Welcome the TPMvids Disney Beat where we talk about all things Disney.
Fantasmic is a popular nighttime spectacular that originated and opened at the Disneyland park in California in 1992.
After the success of Fantasmic at Disneyland a second version that featured some new scenes opened at Disney Hollywood Studios.
(formerly known as Disney MGM studios) in 1998
Now Fantasmic is a very impressive technical show that includes everything from
pyrotechnics, to music synchronized to water fountains and screens, 50-plus live performers, moving barges and all the Disney Magic
you can think of. It's truly a spectacular
For the sake of this video. We'll be referring to Disneyland Fantasmic prior to the update in 2017
Now both shows are very technically complex
So there's bound to be technical glitches
but as they say in the theater, "The show must go on." And that's exactly what happens. The cast and crew at
Fantasmic are prepared with alternate sequences and Plan B's if problems do happen.
So today we'll be looking at Fantasmic, sharing some show secrets, and counting down the top ten fails
malfunctions and bloopers from the show
But we're going to do this countdown a bit differently and go in the chronological order of the events that take place in
Fantasmic from the beginning of the show to the end. For we now invite you to join Mickey and experience
Fantasmic, A Journey Beyond Your Wildest Imagination
Starting our list off at number ten is Mickey's Pyro Misfire
Fantasmic at both parks opens up with Mickey Mouse
Dancing and orchestrating the show by bringing a series of colorful water fountains to life. And only a minute and 30 seconds into the show
audiences get their first glimpse at some magical pyro that shoots out of Mickey's fingers
Now that's how it normally goes, but this time it doesn't go to plan at Disneyland
There are times when the pyro doesn't go off at cue and Mickey just goes on with the show like usual
And that's what Mickey does here thinking it wasn't going to go off
But he reacts very quickly and lifts his hands back in the air
This was a close call, but a great save by the Mouse himself
Now let's switch coasts and head on over to Walt Disney World for number nine and take a look at John Smith Stunt Mishaps
The Pocahontas segment in Fantasmic is packed with action and features various stunts. One stunt
involves John Smith swinging on a rope from one side of the Mountain to the other
landing on a set of very small steps
Now there's times when the stunt isn't performed. It's usually when John Smith isn't able to untie the rope in time and make his cue
But there's also times when the stunt is performed, and it doesn't go to plan like this clip here
During the blackout
he was probably able to just slide down the rope onto the stage like nothing happened and continue on with the rest of the show
For number eight we're staying at Walt Disney World passing by the princess segment and moving right on to the Evil Queen from Snow White
The evil queen summons the Magic mirror, then with much determination heads to the cauldron, but it seems like her cape gets in the way
But like a real professional performer she gets right back up and continues on with the show
Next on our list at number seven we're going to head on over to Disneyland where the Evil Queen is now at the cauldron
She cast her spell
And after a lot of smoke and pyro she turns into the old witch there's times when the transformation
into the witch can't happen as planned most likely due to technical issues with the trapdoor through the cauldron, but there's a Plan B
So the Evil Queen always wears a white wig under the hood and crown just in case this way the show can continue on
seamlessly without any interruptions, a great example of how the cast and crew of Fantasmic are always on the ball
Coming in at number six on our list
we'll be heading back to Walt Disney World. This segment of
Fantasmic is probably one of the most technically complex parts of the show
But it's very impressive. Not as impressive as the 45-foot animatronic fire-breathing Dragon at Disneyland
But still impressive. So the Maleficent and dragon sequence at Disney World goes a little something like this
In a plot to destroy Mickey, Maleficent, who was summoned by Turner Boggs, threatens Mickey as she transforms herself into an enormous dragon.
Looks cool,
but the dragon doesn't always cooperate. It has a lot of hydraulics operating it and they do
malfunction from time to time. In this clip its head starts to move then decides to take a little break and
freezes well right there, and then in this clip the dragon doesn't even fully get up before it freezes
But like the Evil Queen situation there is also a Plan B. They quickly switch gears into Plan B
which has Maleficent rising on a rock again to light the river and fight Mickey Mouse
Now let's just head to Disneyland quickly. Sometimes they know ahead of time if a dragon is going to be out of a show which has
happened in the past when Disneyland upgraded their dragon, to the one that's currently in the show today
Plan B also goes into effect in this situation as well
It happens almost seamlessly, and you'd never even know that the dragon was supposed to be there
Next at number five we have the Steamboat Willie Dopey Mishap. The finale of Fantasmic is one of those classic
Feel-Good Disney moments
You have dozens of your favorite Disney characters on the Steamboat Willie if you're watching the show in Walt Disney World or on the Mark Twain River Boat
if you're watching the show at Disneyland. Now the show is all magical and going according to plan at Walt Disney World when....
This is an intense fall
and it's pretty ironic that the characters involved are Dopey and Goofy and as bad as the situation is you can't help but laugh
There's been some speculation that Dopey knew something was wrong because he stopped to look down
but if you look at this clip here from another performance
you can see that Dopey and Sleepy usually have some sort of business that they do while they walk along the platform
So it looks like it was really just an unfortunate misstep
But fortunately both performers were okay and didn't really suffer any major injuries
Now to avoid this happening again, Disney
did take Steamboat Willie out of the show after the accident for a quick little refurb to install a higher kick plate on the bottom
of the platform... Which leads us right into number four, The Fantasmic Finale
without a boat. In a situation such as Disney pulling the boat out of the show for a refurb
Fantasmic still needs its finale so both Disneyland in California and Hollywood Studios in Florida
have an alternate finale where instead the characters come on stage
Now a major difference that we've noticed between the two versions of the show as a whole is that
The Disneyland Performers always seem to have much more energy than the Disney World performers. Just take a look at this comparison
The Disneyland Performers on the top are very animated and are filled with tons of energy
which then translates to such an epic finale, even with no boat. Whereas the Disney World version lacks the energy
Disneyland has. Not to mention that some of the performers are little loose on the choreography which always seems to be the case
Next on our list at number three is the Bagging of the Fish. So the boat passes the audience.
Lights go out the performers leave the boat. Sorcerer Mickey appears on the top of the mountain and a bunch of fireworks go off
Now the performers leave the boat for two reasons. One, their parts finish and two, they need to be in a covered and protected
area to stay clear of the fireworks. Well this is a problem for one character, especially
Ariel. Right. She has a fin and can't just get up and walk away, so what do they do?
Yep, you just saw she gets covered with a flame-retardant blanket to protect her from any pyrotechnics
Next at number two
we'll take a look at Disneyland's alternate Mickey Mouse ending
So once Sorcerer Mickey is done conducting the fireworks he magically appears on the lower level of the stage in his usual outfit and says
the famous line
In some cases there are
circumstances that prevent Mickey from appearing at the lower level of the stage such as an issue with the hydraulic lift or
Murphy the Dragon getting stuck on stage, but like many other segments in the show there's an alternate version for this, too
Although Sorcerer Mickey doesn't switch back into his classic outfit, he still disappears which is almost as magical as the original I think
Let's shift back over to Walt Disney World and take a look at the number one spot on our list
Which is sort of the reverse of number two. So sometimes the hydraulic lifts in the mountain
malfunctions and Mickey can't appear. The audience always expects Mickey to show up judging by the applause this moment gets when he doesn't
but he should
So in the event that the top list isn't working the audience is left to be entertained by the water fountains and
fireworks, which are pretty cool, to then have the closing moment finish on the Mouse himself going out with a bang
Have you seen
Fantasmic before? If you have which version did you see - the one at Disneyland or Disney World? And if you have an opinion on which
one you prefer leave a comment below
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