Something seriously tragic happened at Disneyland this weekend. And because of this Luz and
I created a list of the most gruesome animatronic fires in the world. Thanks to Nacho for this
suggestion! So, let’s take it away Will!
Kong: Skull Island Movie Premier
The last thing that movie producers want in a movie premier is for things to go up in
flames. And that’s literally what happened during the Kong: Skull Island premiere at
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A giant and towering King Kong structure was produced when the
film opened. This was a very menacing and intimidating
sight for everyone who attended the event. The show began with dancers performing around
a fire on a stage. The 16 foot tall animatronic appeared to be coming out two giant rocks
with the volcano nearby. Kong moved his eyes and opened and closed his mouth. All in all
the view was fantastic for guests in the event. Then the presenter came out and when the opening
ceremony was starting, a huge fire suddenly broke out within the Kong animatronic, and
started spreading very quickly. Because there was fog, smoke and a nearby fire in the stage,
people initially thought that the spreading of the blaze was part of the program, but
they quickly realized that it was not, when it started getting out of hand. The animatronic
was completely on fire and it was quickly destroyed. There was a mass evacuation from
the area but in the end, the movie screening did go on as scheduled.
Thankfully, there were no casualties or serious injuries. And while the evening did not go
as planned, the night was definitely memorable for guests of the premier.
The image of Kong and the whole stage up in flames will never be forgotten by them and
honestly, we won’t forget it either!
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Jurassic Encounter Exhibit Diplodocus
Dinosaurs may have gone extinct 66 million years ago, but it seems their animatronic
counterparts are determined to make them stay. There are several Jurassic themed exhibitions
full of animatronics that bring these prehistoric animals to life in our times. One of these
exhibitions was the Jurassic Encounter exhibit. This exhibit opened in Bristol, UK and featured
50 animatronic dinosaurs from the Jurassic, Triassic and Cretaceous periods.
The exhibit was scheduled to run from April 15th to October 30th in 2022 but the event
took an unfortunate turn on October 13th, 2022.
People began noticing smoke near Ashton Court. Onlookers caught a glimpse of an almost 20-foot
tall Diplodocus engulfed in flames from head to tail.
The fire department was quickly notified, but they could do little to save this Jurassic
animatronic. In a matter of minutes, the animatronic was reduced to a metal framework, easily extinguished
by the firefighters who determined that a short circuit in the mechanisms was to blame.
This ill-fated dinosaur was meant to be part of a cast of 50 featured in the exhibition.
However, it met its untimely demise before the event even began. Despite this setback,
the exhibition opened without a hitch on October 15th and ran until its scheduled closing date
of October 30th, offering a thrilling experience for theme park and animatronic enthusiasts
alike.
Big Tex
Big Tex is a huge icon of the State Fair of Texas. And we mean huge! He is known around
the globe as the world’s tallest cowboy and he has been there since 1952. This 52-foot
cowboy stood completely still until 1997, when a new skeleton was added which adjusted
the posture and allowed for a new hand that waved to passersby. Three years later, his
neck was animated, allowing it to turn; his mechanical mouth was also upgraded with a
new system. This icon had several changes over the years, one of the coolest being that
Tex does age and in 2002 he celebrated his 50th birthday, where shades of gray were added
to the hair and wrinkles were added to his hands and face.
But its biggest one happened after a small tragedy.
In 2012, Tex was turning 60. During the final weekend of the State Fair, a fire started
inside the framework of the cowboy. The figure's clothing, face and hat were completely destroyed
in minutes as onlookers watched. Apparently, the fire was started by an electrical short
circuit under Big Tex’s right boot. This panel was believed to have powered the air
compressor that kept Tex’s clothing inflated. Dallas Fire Rescue quickly responded and put
the fire out within a matter of minutes. But people at the scene said it only took around
five minutes for the blaze to quickly swallow the 52-foot figure. All that was left of Tex
were a a skeletal frame with his hands, arms and
belt buckle still intact. The rest was consumed by the fire.
As a consequence, Big Tex had to be completely rebuilt, and officials decided to make him
bigger and better and promised that he would be done in time for the following year’s
season. And they delivered! This new Tex is now 55
feet tall and weighs 25,000 pounds, which allows him to withstand heavy winds without
needing support wires as in previous versions. So, maybe the fire was a blessing in disguise
so that Tex could come back renovated! What do you think?
