The highlight of Disneyland’s Fantasmic show is a thrilling battle between Maleficent the dragon and Mickey Mouse. With a burst of sparks, Mickey the dragon – who screams as if she is being tortured – shoots into oblivion and disappears behind a towering water show. But over the weekend, Mickey got too powerful: Instead of disappearing, the Maleficent dragon caught fire at Disneyland in Anaheim.
Park visitors captured the fiery disaster from all angles in videos that went viral on various social media platforms. It seems that the problem started shortly after the dragon breathed fire, but for Mickey brutally blows her with sparks. oops! People in the parks soon began to realize that it’s not supposed to be happening, and the lights came on to stop the show. “Due to unforeseen circumstances, this Fantasmic performance cannot go ahead,” an announcer said over park speakers as viewers laughed. Unforeseen, huh?
The fire seems to have started at the head before engulfing the entire animatronic dragon. Cast members were evacuated, as were nearby visitors, a Disneyland representative told Los Angeles news outlet KTLA. Anaheim Fire & Rescue were on hand to douse the flames. Disneyland will also temporarily discontinue “fire effects similar to those used in Fantasmic at the Disneyland park at select shows and entertainment experiences worldwide,” it said. No injuries were reported.
Future Fantasmic shows at Disneyland were dropped from the schedule, according to Walt Disney World News Todaybut a similar show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando is still on.
Polygon has reached out to Disneyland for comment and will update this story when Disney responds.
This wasn’t the first time Maleficent had done that caught fire at a Disney park. In 2018, the Maleficent dragon went up in flames during the Festival of Fantasy Parade at Orlando’s Magic Kingdom. The dragon was supposed to breathe fire during the parade, but its head caught fire instead. There were no injuries in that incident either, but it certainly has a dramatic display. The float eventually returned to the parade, where it continued to breathe fire until that effect was discontinued over the weekend following the Disneyland fire.
Disney’s Fantasmic shows are some of the more popular performances, combining lights, fire, water, and colossal animatronics in the nighttime spectacle. It was briefly interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned about a year later the parks will reopen to visitors.