The golden statue of Tinkerbell extending from the highest turret of Sleeping Beauty Castle has disappeared! The golden Tinkerbell with her magic wand had been installed as part of the special castle decoration for the 15th anniversary celebrations in 2007 and was the only element retained when the castle was “redecorated” for “Mickey’s Magical Party Time” in 2009 and was reported missing by guests who visited the resort early this week.
During the daily Candleabrations Ceremony in 2008 as well as during the Castle Illumination Ceremony during the past Christmas season Tinkerbell magically dispensed fairy dust from her wand to transform the castle. With the end of the Christmas season on January 6 the Tinkerbell statue wasn’t needed as element of any regular show anymore and became just a “plain” decoration on the castle. However, at this time Tinkerbell is the only decoration that was taken down. The Mickey-shaped golden toppers on the turrets as well as the main “ornament” on the front of the castle still remain.
Current rumors state that for the upcoming “New Generation Festival” the castle should be without any decoration, but the remainder of the decorations is expected to remain on the castle till early March, when “Mickey’s Magical Party Time” ends. However, even then it can not be ruled out that the Tinkerbell statue may return at some point. After all the spiral of lights around the highest turret leading up to it as well as the pipes for the fairy dust apparently have not been taken down with her (as can be seen on the first photos that have surfaced on the Magic Forum), leaving the option that she might have just been taken off for a rehab and could return – e.g. she could be returned if (when?) the work crews move in with their equipment anyway to take down the other decorations…
And now on to the “surprise” – it is another rehab! Surprisingly the moat of the castle has been partially drained and scaffolding been placed all around the large bridge leading up to the castle, blocking it completely from view from both sides. To block the view from Central Plaza a scaffolding structure has been errected here as well covered with a painted on drawing of a scene to reduce the impact of the work on any photos taken from Central Plaza (the Magic Forum features some photos by “never2old” taken while the set-up was installed).
No word so far how long the rehab of the castle bridge will take. However, the scope of the scaffoldings errected and the fact that they created a special cover for the construction “fence” toward Central Plaza indicate that it won’t be the shortest rehab.