Okay. By now, you have to have seen all of the videos from Saturday night, April 22nd. That’s when – as the 10:30 p.m. performance of “Fantasmic!” was drawing to a close at Disneyland Park – Murphy the Dragon (That’s the nickname which this piece of show equipment has been stuck with since the Summer of 2009. We’ll get to exactly why Murphy is called that in a few minutes. Anyway … )
What’s cool about this particular moment in “Fantasmic!” is that this is when this 45-foot-tall prop (Which looks just like Maleficent does when that Mistress of Evil turns into a fire-breathing dragon in Disney’s hand-drawn film from 1959, “Sleeping Beauty”) belches out this 35-foot-long plume of flame. Which then seems to set the Rivers of America on fire.
Very cool moment in this show. Looks great. People lined up along the shoreline in Frontierland & New Orleans can actually feel the heat from this sudden burst of flames.
Disneyland’s Animatronic Dragon Catches Fire during “Fantasmic”
Things got a lot little hotter than usual at 10:30 p.m. on April 20, 2023. The Maleficent-the-Dragon prop had just done its setting-the-Rivers-of-America-on-fire thing. Mickey had just said his line “You may think you’re so powerful. But this is my dream.” And – after pulling the Sword from the Stone – Mickey (as he usually does in this part of “Fantasmic!”) seemed to defeat the dragon. So cue the sound effect that now has Maleficent screaming in agony.
That sound effect was a little on the nose. For – as the air was filled with Maleficent’s screams – flames started to shoot out of this mechanical dragon’s head & mouth. Flames that are not typically part of this show.
If you’re watching the right video of what happened back on April 22nd, you’ll catch one of those truly classic, only-at-Disneyland moments. Where you’ll hear one kid’s voice – as clear as a bell – say “Is that supposed to be happening?”
Herbie – The Love Bug – Catches Fire at Hollywood Studios
Not the first time America’s youth has been traumatized when an animated piece of show equipment caught fire at a Disney theme park. How many of you remember the Studio Backlot Tour at Disney-MGM (Now Disney’s Hollywood Studios)? There was originally this vignette where – as your tram was rolling down Residential Street – where, after you passed the Golden Girls house, you’d then come across Vern’s house.
Side note: Vern was that off-camera / unseen character that Jim Varney was always interacting with whenever he played Ernest P. Worrell. Varney was a very, very funny / incredibly talented man. Original voice of Slinky Dog in the “Toy Story” movies. Made a quartet of Ernest movies for Disney in the late 1980s / early 1990s. Sadly passed away back in February of 2000 at the age of 51. Gone far too soon. Still quote him to this day (i.e., “Mean old Mr. Gravity”).
At the end of Vern’s driveway, there was this animated prop version of Herbie the Love Bug. And – as the tram rolled by – Herbie would then go through his pre-programmed routine. He’d pop a wheelie. Herbie’s tires would spin & smoke. His hood would fly up. His doors would flap open. Herbie’s headlights would flash and his windshield wipers would flap back & forth. If you were on the right side of the tram (the one facing Vern’s house) you also might get sprayed with Herbie’s windshield wiper fluid (Really just water). Fun little vignette in the Studio Backlot Tour.
There was however the day that Herbie caught fire while he was parked in Vern’s driveway (As it’s been explained to me, it’s believed that the Rosco fog machine that had been installed on the underside of this animated piece of show equipment. That’s what made it look as though Herbie’s tires were smoking when he popped that wheelie) somehow got overheated and then burst into flame.
But here’s the thing: The Imagineers had built this incredibly sturdy piece of show equipment. Which meant that – even as Herbie was on fire – he’d still go through all of his paces as each of those trams rolled up Residential Street full of Guests with their cameras.
Only now when Herbie popped a wheelie, opened his hood, flapped his doors and honked his horn … Given that this animated piece of show equipment was now engulfed in flames, it now looked as though the Love Bug was in agony. That Herbie was imploring those trams full of tourists to please stop. And – for God’s sake – go next door to the Golden Girls house and grab a hose.
I’m told that at least 5 – possibly 10 – trams rolled past Herbie the Love bug while he was on fire before the folks from Reedy Creek got there and finally put out the flames. After this, the animated Herbie prop was removed from the Studio Backlot Lot.
FYI: Residential Street was demolished in 2003 to make room for the stateside version of “Lights, Motor, Action: Extreme Stunt Show.” The Studio Backlot Tour officially shut down for good on September 27, 2014. It was a shadow of its former self at that point. Severely truncated.
Back to fires at the Disney theme parks … Look, Disney is very, very dedicated to safety when it comes to its theme park. But unforeseen things sometimes happen.
WDW’s “Seven Dwarfs Mine Train” Rooftop Fire
The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Walt Disney World. This family coaster first opened to the public back in May of 2014 (It was the very last piece of the New Fantasyland project. Which more than doubled the size of the Magic Kingdom’s most popular land, going from just 10 acres to 21 acres).
