Disneyland Fantasmic Dragon Engulfed in Flames

[Disney Irish]

Sure, but none of those really were Disneyland or what it became. Pointing out that Walt was throwing these ideas around for 20+ years from everything from the park at the studio to the other ideas isn't really saying much about the work done to complete Disneyland. He had years of ideas - but not years of work stored up

None of that discounts what I said though. Especially all the parts you glossed over. The 1 year DL story is just that, a story, the reality is it actually took almost 2 years from the time the site was chosen to opening day.

The only thing preventing that is choice to spend the money. Disney Construction already does a large amount of work in off-hours for instance. We already can watch their peers design and build out attractions in fractions of the amount of time Disney spends... including just onsite. We just have to accept this is their speed by choice... not that they are bound to it.

I don't disagree that its all by choice, I think that is pretty much all agreed upon. The point is that just because from first nail to opening day of DL took 1 year doesn't mean much. Projects aren't just first nail to opening, there is much more to it than that.

 

[flynnibus]

None of that discounts what I said though. Especially all the parts you glossed over. The 1 year DL story is just that, a story, the reality is it actually took almost 2 years from the time the site was chosen to opening day.

Ok, Great, it took 2 years to conceive and build a full first of it's kind park with over a dozen rides... compared to how many years to build a single cloned attraction?

The ground breaking to opening is still a true story tho. And that is yet another period easily observed these days... no matter what the comparison doesn't bode well for them. It's not like the DL story is a lie or stretch... that's what it was for actually building the park.

 

[Disney Irish]

Ok, Great, it took 2 years to conceive and build a full first of it's kind park with over a dozen rides... compared to how many years to build a single cloned attraction?

The ground breaking to opening is still a true story tho. And that is yet another period easily observed these days... no matter what the comparison doesn't bode well for them. It's not like the DL story is a lie or stretch... that's what it was for actually building the park.

Except we're not really comparing things properly, in my opinion. The reason this whole conversation started off in the first place was that a poster said that 7 months with nothing to show for it is too long. We don't know where they are in the process. Are they simply just replacing the AA, or are they redesigning the whole or even parts of the show, we don't know. So to try to compare this project to DL construction only taking 1 year is a bit disingenuous. Which is why I brought up the rest of the story, the parts that get glossed over and left out.

 

[mickEblu]

The newest season of Behind the Attraction on Disney+ discussed Fantasmic.

I think it was filmed before the fire, since there was no mention of it.

What I thought was most interesting is that there was zero mention of the original show, or that the show had received a new dragon around 2009 and overhaul in 2017. All of the footage and discussion of the show was based around the 2017 version. Which is disappointing because of how groundbreaking the original show was.

That’s a shame and also very odd.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

A water line breaking is vastly different compared to a complex one-of-a-kind animatronic figure. There are plenty of resources available at their disposal to fix the situation if a water line breaks, a dragon requires specific expertise that only a few people in the world, possibly tied up with other things, can work on.


Who said impossible? It's doable, but it's unrealistic to expect it with just how much it costs today to do anything along with scheduling, supply chain constraints, etc.

The water line isn’t the point, the priority level is the point, Disney is taking months to fix the Adventureland bathrooms despite the parts being readily available… because it’s not a priority. If that same water line was on Main St it would have been fixed months ago.

IF Fantasmic being closed was hurting the bottom line Murphy would have been fixed already, regardless of how hard the parts were to find. Disney has nearly unlimited resources, they have access to the best engineers, designers, fabricators, etc… if Fantasmic was vital to profits it would have been fixed and running already.

It’s not impossible, it just doesn’t make financial sense.

 

[Andrew25]

The water line isn’t the point, the priority level is the point, Disney is taking months to fix the Adventureland bathrooms despite the parts being readily available… because it’s not a priority. If that same water line was on Main St it would have been fixed months ago.

IF Fantasmic being closed was hurting the bottom line Murphy would have been fixed already, regardless of how hard the parts were to find. Disney has nearly unlimited resources, they have access to the best engineers, designers, fabricators, etc… if Fantasmic was vital to profits it would have been fixed and running already.

It’s not impossible, it just doesn’t make financial sense.

Even if Bob Iger gave the park millions of dollars to fix it the very next day, they'll still have to go through a review process to figure out what went wrong, figure out how to prevent it from ever happening again, and then design and install it.

I do not want to sound like I'm defending Disney, as I despise their recent decisions, but expecting them to do something like this in half a year is unrealistic.

 

[BagOfGroceries]

This was not planned for, budgeted for, or anything. They’re flying by the seat of their pants. Let them figure it all out.

 

[DCBaker]

Fantasmic! returns May 24, 2024.

"Disneyland fans will be able to kick off the summer with Sorcerer Mickey and a host of pink elephants, swashbuckling pirates and dancing princesses when “Fantasmic” returns after a yearlong hiatus following a fire that engulfed the show’s problematic animatronic dragon.

The “Fantasmic” nighttime spectacular will return to Disneyland’s Rivers of America on May 24, according to Disneyland officials.

The return date falls on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend — the unofficial kickoff of the summer season.

Disneyland crews have been working to repair the “Fantasmic” dragon since the technically impressive 45-foot-tall audio-animatronic burst into flames during a performance of the nighttime spectacular in April.

“Fantasmic” won’t include the dragon figure when the show returns, but will instead feature new special effects during the battle scene between Sorcerer Mickey and Maleficent."

