Introduction to Fantasyland

Walt Disney once said, "Fantasyland is dedicated to the young-at-heart -- and to those who believe that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true."

Fantasyland at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort carries on Walt Disney's dream of a place where guests experience classic Disney stories through attractions, shows and one-of-a-kind meetings with favorite characters.

Entering through Sleeping Beauty Castle, guests are immersed in a happily-ever-after world where fairy tales come to life. They can meet their favorite Disney characters in Fantasy Gardens, take a royal ride aboard Cinderella Carousel, journey through Winnie the Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood, spin in the Mad Hatter Tea Cups and even soar with Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

Fantasyland is fashioned after a quaint European village within the walls of a storybook castle. The village is in the midst of a lively medieval fair and festival punctuated by banners, flags and a cheerful palette of colors.

The gateway to Fantasyland -- and the centerpiece of Hong Kong Disneyland -- is Sleeping Beauty Castle. The castle echoes the original plans and designs created by Walt Disney and his team of Walt Disney Imagineers for Disneyland in California. The frothy-pink castle is five-stories tall and its spires are topped with 23.75 karat, gold-leaf finials.

Adjacent to the castle is Snow White Grotto, a tribute to Walt Disney's first animated feature film, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The tableau features Snow White and the dwarfs arranged around a waterfall and a Wishing Well nearby. The song "I'm Wishing" can be heard in the grotto and as an echo in the magical Wishing Well. Also near the castle is a tribute to Disney's animated feature "The Sword and the Stone," where faithful youngsters often try to pull a giant sword out of the stone and anvil in which it is embedded.

Cinderella Carousel -- made up of gallant horses and majestic chariots -- is in the center of Fantasyland and lets children (and the young at heart) imagine themselves as princesses and princes, riding hand-painted steeds to the strains of beloved Disney tunes.

"Mickey's PhilharMagic" takes the art of Disney storytelling to a new dimension -- three of them to be exact -- in the Fantasyland Concert Hall. It's a technological wonder of a show that features classic Disney characters rendered in 3-D computer animation. The cast of characters comes to life on the world's largest, seamless 3-D movie screen and appears to jump off the screen and into the audience.

Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger too!) takes guests on a hunny-pot adventure in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a frolicking adventure through the famous Hundred Acre Wood of Christopher Robin's imagination.

Even elephants fly in Fantasyland and guests are invited along for the ride. Dumbo the Flying Elephant lets guests soar through the air as they circle a circus ring presided over by ringmaster Timothy Mouse. The attraction, beloved at other Disney parks around the world, is a tribute to Disney's classic 1941 animated film, "Dumbo."

A must-experience attraction for Hong Kong Disneyland guests is Fantasy Gardens, the most elaborately themed character meeting area created at any Disney theme park in the world. Here guests meet, shake hands, receive autographs from and take photographs with famous Disney characters in five distinct, themed gazebos. The park-like landscape is manicured with topiaries and flowers to match the whimsical setting.

Guests who feel like taking a "spin" can jump in the Mad Hatter Tea Cups, inspired by the very unconventional tea party in Disney's animated feature hit "Alice in Wonderland." Rotating cups and oversized saucers serve as the guests' vehicles for this "tea-riffic" adventure.

A magnificent, Broadway quality performance is featured in Disney's Storybook Theater, a 1,000-seat performance venue. "The Golden Mickeys" takes center stage inside the theater daily as guests become a part of the VIP audience at a lavish awards show starring popular characters from Disney animated films and Disney presentations of Pixar films.

Disney dining options in Fantasyland include the Royal Banquet Hall, a regally themed counter-service dining area with seating for 720 guests; and Clopin's Festival of Foods, a food-court, counter-service collection of brightly colored tents, banners and flags inspired by the Festival of Fools film sequence in the Disney animated feature "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

As in the other lands of Hong Kong Disneyland, the landscape of Fantasyland has been carefully planned to support its stories. Topiaries shaped as characters from classic Disney films amuse and delight guests while delicate and fragrant flowers add to the "once-upon-a-time" beauty of Fantasyland's gardens, trellises and flowerbeds.