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mriggins
02-04-2006, 09:22 PM
During a trip to DLR/DCA today with a good friend for his birthday, we stopped by DCA to see the Alladin musical at 4:15pm. First time for him and I had my daughter Coral with us (Who is 10 months but hasn't seen the show yet heh) so we went in to see it.

Well, maybe about 20 seconds in the magic carpet ride, to what I can tell from what my ears heard, one of the cables holding up the flying carpet snapped. The carpet immediately starting spinning around in circles.

The actors on the carpet (obviously the ones not on stage) continued to sing their piece for maybe 15 seconds, then it was obvious this wasn't going to resolve itself. They stopped singing and you could hear them removing their mics/headpieces. The music faded out, the people who had come on stage left and the curtain dropped.

The lights came on and the announcment was made that due to technical difficulties, the show would be posponed, and at that point you could see the female carpet/actress was scared. It took them about 15 minutes to get them back over to the platform to unload them.. The crowd cheered. It was sure that the people directly below them were ready to bail out of their seats.

Then the announcment was made that the show would now continue, everyone cheered. It continued with Alladin and Jasmine's kiss and farewell.

Then the next scene starts, the Genie (Who is always my favorite) comes out and as the play goes, asks Alladin how'd it go. Alladin replied in character "It went perfect!" And that's when the Genie went improv.... "Really? You sure took a long time! It went well?" the Genie stated. "It was perfect!" again says Alladin. Then the genie stated "Really.. I heard you had to call a tow carpet."

LOL! OH man the crowd busted up. And it went on for a while...

Anyhow glad to say no one was hurt and the show went on! The cast members were talking about it as we were leaving.

Not sure if they had the 6:00pm show, or if they did, if the carpet was working.

MonorailChris
02-04-2006, 09:29 PM
THANK GOD NO ONE GOT HURT! That is our family's favorite show and would hate to hear about anyone getting hurt.my favorite is jafar! i think that guy does a awesome job.my favorite part is when he asks who has 3 wishes and then waves his hand in the air all crazy.i laugh everytime.:D

disneyjunkie
02-04-2006, 10:48 PM
Yes I agree thank goodness no one was hurt either performers or guest. but it sounds like you have to hand it to Genie for making the guest at ease over the incident. Poor people under the carpet at the time I am sure they were ready to bolt, I would have been.

Phantom2006
02-05-2006, 12:29 AM
I went on Friday and i saw Aladdin. When we saw it they did not even do that magic carpet scene. They just sang the song from behind the stage. I justr thought maybe soemthing was wrong with it and they were fixing it.

MommyTo3Boys1Girl
02-05-2006, 06:24 AM
WOW, I imagine she was scared. That would have been tragic if they had fallen!
That is great that Genie added that little improv. TOO FUNNY!

geoffa
02-05-2006, 01:26 PM
Wow! I guess the carpet won't be put back into the show until safety checks have been made. Surely those cables are steel high tension? For one of them to snap is most unusual as I would suspect a weight check is made periodically. Just glad to hear all was well for the actors and that Genie managed to relieve the tension.

mriggins
02-06-2006, 02:07 AM
Something defintely snapped, as we all heard a "boing", or "doing" sound. I've heard the noise a wire snap makes and this definitely sounded like that. Whether the cable came undone from the carpet, or the track system overhead I am not sure. The carpet definitely was stuck in the location where the incident occured.

Interesting they were not running it on Friday. I wonder if they had issues with it then. This was the 2nd to last showing on Saturday at 4:15pm.

Coral was asleep in my arms and I didn't want to look goofy running down the stairs. (We were in mezzanine, about 6-7 rows back just under the balcony) so I didn't get to see exactly what was going on up there. It was clear they had to get the carpet with the singers back to the loading/unloading platform.

It was quite an experience. I'm certainly glad nothing occured, aside from anything drastic, a cable flying through the air could have hit them or backlashed into the audience.

On a geek note, I've always though there were 4 cables holding the carpet up. Someone behind us in chatter mentioned a "5th" wire in the middle which seemed odd to me considering there are two singers there.

At any rate, just like Broadway, the show must go on!

hersh006
02-06-2006, 11:42 AM
Wow! I guess the carpet won't be put back into the show until safety checks have been made.

They had it running for the 6:05 PM show on Sunday. No signs of any trouble. Lucky for us. That is my daughters favorite part of the show.

Disney Vault
02-06-2006, 01:56 PM
I am just glad no one was hurt. And you have just got to love the guys who play genie. They always are so clever.

mriggins
02-07-2006, 09:09 AM
I am just glad no one was hurt. And you have just got to love the guys who play genie. They always are so clever.

