The History of the Maleficent Costume in the Disney Parks
I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge history nerd and have found a love for researching the evolution of the costumes within the Disney Parks. So, this video is on the history of the Maleficent costumes, all the different designs she has worn over the years. We are covering the Sleeping Beauty villain’s costumes in Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo, and beyond!
As usual with these videos, we start off with a look at the original Disney animated film for Sleeping Beauty. We look at the concept art from Marc Davis for this character—her fairy-likeness and the Medieval influences for her dress.
Once we have covered the basics of Maleficent’s costume, it’s time to dig into the most popular ones from each park.
Starting off with her famous dragon form, we look at shows like the dragon in Fantasmic!, Festival of Fantasy, and Flights of Fantasy for a look at the varying interpretations of Maleficent’s dragon in the Disney parks
Next, we move to Disneyland Paris. It’s only fitting that we pull out the good old Paris singalong for Grim Grinning Ghosts. If you notice in that one, she has a nimble, airy dress. One that doesn’t even graze the floor. This same design is present in the beloved show called Le Livre Magique de Mickey. This absolutely stunning show with a mock pop up book at the set (HOW?) shows the villain with a similar costume. This same one became a staple across the Paris resort for years.
Lastly, Tokyo Disney has its own style that it employs with its Maleficent costume there. The cape itself has a heavy aspect to it that contrasts the Paris style. You’ll notice too that it is super glittery! Every, single move of the character hit the light in a different way.
These aren’t all that we cover within this video. Oh no! We have some many more unique costumes that you probably didn’t even know existed before now. You’ll want to check out the rest of this one here to see the details and the honestly kind of shocking ones that we love! We know you will love them too!