My brother has made a claim that I can neither substantiate nor disprove:
“The highest point in Florida is the tip of Disney World’s Cinderella Castle.”
True?
According to Florida State Information – Symbols, Capital, Constitution, Flags, Maps, Songs – 50states, the highest point in Florida is Britton Hill at 345 feet.
The Cinderella castle is 189 feet tall.
Bogus.
False. According to Wikipedia, the castle is 189 feet tall. The higest land elevation in Florida is a place called Britton Hill, 345 feet. Even if the castle stood there (which it doesn’t) the combined height would be 534 feet. Meanwhile, again according to Wikipedia, the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami is 789 feet tall.
So, 143 feet (assumed to be the highest elevation at Disney World) + 189 feet (height of the castle) = 332 feet, which is lower than the ground at Britton Hill.
In the future keep in mind that when someone makes an assertion like that, it is up to them to prove it, not up to you to disprove it.
Now that the OP has been answered: How did Cinderella get a castle? Did Prince Charming die without an heir? Did the Fairy Godmother arrange a coup? Divorce settlement?
In California the castle belongs to Sleeping Beauty, which at least is consistent with the story that inspired it (oral trad. > Perrault > Disney).
Yeah, but here’s what you have to remember in questions like this. It’s not an exchange between scientists who are objectively debating a theory. You want to not only resolve the assertion but demonstrate openly to the claimant that he is full of shit. If you simply challenge them to provide proof and they quietly slink away, you have deprived yourself of that satisfaction.
The castle was originally intended to be Sleeping Beauty’s, even in Orlando. When I visited in 1972 or so, the restaurant there – unpublicized at the time – was called “King Stefan’s Dining Hall”; Stefan was Sleeping Beauty’s father.
But even then people were calling it “Cinderella’s Castle.” Wikipedia indicates that Disney supposedly named it that, but the Dining Hall would seem to indicate that at some point it was supposed to be “Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.” It may have been Sleeping Beauty’s castle in the beginning (Disney did not rename other attractions he copied from Anaheim), but was later changed.
Maybe Cinderella holds the deed, and King Stefan was just leasing.
The restaurant is now Cinderella’s Royal Table, so there’s no longer any ambiguity about whose castle it is.
Speaking as a long-married man, I can tell you this: Cinderella may be only a princess consort rather than of noble birth, but since the moment Prince Charming said, “I do,” that’s been her freaking castle. Guaranteed.
Re: ownership of the castle, it is worth noting that the OP has the name right.
It is not “Cinderella’s Castle” but “Cinderella Castle.”
Beyond that, I dunno. Maybe Prince Charming loved Cindy so much he named his castle after her, like a boat.
Or perhaps the castle started out as a humble factory, with a wicked capitalist and two ugly overseers, but along came a handsome prince whose love transformed it into the beautiful castle we see today.
A Chicago variant of this fairy tale would be Ed Zotti & the Barnhouse.
The highest point in Disney isn’t even Cinderalla’s castle, the Tower of Terror at MGM (Hollywood Studios now), is 199 feet tall.
Love it!