Disneyland bringing back ‘Fantasmic’ for summer 2024 kickoff

The nighttime spectacular will return on Memorial Day Weekend after a yearlong hiatus following a fire that engulfed the show’s problematic animatronic dragon.

www.ocregister.com

 

[Consumer]

Fantasmic! returns May 24, 2024.

"Disneyland fans will be able to kick off the summer with Sorcerer Mickey and a host of pink elephants, swashbuckling pirates and dancing princesses when “Fantasmic” returns after a yearlong hiatus following a fire that engulfed the show’s problematic animatronic dragon.

The “Fantasmic” nighttime spectacular will return to Disneyland’s Rivers of America on May 24, according to Disneyland officials.

The return date falls on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend — the unofficial kickoff of the summer season.

Disneyland crews have been working to repair the “Fantasmic” dragon since the technically impressive 45-foot-tall audio-animatronic burst into flames during a performance of the nighttime spectacular in April.

“Fantasmic” won’t include the dragon figure when the show returns, but will instead feature new special effects during the battle scene between Sorcerer Mickey and Maleficent."

Disneyland bringing back ‘Fantasmic’ for summer 2024 kickoff

The nighttime spectacular will return on Memorial Day Weekend after a yearlong hiatus following a fire that engulfed the show’s problematic animatronic dragon.

www.ocregister.com

@Disney1923-2023 made this happen.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Fantasmic! returns May 24, 2024.

"Disneyland fans will be able to kick off the summer with Sorcerer Mickey and a host of pink elephants, swashbuckling pirates and dancing princesses when “Fantasmic” returns after a yearlong hiatus following a fire that engulfed the show’s problematic animatronic dragon.

The “Fantasmic” nighttime spectacular will return to Disneyland’s Rivers of America on May 24, according to Disneyland officials.

The return date falls on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend — the unofficial kickoff of the summer season.

Disneyland crews have been working to repair the “Fantasmic” dragon since the technically impressive 45-foot-tall audio-animatronic burst into flames during a performance of the nighttime spectacular in April.

“Fantasmic” won’t include the dragon figure when the show returns, but will instead feature new special effects during the battle scene between Sorcerer Mickey and Maleficent."

Disneyland bringing back ‘Fantasmic’ for summer 2024 kickoff

The nighttime spectacular will return on Memorial Day Weekend after a yearlong hiatus following a fire that engulfed the show’s problematic animatronic dragon.

www.ocregister.com

That’s encouraging and sounds like Murphy (or an updated Murphy) will return.

 

[jrhwdw]

@Disney1923-2023 made this happen.

Now let make Disney use MSEP & PTN!!!!!!!!

 

[flynnibus]

Ok, so now we know it doesn't take 7months... but a year... to not replace the dragon

 

[TheCoasterNerd]

@Disney1923-2023 made this happen.

it's very possible

 

[Disney Analyst]

So this is what I would like to see.

Have various villains appear on stage, taunting, chasing after, or casting spells towards Mickey, leading into Maleficent appearing, rising high above all, and lighting the river on fire.

That or have Maleficent appear several times, in different areas of the island / stage, taunting, spell casting, scaring Mickey, leading to her ascent.

 

[SaucyBoy]

That’s encouraging and sounds like Murphy (or an updated Murphy) will return.

“Fantasmic” won’t include the dragon figure when the show returns, but will instead feature new special effects during the battle scene between Sorcerer Mickey and Maleficent."

It doesn't sound like that at all unless I'm completely misreading the press release.

 

[SaucyBoy]

So this is what I would like to see.

Have various villains appear on stage, taunting, chasing after, or casting spells towards Mickey, leading into Maleficent appearing, rising high above all, and lighting the river on fire.

That or have Maleficent appear several times, in different areas of the island / stage, taunting, spell casting, scaring Mickey, leading to her ascent.

I like your first idea a lot. I've always wondered why the villains themselves don't appear more frequently on stage and I think this would be a nice replacement (though lesser of course) for the dragon.

 

[Disney Analyst]

It doesn't sound like that at all unless I'm completely misreading the press release.

I think this quote is causing confusion:

"Disneyland crews have been working to repair the “Fantasmic” dragon since the technically impressive 45-foot-tall audio-animatronic burst into flames during a performance of the nighttime spectacular in April."

I am not sure if that is a statement from Disney, or just an assumption by the author that that is what Disney has been doing all this time.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I think this quote is causing confusion:

"Disneyland crews have been working to repair the “Fantasmic” dragon since the technically impressive 45-foot-tall audio-animatronic burst into flames during a performance of the nighttime spectacular in April."

I am not sure if that is a statement from Disney, or just an assumption by the author that that is what Disney has been doing all this time.

That was what I was referring to.

 

[Disney Analyst]

That was what I was referring to.

Right, that statement seems like something the author threw in. There was nothing to repair... that dragon is long dead and gone.

 

[gerarar]

I think this quote is causing confusion:

"Disneyland crews have been working to repair the “Fantasmic” dragon since the technically impressive 45-foot-tall audio-animatronic burst into flames during a performance of the nighttime spectacular in April."

I am not sure if that is a statement from Disney, or just an assumption by the author that that is what Disney has been doing all this time.

I think the latter and was just an assumption on the work supposedly happening behind the scenes.

Officially, Disneyland said this today as per Scott Gustin:

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