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  • 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

  • that's ready at a moment's notice

  • Now she did say to turn her hair to white

  • 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

  • Thanks so much for watching

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Welcome the TPMvids Disney Beat where we talk about all things Disney.

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