Walt Disney World has announced that the Cinderella Castle makeover will start in early 2026. This project will involve repainting the Magic Kingdom icon in a more classic color scheme, restoring its pre-50th Anniversary appearance. This shares concept art, details about project, entertainment changes, guest impact of the construction, and more.
For those who missed it, the Cinderella Castle updates were announced during the “Beyond the Spires: An Insider Look at Disney Castles” panel back at Destination D23 a few months ago. Imagineers looked back at the various overlays and color schemes for Cinderella Castle over the years, and revealed a new rendering for the new Cinderella Castle color palette, which is inspired by the classic and original look of the castle.
The updated Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom will feature grays, creams, blues, and touches of gold aiming to enhance the castle’s architecture. At the time, the project team was still “putting the finishing touches on the paint design process.” That uncertain language made us concerned that this wouldn’t start until late 2026 or perhaps even 2027, a fear that was reinforced by the project’s absence on the recently-released Walt Disney World 2026 calendar. Thankfully, those fears were unfounded, and there’s a new update on the timeline!
Walt Disney World has announced that guests will notice work around Cinderella Castle beginning in early January 2026. A specific start date was not shared, but our expectation is on or after January 5, 2026. That’s when the holiday rush starts subsiding, before fully relenting on January 12, 2026. (The latter date is more mid-January, though.)
The project will begin with the draining of the moat prepare for painting. After a successful completion of the moat draining, work will continue with high-reach cranes and lifts placed in the moat. This construction equipment will be used to reach Cinderella Castle and work on the project. Cranes and lifts will be elevated during the morning hours.
However, by noon each day, the equipment will be lowered and out of sight from the Cinderella Castle Central Plaza and Main Street USA. The view will be picture-perfect for afternoon and evening photos.
During the morning hours, Walt Disney World is encouraging guests to enjoy everything else that the Magic Kingdom has to offer, before returning to Main Street and the Hub in the afternoons and evenings to capture their family photos with Cinderella Castle.
Beginning January 28, 2026, there will also be temporary adjustments to entertainment. This includes a modified “Let the Magic Begin” welcome show. The other daytime show, “Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire,” will continue to be available with minor adjustments.
Likewise, the Happily Ever After fireworks will also continue to be shown with minor adjustments. It’s unclear what these are, but it’s possible lighting effects will be reduced. We still expect the projections to be presented during Happily Ever After.
If this minor modification does involve lighting, it also could mean slight impacts to Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away. Since that’s a parade, the spotlights are not at all material to its presentation; they’re just a nice touch (that might be why Starlight isn’t mentioned in Disney’s announcement–or that it’s not impacted in any way whatsoever).
We wouldn’t fret about any of this, quite frankly. It should all be fairly unnoticeable unless you watch these entertainment offerings all the time. The average tourist or infrequent visitor probably won’t be able to spot the modifications.
The approach Walt Disney World is taking will prolong the project due to work being carried out during fewer daylight hours, but is being done in order to minimize the guest impact of the project. That makes it a net positive, in our view!
Finally, Walt Disney World states that the new color scheme will debut “later in 2026”. An exact end date has not yet been announced, nor has even a season or anything. As we discuss in the commentary, this language is a bit curious.
The bottom line, though, is that this Cinderella Castle project is being done carefully to minimize guest impact. For those of us who race to Cinderella Castle for empty park photos at the start of Early Entry, there’s minor disappointment. (Well, except for the bloggers wanting pristine crane photos!) But otherwise, morning is the worst time for Cinderella Castle photos, anyway. You should be racing to TRON Lightcycle Run, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, etc.
Here’s everything we know about the Cinderella Castle updates, following by our commentary and predictions based on past precedent–which is fairly instructive here since this closely mirrors the last Cinderella Castle makeover…
Cinderella Castle Repainting Background
At Walt Disney World, the castle’s iconic look is built on a timeless color combination: deep, handsome blues paired with radiant golds. These colors were chosen to reflect the Florida sunshine in a way that makes the castle shimmer from every angle.
