The castle in “Tangled”
The palace from which Rapunzel could let down her hair had to be from the Renaissance, accoriding French artist Laurent Ben-Mimoun. He saw the romantic oil paintings of 18-century artist Fragonard and thought of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy. But this was just the basis of the concept art for “Tangled” – he then added medieval and French Renaissance influences, as well as modern elements.
The seven dwarves’ cottage in “Snow White”
There are several adorable storybook cottages in the Los Feliz neighborhood of L.A. and everyone thinks they are were inspired by the cottage in the original Disney’s “Snow White”. But it’s the other way around. The franchise started in 1937, while the cottages were designed and built by Ben Sherwood in 1931.
The Sleeping Beauty Castle in the movie and in Disneyland
This is probably the most famous inspiration to Disney – the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. Walt and Lillian Disney had an European vacation just before the construction of the theme parks and one of the stops was this 19th-century Bavarian castle, commissioned by King Ludwig II in 1869. Of course, Walt was impressed by the fairy-tale structure and bright colours, so this is where he got the idea for the magical Sleeping Beauty castle.
