Disneyland Fantasmic Dragon Engulfed in Flames

PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
As someone who never entirely got Fantasmic in any iteration...the impression I get is that most DL visitors are not ready to give up the show. And if that replacement wasn't 150% perfect and mindblowing, Fantasmic would turn into MSEP 2.0.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
PiratesMansion said:
As someone who never entirely got Fantasmic in any iteration...the impression I get is that most DL visitors are not ready to give up the show. And if that replacement wasn't 150% perfect and mindblowing, Fantasmic would turn into MSEP 2.0.
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I still feel like this is sort of what happened when they redid it in 2017. Every fan of the original show I know loathes the new version.

I'll never forget when it came back a year or so ago, I was there there Memorial Day the weekend it reopened.

The viewing area was so empty they let all of the standby viewing in the back go to the front.

This would have been unheard of on a holiday with the original show.

Friends that work alongside that half of the park have said the viewing area feels less busy than the original show as well.

This is all anecdotal of course, but is food for thought. Disney needs to be careful when messing with beloved shows and attractions.
 
PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
SuddenStorm said:
I still feel like this is sort of what happened when they redid it in 2017. Every fan of the original show I know loathes the new version.

I'll never forget when it came back a year or so ago, I was there there Memorial Day the weekend it reopened.

The viewing area was so empty they let all of the standby viewing in the back go to the front.

This would have been unheard of on a holiday with the original show.

Friends that work alongside that half of the park have said the viewing area feels less busy than the original show as well.

This is all anecdotal of course, but is food for thought. Disney needs to be careful when messing with beloved shows and attractions.
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And I still feel like most people don't feel the change from 1.0 to 2.0 as strongly as you do. Much in the same way that the changes to, say, Incredicoaster, Soarin', and the Pirates auction scene seem to bother me more than they do many others. What for me is a significant change (or for you, in the case of Fantasmic) is basically a shrug for huge numbers of people, not all of them casual or new park fans.

I think the fact that it was Memorial Day, and not Memorial Day weekend, is also part of the story. People have to get back to work the next day, etc and thus are less likely to stick around for Fantasmic than they would have been on either of the two previous days. The show was consistently packed every night I was there in the summer. It can't just be that everyone at the parks for those five days were just idiot tourists. IF there was a dramatic, negative difference between perceptions of the show, Disney would theoretically retool it, seeing as their actions consistently demonstrate that they see value in keeping Fantasmic around. I don't think the park will ever 100% revert from 2.0 to 1.0, nor would I want them to (I don't miss, say, the Pinocchio "No Strings" sequence, and I imagine few do). But who knows-now that the dragon is 101 for the forseeable future, they might seize the opportunity to make some changes-or even change back, in some cases.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
PiratesMansion said:
And I still feel like most people don't feel the change from 1.0 to 2.0 as strongly as you do. Much in the same way that the changes to, say, Incredicoaster, Soarin', and the Pirates auction scene seem to bother me more than they do many others. What for me is a significant change (or for you, in the case of Fantasmic) is basically a shrug for huge numbers of people, not all of them casual or new park fans.
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While I'm not a DCA fan, I lament the change from California to World, and find the theming over at Pixar Pier to be offensively bad. And don't get me started on the new auction scene... which is all the worse because it eliminated Walt era Disney, a Marc Davis gag, and Paul Frees dialogue. That change took Pirates from a 'must ride' to a 'eh if the group wants to' for me, even with the huge historical importance of the attraction. I just get too irritated at it's current state.

PiratesMansion said:
I think the fact that it was Memorial Day, and not Memorial Day weekend, is also part of the story. People have to get back to work the next day, etc and thus are less likely to stick around for Fantasmic than they would have been on either of the two previous days. The show was consistently packed every night I was there in the summer. It can't just be that everyone at the parks for those five days were just idiot tourists. IF there was a dramatic, negative difference between perceptions of the show, Disney would theoretically retool it, seeing as their actions consistently demonstrate that they see value in keeping Fantasmic around. I don't think the park will ever 100% revert from 2.0 to 1.0, nor would I want them to (I don't miss, say, the Pinocchio "No Strings" sequence, and I imagine few do). But who knows-now that the dragon is 101 for the forseeable future, they might seize the opportunity to make some changes-or even change back, in some cases.
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The rumor going around entertainment was that they'd revert back to the original show (albeit with the 2017 level effects) when the show returned after it's covid hiatus- and of course, that's not what happened.

A senior manager did share back in 2019 that the new show scores higher on guest surveys than the '92 iteration. When I enjoyed a brief chat with Peterson he is cognizant (I'm paraphrasing a brief conversation from 4 years ago, so please don't take this as an exact quote) of the fact many newer offerings are dazzling but lack soul (I mentioned Fantasmic), and that the Star Wars fireworks he did for Star Wars Night received top scores despite not having projections because they had 'soul'- and that's something they're working on balancing. It looks like they did wonderfully with Wondrous Journeys, so it does make me optimistic that should the show get retooled under his supervision, the changes would be positive.
 
