Fantasmic's new dragon will not be ready in time

[sir clinksalot]

In a story broke by Al yesterday and followed-up by the LA Times today.

Disneyland dragon not ready for Fantasmic reboot - Travel - LATimes.com

While the OMG Web rumors aren’t true, the new Maleficent dragon won’t make her scheduled debut this weekend at Disneyland in the upgraded Fantasmic show due to “technical issues.”
Disneyland officials say those “technical issues” do NOT include the latest Internet rumor du jour pinging around the Twittersphere — that the 40-foot-tall dragon’s neck snapped during testing and that the head fell off!
The show will go on sans the dragon — with the new Fantasmic making its official debut on Friday (June 12) with the new Flotsam and Jetsam eels and high-definition video projections on the mist screens.
The new dragon won’t join the show until “later this summer,” according to Disneyland officials. That likely translates to a delay of weeks rather than days for the iconic image of the Anaheim theme park’s Summer Nightastic marketing push.

I find it funny that Disney used the same term "later this summer" that Al used yesterday.

[MickeyMousePal]

Oh, well both parks have different things going on like The Electrical Parade and Magical.
For the next couple days or weeks we will see a Harry Potter like duel against Maleficent and Mickey Mouse.

[Mommyto4]

Well no biggie, things happen beyond any ones control. I hope its up and running when I go but not going to worry about it

[Coast21]

I wonder how much "later" till its ready?

[ghosty4]

Good thing I didn't specifically schedule a trip to Disneyland just to see it, like I did for the reopening of Pirates!

PLUS, the new fireworks are OMGAMAZING!!!! so it's ok.

[TimmyTimmyTimmy]

Are there people from Disney on Micechat? Does anybody know who? rumours?

[Crazee4mm]

I really want to hear the details on this one. The new dragon has been something I have been hoping for for years. The old one, "Bucky", just didn't look like a dragon from the sides. And clouding it in an obscene amount of fog didn't help. As this show is essentially "theater-in-the-round" so to speak, the dragon needed some sprucing up for the viewers who's vantage point is as much as 90 degrees to the left and right of show center.
I was at Disneyland a couple of days last week and there were workers on and around the Fantasmic stage throughout the day with large numbers of workers visible after dusk. I asked a worker if everything was proceeding on schedule and all he did was shake his head and said that "the show will go on regardless of whether everything was on schedule or not". Not very encouraging. This press release from Disney indicated what the problem isn't but didn't say anything about what it WAS. That's why I am very anxiously awaiting Al's next column. Still, I will definitely be there when Fantasmic returns this weekend. I will also be there again when the "other" star of this show (sorry Mickey) makes her new "reimagined" debut. What have you got for us Al???

[Space Mountain]

I too await Al's next big update

[flynnibus]

broke my Al? A member posted it late Sunday night (technical Monday AM).

Given Al has no RSS feeds for his editor notes.. nor his articles.. I'm suprised anyone sees his posts

[Oswald the Rabbitt]

I will be there July 14-16 is it likely it will be repaired by then

[Orcatime]

I'm sorry to hear about the delay. The ad looks amazing. I was hoping I would be able to see actual footage of what it is soon.

[Emmanuel_4]

Dragon is now broken? how Much i$ it going to Co$t to fix thi$ Me$$????

[o3kRaZi3o]

i work at disney and ive heard its gona make its debut in mid july

[Zippy08]

I just got back from Disneyland this weekend and went and watched the new updated Fantasmic. I loved the performance, everything looked amazing and Flotsam and Jetsam were really cool!! They did have a form of a Dragon up and going, kind of a "replacement" They had the witch from Beauty and the Beast be raised up to about 40 feet high with what resembled a dragons neck below her. I am assuming this is a replacement because if this was the real deal, it was a little lame. There really was no actual Dragon resemblance to her besides being 40 feet up.

[icarian]

Maleficent (The evil FAIRY from Sleeping Beauty) has always grown as she absorbed the powers of evil while transforming into her dragon form. During times that the dragon, be it the "Bucky" or the newer "Murphey" versions, have been out of service for the evening, Maleficent performs a standby scene of "dragon choreography"

**sorry to flame a little, but it annoys me to no end that nobody can correctly identify maleficent as an evil fairy.... Her screeching voiceover in fantasmic has always perturbed me as well, but maybe thats the next thing to get "plussed"**