News / Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant

We’re having a day of follow-ups on DLRP Today, and the Castle Bridge refurbishment is high up there on your list of concerns. Long ago in March, we had the ultimate horror — construction fences around Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant!

As anyone about to depart for the magic was thrown into a brief panic, it soon transpired that the bridge required repairs and retouching of its concrete shell sooner rather than later. The harsh Parisian climate and its frosts do make the upkeep of fairytale architecture less than a ‘once upon a dream’.

Luckily, but the time April rolled around and the resort — mostly Walt Disney Studios Park, in fact — was invaded by press and VIPs, the bridge was finished and shining a brilliant clean white…

So clean, actually, that the Castle above now seems a little dull.

It’ll be an unlucky time when refurbishment does finally begin on Le Château herself, but never too soon. A full restoration was expected before even the 15th Anniversary, but amounted to nothing more than a slight clean-up. After the 15th, we then expected. Well, with the 15th Anniversary now continuing for another whole year, will it ever get done?

Before next year’s celebration, perhaps. One can always dream in Fantasyland…

[Photos: Photos Magiques, DLRP Today]

As the icon of Disneyland Park, Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant and its essential moat bridge are some of the most heavily-trafficked places in the entire resort. On a trip to Disneyland, everyone wants to walk over that famous bridge into the fabulous castle rising above. For the foreseeable future, however, their fairytale will be a little interrupted…

Scaffolding and white tarpaulins began to rise on the weekend of March 1st on the left side of the bridge, followed by a complete covering on the right side later last week. The works came unexpectedly for all, with no announcement or advance warning given through the internal park refurbishments calendar at all.

The walkway has had limited repairs and refurbishments in recent history, mainly to the wooden drawbridge section, but the damage and dirt along the concrete-built bridge section has long been a disappointment to fans.

The photo below, taken by mouetto (Disney Central Plaza forum) whilst the scaffolding was still encasing the bridge, clearly shows the various levels of decay and dirt on the bridge. The column on the left, in particular, clearly shows the main reason for these sudden repair works: freeze-rot in the concrete, also known as ‘concrete cancer’.

This is where small cracks in the concrete fill with water, which is then frozen — expands — and causes the cracks to become larger. Eventually, as shown above, large parts of the decorative top layer will be broken altogether. Reports suggest that similar problems are occurring with the bridge (probably no thanks to its unimpressive refurbishment history), that could eventually cause much larger structural problems in the future.

The walkway underneath the bridge to La Tanière du Dragon gives a revealing view on the repairs, which still appear to be in their early stages. From this viewpoint at least, the scaffolding is clearly only for workers to access the structure — it is not providing any kind of emergency support whatsoever.

As with the major refurbishments which sprung up back in early March 2007, in preparation for the 15th Anniversary, it will be hoped that this work on such a key landmark will be complete by the time the Spring/Summer season begins on 5th April 2008. Currently, however, no completion date is known.

Stay with DLRP Today for the latest news on this project as it breaks.

[Photos by Photos Magiques (more here) and mouetto on DisneyCentralPlaza.com]