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