Birt Family Focus

Cinderella's Golden Carrousel -- 1/30/02
Photo by Paul

Having ridden Dumbo, we now turn toward the castle and find Cinderella's Golden Carrousel. This is a classic merry-go-round built in 1917. It is NOT modeled after any Disney characters, but was placed near the castle so it was named for Cinderella.

Once upon a time, there were several bench seats modeled to look like sleighs, but these have been removed. I inquired and was told that it was less expensive to remove them than to outfit them with seatbelts when the regulation came out, so they were removed. It is also too expensive to replace the areas with more horses, so that explains the big open areas you will see as you choose your mount when you ride. In any case, the remaining horses are exquisite and choosing a mount can be difficult as they all look fun to ride.

The horses were all originally made of wood but as each needs refurbishing beyond paint touchups, it is replaced with a replica in fiberglass. There is a woman who works for WDW whose sole job is to pain the carrousel horses.

Walt found this very carrousel in a park in Maplewood, NJ that had closed. He rescued the carrousel with plans to use it in one of his parks. I'm glad it came to Florida. Sorry he didn't get to see it up and running.

When riding this, keep a sharp eye out for Merlin the Magician and the Sword in the Stone. There is a ceremony where children are allowed to try to pull the sword out and they get a certificate proclaiming them the ruler of the realm. There are a great many realm rulers about because this occurs several times a day, directly in front of the carrousel. ;-)