{"id":2388,"date":"2026-01-02T16:02:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T21:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/?p=2388"},"modified":"2026-01-02T16:51:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T21:51:06","slug":"central-parks-cinematic-scenes-how-enchanted-turned-the-park-into-a-fairy-tale-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/eternal-2388-central-parks-cinematic-scenes-how-enchanted-turned-the-park-into-a-fairy-tale-set","title":{"rendered":"Central Park\u2019s Cinematic Scenes: How &#8220;Enchanted&#8221; Turned the Park into a Fairy Tale Set"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This article on <a href=\"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\">manhattan-trend.com<\/a> focuses on the famous Manhattan cinematic landmark: Central Park. This location is often called the &#8220;green heart of New York,&#8221; but here we will discuss what made it a true star of world cinema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to IMDb data, at the time of writing, <strong>this park has appeared in over 530 movies and TV shows, making it the most filmed location in the world<\/strong> \u2013 70 more productions than Venice Beach in California, another top contender. Among the hundreds of films shot here, the romantic comedy &#8220;Enchanted&#8221; (2007) holds a special place, as Central Park was transformed into a literal fairy tale set. Animated Princess Giselle, finding herself in real-world New York, stages a massive musical number in the park with hundreds of dancers, musicians, and extras, turning the alleys and bridges into a full-fledged character in the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2f5c08784f5\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2f5c08784f5\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/eternal-2388-central-parks-cinematic-scenes-how-enchanted-turned-the-park-into-a-fairy-tale-set\/#About_the_Film_%E2%80%9CEnchanted%E2%80%9D\" >About the Film &#8220;Enchanted&#8221;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/eternal-2388-central-parks-cinematic-scenes-how-enchanted-turned-the-park-into-a-fairy-tale-set\/#The_%E2%80%9CThats_How_You_Know%E2%80%9D_Musical_Number\" >The &#8220;That&#8217;s How You Know&#8221; Musical Number<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/eternal-2388-central-parks-cinematic-scenes-how-enchanted-turned-the-park-into-a-fairy-tale-set\/#Star_Locations\" >Star Locations<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/eternal-2388-central-parks-cinematic-scenes-how-enchanted-turned-the-park-into-a-fairy-tale-set\/#Why_Central_Park_is_a_Great_Character\" >Why Central Park is a Great Character<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"About_the_Film_%E2%80%9CEnchanted%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>About the Film &#8220;Enchanted&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2007, Disney decided to poke fun at its own tropes \u2013 and thus, &#8220;Enchanted,&#8221; directed by Kevin Lima, was born. The formula is cynically simple: Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) sings with birds and chipmunks in a hand-drawn fairy tale kingdom, and the evil stepmother queen (Susan Sarandon) pushes her into a well that turns out to be a portal to 21st-century New York. The princess finds herself in Times Square in a wedding dress, looking for her prince, but instead finds Robert (Patrick Dempsey), a divorce attorney who doesn&#8217;t believe in fairy tales. He begins to dismantle all the Disney clich\u00e9s from the inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The success was incredible! Box office earnings exceeded $340 million. There were three Oscar nominations for Best Original Song (losing to &#8220;Falling Slowly&#8221; from the movie &#8220;Once&#8221;) and three wins at the Saturn Awards. But most importantly, for the first time in decades, Disney created a princess who ironized their signature clich\u00e9s. And audiences loved it. The only problem: the company couldn&#8217;t add Giselle to the official Disney Princess lineup. According to a common version, this is due to the character&#8217;s image rights being tied to Amy Adams&#8217; physical appearance, which could have required long-term royalty payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Central Park in this story is not just a backdrop, but the resolution. This is where Giselle realizes the real world can be just as magical as a cartoon if you look at it correctly. She stages a unique five-minute musical number: hundreds of dancers, an orchestra, rollerbladers, acrobats \u2013 all in the middle of real Manhattan, where people don&#8217;t usually join in spontaneous songs from strangers. But in Central Park, even this seems to look organic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_%E2%80%9CThats_How_You_Know%E2%80%9D_Musical_Number\"><\/span>The &#8220;That&#8217;s How You Know&#8221; Musical Number<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-8.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-8.png 1600w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-8-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-8-768x384.