Sunday, July 25, 2010

King Arthur Carrousel at Disneyland

Q: If the Carrousel at Disneyland is named for King Arthur, and the sword in the stone is in front of it, why is all the artwork on the Carrousel from Sleeping Beauty?
Paul, Riverside, California

A [Dave Smith]: Well, I guess the Imagineers felt that since the Carrousel is inside Sleeping Beauty Castle's walls, they would use artwork to theme it to our Sleeping Beauty film. We had the same problem for years at Walt Disney World where King Stefan's Banquet Hall was inside Cinderella Castle (it has since been renamed Cinderella's Royal Table).


More Facts to Learn [Marcio Disney]

The horses at King Arthur Carrousel are genuine antique, older than Disneyland itself.

Do you know what it takes to make them look "new" even though they're decades old?

Repairing, sanding, refinishing and repainting are all parts of the preservation process.

As Heather Rivera, Social Media at Disneyland Resort, said:

"Not only are they antiques, they’re probably among the most well-maintained antiques in the world, considering they have guests bouncing up and down on them for hours a day, every day of the year."

Some Fun Facts:

    ºoº The original fleet of horses came from Canada.
    ºoº All the Carrousel horses are made of wood.
    ºoº There is one cast member whose sole responsibility is to take care of all 85 horses.
    ºoº There are 72 horses on King Arthur Carrousel at a time.
    ºoº Horses are rotated whenever they need maintenance.
    ºoº In 2008 Jingles, a very special horse, was redesigned and decorated in the theme of “Mary Poppins” as a dedication to actress Julie Andrews.

A Disneyland Resort cast member, Rick Temple, told Disney Parks Blog how King Arthur Carrousel is more than just an attraction – it’s a piece of history that he’s happy to preserve:





Everyday, Disney fans send dozens of questions for Disney Chief Archivist Dave Smith. Here are Dave's answers to your questions. Check back every day for a new post with a new question.

Dave Smith (born October 13, 1940) was the Walt Disney Archives founder and chief archivist which is located in the Frank G. Wells Building at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. He joined the company June 22, 1970. Forty years later, on July 2010, he retired.



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1 comment:

  1. THe King Arthur Carousel Originally came from The Dentzel Carousel Co of Philadelphia and was at Sunnyside Amusement Park in Toronto from 1922 til bought by Walt in 1954 as the park was being closed to make way for a freeway, The Horses were carved by some of the most talented and famous carvers that ever carved horses and the carvers left suttle carved features on each horse as a signature that they had carved them just as an artist signs their work, so did the carvers.The Carousel originally was a menagerie Carousel containing horses and animals so the animals were housed in Burbank, the chariot was used on Casey Jr Circus Train and additional horses were purchased from the defunct "Wards Kiddie Playland" from Coney Island New York.

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