No matter the season or angle, Cinderella Castle is designed to be picture-perfect, much of which can be attributed to the paint and themed finishes. Because of that, the paint Walt Disney World uses has to undergo accelerated UV and weather testing, simulating years of sun exposure. This rigorous process ensures that the castle’s colors stay vivid for years to come.
Here’s a look at concept art of the new Cinderella Castle color palette coming in 2026:
For hard-to-reach locations, such as the roofs, Walt Disney World uses a high-performance paint that is actually used for cars! The paint is durable and long-lasting, reducing the need for touch-ups of Cinderella Castle.
Sheen also plays an important role. Subtle variations help the castle feel more lifelike: stones are finished with a lower sheen to appear natural, while rooftops and gold accents shine with higher gloss, giving them a decorative sparkle. Gold is used strategically around the spires, to catch the last reflections of sunlight.
Our Commentary
None of the details that Walt Disney World released about the Cinderella Castle repainting are all that surprising. Honestly, the biggest one from my perspective is that it’s getting started so early. This is a welcome development!
When the Cinderella Castle enhancements were absent from Walt Disney World’s 2026 Calendar of Events: Dates & Details for Reimagined Rides, Areas & Attractions, my assumption was that it was because Disney hadn’t yet scheduled the project. That it was still in the “initial planning stages” and we’d be waiting much longer.
Disney has a history of this type of not-quite-ready for primetime announcements at Destination D23, as evidenced by many of the 2023 singles and doubles projects just finally coming to fruition in the second half of 2025. Thankfully, that’s not the case here.
Setting the lack of update on the calendar aside, the winter start makes perfect sense. For those who missed it or don’t remember it, Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World received a royal makeover back in 2020. That project was first announced on February 17, and began within days.
The moat was partially drained, multiple cranes appeared in the dried basin, and work commenced almost immediately. Heavy machinery to enable the royal makeover was already on site for the Dream Lights removal (remember those?!), and coffer dams had already been installed in the moat around Cinderella Castle.
We were visiting Magic Kingdom almost daily at that point, and remember being surprised to see progress. It happened fast. Back then, Walt Disney World stated that Cinderella Castle would receive a “bold, shimmering and royal makeover” for the 70th Anniversary of Cinderella, and that the project would last through the summer. Again, keep in mind that the project also started a full month later than the 2026 repainting will begin.
The Cinderella Castle makeover ended up lasting through summer (and then some) due to the closure of the parks in March 2020. That initially caused a delay as all work around Walt Disney World was paused for several weeks, but then enabled a fast-tracking of work as painting occurred through the day while Magic Kingdom was closed.
By the time the parks reopened in July, the majority of the royal makeover of Cinderella Castle was completed. Not totally, but close to it. Another phase began later in 2021 when jabots and swag were added for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary.
Regardless, the last repainting of Cinderella Castle took about 4-5 months from start to finish. My guess is that could’ve been tightened to 3-4 months but for the closure and various issues introduced to construction projects during the COVID era. But that’s just a guess.
Otherwise, the specifics of the 2020 Cinderella Castle Royal Makeover mirror what we know thus far about the 2026 repainting project.
First, Walt Disney World made a big deal that during those changes, shows that involve Cinderella Castle, such as “Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire” and “Happily Ever After” would continue. Same story for 2026.
Second, unlike similar projects at Disneyland and the international projects, Walt Disney World did not use scrims. Similarly, work did not occur all day long. Just as had been done with the installation and removal of the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights, the cranes were actually lowered for most of Magic Kingdom’s operating hours. The 2026 announcement does not include the word “scrims,” but we can safely infer that they won’t be used in light of other details.
The lowering of the cranes was so that there aren’t big orange appendages around Cinderella Castle in priceless family photos. Walt Disney World made a big deal about this, wanting to reassure guests that it’d be a non-issue. This is done due to the divergent guest demographics of every other park versus Walt Disney World.
Concerns and complaints about the visual blight were far and away the #1 type of comment we received about this project back in early 2020. They were also a big issue with the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights for several years running.
