Looking Back on my Night in the Cinderella Castle Suite for Year of a Million Dreams in 2007
Hi everyone!
Back in 2007, I received a call from my family. They were in the Magic Kingdom that day, and they asked if I wanted to sleep in Cinderella Castle Suite that night (yes!). It was part of a Year of a Million Dreams, and I had only two hours to get to the Magic Kingdom to sign paperwork.
I wrote an article about my Cinderella Castle Suite stay back in 2007 and later also wrote about a tour I took in 2013 (with more Cinderella Castle Suite photos). Back in 2007, my photos were smaller and the words minimal so when we found my original photos this year, it made it easy to decide to revisit. Since that 2007 stay, the question I get asked most is whether guests can book the suite as a hotel. The answer has always been no, the suite has never been bookable. After the Year of a Million Dreams, the suite has been used by VIPs, wish-granting organizations and I think as a prize occasionally. The second question I have gotten asked often is if you can see out the windows of the suite. The answer is not well, it is one of the reasons the suite is great for one night but it wouldn’t be somewhere you’d want to spend a week.
Here are photos and my story from 2007!
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My stepfather actually was chosen as the winner for Year of a Million Dreams. He was in a Buzz Lightyear vehicle on the right hand side, and the Dream Squad was looking for that vehicle and that seat. It was completely random as to who would win. My stepfather actually said no to the prize at first, but my brother-in-law encouraged him to take it and I’m glad he did. I never myself tried to win anything, although I did win a lanyard on the morning Gran Fiesta Tour opened at Epcot. The Cinderella Castle Suite was always awarded in the morning because guests had to be chosen, taken up to a room in the Tomorrowland Speedway to verify the prize, and then transfer luggage before their itinerary began.
There was some flexibility in what we could do. Usually Cinderella Castle Suite winners were grand marshals in the Share a Dream Come True Parade, but my parents wanted the most minimal amount of fuss and attention as possible. So we did have special Mickey ears and then our VIP guides escorting us, that was more than enough for them. And since they had not seen Cinderella’s Holiday Wish (which later became A Frozen Holiday Wish), we did that first instead of dinner. 2007 was the first year of the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights. I photographed the lights pretty heavily on the first couple of nights of the 2007 holiday season, so I didn’t much on this evening.
We received ears and a button. This side of my family is very private and so there are quite a few photos I took that aren’t in the article.
We also received keys to the Cinderella Castle Suite.
I had a decent camera but not a DSLR nor of course a phone with a camera, so some photos are a little blurry. I brought my tripod to the suite for pictures. This note lists what is included in the Cinderella Castle Suite stay – dinner at Cinderella’s Royal Table, VIP viewing of SpectroMagic (I don’t think we saw Wishes) and then we also had a VIP guide who took us on some rides and then an abbreviated Keys to the Kingdom Tour at park close. We were kept very busy, so I am surprised I have as many photos of the suite as I do!
We had several Cast Members who were a big part of our stay. I am fortunate to still be friends with two of them and the other was a Cast Member for years (I don’t know if he is now) and I used to see him in the parks and resorts fairly often after 2007. They were all great.
My mom did allow for one photo and let me post it. 🙂
The photos I took in the Cinderella Castle Suite in 2007 were plentiful but often very tight shots because my family was there and the suite is not huge. The photos from 2013 are more varied and allow for better angles since everyone on the tour was taking photos. It makes for a nice balance of photos. This is the elevator to the foyer.
There is a mosaic of Cinderella’s Coach in the foyer with about 30,000 pieces. It is beautiful.
Other items are displayed in the foyer as well.
Cinderella’s glass slipper.
And there is artwork overhead.
Cinderella’s coach.
There is a beautiful chandelier.
Cinderella and Prince Charming.
The bedding was gold toned.
This light looks like a crown.
A nice bowl of fruit was on the table. I think there were sodas as well, but apparently we could have asked for anything we wanted. We did not ask for anything.
There is artwork around the suite.
Books are on the shelf for reading. We barely saw light out of these windows because we were out of the suite for most of the afternoon and then evening, and check-out was by 9:00 a.m.
A fancy phone sits on a shelf.
There is a jetted tub with three mosaics above it.
And it looks like stars in the ceiling.
One of the best things about staying in the Cinderella Castle Suite during Christmas week was the Christmas tree. It was small but added a lovely touch to the room.
The TV had Cinderella on it.
And then information, including about Downtown Disney back then.
This room was very hard to photograph because family moved right in.
But here is one shot from the tour I took in 2013, just to show what it looks like. It’s a small room and I think that couch folded out. The DSLR and daylight helped with the photos too.
