Cinderella Castle Rockwork Refinishing Underway at Magic Kingdom

Gallery / 6 Photos
Cinderella Castle Rockwork Refinishing Progress

Posted: Friday May 15, 2026 6:59am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

With the Cinderella Castle repainting complete, crews have moved on to refinishing the rockwork at the base of the structure.

Cinderella Castle Rockwork Refinishing Progress

The moat remains dry to allow access to the rock formations that sit around the castle's base. You can see workers and equipment positioned throughout the moat area as the refinishing work progresses.

Cinderella Castle Rockwork Refinishing Progress

A workbench set up in the drained moat holds a large number of paint containers, sprayers, and tools in multiple colors, giving you an idea of how much work goes into recreating the natural look of the rock surfaces.

Cinderella Castle Rockwork Refinishing Progress

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

HMF3 hours ago

Apparently not from what my understanding is. Thankfully, they ultimately decided not to do it.

Raineman6 hours ago

Were they planning on putting this castle in Tomorrowland? Yikes.

Bocabear7 days ago

I can understand the thought of why they were looking at alternitives...but like you, I am very glad they decided to go for the Fairytale look...but on steroids. That is really the most beautiful of the Disney parks...

owlsandcoffee8 days ago

See I actually love this but it would've ended up looking tacky I think. The castle as it ended up looks gorgeous. But this is most certainly appealing to a different nostalgia more in line with the Belle Epoque and such. France has different cultural associations than we do here in the states. They also have ... actual castles so I can see why WED was considering alternatives.

Bocabear8 days ago

I like the castle as it is, but the previous version would have been richer... more of a historic looking structure with an implied history than the fantasy structure we have now... I am happy with what they built... the discarded plan would certainly have been even more beautiful. Nice to see it... The different concepts they originally had for Disneyland Paris (Euro-Disney) were kind of shockingly off-model. I am very glad they went to a Sleeping Beauty Castle instead of the stranger ideas they were coming up with....

Brian8 days ago

Maybe I'm biased by what came to be, but I prefer the castle as is. I've never looked at it and thought that it's missing something. This concept seems like it would be too "busy." My eyes don't know where to look. In a lesser, but similar way as Hong Kong Disneyland's atrocity of a castle.

Animaniac93-988 days ago

From a presentation by former Imagineer Tom Morris, the original Cinderella Castle plan from 1967 before it was revised for budgetary reasons. Note the chapel on the East side along with other embellishments throughout. Full video (with other unused MK concepts) here:

MickeyMania2619 days ago

Just like with Thunder Mountain, missed opportunity, to showcase that or the castle on the cover, I don't get them.

DCBaker19 days ago

Here's a look at the new Magic Kingdom Guide Map with updated Cinderella Castle colors: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55357443182_0d1c078cf9_o.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55358538323_b187a61b06_o.jpg

owlsandcoffee22 days ago

I do remember fun and whimsy. But that was also the transition out of the Paul Pressler days... it was a time of rides being out of operation, large swaths of the park underutilized, and cheaping out whenever possible. I did like getting signatures from the walkaround characters. I still have my book of them.

MisterPenguin26 days ago

It's marketing. A good and cheap way to do marketing. It highlights the talent of the artists and Imagineers. It gives theme park nerds chills. It reminds everyone of the recent work that's been done or is in progress (remember how we have forumites here who freak out when there's no updates?... well here are your updates). And most importantly, it highlights that Good ol' Josh has heard that we hate the salmon and so, did something about it. Disney's C-suite loves us!!!