Disney Arribas Brothers Glass Paperweight. Condition: Used in good condition. It has been displayed and has light signs of wear. There are light scratches on the surface. Please see photos for the exact condition. Theme: Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. Size: 6 x 5 5/8 x 1 inch. It features Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle with Tinker Bell flying above it. The piece is a solid piece of pressed glass in the intaglio style. The castle and Tinker Bell figure is pressed into the piece of glass from the back. The front of the paperweight is smooth. This technique gives the castle incredible dimension and detail. It looks like a carved piece of ice. The paperweight also has etched stars and “pixie dust” from Tinker Bell’s wand. The paperweight measures approximately 6 inches x 5 5/8 inches x 1 inch. It was exclusively available at Disneyland in the early 2000s. The design is retired and no longer available. Please send a message with any questions. Sleeping Beauty Castle is a fairy tale castle at the center of Disneyland and formerly at Hong Kong Disneyland. It is based on the late 19th century Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany. It appeared in the Walt Disney Pictures logos from 1985 to 2006 before being merged with Cinderella Castle, both iconic symbols of The Walt Disney Company. The version at Disneyland is the only Disney castle whose construction was overseen by Walt Disney. A redesigned and larger version of the castle is used as the icon of Disneyland Paris. Opened July 17, 1955, the castle is the oldest of all Disney castles. Though it reaches a height of 77 feet (23 m), it was designed by Roland E. Hill to appear taller through a process known as forced perspective; design elements are larger at the foundation and smaller at the turrets. The castle initially featured an empty upper level that was never intended to house an attraction, but Walt Disney was not satisfied with what he viewed as wasted space, and challenged his Imagineers to find some use for the space. Beginning on April 29, 1957, the visitors were able to walk through the castle and view several dioramas depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty. The voice of Jiminy Cricket from Walt Disney’s Pinocchio (1940) singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” is piped into the castle. The original dioramas were designed in the style of Eyvind Earle, production designer for Disney’s 1959 film Sleeping Beauty (released nearly four years after the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle was opened), and were then redone in 1977 to resemble the window displays on Main Street, U. The walkthrough was closed for unspecified reasons on October 7, 2001; popular belief claims the September 11th attacks and the potential danger that ensued played a major factor in the closing. Disney spokesman John McClintock said that the 9-11 attacks rumors weren’t true. But in 2001, it really wasn’t resonating with guests. In the late 90s, early 2000s, arguably the most popular thing about Sleeping Beauty was that you could always get in because nobody went to it. On July 17, 2008, Disney announced that the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough would reopen in the style of the original Earle dioramas, enhanced with new technology not available in 1957. The walkthrough reopened on November 27, 2008 at 5:00 p. Drawing long lines going as far back as the Hub at the center of the park. Unlike previous incarnations, visitors who are unable to climb stairs or navigate the passageways of the Castle can still experience the walkthrough “virtually” in a special room on the Castle’s ground floor. This room is lavishly themed, and presents the closed-captioned CGI walkthrough recreation on a high-definition TV. This same virtual recreation is included on the Sleeping Beauty 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition DVD. The castle walkthrough entrance is on the west side of the building inside Fantasyland. Guests first see a large medieval-themed story book open to a page that announces the birth of the princess Aurora. After climbing the stairs inside, a scene depicts Aurora as a baby, being blessed with magic gifts by her fairy godmothers. Behind a glass window, there is an animation of the castle courtyard, and the king and queen watching as a large fire burns all the spinning wheels in the kingdom. At the top of the stairs, as guests reach the center of the castle’s top level, another window looks out on the castle’s great hall, where everyone in the kingdom is asleep, including servants and the cat and dog. The second half of the walkthrough becomes darker, featuring appearances by Maleficent, her crow, and several gargoyles which fly out of her nearby castle. At the end, the prince fights against Maleficent’s incarnation as a dragon, amid a forest of thorny brambles, and then a field of roses appears with doves flying above, as he kisses Aurora and breaks the spell. As guests exit the walkthrough at the bottom of the stairs on the east side of the castle, another medieval-themed oversized book depicts an image of the prince and princess dancing together, as her dress changes colors from pink to blue and back again. The Disney family coat of arms hangs above the archway to the castle. It is composed of three lions passant in pale. It is known that the coat of arms was not originally on the castle, but was placed there sometime between June 1965 and July 1965. At the rear of the castle, shaded by the archways and driven into the ground is a gold spike that is widely, but wrongly, believed to mark the geographical center of Disneyland. In reality, the spike is a surveyor’s mark that was used to ensure that the castle bridge and entrance lined up with Main Street USA when the park was first constructed. The original geographical center of the Magic Kingdom was in the middle of the round park, where the “Partners” statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse stands. The addition of Mickey’s Toontown in 1993 moved the actual center of the park a few yards northward, but still on the hub side of the castle drawbridge. In January 2019, renovations on Sleeping Beauty Castle began in Disneyland. The entrance to Fantasyland was blocked through the archway of the castle during this refurbishment. In celebration of Disneyland’s 50th anniversary, both Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella Castle received makeovers. In Disneyland, the castle was repainted and five turrets were decorated with stylized crowns, each representing a decade in the park’s history. The creation of Disneyland is represented by a pair of famous “Ears” peeking up over the horizon to see the wonders to come. The Blue Fairy represents the debut of the Main Street Electrical Parade. The Indiana Jones Adventure is represented by the evil Eye of Mara, guarded by snakes. The 50th Anniversary of Disneyland is represented by fireworks and Tinker Bell. The gold railings were also added into the second floor of the castle for the safety of pyrotechnics workers. They were removed after 10 years and replaced with hidden railings that move up only when needed. For Disneyland’s 60th anniversary, World of Color changed to the World of Color: Celebrate! The Wonderful World of Walt Disney. Disneyland Park introduced Paint The Night and a new fireworks show, “Disneyland Forever”. A 24-hour kickoff event occurred May 22, 2015. As part of the celebration, the castle was covered with diamonds and glitter, with a large 60th logo in the center. Carthay Circle Restaurant at Disney California Adventure was also decorated for the Diamond Celebration. Most of the decoration on the castle was removed shortly after the celebration, although the decorative faux roofs remained until January 2018. As Sleeping Beauty Castle is a Disney icon, it was used in the opening of the Walt Disney anthology television series from the show’s beginning in 1954 until the late 70s, when it was replaced by the Cinderella Castle. As of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in 2006, the logo is now 3D CGI and includes elements of both this castle and Cinderella Castle.