Fantasyland

The way into Fantasyland is through a castle, and on the first day the drawbridge came down. It would not come down again for twenty-eight years (D23).

Behind the castle in 1955 lay a courtyard of rides taken straight from the studio's films. Guests flew over London with Peter Pan, rode with Mr. Toad, followed Snow White into the forest, circled on the King Arthur Carrousel, spun in the Mad Tea Party's cups, flew on Dumbo and rode Casey Jr. past the miniature villages of what would become Storybook Land (Wikipedia: Fantasyland). Most of those rides are still running. Fantasyland has been redressed more than once, but it has kept most of its first summer.

Three moments shaped it after that. In 1959 a mountain went up beside it. In 1966 a ride came home from the New York World's Fair. And in 1983 nearly the whole land was rebuilt around the same rides, in a new style, with the drawbridge lowered a second time to open it.

Attractions

Years are from the Disneyland list in Wikipedia's Fantasyland article unless another source is linked.

Sleeping Beauty Castle

The castle is 77 feet tall, small by the standards of Europe, and it was meant to be. D23 says Walt wanted a castle that felt friendly. The great castles of Europe were built to awe the people below, and he wanted the opposite. It looks like Bavaria's Neuschwanstein, but several medieval castles served as models. Forced perspective does the rest: the stones are larger at the bottom and smaller toward the top, so the towers seem to rise higher than they do (D23).

Herb Ryman, who drew the first design of the park, gave the castle its smaller scale and its pastel colors. Walt wanted the spires covered in 22-karat gold leaf, and the story goes that he approved the extra expense while his brother Roy was away on business. The coat of arms over the archway was added in 1965 (TouringPlans). After Ryman died, a tree was planted in front of the castle in his honor (D23).

For its first two years the castle was a façade with empty rooms inside. On April 29, 1957, a walk-through opened in that space, with scenes from the coming film Sleeping Beauty. Shirley Temple dedicated it (D23). It was changed in 1968 and 1977, closed in 2001, and reopened in a new version on November 27, 2008 (TouringPlans).

The drawbridge works. TouringPlans calls it the only working drawbridge at any Disney park. It has been lowered just twice: on opening day in 1955, and for the opening of the new Fantasyland in 1983 (TouringPlans).

A mountain, a world and a new village

The Matterhorn, 1959

The Matterhorn Bobsleds opened on June 14, 1959, the same day as the Monorail and the Submarine Voyage. Arrow Development built it with WED, and it was the first roller coaster with tubular steel track. Bob Gurr laid out the track. He later called it the hardest project he ever worked on. For thirty-five years the Skyway's cable cars passed straight through the mountain; after the Skyway closed in 1994, the holes were partly filled in (Wikipedia).

In 1978 the inside of the mountain was rebuilt into ice caves, and an Abominable Snowman moved in. The Imagineers nicknamed him Harold. The ride got new bobsleds in 2012, and Harold got a new face and new effects in 2015. Mountain climbers returned to its slopes after the 2012 work. Cast members and climbers say there is a basketball half-court near the top, reachable only by the climbers. Wikipedia reports the story but cannot confirm the court is still there (Wikipedia).

"it's a small world", 1966

The boat ride was built for Pepsi at the 1964–65 New York World's Fair, as a salute to UNICEF. When the fair closed in October 1965 it was shipped west, and it opened in Fantasyland on May 28, 1966. Walt had hesitated over the commission, then quickly settled on a little boat ride, and when early concepts disappointed him he handed the look to Mary Blair. Her collage style, built from folk art, wallpaper cuttings and cellophane, became the ride ([Walt Disney Family Museum](https://waltdisney.org/blog/its-small-world-turns-60-global-celebration-worlds-fair)). Marc Davis conceived the scenes, Alice Davis designed the dolls' costumes, Blaine Gibson sculpted the dolls, and Rolly Crump designed the façade. Richard and Robert Sherman wrote the song in July 1963. Walt asked them to make it more cheerful, so the tempo went up. Every fifteen minutes the 30-foot clock on the façade opens, and wooden dolls parade out. In 2008 the ride closed for most of the year and reopened with 29 Disney characters added. Since 1997 it has been redressed each winter as "it's a small world" Holiday (Wikipedia).

The 1983 rebuild

Into the early 1980s Fantasyland's courtyard still wore its Renaissance-style fronts from 1955. In 1983 it was rebuilt as a storybook Bavarian village, with more room between the rides and upgrades to the rides inside. Pinocchio's Daring Journey was added, and Skull Rock and the pirate ship were taken out (Wikipedia: Fantasyland). To open the new land, the castle drawbridge was lowered for the second time in the park's history (D23).

Dining and shops

Fantasyland's first food came with a sponsor's flag on it. The Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship served tuna from 1955, later as Captain Hook's Galley, until the 1983 rebuild cleared it away for Dumbo (Wikipedia: Fantasyland). The new Bavarian village of 1983 got a restaurant to match, the Village Haus, with murals from Pinocchio inside. It ran from May 1983 to February 2017, and the Red Rose Taverne, themed to Beauty and the Beast, replaced it (Duchess of Disneyland). Sources differ on that opening: Duchess of Disneyland says March 2017, Theme Park Insider says February 24.

Years are from Wikipedia's Fantasyland list and current menus from the Disneyland fact sheet.

The shops have come and gone more often than the rides. Merlin's Magic Shop opened with the park and lasted until the rebuild; the Tinker Bell Toy Shoppe ran from 1957 to 2008. Today's shops include Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, where children are made over as princesses or knights, Merlin's Marvelous Miscellany, Fairy Tale Treasures and The Mad Hatter (Wikipedia; fact sheet).

Fantasyland in pictures

Fun facts: Fantasyland

1. The castle drawbridge has been lowered only twice: opening day in 1955 and the new Fantasyland's opening in 1983 (TouringPlans).
2. Shirley Temple dedicated the castle walk-through on April 29, 1957 (D23).
3. The castle's coat of arms was not there on opening day. It was added in 1965 (TouringPlans).
4. A tree in front of the castle honors Herb Ryman, who shaped its look (D23).
5. Disneyland's Matterhorn is built at exactly one-hundredth the height of the real mountain, by the park's own count (Disneyland fact sheet).
6. The Abominable Snowman inside the Matterhorn has had a nickname since 1978: Harold (Wikipedia).
7. The King Arthur Carrousel has more than 60 horses, and no two are alike (Disneyland fact sheet).
8. The Sherman Brothers wrote "it's a small world" in July 1963, and Walt asked for it faster and happier (Wikipedia).
9. Rolly Crump built a kinetic tower more than 100 feet tall for the ride's World's Fair pavilion. It did not make the trip west (Walt Disney Family Museum; Wikipedia).
10. Snow White's ride was reimagined in 2021 with more than 50 new sculptures of animals and figures (Disneyland fact sheet).

Quotes

"Here is the world of imagination, hopes and dreams."

— Walt Disney, from his Fantasyland dedication (Disneyland fact sheet)

"He never changed any color."

— Rolly Crump, on Walt and Mary Blair's designs for "it's a small world" (Walt Disney Family Museum)

"All I did was absorb."

— Rolly Crump, to the Los Angeles Times, on his first years beside Walt at WED (Walt Disney Family Museum)