Anyway, the show building that houses the 2000 feet of track that the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train runs along is right in the middle of New Fantasyland. Which would have then made it difficult for WDW’s horticultural team to get access to all of the real plants & trees that would then be needed to make this place look like it was actually “ … over the seven jeweled hills, beyond the seven fall.”
FYI: Those are actually the instructions that the Magic Mirror gives the Evil Queen when she’s looking to travel to the Seven Dwarfs cottage and get rid of Snow White once & for all. “Over the seven jeweled hills, beyond the seven fall. Just after the 7/11, the Dwarfs’ place will be the second cottage on your left. They’re right across from the Three Little Pigs. If you see the house where Goldilocks lives, you’ve gone too far.”
Okay. So to make things easier to maintain the exterior of this structure, the Imagineers opted to cover the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train show building with artificial foliage. Fake grass (which looks great from a distance).
This family coaster had only been open five months when – in early November of 2014 – right after “Wishes” had been presented at the Magic Kingdom, a still smoldering fireworks shell tumbled out of the sky and landed on top of the show building for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This spent shell landed in among a clump of that artificial grass (which – this kind of surprised me – was made out of flammable material). And as a direct result, a small fire broke out.
Want to stress here that this was a very small fire. Lots of videos were taken that night of the top of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train aflame. What wasn’t typically reported was that Reedy Creek was there in the Magic Kingdom within minutes of this fire being reported. They quickly put out that fire. And within one hour of this fireworks-related blaze being reported, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was re-opened and Guests were once again having a great time on this New Fantasyland attraction.
Side note: Many of the structures in Fantasyland at WDW’s Magic Kingdom have a discreet sprinkler system that – just before each night’s fireworks display – then wets down the roof of these buildings. So that this very thing (i.e., a fire that’s accidentally started by a stray fireworks shell landing in the wrong place at the wrong time) doesn’t happen. Does anyone out there know if the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has the same sort of system in place on the roof of its show building? I mean, I’d have to assume so. So what went wrong on that night back in November of 2014? Did this spent shell land in the one spot of the roof of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train show building where those sprinklers didn’t reach?
Real Fire at Disneyland’s “Pirates of the Caribbean”
And speaking of fire prevention … There’s a famous story about the original version of “Pirates of the Caribbean” (the one that opened at Disneyland Park back in March of 1967). As the story goes, the Anaheim Fire Chief was touring this attraction just ahead of its grand opening. And when he got to the scene where the pirates have set that city ablaze (That scene is another one of Yale Gracey’s masterpieces. He’s the one who figured out that – if you place a piece of mylar in front of a fan and then light that now-moving piece of fabric with a red & an orange light – you now have a very real looking recreation of fire) …
Anyway, the Anaheim Fire Chief is touring the “Pirates of the Caribbean” show building at Disneyland and see that attraction’s city-ablaze scene and basically says “You need a kill switch for all of the fire effects in this room. Something that can shut down all of these effects all at once. Otherwise, if you ever a fire in this room, my guys won’t be able to tell what’s real and what’s not. And trust me, you don’t want us wasting time in here putting out pretend fires.”
And that fire chief’s warning proved to be prescient. For just three months after Disneyland’s version of “Pirates of the Caribbean” first opened to the public, a fire did break out in this very same room of the attraction.
Luckily, it only impacted just one Audio-Animatronic attraction. Do you remember that drunken pirate in the city-ablaze room? The one who’s kind of holding himself upright by hanging onto a lamp post? He’s got a bottle in his one free hand and is singing “Yo Ho Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)?
Near as they can figure, a Guest who was floating through this particular show scene aboard one of “Pirates” bateaux flicked a lit cigarette at this AA figure. That lit cigarette got caught somehow in this animatronic’s costume. Which then caught fire.
But here’s the thing: Disneyland’s version of “Pirates of the Caribbean” has only been open for a few months at this point. So many of the Guests who are now floating through this New Orleans Square attraction are doing so for the first time. So they don’t know what the “city ablaze” scene in “Pirates” is supposed to look like. So – when their boat slowly floats past this engulfed-in-flame animatronic figure – they don’t raise an alarm with the Cast Members when they get back to this ride’s Load / Unload station. They just think “ … That was a very realistic looking fire effect.”
The story – as it was told to me – was that … Well, it was only after “Pirates” had closed for the night and a Disneyland employee was floating through this attraction (This is something that they do nightly. Noting things to bring to Maintenance’s attention. Stuff that can be repaired / addressed during Disneyland’s third shift) when they then came upon the now-charred / grotesque / melted AA figure still supposed dangling off of that lamppost with a bottle in his hand.
Disneyland really dodged a bullet here. They were lucky that this one AA figure didn’t set that whole show scene inside of “Pirates of the Caribbean” ablaze.
Coming Out Unscathed – “Fantasmic” & Murphy’s Law
I’ve heard the very same thing about what happened during that performance of “Fantasmic!” back on April 22nd. That Disneyland was very, very lucky that the wind was blowing in the direction that it was this past Saturday night. Given that Isopar (that’s the petroleum product that produces that 35-foot burst of flame that shoots out of the dragon prop’s mouth) is incredibly flammable … Well, imagine if the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction that night? And some of that stuff had landed on the Cider Mill directly behind that dragon on Tom Sawyer Island? That’s where all of the stage managers and technicians who actually run “Fantasmic!” are typically holed up when this show is being staged. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened then.
