Source Materials: Heraldry in Fantasyland (Part 2)

Welcome back! Last week, I corrected a trifecta of misconceptions about the heraldic design located just above the arch of Sleeping Beauty Castle, and went on to explore some of the other instances of medieval heraldry used for thematic and decorative purposes in Fantasyland. This week...the latter continues!

We left off at the King Arthur Carrousel, which is appropriately decorated with the armorial shields traditionally attributed to some of the Knights of the Round Table, albeit with some odd color substitutions. Immediately to the east of the Carrousel is an example of very non-traditional heraldry:

This is probably the second most prominent coat of arms in Disneyland, and it could scarcely be more different than the one on the front of the Castle if that had been the primary purpose of its design. The most seasoned heraldry expert in the world would be hard-pressed to blazon (describe in heraldic jargon) this thing. Besides the use of elaborate, full-color cartoon images as charges,* I've never heard of a motto being arranged with part of it on the shield and part beneath like that, and the helmet appears to include an Eton collar. However, at least the helmet is presented correctly for a gentleman of Mr. Toad's rank, and the Imagineers responsible for the design have made an excellent, if obscure, visual pun by patterning it after the tilt helm of Renaissance tournaments...also known as the “frog face.”

Our next exhibit will be a bit of a walk from here, but it might be the most important one yet. It's certainly the most accurate one in that most of the shields on display at this particular attraction represent identifiable coats of arms that are still in everyday use! The attraction in question is the Matterhorn Bobsleds, and you've probably noticed these before:

The big central one is obviously the Swiss flag in shield form, and if you guessed that the others also had something to do with Switzerland, you'd be absolutely right. These are the arms of 18 of the 26 Swiss cantons (member-states), and some of them date all the way back to the 13^th Century! If you're deathly curious about which arms go with which cantons, Wikipedia—as usual—has your back.** More shields can be found lining the switchback portion of the queue under the chalet roof...although to the best of my recollection, not quite all the cantons are represented. If nothing else, Jura is absent because it has only existed as an autonomous state since 1979—20 years after the Matterhorn was built. I believe Schwyz is also omitted, perhaps so it won't be mistaken for a really badly executed coat of arms for Switzerland itself.

But wait, there's more! The safety gates in the load and unload areas are embellished with coats of arms of their own, ranging from the elegantly simple:

...to the fascinatingly complex:

These, unlike the ones all over the chalet, do not seem to have anything to do with Switzerland. Although I can't prove it, my conjecture is that they correspond to the names of Imagineers who worked on the upgrade for the attraction. I've been able to find references for two of them. The fascinatingly complex one appears to be associated with the surname Moss. And then there's this one:

Look familiar? Remember these from last week's post?

As far as I can tell, the only difference between these two designs is the shape of the stars: The one on the Castle uses five-pointed mullets, while the one on the Matterhorn uses six-pointed estoiles. But anyone unfamiliar with heraldic terminology would probably use “stars” to describe either version—I cannot shake the impression that both are intended to represent the same coat of arms. And sure enough...both versions can be found among the many coats of arms associated with the surname Wilson.

So did anyone named Moss or Wilson work on the Matterhorn during the right period to influence the design of the gates? Maybe? I don't have access to WDI's personnel records, but both of them are common enough surnames that it's certainly plausible.

But either way, we've been hanging around listening to this yodel music long enough. It's time to visit the last major stop on our heraldic tour of Fantasyland. Actually, we'll be backtracking all the way to Sleeping Beauty Castle and beyond, because we're headed for Fantasy Faire!

Befitting its Princess-heavy theming, Fantasy Faire is chock-a-block with heraldic imagery. As you enter from the Hub, look across and up at the steeple-like structure to see this coat of arms perched above a Gothic arch:

It's not especially authentic, but I like it for what it represents. The letters CPG stand for Carnation Plaza Gardens, the dance venue that used to be in this location before Fantasy Faire was built. The flowers under the letters are, of course, carnations.

Running underneath the steeple is the corridor to Frontierland, which passes between the exit of the Royal Hall and the shop, Fairy Tale Treasures. The beams here are lined with some amazing-looking shields:

The arms displayed here are gorgeous in their simplicity. The shields themselves look substantial and functional...unlike others we'll see in a few minutes that are clearly fanciful. The inverted-teardrop shape of three of them is common in Italian heraldry, perhaps implying a Pinocchio connection that would go with the animatronic Figaro on a nearby balcony.

