There Is Not a Single Angle That You Can't See the Disneyland Fire From

Carly Tennes Published 04/25/2023 in facepalm

On Saturday, April 22, Disneyland made headlines after a performance of its nighttime show Fantasmick quite literally went up in flames, the show’s centerpiece, a 45-foot animatronic Maleficent dragon, catching fire.

"The dragon's head started to glow, and I see fire and kind of smoke coming out,” Elaine Gilmer, who attended the disastrous show, explained in a recent interview with local Los Angeles ABC news affiliate ABC7.

@disneydayydreamer Malificent catches fire during tonights performace of Fantasmic 4/22/23 #disneyland #disney #fantasmic #disneyfire #malificent #riversofamerica ? original sound - Ashley?

While at first, Gilmer who claimed to have seen the show upwards of 100 times thought the fire was a new stunt – "I was like, 'Oh ... they added some new stuff because that didn't didn't happen like that before,” she said – her and her daughter, who was also in attendance, realized something was amiss.

@saradubisz I CANNOT BELIEVE I WITNESSED THIS #fantasmic #disneyland #fantasmicfire ? original sound - Sara Dubisz

"We saw some small explosions coming out of the head, and then, all of a sudden, the whole dragon was just engulfed,” she continued. “Then, all of a sudden, the worker started coming around escorting everybody out for safety.”

@themeparkdetective1 #fantasmicfire #disneyland FANTASMIC IN DISNEYLAND DRAGON CATCHES FIRE ???????? #trending #disney #disneygram #fyp ? original sound - THEMEPARKDETECTIVE

Yet beyond posing a safety risk – and one of the lowkey most badass images in Disney Parks history – footage of the flubbed, fiery performance set social media ablaze (sorry), one, that as Disney YouTuber Jenny Nicholson noted, may be one of the most documented disasters in park history.

“Listen I'm not happy that Disneyland's giant animatronic dragon exploded but it is kind of funny that there's so much video coverage of it on TikTok from literally every possible hypothetical perspective,” she quipped in a Tweet.

@metalheadmatt_lerner They closed everything across rivers of anerica lmao #disney #disneyland #disneyfire #fantasmic #fantasmicshow ? There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow - Rex Allen

“Like you see the video of the dragon on fire and you're like, ‘how did that start,’” she continued, noting that within a few scrolls, you will find the full video of the disaster, followed by multiple evacuation clips before landing on a video of depicting the charred animatronic.

@imthecatalyst This was crazy to see in person! Im just glad everyone is safe! ???????? #murphy #fantasmic #disneyland #fire #disneylandfire #distok #disneytok #disneyadult ? original sound - Vic?????

Disney adults – if there is one thing they’re good for, it’s getting dunked on by the internet, that and recording the same show 1000x to evidently the same avail.

@the.sea.cat You wont believe what just happened. I think i broke disney land #disney #disneyland #fantasmic #fantasmicshow #accident #dragon #dragononfire #disneydragononfire #unedited ? original sound - Sea Cat