Disney Show Ends in Disaster as Massive 45 Foot Dragon Prop Bursts Into Flames
Well. That’s one “magical” memory that Disneyland attendees won’t forget anytime soon.
Social media was ablaze after videos began making the rounds of Disneyland’s iconic 45-foot “Fantasmic!” dragon engulfed in flames.
One Disneyland guest (who, based on her tweet, appeared to have had an abysmal time there) posted two videos of the dragon on fire:
After having to be escorted out from multiple rides bc of “technical difficulties”, crying for 20 minutes because I got taken out the ride I was looking towards the most…@Disneyland burned pic.twitter.com/hkS1oepgEo
— Brenda Coutiño (@brenda_coutino) April 23, 2023
Other angles of similar videos showed a chaotic and almost nightmarish scene — a stark contrast to the typical vibe that Disneyland goes for.
Dragon on fire at #fantasmic at Disneyland. Insane pic.twitter.com/B68UWr79pE
— Ryan Laux (@ryanlauxcreates) April 23, 2023
Additional clips from the #fantasmic dragon fire at #disneyland. The show stopped when the prop head caught fired instead of breathing out of the mouth, which then spread to the rest of the body pic.twitter.com/fSfWlr8k8j
— Ryan Laux (@ryanlauxcreates) April 23, 2023
Just watched Fantasmic Dragon catches on fire at Disneyland 😢 #disney pic.twitter.com/49yTBA2MR7
— mlg (@MelissaLeeGiles) April 23, 2023
The incident occurred on Saturday night, and there were no injuries reported, according to KABC-TV.
All Disneyland employees were evacuated from Tom Sawyer Island (where the “Fantasmic!” light show takes place), per a Disney representative.
A representative for the Anaheim Fire Department confirmed that there were no additional injuries.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it appears to have happened towards the end of the show.
The end of “Fantasmic!” sees Mickey Mouse battling a host of iconic Disney villains, including the evil sorceress Maleficent, who is the one that turns into the towering dragon.
The incident on Saturday continued a peculiar trend of mishaps with one of the more iconic shows at the theme park since its debut in 1992.
In 2022, a video went viral of Mickey Mouse slipping on the slick surface area of the show (there is a water element to the show), barely getting up in time for the pyro about to go off from his hands:
It’s like Mickey always says: If you get knocked down, get back up before you shoot fireworks out of your hands. pic.twitter.com/j8MD9jLeI0
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) June 4, 2022
There are enough “Bloopers, Secrets & Malfunctions” during the show that there are top 10 compilations of them on the internet.
Despite that recent history of errors, some parkgoers assumed that Disney had simply updated the show.
“The dragon’s head started to glow, and I see fire and kind of smoke coming out,” Elaine Gilmer told KABC. “I was like, ‘Oh … they added some new stuff because that didn’t didn’t happen like that before.'”
In response to the incident, a Disneyland official told KABC that they are “temporarily suspending fire effects similar to those used at Disneyland park’s ‘Fantasmic'” out of an “abundance of caution” following the incident.
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