If you’ve been to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World in Florida recently, you’ve seen that the Fantasyland area is under heavy construction — that’s because the area is currently undergoing a major expansion that will nearly double the size of the original Fantasyland.

One of the main objectives of the expansion is to add a whole bunch of new Beauty and the Beast-themed attractions, eateries, and architecture, including Beast’s Castle!

Check out the image here below, via Disney Parks Blog, that provides a sneak peek of Beast’s Castle, which will house the Be Our Guest restaurant, scheduled to open in late 2012. The restaurant is said to “offer a lavish dining experience in the castle’s elegant ballroom, gallery and mysterious “west-wing.” Eventually, other Beauty and the Beast-themed buildings will open around the Castle, like Gaston’s Tavern, Bonjour! Village Gifts, and the cottage of Belle’s father, Maurice. And of course, there will be a meet-and-greet with Belle and her friends.

OK, so you may be looking at these and realize you’ve seen them before. That’s because they’re actually pretty old, originally hitting the ‘net a couple of years back. That said, sometimes you just don’t find something until well after others have seen it, and this is for those of you like myself who had yet to discover them!

If you’re among those of us seeing these images for the first time, they come from the incredibly talented character designer and story artist, Jeffrey Thomas. He takes almost all of the beloved Walt Disney Princesses and gives them a more realistic and often brutal makeover, dubbing his works “Twisted Princess.”

These are all incredibly good, as you shall see, but my personal favorite has to be Ariel from The Little Mermaid, who happens to have a dinglehopper for a left hand. Yes, this is fact. Now you have to click on over to see for yourself, don’t you?