- Fantasmic! is still scheduled to be performed this evening at Disneyland, without the dragon. This version of the show involves Mickey battling the actor portraying Maleficent, who remains on her elevated platform in place of the dragon. This version is not wholly unusual and is used whenever there is a problem with the dragon.
- There are ill-informed voices suggesting that Disneyland's maintenance and technical folks failed their duties and if they had done their jobs properly this incident could have been avoided. Absolute nonsense.
- Others saying the entire debacle with the dragon could have been avoided if Disney had designed it in-house instead of contracting it out? They have no idea what they're talking about.
Rumor:
Disney isn't commenting on what caused the failure (and there's no reason they should), but word is leaking from unofficial sources that there was some sort of axle break on the lift mechanism.
Speculation:
If that's the case, here is rough speculation on what might have caused the failure and possible fixes:
Somebody smuggle out some good pictures of what really happened in the pit, and I can tell you roughly how long it'll take a good welder to chop out the busted bits and replace them. If they were smart, it's a bolt-in repair, but you can't count on that.
When they say "axle snap" it's most likely the wheel spindle that snapped off at a machined edge - Google up "axle spindle Northern Tool" and you'll see what the deal is...
It's not that big a deal to cut out the weld holding the spindle to the main structure - where it gets tricky is getting the new part aligned when welding it in. On trailer axles the spindle stubs slide into the U-shaped channel (or inside the square or round tubing) for automatic self alignment, just have to get the wheelbase (hold-out) the same - but Disney (or Garner-Holt) might not have gotten that Memo.How long will repairs take? Tonight is the last night of the Summer Nightastic promotion and the show was already scheduled to go dark Monday-Thursday, giving them time to work on any necessary fixes.
But there's every chance this isn't going to be a quick fix.