Festival of Fantasy Parade Maleficent
The Festival of Fantasy parade has delighted us all since it opened in Magic Kingdom in
2014. It has many beautiful parade floats such as the Peter Pan float or the Tangled
float. But the most impressive of all the floats is the Sleeping Beauty unit. In this
scene, we see Prince Phillip battling a steampunk Maleficent in her dragon form. This animatronic
dragon stretches 53 feet in length and 26 feet tall with a prickly spinning wheel dead
center of the float. With fiery eyes and glowing effects the spectacular dragon was built on
an articulating chassis allowing the float to bend and flex as it moves along the parade
route. This was the first time this was done for a float in a parade at Disney. So of course
this is the highlight of the parade. But disaster struck on May 11 2018. The parade
was going along its usual route when suddenly, Maleficent’s head burst into flames as it
was breathing fire while the parade passed through Liberty Square.
People quickly noticed that the dragon was on fire during the event, and the float was
consequently stopped. And even though it was on fire, the animatronic kept working, lifting
its head up and down. Cast Members soon jumped into action, moving
guests away from the flames, and the fire was extinguished shortly thereafter by Disney
staff. Fortunately, no guests or cast members were injured during this incident.
As a result of this fire, the float’s head was completely destroyed. The next day, the
float was replaced with a gazebo float previously seen in various other parades featuring Aurora
and Prince Phillip which left us wondering if we would ever see this animatronic dragon
in this parade ever again. Thankfully, the animatronic was rebuilt and
it returned to the parade on January 25, 2019, with some new coloring and more importantly
non-flammable materials.
Pirates in Batavia
Europa Park, alongside Efteling, is considered one of the best theme parks in Europe. Many
claim that it draws too much inspiration from Disney parks, but this is far from the truth,
as Europa Park is a unique experience, even surpassing Disney parks for some enthusiasts.
One of the most beloved attractions in the park is Pirates in Batavia, which opened in
1978. This seven-minute boat ride transported guests through the "exotic East Indian seaport
of Batavia," located in the park's Netherlands section.
The ride operated uninterrupted for 30 years until it met a terrifying fate on May 26,
2018. A small fire broke out in a warehouse in the Netherlands section and quickly grew
out of control, causing a fireball to spread toward the Pirates ride. The attraction was
soon engulfed in incandescent flames and thick smoke. Fortunately, the rescue team acted
swiftly and evacuated all visitors, preventing a true tragedy. Unfortunately, however, the
fire entirely consumed the ride itself, including its animatronics. Over 250 heroic firefighters
battled the blaze for hours before finally extinguishing it on Sunday morning.
Following the disaster, the Mack family, owners of Europa Park, refused to be defeated by
the incident. Instead, they immediately regrouped and announced their plans to rebuild the attraction
better than ever before. True to their word, the revamped ride rose like a phoenix from
the ashes in July 2020. The new attraction featured an updated storyline, a new ride
system, and state-of-the-art animatronics crafted by Garner Holt Productions, LifeFormations,
and Hofmann. As a fun fact, Roland Mack, the founder of Europa Park, makes an animatronic
cameo appearance as a magician in one of the scenes. Thanks to the heroic efforts of the
response team, firefighters, and the Mack family, what could have been a tragedy was
transformed into a happy ending.
Animatronic Dinosaurs on Fire
It seems there is a pattern between animatronic dinosaurs and fire because the Diplodocus
isn't the only animatronic to meet a fiery end.
Back in 2016, the Field Station: Dinosaurs exhibit was set to open at Overpeck County
Park in New Jersey. This exhibit featured over 30 moving and roaring life-size animatronic
dinosaurs, including a 90-foot-long Argentinosaurus animatronic, believed to be the largest in
the world. But before the exhibit opened, a welder was putting the finishing touches
on the dinosaur when a spark set it ablaze and burnt the entire animatronic to the ground.
Thankfully no other animatronics were damaged. Some rumors said that the dinosaur would be
built again, but this never happened, and instead, a Spinosaurus took its place.
