On April 22, one of the biggest attraction disasters in theme park history took place when a massive animatronic of Maleficent caught fire during a nighttime performance of Fantasmic at the Disneyland park. Videos went viral online showing the machine engulfed in flames. Luckily nobody was hurt, but the animatronic was destroyed, and the future of Fantasmic as a show at Disneyland is in question.
Fantasmic has been around for nearly 30 years, and the show is one of the most popular nighttime spectaculars around. While Fantasmic exists at other Disney Parks, the Disneyland version is seen by many as the flagship, the best of them. So it would certainly be heartbreaking for fans if this fire marked the end of the show, but maybe it should.
