Disney in a Minute: What is the Purple Wall?

We’re here with a series of quick posts, “Disney in a Minute,” bite-sized nuggets of information that can better help you understand a Disney term or planning topic. Enjoy!

What is the purple wall?

If you know, then you know. What a silly question! If you don’t know then, this one is a real head scratcher.

The purple wall is, well, a purple wall. This particular purple wall happens to be located in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, along a passageway between the rarely open Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant and Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. The exact tipping point of fame is under question, but likely sometime in 2015 Instagram users discovered that the lilac paint on this passage wall was a flattering backdrop for posing. And then it took on a life of its own. More Instagrammers came and took photos. A dedicated account fan popped up, and then copycat fan accounts followed.

Disney itself got in on the action big time when, in early 2018 they, gasp, repainted the wall. Instead of just solid purple, the wall became a multi-hued mural, with geometric shapes of different shades in the purple spectrum. More folks took pics. They began stationing a PhotoPass photographer at the wall. There was purple wall merchandise! Other random walls around Walt Disney World got their 15 minutes of fame (bubblegum wall on the backside of EPCOT’s Spaceship Earth, we’re talking to you).

Some of the hubbub has died down, but the purple wall lives on. Nearly every time I walk by, someone really is taking photos there. Now when someone says, “Meet me at the purple wall,” you know where they want you to be.

Have a question about a Disney term that is unfamiliar to you? Suggest it here for an upcoming Disney in a Minute segment.