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View Full Version : Fantasmic stopped mid performance tonight. [1/3/05]



Tutter
01-03-2005, 09:17 PM
Although weather has been bad in the So Cal area - today in Anaheim there was only one shower earlier in the day. By the 7.45pm performance of Fantasmic the ground had dried and the skies were clear.

Fantasmic started, then suddenly, just as Columbia was sailing by with the Peter Pan bit the lights came on and a recorded voice said that this evenings perfomormance had been stopped "due to the inclement weather".

All around us people were confused with shouts of "what??!!". It couldn't have been the weather as it hadn't changed in any way since the start of the performance. Anyone know the reason? Did somethign go wrong? :confused:

olegc
01-03-2005, 09:41 PM
Although weather has been bad in the So Cal area - today in Anaheim there was only one shower earlier in the day. By the 7.45pm performance of Fantasmic the ground had dried and the skies were clear.

Fantasmic started, then suddenly, just as Columbia was sailing by with the Peter Pan bit the lights came on and a recorded voice said that this evenings perfomormance had been stopped "due to the inclement weather".

All around us people were confused with shouts of "what??!!". It couldn't have been the weather as it hadn't changed in any way since the start of the performance. Anyone know the reason? Did somethign go wrong? :confused:

not sure - but if know that this evening there was a flood watch that was issued after 7:45 (it was during the Sugar Bowl football game). Maybe it was such a high risk that they cancelled the show (it did rain REALLY hard later).

I am sure for the safety of performers, and guests, they don't wait until it's actually raining to stop a performance..

Andrew
01-03-2005, 09:47 PM
Huh. I'd have given a lot to be listening to the show with my scanner tonight. Anyone?

Disneyfreak
01-03-2005, 10:39 PM
That seems very crude of them to do that. You would think they could wait 10 min and finish the darn show instead of screwing the viewers like that. I mean it wasn't like a hurricane was coming or anything lol. :rolleyes:
I swear Californians over react to the weather here.

bandboy1985
01-03-2005, 11:38 PM
when fantasmic goes down, it's serious. there are dozens of contingency plans for technical elements and weather, so if there was an issue that caused the show to actually stop midway through, it had to be addressed.

immediately.

but if the weather was fine, it was probably an injury backstage or a loss of power on a vehicle- a back-of-house issue that was serious enough to halt the show.

Wesley815
01-04-2005, 12:39 AM
That seems very crude of them to do that. You would think they could wait 10 min and finish the darn show instead of screwing the viewers like that. I mean it wasn't like a hurricane was coming or anything lol. :rolleyes:
I swear Californians over react to the weather here.It is NOT "crude of them" to do that. It's extreamly 'crude of you' to bash a show which you have no idea how to run or what really goes into it.

*cough*lightningnearthepark*cough*

AaronInCal
01-04-2005, 06:12 AM
There were thunderstorms off and on all around Orange County last night.. So it is pretty likely there was lightning somewhere realatively close to Anaheim, and they cancelled the show as a safety precaution due to all the technical elements in the show. Lightning can travel quite a ways from the actual thunderstorm.. This may not have been the reason, but it's possible.

lisap
01-04-2005, 06:22 AM
I think Wes' coughing fit pretty much says it all. ;)

DonaldDuck14
01-04-2005, 07:56 AM
Maybe I can help answer your questions. I was doing guest control last nite. Earlier in the day before the performance, around the hour of 6 or 7, thunder was heard...at least twice. Also lightning (at least seeing the flashes of it) has been spotted about 3 times leading up to the performance. So a radio call was made to all the guest control leads prior to the show that if there is any more lightning during ithe show, it will be immediately cancelled. So as soon as the columbia came out and after its canon explosion into the sequence, a flash from the lightning nearby appeared. For some of the people watching the show, i doubt they noticed but I did. So as soon as Peter pan sequence was done and it was confirmed as lightning they pushed that e-stop button to cancel the show. So even though there wasn't really lightning or thunder afterwards and the show could have went on without a real problem, it was all for safety precaution and all that jazz (especially for the show techs that are on those light towers. Those towers are automatic lightning rods and the tech crew are attached to the railings of the tower through a fall prevention type harness, so it was more of a hazard to them more so than the performers). For the people that were there, at least they saw some of it oppose to Sunday where both shows were called off at 6pm. Well at least all of the guest control folk were notified of it at the time.

Matt Hamand
01-04-2005, 07:58 AM
If something goes wrong on Fantasmic they shut it down instantly. My wife saw a show a few years ago where Peter Pan or Captain Hook fell off the ship. Instantly all the lights came on, rescue boats were out, and cast members were directing people away.

They don't screw around.

TikiGeek
01-04-2005, 08:14 AM
I'm glad they take such precautions. We don't want to lose F!

I can see it now...DOSH will have the show dark for 10 months while they investigate why the crocodile makes ticking sounds :)

(jk - I think DOSH does a great job)

Disneyfreak
01-04-2005, 09:24 AM
It is NOT "crude of them" to do that. It's extreamly 'crude of you' to bash a show which you have no idea how to run or what really goes into it.

*cough*lightningnearthepark*cough*

And you do?

cstephens
01-04-2005, 10:16 AM
That seems very crude of them to do that. You would think they could wait 10 min and finish the darn show instead of screwing the viewers like that. I mean it wasn't like a hurricane was coming or anything lol. :rolleyes:
I swear Californians over react to the weather here.

