Sleeping Beauty’s Father Running a Restaurant in Cinderella’s Castle?

by Beth Keating

Feature Story

DisneyBizJournal.com

April 8, 2020

Why was Sleeping Beauty’s father running a restaurant in Cinderella’s castle? It is a question that has perplexed Disney fans for ages. 

Source: ThemeParkTourist.com

When my husband and I went on our honeymoon eons ago, we had a lovely, though somewhat uninspiring dinner, culinarily speaking, in the dining room of Disney World’s Magic Kingdom icon. The real draw was being able to eat in the castle, and it was stunning. Colorful banners hung from the arched ceilings, and stained glass windows dappled the room with colored light. Of course, the stellar Disney service was evident as well, and Cinderella and Prince Charming made table-to-table visits in wedding reception style to make guests’ acquaintances.

When I came home, tucked carefully into the suitcase, well wrapped in souvenir tee-shirts, was a glass mug to commemorate the dinner. It was emblazoned “King Stefan’s Banquet Hall.”   Wait, what? Back up the horse and carriage… King Stefan? Isn’t that the king from Sleeping Beauty? Yes, indeedy, and he was not Cinderella’s dad, but Aurora/Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty’s dad. (Don’t get me started on that whole name thing… I tried explaining it to my preschool class one day, and it was a very circular discussion.) Doesn’t the castle belong to Cinderella, though? It’s got her name on the deed. 

The alleged backstory explanation is that Cinderella’s father is never actually named anything other than “King” in her stories, and they wanted a royal sounding name for the restaurant. Unfortunately, they chose the wrong name – Stefan – which while sounding very regal, was somebody else’s dad. I guess naming it Gus-Gus’s after her mice would have been off-putting, though we soon will have Chef Remy’s haunt, Gusteau’s to look forward to at Epcot’s France pavilion. Different time, different place.

In the modern age, when superheroes cross universes and timelines, and fairy tale characters all come together to live in the same town in StoryBrooke on Once Upon a Time (originally on ABC, now available on Netflix), maybe it doesn’t seem as odd that Cindy’s family and Aurora’s family had gone into business together. After all, in Storybrooke, Snow White, Prince Charming, Captain Hook and Rumpelstiltskin eat lunch at Granny’s Diner all the time.  Back when Cinderella Castle opened in 1971, though, it was rare that the characters shared story arcs. Think how novel it was when all the princesses showed up in the same room during Ralph Breaks the Internet (aka Wreck It Ralph 2). So, yeah, it was weird that King Stefan was running the show at Cindy’s place.

Eventually, Disney either got tired of answering the question all the time, or came to the same conclusion that the rest of us did – the name “King Stefan’s Banquet Hall” was a little odd. So, in 1997, the restaurant was renamed “Cinderella’s Royal Table.” The décor remained much the same – soaring ceilings and coats of arms – and the character meet and greet has since been expanded to include some of the other princesses while you encounter the castle owner herself, Cinderella, in the grand foyer of the castle before you climb up to the dining room. Prince Charming was nowhere in sight on our last visit (I understand he and Cindy greet citizens over at Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Faire at the Grand Floridian, though.)

Raising sons, it’s difficult to convince them to dine in the castle, and to be honest, the prices are a little high for the quality of the food. You really are paying for the experience of dining in the castle, and for the fact that seating is so limited in this particular small restaurant. When we did eat there several visits ago, the kids were much younger, and I convinced them that we were going to eat in the castle – won’t that be exciting! I neglected to mention there would be princesses milling about, and my older son caught on more quickly than the younger, giving me that squinty-eyed look before whispering, “You tricked us. There are princesses here!”

Yup, and I have the mug to prove it.  Except this time, the new mug says, “Cinderella’s Royal Table.”

Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.