Fantasmic Dragon Catches Fire at Disneyland
Photo: Disney+
Disneyland’s average guest demographic breakdown is: 30% people on vacation, 70% livestreamers who basically live at the park. This can be annoying when you’re in line to get a new limited edition churro, but it’s a friggin’ gold mine when a robotic dragon catches fire. Last night, the dragon from nightly show Fantasmic! caught fire in fantasmic fashion. At one point, the robot dragon breathed fire while itself being on fire. It was one of the more metal things to happen this week (alongside Vera Farmiga singing Slipknot). Parkgoers caught the animatronic fire from every angle, at every stage of burn. And theme park Twitter was there to meme the whole thing. Which was the biggest meltdown on Twitter this weekend: dril vs. the verification team, or the giant flaming dragon?
On Monday, Deadline reported that Disney Parks are “temporarily suspending fire effects” similar to the ones used in the show “globally out of an abundance of caution” following the Fantasmic fire. Disney Parks will continue with the Fantasmic show this weekend and nightly fireworks.
“During the final showing of Fantasmic at Disneyland park on Saturday evening, the dragon caught fire. Anaheim Fire & Rescue quickly responded and the fire was extinguished,” Disneyland said in a statement to KTLA on Sunday. “All cast members were evacuated from Tom Sawyer Island.” The cause of the fire is yet to be determined. This is not the first Maleficent dragon to catch fire while on stage at a Disney park. A parade float version caught fire in 2018 at Walt Disney World.
Fantasmic CMs last night: pic.twitter.com/IuFvtlUhfo — Muppet History 🎓 (@HistoryMuppet) April 23, 2023
This is who put out the Fantasmic fire pic.twitter.com/FEE7NL0rB2 — HamJenkinsIII (@hamjenkinsIII) April 23, 2023
R.I.P. to Murphy, one of the most beloved Audio-Animatronics of all time. His impressive nightly dominance over Tom Sawyer Island and Mickey's imagination will be a presence that is sorely missed in Fantasmic...
2008-2023#Murphy #RIPMurphy #Maleficent #Fantasmic #Disneyland pic.twitter.com/XPKTGLwU39 — Jayman (RIP Murphy) (@DasJayman) April 23, 2023
Just watched Fantasmic Dragon catches on fire at Disneyland 😢 #disney pic.twitter.com/49yTBA2MR7 — mlg (@MelissaLeeGiles) April 23, 2023
Walking out of galaxy's edge, my brother said he smelled lighter fluid. Then I could see flames from the general area of fantasmic and briefly thought "that seems bigger than normal" pic.twitter.com/k7lPiUx9uj — Brid (@irrelevator) April 23, 2023
Source: Vulture
