WATCH Disneyland Dragon Catch on Fire!
Apr 24, 2023, 11:09 AM
ANAHEIM, CA - APRIL 13: A statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse stands on Main Street in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle at the Disneyland theme park on April 13, 2023, in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
(Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
It wasn’t a stunt- the Disneyland prop 45′ dragon, Maleficent, caught on fire Saturday night. Maleficent is part of the Fantasmic! show and is supposed to breath fire, not catch on fire.
Fantasmic! shows Mickey Mouse as a sorcerer’s apprentice and has some really cool effects. One of which was the fire breathing dragon, Maleficent.
Watch the video and you can see people casually walking by the fire. They look like they thought it was part of the show! One guy even commented that he was impressed with how real the fire looked. That’s because it was real and very unexpected.
A Tik Tok video I watched showed some people standing around and staring as Maleficent burned down. I would share the video…language was a little choice though. This video really did show clearly how the head caught on fire first. I admit it looks like a cool effect, but it wasn’t.
So sad too- this was such a cool feature of the show – A fire breathing dragon for the big finale of Fantasmic! Sad that it’s gone, but knowing Disney they will come up with something equally amazing for the future shows.
Thankfully, no guests were injured, but at least 6 workers were treated for smoke inhalation. The Anaheim police chief said the fire was accidental and reported around 11pm. That was 30 minutes after the final show, Fantasmic! had started.
For right now, Disneyland hasn’t said if or when a new dragon will be back and part of Fantasmic!
RIP Maleficent!
Melissa