Hey, who cares if someone could get hurt. On with the show!

marktips
01-04-2005, 10:19 AM
And you do?

We know enough to know that Disney doesn't just end a popular show for no good reason. We and Disney both know tons of clueless folks (often looking for compensation) will then complain about it (sound familure?) - so they only stop shows for very good reasons.

Tutter
01-04-2005, 10:21 AM
Maybe I can help answer your questions. I was doing guest control last nite. Earlier in the day before the performance, around the hour of 6 or 7, thunder was heard...at least twice. Also lightning (at least seeing the flashes of it) has been spotted about 3 times leading up to the performance. So a radio call was made to all the guest control leads prior to the show that if there is any more lightning during ithe show, it will be immediately cancelled. So as soon as the columbia came out and after its canon explosion into the sequence, a flash from the lightning nearby appeared. For some of the people watching the show, i doubt they noticed but I did. So as soon as Peter pan sequence was done and it was confirmed as lightning they pushed that e-stop button to cancel the show.

Thanks for that DD. That clears it up. :)

ozbeauticn
01-05-2005, 01:38 PM
During the show, they also didn't use the Pinocchio and girls puppet things. They only played the music and used the fountains, did that have to do with the weather also? We thought it was strange. Also the man next to us said the pirates weren't swinging around like they normally do and something must have been wrong...

AaronInCal
01-05-2005, 03:17 PM
I read on another message board a few days ago (can't remember which board) where someone said the rigging used to raise and lower the 3 towers used for the Pinocchio segment broke. So that part of Fantasmic won't be there for a while. You'll just see the fountains..

AVP
01-05-2005, 03:19 PM
During the show, they also didn't use the Pinocchio and girls puppet things. You mean the lightning rods? :)


Also the man next to us said the pirates weren't swinging around like they normally do and something must have been wrong... The reduced choreography is done when it's been raining before the show, (because the deck is slick), or when the Columbia is being pushed by the show barge, or any time when they don't think that conditions are optimal for a safe performance.

DD, thank you for adding some clarity to the Mystery of the Cancelled Fantasmic!

AVP

RagtimePrince
01-05-2005, 05:53 PM
They didn't have the Pinnochio part on Saturday either, it's probably truly out of commission.

Tech5
01-17-2005, 12:20 PM
OK, I have read enough of the speculation on why the show got halted midway a few weeks ago, and what's going on with Pinocchio.

The reason the show was halted half way thru was due to the simple fact that the Stage Manage saw lightining in the sky, and for the safety of the Tech crew and the preformers, he stopped the show. We all know that the towers are steel, and just make great magnets for lightining.

Now, as far as Pinocchio goes. Yes, he is not in the show, nor will he be for a few more weeks. There was a "mechanical issue" in which he did fall back down into the pit. This did not result in the show being stopped, and happend on a different date then the show in question above. That sequence is automated, and noone was around when it happened. Noone was hurt except for Pinocchio, and he didn't feel any pain. There were a couple of people on that level of the mill when it fell and the sound scared the heck out of them.

The Fantasmic tech crew are all hoping for a speedy recovery for Pinocchio, however his injuries are extensive. There is talk that they may have to replace him permenantley with something else. What else, we don't know...but it may cost too much to repair the damage done to his hydrallic systems. Upper management is currently in meetings about this.

I hope this answers your questions. However, I gotta say that the speculation on the cancellation of the shows was very humorous to read, and took some creatvie thinking.

RStar
01-17-2005, 12:31 PM
Cool. Thanks Tech5 for the update of the show, and of Pinocchio. Where can we send the flowers? ;)

danyoung
01-17-2005, 01:32 PM
There is talk that they may have to replace him permenantley with something else. What else, we don't know...but it may cost too much to repair the damage done to his hydrallic systems.

Thanks for the informative report, Tech5. While I'm not jumping on you about this, I just hate it when I see things like the above. I can just imagine an engineer telling Walt that it was going to cost too much to fix something. I can almost hear him saying "Those words don't exist at Disneyland - fix it!"

Tech5
01-17-2005, 02:03 PM
While I'm not jumping on you about this, I just hate it when I see things like the above.

danyoung, ALL Fantasmic Cast Members don't want to hear it either. We ALL want Pinocchio back. When do the most pictures of the show happen? During Pinocchio.

Management, in their infinate wisdom, MAY determine that it costs too much to fix, and therefore replace it. Talk is already happening about a black light style (like the elephant sequence) Pinocchio sequence. This is making the stomachs of the techs turn, as well as the cast.

What could be done by the techs/cast/crew? Not much, management won't consider our opinions. HOWEVER, they do care about what the GUESTS think.

I am not telling anyone what to do, but should City Hall get bunches of complaints that the puppets aren't in the show, maybe that would send a clear message to the "bean counters".

Thanks.

JeffG
01-17-2005, 05:22 PM
This may not be a popular comment, but I think they really >should< take this opportunity to come up with a replacement effect for the Pinocchio sequence. That is the one part of the show that simply isn't visible to a very large percentage of the audience. If they could come up with some sort of a replacement effect (such as a blacklight sequence) that could play to all directions, I think it would be an improvement to the show.

-Jeff