This corridor also contains a number of banners with more-or-less heraldic designs on them:

To me, these look very modern and not especially authentic. The colors are too “designer,” etc. But there are a couple of things I want to point out. Firstly, the shapes of these banners are two variations on the gonfalon, a type of heraldic banner which, like the teardrop shield, was at its most popular in Italy. Secondly, take note of the banner at right rear with the image of a crown. The orange and teal color scheme is completely hideous, of course, and would never be used on an actual coat of arms, but this design is an example of counterchanging, or swapping the colors of the field and charge on either side of a dividing line. When used with better colors, the effects are quite striking and attractive.

Now let's head over and walk around the Royal Theatre, which has these at intervals around its perimeter:

Guys, I don't think King Triton or Prince Philip perform here...

These are obviously not serious attempts at heraldry. More like vague suggestions of heraldry with a very feminine slant, as if we've wandered into an alternate universe where the Disney Princess franchise has existed since the 1100s. A more traditionally shaped but but just as whimsically designed coat of arms can be found inside, over the stage:

You don't have to be well-versed in symbology to figure out what this design is trying to say. Drama masks, a rose, and the seven-rayed sun emblem of the kingdom of Corona. (Although for the past several months, it's been lying, as the Tangled and Beauty and the Beast shows have been pre-empted by all Frozen, all the time.)

The Royal Theatre is at the low end of the heraldic authenticity scale, I guess is what I'm saying.

And that's about it as far as conspicuous displays of heraldry in Fantasyland. But there are still a couple of less obvious ones I want to highlight. First there's this interesting triptych inside the Enchanted Chamber (the shop on the west side of the Castle arch):

By this point in your education, your guess is as good as mine as to what any of these signify. The coat of arms on the far right is similar to that of the earliest Counts of Hainaut—the rulers of a region in the Holy Roman Empire that is now part of Belgium...but what, if anything, that has to do with Disneyland or Sleeping Beauty Castle, I have no idea. What I find the most fascinating about these is how old they look. The muted colors, outsized crests, assymetrical mantling, and other quirks speak to a very early period of heraldry, before all the rules had been set in place and before the artistic aspect of the noble science had evolved much.

The very last stop on our tour lies at the opposite end of Fantasyland from the Castle—much farther than we have yet wandered. (Sorry-not-sorry for the circuitous route...it turned out to be most natural way to present the information I had collected.) This armorial achievement appears on the back of the sound booth in the Fantasyland Theatre:

Those holly sprigs might look Christmasy to modern eyes, but this design is not, as you might suspect, a relic of the Mickey's Nutcracker show way back in the Nineties. I would lay odds on this being painted when the Theatre was temporarily converted to the Princess Fantasy Faire, or maybe for the Snow White show a couple year prior. So what is going on here?

This may be the clearest case we have of an Imagineer leaving their mark on Disneyland via heraldry. This coat of arms—three clusters of holly leaves—belongs to Clan Irvine of Drum in the Scottish lowlands. Irvine. There's a name that will be familiar to admirers of the Imagineers. Disney Legend Richard “Dick” Irvine may have left this world behind in 1976, but his daughter-in-law Kim Irvine is currently the Art Director of Disneyland, and I would wager actual money that she was behind this addition to the Theatre.

And thus we find ourselves, inevitably, at the end of our journey. I hope you've found all this interesting, and maybe even been inspired to learn more about heraldry on your own. Obviously, a pair of blog posts about one section of a theme park can barely scratch the surface of such a vast subject. I honestly haven't even covered all of the heraldic designs to be found in Fantasyland...just the ones that stand out to me, for one reason or another. I encourage you to explore the next time you're at Disneyland, and see what you can find!

* “Charge” is a catch-all term for anything in a coat of arms that isn't mere background. Even the bold stripes that make up the most basic heraldic designs are charges: the “honorable ordinaries.”

** Perusing that page, you'll notice that each canton uses the same design for its coat of arms as for its (square) flag...with a few exceptions. Ticino and Lucerne both divide their flag horizontally and their coat of arms vertically...but the corresponding shields on the Matterhorn chalet are divided horizontally. Presumably the error came about because the attraction designer only had access to the flag designs and didn't realize there were any exceptions to the usual practice. Perhaps a future refurbishment will correct the mistake.