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-8-1536x768.png 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-8-696x348.png 696w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-8-1068x534.png 1068w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The scene begins at Conservatory Water \u2013 a small pond where children have been sailing toy boats since the early 20th century. Giselle tries to explain to a skeptical Robert how to recognize true love and suddenly starts singing. First quietly, then louder, then a steel drum band joins her, followed by mariachi, rollerbladers, stilt acrobats, an orchestra at the bandshell, and boats with musicians on the lake \u2013 and within five minutes, all of Central Park is dancing. Director Kevin Lima called it a &#8220;military operation,&#8221; and he wasn&#8217;t exaggerating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were <strong>17 days of filming, only seven of which were sunny<\/strong>. 450 participants \u2013 150 professional dancers and 300 extras. Choreographer John O&#8217;Connell mapped out a route through the park so the camera could keep up with Giselle. Her route is impressive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Conservatory Water \u2013 the start.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gapstow Bridge \u2013 the green Gothic bridge from 1896.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Central Park Dairy \u2013 a Victorian structure from 1870 that once actually sold fresh milk to children.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Naumberg Bandshell \u2013 where the orchestra plays.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bow Bridge over the lake.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bethesda Terrace with the &#8220;Angel of the Waters&#8221; fountain from 1868 \u2013 the finale.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Amy Adams ran in a very heavy dress. It is rumored that Patrick Dempsey nearly hit cyclists on the Reservoir bridge. Dempsey\u2019s fans interfered with the filming \u2013 security had to be called in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result \u2013 an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz \u2013 the same duo who wrote &#8220;Pocahontas&#8221; and &#8220;The Hunchback of Notre Dame&#8221;). At the ceremony, the song was performed by Kristin Chenoweth because Amy Adams declined \u2013 she was too nervous. &#8220;That&#8217;s How You Know&#8221; has over 80 million streams on Spotify, and tourists still come to Bethesda Fountain to find the exact spot where Giselle danced in the finale. It&#8217;s right there, it hasn&#8217;t disappeared \u2013 the fountain has stood in the same place since 1868. It\u2019s just that usually, hundreds of people don&#8217;t dance there at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Star_Locations\"><\/span>Star Locations<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bethesda Terrace is a two-story arcade with Minton tiles (the same ones used in the British Parliament), designed by architect Calvert Vaux in the 1860s as the &#8220;heart&#8221; of Central Park. The &#8220;Angel of the Waters&#8221; fountain was installed in 1868 \u2013 <strong>this is the first major public sculpture in New York City created by a woman<\/strong>, Emma Stebbins. This is where the finale of &#8220;That&#8217;s How You Know&#8221; takes place, and this is where &#8220;Home Alone 2,&#8221; &#8220;The Avengers,&#8221; &#8220;John Wick 2,&#8221; Milos Forman\u2019s &#8220;Hair,&#8221; and countless episodes of &#8220;Gossip Girl&#8221; were filmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bow Bridge \u2013 a cast-iron bridge from 1862 over the lake, named for its shape resembling the bow of a ship. Woody Allen filmed &#8220;Manhattan&#8221; here, the heroes of &#8220;The Way We Were&#8221; kissed here, and Spider-Man caught villains here in the third part of Sam Raimi&#8217;s trilogy. In &#8220;Enchanted,&#8221; it\u2019s on Bow Bridge where the boats with musicians float \u2013 Mexican mariachi, a jazz trio, steel drummers \u2013 and it looks absurd but organic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2392\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-9.png 960w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-9-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-9-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-9-696x464.png 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Gapstow Bridge \u2013 a less famous, green Gothic bridge on the northern edge of the Pond, built in 1896. This is where Giselle runs at the start of the number, and it offers the classic view of the Midtown skyscrapers \u2013 that very contrast between nature and concrete that makes Manhattan what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_Central_Park_is_a_Great_Character\"><\/span>Why Central Park is a Great Character<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Disney could have shot this scene in a studio with sets \u2013 cheaper, more predictable, no rain or Patrick Dempsey fans. But then the film&#8217;s main trick wouldn&#8217;t have worked: the contrast between Giselle&#8217;s cartoon logic and the cynical realism of New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Central Park is the only place in Manhattan where these two worlds can coexist without cognitive dissonance. It has 19th-century fountains, Victorian architecture, lakes, and bridges \u2013 everything that resembles European fairy tale sets. At the same time, skyscrapers peek out from behind the trees, joggers in headphones run past, and cyclists nearly knock over princesses in puffy dresses. The park allows a fairy tale to exist inside a city that doesn&#8217;t recognize fairy tales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-10.