1600 miles away in Waco, Texas, a very similar thing happened. Jurassic Quest is North America's
largest exhibition of lifesize, moving, museum-quality dinosaurs! Unfortunately, a similar thing
happened just as soon as the exhibition opened. A welder was working too close to the dinosaur
and sparked a fire, setting the outer layer of one of the dinosaurs on fire. Thankfully
the fire department acted quickly, allowing the event to continue.
The last one happened in Colorado, at the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience, where there
are 16 life-size T-Rex models. But for a while, there were 15 because Chicken, one of the
T-Rexes, burned to the ground. An electrical shortage caused this dino to burst into flames.
Staff hustled everyone away from the T-Rex that was consumed in less than 10 minutes.
Fortunately, no one was injured, and Chicken's owners took the incident with a sense of humor,
stating, "They knew he had a temper, but today he blew his top." More than six months after
a 15-foot animatronic was burnt, a new T-Rex took its place. So thankfully, Chicken came
back stronger than ever!
Tiki Room Under New Management Iago
We’ve talked endlessly about our dislike for this attraction, but if you’re new here
we’ll tell you a little about it. The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management
replaced the original Topical Serenade. This was a complete change from the original show,
bringing Iago and Zasu as main characters of the attraction who purchased the Tiki Room
and wanted to make it more modern. This new attraction brought with it several new animatronics
like Uh-Oa, and of course Iago and Zazu. The animatronics were amazing but the show was
far from it. Still it lasted 13 years until an accident struck the show.
In January of 2011 the attraction was interrupted in the middle of a show. Guests had to be
evacuated and were informed that a fire had started in the building.
Apparently a small fire started in the attic of the attraction which caused the water sprinklers
to turn on and stop the fire from getting out of control. The attraction was closed
and was not able to reopen for a long while. The reports say that the sprinklers caused
bad water damage to the large centerpiece that drops from the ceiling and to Zazu and
other animatronics. But the fire damaged one of them beyond repair. Iago was the main victim
of this incident but there’s a huge irony in all of this. There were two animatronic
Iago's in the show. One was the main one who appeared the longest time during the show.
The other one was a burnt Iago who appeared using crutches after Uh Oa, the goddess of
disaster mad. The irony in all of this is that, while the
burnt Iago survived, the main one was completely burnt beyond repair by the fire.
After this, the attraction was supposed to reopen but in August of that same year, Disney
made it official. The attraction would reopen as Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, the
same name as Disneyland since 1963. The original charm would be back, but not the original
Florida name, Tropical Serenade. And Iago was never seen again.
Kennywood Ghost Ship
Kennywood theme park opened back in 1899 as a trolley park attraction in West Mifflin,
Pennsylvania. The park began adding more and more attractions as time went by. One of these
attractions was a dark ride named Ghost Ship. This ride debuted in 1967 and became one of
the park's most popular attractions. It featured several animatronics in the many scenes and
illusions featuring skeletons, ghouls, and pirates, as well as a sea monster guarding
a treasure chest on the ocean floor. But before the ride was able to turn 10 years
old, there was a devastating accident in 1975 that erased the Ghost Ship from the park forever.
Due to an electrical short in the historic building’s wiring the ride caught on fire.
The 75-year-old wooden venue was filled with flammable amusement props and false ceilings
that easily went up in flames. Fortunately, the park employees acted quickly
to evacuate the six guests who were inside the attraction, and no injuries were reported
aside from a firefighter being treated for smoke inhalation. The fire caused about $400,000
worth of damage and destruction, including a few nearby attractions.
As we said before, the ride never returned and the area was restored first into a grassy
rest area and then through the years several attractions have operated on the site.
But nothing has matched the lost dark ride's scale and popularity. The location is now
occupied by a looping swing ride called Aero 360. Despite the loss, Ghost Ship remains
a classic and significant attraction in the park's history.
King Kong Encounter
One of the most infamous fires at theme parks in the world: The 2008 Universal Studios fire.
In this fire, we lost one of the most impressive animatronics ever.
King Kong Encounter was added to the Universal Studio Tour in 1984. This new scene in the
attraction took guests into New York, where Kong had gone on a rampage.
