BY RYA WALFORD
An aerialist put on a 5 minute performance throughout the day in the gran hall. (All photos by Rya Walford.)
Casa Loma invited guests to experience the magic of Beauty and the Beast this Family Day weekend.
While visions of roses, gold ball gowns and chipped china danced around in the heads of hundreds of fans waiting to get inside their excitement slowly turned to disappointment.
“I’ve been a fan of Beauty and the Beast since I was a little girl. You can’t imagine how excited I was to see that the castle was going to be turned into my favourite Disney movie. But when I got here… Honestly, I was disappointed. It hasn’t lived up to what I imagined,” said Alisha Whitelaw, a fan who visited Casa Loma on Monday.
Guests could pick a time-slot available to pre-purchase tickets or choose to buy them at the door. While the line to buy at the door was incredibly long, the line for those who had pre-purchased was not much better. Even if you bought a ticket in a specific time-slot you could still be waiting outside the castle doors for 20 or more minutes.
“Anyone who has children knows what waiting is like. It’s painful torture and always feel an eternity longer than it really is. Today all we’ve done is wait. Even though we bought tickets for 1 p.m. we had to wait in a line outside that lasted about 20 minutes. And don’t get me started on waiting to get into the bathroom,” said Tabitha Taylor of London, Ont., who visited the castle with her four children Monday afternoon.
Throughout the day there were special performances put on by ballroom dancers and aerialists, storytelling, crafts and even a bouncy castle. Casa Loma is also the only place in Canada that guests were able to view some of the costumes used in the live-action film.
“The performances were beautiful. It is amazing what those people can do. I just wish it had been easier to see. People were squished into these tiny spaces and a lot of kids couldn’t see which I thought was really sad. And I wish they had done more to the castle. Like where was Mrs. Potts and Chip? Or the decorations? It just wasn’t enough I don’t think,” says Whitelaw.
The live-action film hits theatres March 17.