And that’s precisely why Walt Disney World used this exact same process for the Dream Lights starting in 2018! In response to our article, Will Cinderella Castle’s Dream Lights Return for Christmas 2026?, one excuse fans often offer on Disney’s behalf for the Dream Lights not returning is guest complaints.
That was already addressed! It was a non-issue in each of the last two years of the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights. Suffice to say, anyone who cites this as the “reason” the Dream Lights “can’t” return is wrong–the crane was lowered most of the day for the last two years of that, too.
If you want to make excuses for the multi-billion dollar multinational corporation being cheap (the real reason there are no Dream Lights), at least get on the same script of the netting being ugly during the day–or something that makes sense. But I digress.
On a positive note, the repainting is a good example of Walt Disney World not cheaping out.
Cinderella Castle currently looks pretty good. It has faded since it was last repainted over 5 years ago, but the argument could be made that it has aged gracefully. That the original vibrance and shininess are muted, and that looks better than it did a few years ago.
Cinderella Castle certainly doesn’t look as faded and in need of TLC as it did in late 2019. As much as we prefer the old color scheme to the new one, I also look back at photos from 2018-2019 and realize the castle was in rough shape. By early 2020, it needed work. My personal take is that the royal enhancements were too much, but it did need something.
Point being, Walt Disney World probably could have “gotten away with” not repainting Cinderella Castle for another few years. The look isn’t as exaggerated now, but the castle doesn’t look faded. It’s kind of a sweet spot.
There’s also the fact that we don’t know what we don’t know. It’s entirely possible that there’s more to this project than a simple repainting. That the real motivation is fixing the facade, repairing turrets, or other TLC to the artifice. We’ve seen this with other Disney castles around the world, as well as the buildings on Main Street (and beyond) at Magic Kingdom.
It might be the case that the repainting is simply the guest-facing element of the project; the “win” that Walt Disney World is scoring with fans while attending to underlying maintenance. It’s common in longer projects of this nature for a plussing to occur–the re-tracking of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a prime ongoing example of this.
This also makes predicting an end date for the Cinderella Castle project very difficult.
If we’re going by the last repainting ~5 years ago, my guess would’ve been that the work would be finished by sometime in late Spring 2026. Perhaps even before the Easter rush if Walt Disney World dedicated the resources to the project. Before the summer season, regardless.
However, Walt Disney World has indicated that Cinderella Castle is “expected” to debut with refreshed colors “later in 2026.” Although “later in 2026” does not mean the same thing as “Late 2026,” it’s curious language that caught my eye.
Technically, “later in 2026” could mean February–even a single day after the project starts is later. By contrast, “Late 2026” would typically mean November or December.
“Later in…” is usually used when the project is of an unknown duration and there isn’t a completion date or even season, but also not expected to be finished soon. It’s also sometimes used synonymously with “Late.” If a project is expected earlier in the year, the more common “expected by [insert season or date].” For example, Soarin’ Across America will debut by Memorial Day.
That’s what makes this interesting. I could be overanalyzing Walt Disney World’s verbiage here, but they expect this type of thing and are usually careful with wording. The company knows that fans are neurotic, and many will construe “later in 2026” as “Late 2026” and get wording about the impact to their trips (despite the aforementioned reassurances). It seems like they would’ve used “by Summer 2026” if there was reasonable certainty the project would only last a few months.
This is precisely what makes me wonder whether there’s more to this than just repainting Cinderella Castle. My personal hope is still that there’s a second phase of this project that will involve installing the Dream Lights for Christmas 2026. So perhaps I’m projecting my desire for a lack of projections onto this news, and parsing the announcement too much. But that’s what we do here! Stay tuned for more on this project as it gets underway–we’ll have on the ground photos in January 2026.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Walt Disney World restoring the Cinderella Castle classic color scheme starting in January 2026? Thoughts on the project being carried out in a way that minimizes the guest impact? Surprised that it won’t be done until “later in 2026” or are we reading too much into that? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