Speaking of what could have happened … There’s been a lot of speculation about why Murphy caught fire back on April 22nd …
Why is the “Fantasmic” Dragon named Murphy?
Need to explain the dragon’s nickname … How many of you remember the dragon that originally appear in “Fantasmic!” when this Disneyland show first debuted back in May of 1992? Back then (due to budget cuts), this piece of show equipment was just a mechanical head on a boom lift. Which then had lengths of non-flammable fabric hanging off of that boom lift to hide that mechanism. To further hide the fact that there was no dragon body below that dragon head, they used to release this cloud of thick chemical fog just before this scene in “Fantasmic!” got underway.
The only problem was that all of the TV ads for “Fantasmic!” (along with all of the billboards along California’s highways. The full page ads in Los Angeles’ newspapers that summer) all showed Mickey Mouse in his Sorcerer’s Apprentice outfit battling with a full-sized Maleficent-the-Dragon with a body below its head.
Disneyland’s Entertainment was genuinely embarrassed by how the dragon originally looked in “Fantasmic!” But since the crowds kept coming to this nighttime show, it took them years (17 in fact) to finally persuade Disneyland management to allow them to upgrade this specific element of this show.
Garner Holt was then hired to build a second dragon for “Fantasmic!” Very tall order. Had to fit in a pit directly below the stage on Tom Sawyer (This is why this dragon is actually in two pieces. A body that’s roughly 23 feet in height. And then a neck & head portion of this same figure that’s 22 feet in height. This element then raises up into place once the dragon’s body is in position. Forming one 45-foot-tall, fire-breathing dragon [FYI: “Fantasmic!” original dragon – the mechanical head of a boom lift – was only 40 feet tall]).
It took a heavy-duty, custom built elevator to quickly lift this 18,000 pound / 32-foot-wide figure up out of that pit. It only has 35 seconds to pull off this particular effect in that show. Four computers then power the 60 microprocessors which control Murphy’s movement. Doing everything from control the actuator that sends that flammable petroleum derivative up to Murphy’s mouth (where it’s then squirted out under high pressure just before it’s ignited. Which – again – is how you get that 35-foot-long jet of flame) to changing the color of this animated prop’s LED-powered eyes.
Disneyland pulled the original version of the “Fantasmic!” dragon (i.e., the mechanical head on a boom lift) off of Tom Sawyer Island in March of 2009. New version of dragon was supposed to debut in June of that same year as part of Disneyland’s Summer Fantasmic! promotion.
That didn’t happen. Had gone from too simple a mechanism to too complex. Los Angeles Time – June 12th – featured a headline which read “Disneyland’s dragon debut delayed.” Lots of Ds in that sentence.
Hence the name Murphy. As in “Murphy’s Law.” Everything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Finally debuted in early September of that same year. All is forgiven. “Fantasmic!” new dragon looks fantastic. Big wow.
“Fantasmic” Dragon
Still a trifle problematic. August 2010, during that moment in the show where the animated dragon prop has to rise up out of that pit in just 35 seconds (with the 22 foot long head & neck section then rising up over that 23 foot tall body section to form one 45 foot tall dragon), something goes wrong. Entire prop suddenly pitches forward. Murphy winds up with his nose rest of the stage portion of Tom Sawyer’s Island. Show E-stops. Disneyland makes announcement “Please don’t take pictures of the dragon looking like this.” People do anyway.
Different theories as to what happened that night. Disneyland execs say neck mechanic broke. Folks at Garner Holt has told me that it was operator error. Wasn’t until November of that same year that Murphy resumed his regular appearances in Disneyland’s “Fantasmic!”
FYI: Disney does have a contingency plan if Murphy malfunctions / isn’t able to appear that night in “Fantasmic!” There’s a version of this show where that show scene can be handled by projecting animated footage on this show’s water screens.
Original “Fantasmic” Fiasco or Simply Mickey’s Dream?
Final thoughts: There are those that say … Well, if Disneyland had just stuck with their original version of the “Fantasmic!” dragon (i.e., the one that was just a mechanical head at the end of a boom lift. FYI: This is what WDW’s version of “Fantasmic!” – the one that’s been running since October of 1998 and will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this Fall – still uses), this never would have happened.
Not true. Kevin Kidney (who was a designer on the original version of this Disneyland nighttime show. Back when “Fantasmic!” was called the “Imagination River Spectacular”) tells a story about what happened just one week before this show opened on May 13, 1992. Which was when – as they powered up that fire effect – the dragon head then flew off of that boom lift and clattered to the stage.
Of course, since we now live in the age of “If you didn’t take a picture, it didn’t happen,” no one outside of Disneyland Entertainment vets ever talks about that incident. But it did happen.
This article is based on research for The Disney Dish Podcast “Episode 425”, published on May 1, 2023. The Disney Dish Podcast is part of the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network.