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-10.png 900w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-10-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-10-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-10-696x522.png 696w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-10-265x198.png 265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Director Kevin Lima understood this instinctively. When Giselle starts singing at Conservatory Water, passersby first look at her like she&#8217;s crazy \u2013 a classic Manhattan reaction. Then they gradually join in, because Central Park is a place where people allow themselves to be a little crazy. People play drums, dance salsa, blow giant soap bubbles, and host $200 &#8220;Instagrammable&#8221; picnics. If Giselle sang on Wall Street (its architectural features are described <a href=\"https:\/\/manhattan-future.com\/en\/eternal-4899-architectural-features-of-wall-street-what-a-tourist-must-see-and-a-builder-must-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>), she would be arrested for disturbing the peace. In Central Park, she fits into the general chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is another level that Disney likely didn&#8217;t plan consciously. Central Park is artificial. It was created in the 1850s by architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux <strong>as an idealized version of nature for a city that had destroyed nature<\/strong>. Every tree, every stone, every stream is designed. It\u2019s a stage set pretending to be a forest. Exactly like Giselle \u2013 an animated princess pretending to be a real person in a real city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"980\" height=\"725\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-11.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-11.png 980w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-11-300x222.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-11-768x568.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.manhattan-trend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2026\/01\/image-11-696x515.png 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Central Park symbolizes the possibility of a fairy tale in an adult world. For New York, the park is 843 acres where the city allows itself to exhale and believe for a second that everything will be okay. &#8220;Enchanted&#8221; caught this feeling and turned it into a 5-minute musical number, after which tourists still come to Bethesda Fountain looking for magic. And it\u2019s there \u2013 if you don&#8217;t pay attention to the homeless people sleeping on the benches. And the groups of tourists with selfie sticks are just a minor detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is Manhattan in this film. And what it was like in the films of the second half of the 20th century is told in <a href=\"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/articles-2336-manhattan-in-1970s-90s-movies-from-grim-crisis-to-the-era-of-neon-lights\">this article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article on manhattan-trend.com focuses on the famous Manhattan cinematic landmark: Central Park. This location is often called the &#8220;green heart of New York,&#8221; but here we will discuss what made it a true star of world cinema. According to IMDb data, at the time of writing, this park has appeared in over 530 movies [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":316,"featured_media":2358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[1431,1434,1422,1428,1430,1404,1436,1425,1435,1411,1419,1427,1433,1414,1426,1432,1429],"moimportance":[32],"motype":[160],"moformat":[24],"class_list":{"0":"post-2388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kino","8":"tag-amy-adams-enchanted-3","9":"tag-bethesda-fountain-movies-2","10":"tag-bethesda-terrace-central-park-2","11":"tag-bow-bridge-central-park-3","12":"tag-central-park-filming-locations-2","13":"tag-central-park-landmarks","14":"tag-central-park-movie-scenes-2","15":"tag-disney-enchanted-movie-2","16":"tag-disney-musical-films-2","17":"tag-enchanted-2007-film","18":"tag-gapstow-bridge-central-park","19":"tag-kevin-lima-director-2","20":"tag-manhattan-film-locations-2","21":"tag-musical-numbers-in-films","22":"tag-new-york-city-in-movies-2","23":"tag-patrick-dempsey-enchanted-3","24":"tag-thats-how-you-know-scene-2","25":"moimportance-golovna-novyna","26":"motype-eternal","27":"moformat-longrid-korotka"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2402,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388\/revisions\/2402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2388"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=2388"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=2388"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manhattan-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=2388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}