Disneyland Fantasmic Dragon Engulfed in Flames

[Coaster Lover]

Just put a strobe light on it... it'll be fine. .

 

[Magenta Panther]

I'll say it again...the wrath of Walt...
And again, I ask...didn't Iger brag some time ago on a conference call that he'd cut the budget for Maintenance...?

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

We’ll we all know what’s rolling out now and not coming back to Disney World

 

[Disney Analyst]

This footage I hadn’t seen. The end is crazy.

I’m glad the tech with the water bailed.

 

[ProjectXBlog]

RIP Murphy

 

[Lilofan]

Fantasmic! Is actually my favorite Disney nighttime spectacular ever. I would be pretty upset if it never came back, WDW is my home park and I have never had the pleasure of seeing Disneyland’s Fantasmic! Something I was hoping to fix this summer…

Cannot imagine what the guest reaction would be at DHS. 8K guests in full theatre only one exit to get out.

 

[gerarar]

Cannot imagine what the guest reaction would be at DHS. 8K guests in full theatre only one exit to get out.

There's actually 2 main exits (red). The center entrance/exit and there's one on the far right when facing the stage that's used as a bypass. There's also 3 additional emergency exits at the front on both sides and on the far left (blue).

 

[Coaster Lover]

Mickey finally defeated that dragon once and for all!

 

[DCBaker]

Video of work happening at the site this morning -

 

[Disney Analyst]

Video of work happening at the site this morning -

Lift must still work, as they clearly lowered it down to try and hide most the dragon.

 

[Brian]

Lift must still work, as they clearly lowered it down to try and hide most the dragon.

I had been curious if they'd end up having to put a scrim up to cover her head to toe in standing position.

 

[Phroobar]

So they have no fire suppression system on a character that shoots fire.

 

[EvilChameleon]

Burning Man came early this year I see.

 

[BagOfGroceries]

Well, good to see the lift works.

 

[gerarar]

Lift must still work, as they clearly lowered it down to try and hide most the dragon.

Isn't that video showing the base that attaches to the dragon AA? Looks like they literally just ripped whatever was left of the dragon off the metal base.

From that it tells me the lift is still in its position from last night and they're working on putting it behind a scrim.

Edit close up shots show the upper part of the dragon sticking out including the crisped head.

 

[Brian]

From that it tells me the lift is still in its position from last night and they're working on putting it behind a scrim.

It would appear so.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Video of work happening at the site this morning -

As sad as that video is it gives me hope the mechanism may still work and could be reskinned.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Isn't that video showing the base that attaches to the dragon AA? Looks like they literally just ripped whatever was left of the dragon off the metal base.

From that it tells me the lift is still in its position from last night and they're working on putting it behind a scrim.

Edit close up shots show the upper part of the dragon sticking out including the crisped head.

Yep you got it! Just the upper neck and head showing at this point. Generally the neck and head lower into the body in order to fit under the stage, so it means the dragon is still at full length, but most the charred framing is below the stage now,

 

[Cliff]

First off...thankfully, nobody was injured!

Sadly, I'm guesing this show will be dark for at least a year, maybe two. That means many, MANY people are without a job today. :-(

Givin the current Disney project construction speed these days combned with massive cost cutting layoffs and budget cuts?.....uggg...its possible that "Murphy" might not ever return the was he used to be.

Once a show like this stops and all the staff leave, it's a big task to rebuild it and rehire everybody back a year or two later.

While fans and many cast members are sad to see this happen....I have to believe that there are a few in Disney finance that quietly say "Ok...wow...shutting this show down and laying off all that staff will save us $$$ in operating costs over the next year"

How much did "Murphy" and his stage cost to build? Could Disney revert back to the old "Cherry picker" crane design to save money?

Is it even posssible that....given the cutbacks and layoffs...Disney will NOT be in a hurry to replace "Murphy" and rehire a Fantasmic staff and crew that large?

I dunno.....uggg....I'm guessing that "Fantasmic" at Disneyland is a "low priority" problem today.

EDIT!!....yeah,...there IS a "no-Murphy" B mode. So,...yes,...the show "CAN" move forward without the dragon. Hmmm...OK!

 

[DrAlice]

Two things disturb me the most about this:

1. What happened to the fire suppression system??? I assume that they have something in place, because I can't imagine that authorities in this state would allow otherwise, right? Anyway, it clearly didn't operate if cast members had to show up with a freaking garden hose and fire extinguishers. Is this is maintenance issue?
2. It took at least 8 minutes of a giant fire on the stage for the cast members to begin evacuating guests from the area. (This is based on a video from someone standing on the HMH side. The video didn't pick up audio or video of evacuation until about 8 minutes post-incident. Maybe it was faster on the other side? If so, I'm still not comforted by this.)

My knee-jerk reaction is that this is a failure of management on all levels. Yes, I know "things happen", but for a show containing fire, the response here seems lacking.

P.S. Good thing this happened in CA and not Florida, or DeSantis would be having a bloody field day.