong Kong Disneyland?
The Hong Kong Disneyland castle is the Castle of Magical Dreams, which celebrates thirteen different princesses: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida, Moana, Anna and Elsa.
Whose Castle is at Tokyo Disneyland?
The Tokyo Disneyland Castle is Cinderella Castle, nearly identical to the Magic Kingdom version.
Whose castle is at Shanghai Disneyland?
The Shanghai Disneyland Castle is the Enchanted Storybook Castle, not dedicated to any one princess.