Word on the street is that Murphy the Dragon had a major malfunction during last night’s 9:00 pm performance. Murphy, of course, is the dragon that refused to work for much of the initial summer season it was installed for. It earned the name Murphy for Murphy’s Law – what ever can go wrong, will. Last night he just collapsed on stage (http://twitpic.com/2je6yf Update: and http://twitpic.com/2jewso – that second one shows a huge gash in Murphy’s Belly. Did anyone see Prince Philip throwing his sword?) and the belief is that this is a serious problem. It may be a while before Murphy returns.
The other big problem is the lift that brings Mickey on stage at the beginning and end of the show is broken. That means Mickey runs on stage at the beginning of the show and just stays on top of the mill at the end. That big magic moment that seals the ‘it was just a dream’ story is gone for now. That’s really a shame.
Add this to refurbishments for Flotsam and Jetsam and reductions in fireworks and Fantasmic is starting to look like a pale imitation of its former self. Could too much attention be focused across the esplanade right now? Someone rescue please this amazing show from consignment to the dust bin.
Update: Apparently Murphy has been acting up for a few months now. Here’s an iPhone video of Murphy unable to bend down the light the river, so the fire shoots right at the audience.
This video from Murphy’s first night shows how it is supposed to be done.
Is Disneyland neglecting Fantasmic!? Big problems last night as well as lift issues are affecting show quality – http://bit.ly/cmERc3
Is Disneyland neglecting Fantasmic!? Dragon problems, lift issues hinder show quality http://bit.ly/cmERc3 (@TheDisneyBlog)
While this is terribly unfortunate, the inner Disney geek is me is screaming that this is rather like Kingdom Keepers, only in CA. Should we be looking for Overtakers?
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I hope it’s not the work of The Overtakers trying to takeover the park.
I’m so bummed! Please do not allow Murphy to become the West Coast B-mode Yeti!
Has Disneyland neglected Fantasmic!? Big problems last night as well as lift issues hinder show quality – http://bit.ly/cmERc3
Shame on Disney for letting this happen to such a magical show….but then again, I would still rather watch Disneyland’s Fantasmic over Disneyworld’s version any day.
All of this has been going on for the entire summer. It has gotten worse since July 4th, The majority of the problems for Fantasmic! and World of Color (the projection domes are not working) can be traced back to our last earthquake. It caused a fair amount of damage to the structures and systems for both. Also, to my knowledge Flotsom and Jetsom have not been in the show since July 4th.
I know the earthquake caused sine damage, but I saw WoC 11 times between July 10-19 and the domes were working fine. I also saw Fantasmic twice and F&J were out both times. If the earthquake is the root cause of Murphy’s crash, then the crew that ok’d him to run after the earthquake did not do a very thorough inspection.
I think Murphy’s issues are more complicated than just earthquake damage (I don’t remember the exact date of the last one, but I believe it was after July 19th), she has never been able to fully function, they can’t even fully open her wings as they would hit the light towers behind her. The domes and Mickey Lift issues were caused by earthquake damage, at least according to the techs that work on the shows.
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