TTA94

TTA94

Well-Known Member
SuddenStorm said:
A senior manager did share back in 2019 that the new show scores higher on guest surveys than the '92 iteration. When I enjoyed a brief chat with Peterson he is cognizant (I'm paraphrasing a brief conversation from 4 years ago, so please don't take this as an exact quote) of the fact many newer offerings are dazzling but lack soul (I mentioned Fantasmic), and that the Star Wars fireworks he did for Star Wars Night received top scores despite not having projections because they had 'soul'- and that's something they're working on balancing. It looks like they did wonderfully with Wondrous Journeys, so it does make me optimistic that should the show get retooled under his supervision, the changes would be positive.
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Slightly off topic but was the subject of night parades brought up? Particularly Paint The Night. While it’s fun it does have its flaws and Im guessing it didn’t please everyone because they brought back MSEP. Of course Covid happened and PTN just kinda got brushed under the rug as did the original in Hong Kong. Likely different reasons and yeah the whole rumors of technical stuff, costumes, costs of running it, etc. But I wonder if there is more to the story.
 
TTA94

TTA94

Well-Known Member
PiratesMansion said:
As someone who never entirely got Fantasmic in any iteration...the impression I get is that most DL visitors are not ready to give up the show. And if that replacement wasn't 150% perfect and mindblowing, Fantasmic would turn into MSEP 2.0.
Click to expand...

I could be way off on this thinking but it would be easier to replace the WDW version with something completely brand new than it would DLs version.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
TTA94 said:
Slightly off topic but was the subject of night parades brought up? Particularly Paint The Night. While it’s fun it does have its flaws and Im guessing it didn’t please everyone because they brought back MSEP. Of course Covid happened and PTN just kinda got brushed under the rug as did the original in Hong Kong. Likely different reasons and yeah the whole rumors of technical stuff, costumes, costs of running it, etc. But I wonder if there is more to the story.
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I didn't talk PTN with Peterson, or the Senior Manager mentioned- but I did have a long chat with a VP who would be someone who has a say on stuff like PTN, and when I brought up bringing PTN back (and again, paraphrasing) she basically said "Yeah but that'd be really expensive".

It was then I became of the opinion that unless the leadership changed, it would be a very long time until we saw PTN again- if ever. I wonder if something about it makes it significantly more expensive to operate?
 
TTA94

TTA94

Well-Known Member
SuddenStorm said:
I didn't talk PTN with Peterson, or the Senior Manager mentioned- but I did have a long chat with a VP who would be someone who has a say on stuff like PTN, and when I brought up bringing PTN back (and again, paraphrasing) she basically said "Yeah but that'd be really expensive".

It was then I became of the opinion that unless the leadership changed, it would be a very long time until we saw PTN again- if ever. I wonder if something about it makes it significantly more expensive to operate?
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Pains me to say it but if that is true that they deemed it being really expensive to return, they probably scrapped the floats by now. It doesn’t seem likely they would hang on to parade floats that they know will cost them a lot of money to operate again. Now keeping them to repurpose for something else? Guess that’s a different story.
 
RescueTheDay

RescueTheDay

Well-Known Member
TTA94 said:
Pains me to say it but if that is true that they deemed it being really expensive to return, they probably scrapped the floats by now. It doesn’t seem likely they would hang on to parade floats that they know will cost them a lot of money to operate again. Now keeping them to repurpose for something else? Guess that’s a different story.
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All the floats are still intact.
 
Disney Analyst

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
Dragon is gone.

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Only real trace is a tiny bit of scorching:


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imagineer97

imagineer97

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
PiratesMansion said:
Random person backstage: Ah...TDA...do you think it's time to permanently retire MSEP and destroy the floats?
TDA BigBoss, a la Charlton Heston: You'll have to pry MSEP and its floats from my cold, dead hands!
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Meanwhile across the continent back in 2013...
Random person backstage: Hey, TDO, what's this rotting piece of garbage over here?
TDO BigBoss: Oh, that's just the tattered remains of Chernabog from SpectroMagic that we left outside to decay in the Florida elements! Call facilities, they'll get it out of there. They just finished breaking the rest of it down with a forklift.

Still enrages me all these years later.
 
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TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
PiratesMansion said:
Random person backstage: Ah...TDA...do you think it's time to permanently retire MSEP and destroy the floats?
TDA BigBoss, a la Charlton Heston: You'll have to pry MSEP and its floats from my cold, dead hands!
Click to expand...

Perfection.

As I read that sentence, I also pictured Charlton Heston in 1974's Earthquake, driving a badass Chevy Blazer with the top off through a destroyed Los Angeles to check on the status of the Disneyland parade floats after the Big One.

wdmjlysqcwg5qu6pjfyi
 
Dizknee_Phreek

Dizknee_Phreek

Well-Known Member
imagineer97 said:
Meanwhile across the continent back in 2013...
Random person backstage: Hey, TDO, what's this rotting piece of garbage over here?
TDO BigBoss: Oh, that's just the tattered remains of Chernabog from SpectroMagic that we left outside to decay in the Florida elements! Call facilities, they'll get it out of there. They just finished breaking the rest of it down with a forklift.

Still enrages me all these years later.
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Same 😭💔 My first and most favorite night parade.
 

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