Sleeping Beauty is the 18th episode of season 1 of Fractured Fairy Tales.
Plot[]
Sleeping Beauty is cursed by a Wicked Fairy to sleep until a prince awakens her. One Prince is brave enough to try, but his broadsword is reduced to scrap metal by the thorny weeds surrounding the castle, and he declares "They don't make broadswords like they used to!" But then he clears away the weeds with a lawn mower, which is made like they used to. When the Prince finds the sleeping princess and is ready to kiss her awake, he stops short. He realizes that if she awakes, she will be just another princess, but if she remains asleep, she will be a valuable tourist attraction and merchandising centerpiece. He transforms the castle into a theme park called Sleeping Beautyland, which is divided into sections such as Moatland, Stairland, Entrance Hall Land, and Dungeonland, with a special hierarchy of "X, Y, and Z" tickets specified to each one. Sleeping Beauty herself in her bedchamber is the most valuable attraction. Variety runs stories about the theme park with titles like "Doze Doll Does Wiz Biz." A woman claiming to be the Wicked Fairy shows up and pesters the Prince to split the profits with her, but he gets rid of her with a dirty trick. Nevertheless, she keeps coming back, forcing him to come up with more creative repellents.
Eventually, Sleeping Beautyland becomes passé. "Doze Doll Dull," proclaims Variety. The Prince accepts the Wicked Fairy's offer of partnership, desperate for a brainstorm that will revitalize the Sleeping Beauty franchise. They decide to wake Sleeping Beauty up at last, so she can write her autobiography and give interviews, with them as her agents. The Wicked Fairy suggests that the Prince kiss the princess awake, as was his original plan, but he confesses that he really isn't a prince after all, because while he applied for a prince's license, he never completed the process. He suggests she use her magic to awaken the princess, but the erstwhile Wicked Fairy confesses she is only an impostor. She is not the person who put Sleeping Beauty under, and isn't even a fairy, although she identifies as quite wicked. Then Sleeping Beauty solves the problem by opening her eyes and sitting up. She explains that she was not really cursed, and consciously went along with the Sleeping Beautyland scheme all along, because she enjoyed being in showbiz. At this point, the short abruptly ends.
Trivia[]
The Prince bears a remarkable resemblance to Walt Disney, and Sleeping Beautyland is closely modeled on Disneyland.