As part of the Cinderella Castle Suite stay, we received two meals. The first was at Cinderella’s Royal Table inside Cinderella Castle. All of my pictures but a few are family photos, so I’m just showing a couple – including the Cinderella’s coach confetti on the table.
Here is one photo of the food as well, prime rib. I don’t think I’ve dined here since 2007, but I did quite a few times when it was King Stefan’s Banquet Hall and a few times as Cinderella’s Royal Table.
Our next stop was VIP viewing at the Liberty Square bridge of SpectroMagic. Not having a DSLR, the photos were a little difficult but I don’t have a lot of this parade otherwise. Actually, light parades are hard for me with the DSLR too. 🙂
Mickey Mouse in SpectroMagic.
Goofy.
Chip and Dale.
Some of my photos look like this.
Ursula.
I used the flash some for pictures.
Minnie.
Cinderella and Prince Charming.
Captain Hook and the Evil Queen.
Dopey.
Gepetto and Pinocchio.
And then Donald.
We were given a choice of what we wanted to do after that. In the end, we chose to take the abbreviated Keys to the Kingdom Tour. We started at around 11:00 p.m. I didn’t take many photos while walking, but we had a small amount of time in front of Cinderella Castle to enjoy and photograph an empty park. Remember these garlands that used to be over Main Street?
If I had won, I would have just asked to take my tripod around for photos. It was a beautiful, foggy night. I am glad to have had a little time to take these. I remember us walking past the Liberty Belle with a foggy Rivers of America and I really wanted to stop but didn’t ask since we were being given a tour.
We were done by 1:45 a.m. Thinking back, it didn’t seem that late to me at the time.
Walt and Mickey.
Being that this was the first year for the Castle lights, it was really nice to have had this extra time for pictures.
Matt was our tour guide and he found me on Instagram a few years back, so it’s nice to have that connection again. The Cast Member who welcomed us into the suite has been a friend now for 12 years, which is really cool.
When we arrived back to the room, we found a white chocolate Cinderella’s coach with horses. We saved it for Christmas to share with other family members. And there was a macaron.
I took some tripod shots of the room at 2:00 a.m. There wasn’t much sleep on this night.
The Christmas tree really did make it prettier.
There was a castle tree topper.
Someone from my family had set their ears on the fireplace.
Rose petals had been added to the towels with a Cinderella slipper towel figure.
More rose petals next to towels with a “C” on them.
Cinderella Castle Suite privacy hanger.
The furniture here fits the room very well.
There was an ice bucket with glasses.
At some point we found bathrobes to use. I asked a couple of days later if there was any way to purchase one, but I was told they weren’t for sale and sometimes guests would take them from the rooms. I would have loved a purchase option!
A “Good Night” note was on the table with chocolates.
There are lovely details in the suite.
A “C” above the bed.
Flowers were by the bathroom sink.
Stained glass in this window.
This is what the shower looks like.
Looking back, it is hard to believe we were all up and I was taking photos and using the tub at 2:00 a.m. It is way later than my bed time. But I didn’t sleep much, maybe an hour that night.
Here are the mosaics above the tub.
The tub is really nice but two or three of the covers came off.
The suite never got above 70 degrees and my mom called down several times to try to get the heat to work, but it never was fixed. So when she asked what to write in the guest book below, I said “Too cool”. It was true in more ways than one! And I know not everyone thinks 70 is cold, but that is chilly for me inside too.
There was a DVD player with Pirates of the Caribbean, Narnia and then other movies I had never heard of. They are probably all on Disney+ now. 🙂
Games were available too. There wasn’t really time for them or TV.
Of course, a notice to guests with all the fine details. It includes the early check-out time of 9:00 a.m.
With one hour of sleep, 9:00 a.m. felt very early on this morning – it was a really nice stay.
As we were leaving Cinderella Castle, the first guests were entering the Magic Kingdom. This was a cool vantage point. After this, we went to the Crystal Palace for breakfast. Maybe someday my family will be okay for some of those photos to be added to my article, I don’t have any breakfast photos that don’t include them. I am glad to have had this experience even though my stepdad and mom really would have been happy just to stay at Disney’s Polynesian Resort that night (which was the tradition each year).
My stepdad passed away in 2018 so I’m especially grateful to have dozens of family photos to look back on from this evening in Cinderella Castle. It was a little emotional actually going through all the photos from the stay with him in so many, but It was also a special time with my family. My stepdad didn’t love to be in photos so this stay provided some really fun pictures including him with characters (which never otherwise happened). He and my mom first took my sisters and I to Walt Disney World in 1977 for the first of many annual trips, and I’m still in the parks regularly 43 years later. The Cinderella Castle Suite stay was a once-in-a-lifetime event with them and I appreciate it even more now than I did that night.
