10 Facts and Secrets About Prince Charming’s Regal Carrousel at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney was a huge fan of carousels. He felt that his theme parks had to have carousels in them. Prince Charming’s Regal Carrousel is the beloved and beautiful carousel that is located directly behind Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom. This is so much more than just a carousel, and a lot of love and care was put into this attraction. Here are several amazing facts and secrets about this wonderful ride:

10 – It used to be Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel. 

This was the name that the carousel went by up until 2010. All of Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom went through renovations, and New Fantasyland was also created. When this occurred, the Imagineers decided to change the name of the carousel and give it a little bit more of a backstory. The story is basically that this is a replica of the training device that Prince Charming created to train for jousting tournaments. Guests are testing their horseman skills when they are on the attraction.

9 – The carousel had to be moved to Fantasyland.

When the park was being developed, and the carousel was put in place, Roy ordered that the carousel had to be moved. He felt that is wasn’t centered correctly within the archway of Cinderella’s Castle, and he had it moved about 8-inches to be in the correct position. Can you imagine the amount of work that went into moving it 8 inches?

8 – The carousel was used at other locations before Disney bought it and gave it a redesign.

The carousel was actually known as “Liberty” and was built in 1917. It was used at a park in Detroit, Michigan, and then a park in Maplewood, New Jersey. Disney then bought the carousel and gave it a complete redesign to meet the theme and design that the Imagineers wanted.

7 – It is much bigger than you think.

The carousel is actually one of the largest carousels that has been made. It has a 60-foot diameter, which is pretty large and impressive.

6 – “Carrousel” isn’t a misspelling.

You will notice that there the spelling of carousel has 2 R’s in some places. Both spellings are correct. “Carrousel” is actually the French word for what we call a “carousel.” Now we know a little extra French!

5 – 90 different horses.

Yes, 90! There are 90 different horses that you can take for a ride on this impressive carousel. Not only that, each one of them were hand-carved to be created for the attraction. Makes you appreciate them and the work that went into creating them even more!

4 – Cinderella’s horse.

There is a specific horse on the carousel that is rumored to be Cinderella’s horse. Look for the horse with the gold ribbon tied around its tail. It will be the only horse with any kind of ribbon around its tail. This has never been confirmed as an actually planned design or part of the backstory from Disney, but many guests and cast members accept this horse as Cinderella’s horse.

3 – Be sure to ride at night!

You will notice that the attraction is lit up pretty nicely at night. That is because there are actually 2,300 lights that help to illuminate the attraction at night and create a beautiful effect in the already amazing Fantasyland area.

2 – The horses have real gold.

Have you noticed the gold embellishments on the horses? This is actually real 23k gold. Real silver and real bronze are also found adorning the horses. That is definitely a fantastic attention to detail to make this carousel the best and most impressive in the world!

1 – No two horses are the same.

You can stare down the horses and try to prove me wrong, but no two horses are the same. Each of the horses were hand-carved and were intentionally designed so that no horse would match another horse. There are even extra horses backstage that go through their polishing and cleaning process to be rotated out with other horses so that they all maintain their beauty and look new and fresh at all times.