A Closer Look at the ‘Enchanted Tales with Belle’ Attraction

by: D-Team Member Michele

We have been anxiously awaiting “New Fantasyland” for years now, so when the walls came down and attractions began “dress rehearsal” I was chomping at the bit to get up close and personal with all that New Fantasyland had to offer.

Some dear friends surprised me with admittance to a dress rehearsal and I was completely overwhelmed with the detail and theming in New Fantasyland. I’ll admit that although I had high hopes, I had been following the largest expansion in magic Kingdom history pretty closely and felt I was prepared for what I was going to experience, but boy was I wrong!  The up close experience is far greater than anything you could experience from seeing a photo or reading an article.

Enchanted Tales with Belle was open for dress rehearsal and I figured the lines wouldn’t be getting any shorter when it opened officially so I dragged my reluctant husband into line outside of Maurice’s cottage. The queue approaching the cottage is the perfect example of imagineering at its best. You feel completely transported into this little cottage in the woods that a haphazard inventor calls home. You can see how pieces and parts of various inventions gone wrong have turned into fixtures and decorative elements at Maurice’s cottage. The whimsical light fixtures along the path set the atmosphere for the little cottage in the woods.

Inside the cottage there are small rooms that give you a sense of the cozy place Maurice and Belle call home. A hearty hearth welcomes you inside where blueprints and trinkets are strewn about. You continue through the living room area to Maurice’s workshop where inventions are on display. The magic mirror illuminates and magically transforms into a door that brings you into Beast Castle. You are greeted by Madame Wardrobe, you’ll remember her as the enchanted rambunctious chest of drawers that welcomes Belle to the castle. She is stunning and full of enchantments and lends her chest of drawers to props for Belle’s story-time. As Madame explains the story you’re about to hear a friendly assistant helps choose volunteers to help Belle tell her story. Knights in armor, Phillippe the horse, Chip, Mrs. Potts and others are all on hand to help tell the story.

The library is large but cozy with books from floor to ceiling. Lumiere himself welcomes you inside to gather around the hearth for the story. He introduces Belle with French flair as she arrives in the library in her golden ball gown. The story begins after a minute of instruction for Belle’s helpers and while photography is allowed, you aren’t permitted to use a flash or external video lighting. Belle’s helpers are given a bookmark after the story and then everyone is free to exit through Beast Castle. A PhotoPass photographer was on hand to take pictures of the story helpers with Belle but it wasn’t announced if they were always going to be on hand or if it was something special for the preview phase of the opening.

The story portion was cute and I enjoyed seeing inside of the cottage (especially the magical mirror) and the library at Beast Castle but it did feel like we spent a long time in the queue outside and not very long at all inside the cottage rooms. It was a bit awkward waiting for the story helpers to have their photos taken with Belle before we could exit and I can see where that might cause a problem in the future as the attraction isn’t a meet and greet. Belle leaves before everyone else in the library is invited to exit so if you are thinking you can sneak your little one (or yourself) up to the fireplace for a photo with Belle you are mistaken.

I would have been happy to sit and interact with Madame Wardrobe all day. To me, she really was the main attraction. The detail and “enchantments” are really amazing and she is so life like!

I don’t think it’s an experience that many people will choose to have over and over again but it will be interesting to see how the attraction evolves and changes as more people experience it and feedback is received. Personally, I’d like to see Maurice tinkering outside the cottage while you wait to enter. It would be far more entertaining and interactive than just standing in the line, which is rather long and probably will be for some time.

Interacting with Madame Wardrobe and Lumiere is an astounding experience and imagineering really went all out in this New Fantasyland expansion. I can’t wait to see how the rest of it unfolds!