This Kong animatronic was one of the most complex animatronics of all time. It was created
by Bob Gurr with a budget of over 7 million dollars, and it was 30 feet tall, weighed
seven tons, and had a banana-scented breath! The tram put guests at eye level with the
huge animatronic, and it was a terrifying and, of course, fantastic sight to see for
people who were able to experience it. But sadly, on June 1, 2008, a fire broke out
in the Backlot of Universal Studios. The fire started when a worker was using a blowtorch
to warm asphalt shingles being applied to a facade.
The fire spread fast, damaging and destroying 40,000 to 50,000 archived digital video and
film copies of Universal movies and TV shows, some almost a century old, 150,000 master
recordings of music, many areas like New England Street, Courthouse Square, New York Street,
and sadly, the King Kong Encounter show building. The fire took at least 12 hours to extinguish,
with 516 firefighters and two helicopters dropping water. And after it, only four walls
remained of the entire attraction. The animatronic was completely burnt and destroyed. This forced
Universal to demolish it, and days after this, Universal announced that it would not be rebuilt.
Nowadays, in this space, we find the King Kong: 360 3D experience, and while this new
attraction's special effects are awe-inspiring, King Kong Encounter's animatronic was mind-blowing,
and we can't help but feel sad that Kong Encounter was not rebuilt.
Fantasmic Murphy
We've arrived at the animatronic that we would never have wanted to cover on a video like
this, Murphy. Murphy is one of the main pieces of what makes Disneyland's Fantasmic far superior
to the Disney World version. Before 2009, Disneyland had the same dragon puppet that's
currently used in Hollywood Studios. But that year, Imagineers constructed a full-body Audio-Animatronic
of the dragon to take its place. Standing 45 feet tall and weighing 18,000 pounds, this
spectacular fire-breathing creature easily ranks among the best animatronics on Earth.
But Murphy has been giving Disney problems since the beginning. Its debut was consistently
delayed. When it finally made its debut in September 2009, its appearance was still sporadic;
the dragon either didn't appear or – if it did – failed to breathe fire or froze
entirely. That's why this animatronic has been nicknamed "Murphy" after Murphy's Law
("whatever can go wrong, will go wrong). In August 2010 when, during a performance,
the dragon literally fell face-first into the stage. The 18,000 pound Audio-Animatronic
was so stuck it remained in its precarious position into the next day until it was literally
dismantled to get it out of sight. But after this problem was fixed, Murphy stopped being
so much trouble. When it did fail, the show's water screens hide the malfunctioning figure
and replace her appearance with an animation created for just that occasion without missing
a beat. Until now.
On March 22, during the 10:30 pm Fantasmic show, something awful happened. The show was
going on as usual, and it came time for Mickey to shoot the magic sparks that usually defeat
Maleficent. But this time, he put a little more effort into defeating her because, in
just seconds, the animatronic caught on fire. Reportedly, the cause for this fire was a
leak of flammable fluid, seen dripping down from the mouth moments before the fireball
effect went off, but an official cause has not been reported. Flaming bits of the head
started drip down the structure, which also caught fire. The entire figure was soon engulfed
in flames. The Anaheim Fire Department responded to the
scene but didn't arrive until after Murphy had been burning for a while and had sustained
significant damage. In the end, the animatronic was completely destroyed. The good news in
all of this is that, thankfully, no Cast Members were harmed during this incident. The fire
damage was contained to the animatronic and did not damage the stage or any other area
on Tom Sawyer's Island. The following day, the remains of the Maleficent
dragon were partially covered in scrim. Crews were working to cover the charred, skeletal
remains of the dragon. A very sad sight to see. Fantasmic has now been canceled for the
foreseeable future. Disney released a statement saying they would temporarily suspend fire
effects similar to those used at Fantasmic at select shows and entertainment experiences
globally out of an abundance of caution. We currently don't know what the future holds
for this animatronic. But we just hope that it will be rebuilt soon; after all, the animatronic
is an integral part of the show. So while it would take months before an advanced, fire-breathing
Maleficent Audio-Animatronic figure returns to Fantasmic, we do think that this animatronic
must be rebuilt. Go check out this animatronics playlist to
be entertained while we all wait until Murphy comes back to Fantasmic again.