Imagine this — you’ve just arrived at Magic Kingdom and you’re walking down Main Street, U.S.A..

You see Cinderella Castle looming just ahead, and you walk towards it and then walk through it — what is the first thing you see? It’s the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, one of the most iconic structures in Fantasyland. And you might not know it, but this attraction has a long history, one that’s MUCH longer than the history of Disney World!

Disneyland Carrousel

According to Click Orlando, Walt Disney’s love of carrousels goes back to watching his own children on the merry-go-round at a nearby park in California. Sitting on a park bench watching the carrousel spin round and round, the idea for Disneyland was born.  Carrousels have held a special place in the Disney parks ever since.

He went to great lengths to restore an old merry-go-round for Disneyland, one that featured hand-carved horses. According to Coasterpedia, Walt hired Arrow Development to help turn that old carrousel into a reality, but he insisted that each horse be a jumping steed because, well, that’s way more exciting. And this is how Disneyland’s King Arthur Carrousel was born.

And that laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel in Disney World. But that story has a much older history!

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The History of Prince Charming Regal Carrousel

When it came to Disney World, Walt wanted bigger AND better, so when it came time to bring a carrousel to his newest theme park, he sent Imagineers on a hunt for exactly what he required. According to D23, that’s when they discovered a carrousel at Olympic Park in Maplewood, New Jersey that was 60 feet in diameter and featured 72 maple hand-carved horses and four custom-built chariots created by German and Italian craftsmen. The Imagineers found it just in time, too — the carousel was slated for demolition! 😲

Although the carrousel had been at Olympic Park since 1928, it was later discovered that it actually dated all the way back to 1917 and was built by the Philadelphia Tobbagan Company. At that time, it was in Detroit at Belle Isle Park and known as the Liberty Carousel (and here’s a tip — be sure to keep an eye out for hints of Lady Liberty the next time you ride the Carrousel at Disney World!).

Imagineers dismantled the carousel piece by piece and transported it to Florida. If you’ve ever moved across states before you know what an undertaking it is — imagine moving a whole CARROUSEL! And then they got to work. They put it back together, gave it an upgrade, and repainted it in vibrant colors. Disney also bought more hand-carved horses, so when the carrousel opened with the park, it had 90!

If you count the horses now, though, you’ll only get up to 87 — after Disney discovered an original chariot from the carrousel, the company removed three horses to make room for it. Still, 87 horses on a carrousel is still A LOT.

Disney brought in artists from the animated Cinderella film to repaint the vignettes on the panels above the horses — it went from depicting Old West scenes to scenes from Cinderella. And those poles? They’re SOLID brass (and yes, they have to be polished regularly). Also, there is REAL gold on the ride — some of the accents are made with 14-karat gold. It really is a ROYAL carrousel. For the 50th Anniversary, even more gilding was added to the ride.

So here’s a fun fact — when the carrousel was originally installed, it was off-center from the castle. Well, that wouldn’t do, and Roy Disney, who was in charge of Disney World at the time (he took over after Walt, his brother, passed), ordered workers to move it over…8 inches! But as we mentioned, that’s why it’s now the first thing you see when you walk through Cinderella Castle — that was the plan all along!

When Disney World opened Magic Kingdom 50 years ago, the carrousel opened with the park as Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel. It got its current name, Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, in 2010, along with a new backstory — the carrousel was put in place behind the castle once Cinderella and her prince took up residence in the Castle. With some extra time on his hands, the prince constructed a mechanical horse machine to practice his jousting by hooking golden rings on a lance. (Interestingly, retrieving gold rings from the outermost poles as you spin around a carrousel is a very old classic carrousel game! Disney World’s carrousel has no gold rings though!)

If you look closely at the carrousel, you’ll notice that each horse has its own number, which corresponds with a name. If you want to know a horse’s name, you can get it at City Hall.

Here’s another fun fact — the carousel has over 2,000 popcorn lights, so it lights up the night behind Cinderella Castle, too!

Now there’s no guarantee that you’ll be riding on one of the original horses from the 1917 version of the carrousel during your next Disney World trip. Disney also has 11 fiberglass copies of each horse to use as replacements if a horse needs to be repaired or spiffed up. 

And that’s the history of a Magic Kingdom attraction that’s twice as old as the park! Next time you see this classic attraction just remember that, even though Disney World is celebrating 50 years this year, the carrousel is OVER 100 YEARS OLD!

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Do you have a favorite horse on Prince Charming’s Regal Carrousel? Let us know in the comments!