Aside from being whitty, I'll clap for anyone that spends several hours of his life waiting for someone to turn him blue. Glad they got the carpet fixed. This a fantastic show and I enjoy it more and more everytime I see it.

What is everyone's best Genie joke? I heard a new one on this visit (prior to the incident) after Jasmine denies "Prince Ali" her hand in marriage. I was waiting for the old "Wait, there's gonna be sandwhiches" line from the Genie but instead heard a new one. "We were gonna play twister! Right hand Blue! Left hand.......blue." hahahaahah I lost it.

Malcon10t
02-07-2006, 09:47 AM
Aside from being whitty, I'll clap for anyone that spends several hours of his life waiting for someone to turn him blue. Glad they got the carpet fixed. This a fantastic show and I enjoy it more and more everytime I see it.

What is everyone's best Genie joke? I heard a new one on this visit (prior to the incident) after Jasmine denies "Prince Ali" her hand in marriage. I was waiting for the old "Wait, there's gonna be sandwhiches" line from the Genie but instead heard a new one. "We were gonna play twister! Right hand Blue! Left hand.......blue." hahahaahah I lost it.I think my favorite one was on May 4th, at the end of the show where Aladdin asks Genie now that he is free, what is he going to do and he usually replies "I'm going to DISNEYLAND!!" Well, he did it just as planned, then when he ran off stage you hear him yell "Whaddya mean it's CLOSED???"

cfrith
02-07-2006, 10:24 AM
This sounds like a great show! Should it be there during the week of April 24th? I hope so! So they actually have a carpet with real people on it flying up in the air? I can't wait! :)

findin mickeys
02-07-2006, 11:57 AM
It is a fantastic show. I have probably seen it about 6-8 times now and every show is different. The Genie is a riot and all the other cast members are incredible. To me, this show alone is worth the price of admission to the park.

Hakuna Makarla
02-07-2006, 01:18 PM
Ooohhhh I can not wait to see this show!! How long is it and can I video if my camera window is closed? ( no lights) I tried to see this a year ago, the line was way long and the heat was bad so I forgoen it, now I look forward to seeing it for the first time in April :)

geoffa
02-07-2006, 03:15 PM
This sounds like a great show! Should it be there during the week of April 24th? I hope so! So they actually have a carpet with real people on it flying up in the air? I can't wait! :)

Aladdin actually rides an elephant through the auditorium too! Believe me you will LOVE it!:)

geoffa
02-07-2006, 03:25 PM
Ooohhhh I can not wait to see this show!! How long is it and can I video if my camera window is closed? ( no lights) I tried to see this a year ago, the line was way long and the heat was bad so I forgoen it, now I look forward to seeing it for the first time in April :)

It's about 20 to 25 minutes in length and YES you can video but no lights.(There's an amateur full length video of the show on WDWMagic.com) A monopod is helpful so you're not having to hold the camera up all the time. You can get away with a SMALL tripod confined between your leg space but do be mindful that there are people and especially children behind you who want to see the show too.:)

ONE TIP - if you want to video the flying carpet you need to be sat in the front of the REAR section downstairs (this is a great position for being close to the parade of prince Ali) or in the mezzanine upstairs because it tends to fly over the top of the front downstairs seats and you'll get stiff arms and neck if you try to do it from there. There are two parts in the show where it flies - on stage the carpet will wave to Al & Jasmine and they board from Jasmine's balcony. A "mock" model then flies on stage against the sky backdrop. As it flies off stage look up and there the guys are up above you.

The genie also flies on the carpet at the finale when he takes off for his vacation trip. Hope all this helps.:)

Also have alook at:

http://images.mouseplanet.com/mp/dca/hollywood/attr_hyperion/aladdin/Aladdin34SK-friend_like_me_dozen_genies-h.jpg

cfrith
02-07-2006, 06:13 PM
Aladdin actually rides an elephant through the auditorium too! Believe me you will LOVE it!:)

Is this a joke?! A real elephant?!!!

cfrith
02-07-2006, 06:28 PM
It's about 20 to 25 minutes in length and YES you can video but no lights.(There's an amateur full length video of the show on WDWMagic.com) A monopod is helpful so you're not having to hold the camera up all the time. You can get away with a SMALL tripod confined between your leg space but do be mindful that there are people and especially children behind you who want to see the show too.:)

I just googled monopod to see what they looked like...please don't laugh...how do they work?!! :confused:

Dexter
02-07-2006, 06:36 PM
Is this a joke?! A real elephant?!!!


Geoffa is correct, aladdin rides on an elephant, however it's not real it's an amazing prop that actually lowers itself to go in/out one of the auditorium doors.

cfrith
02-07-2006, 06:42 PM
Geoffa is correct, aladdin rides on an elephant, however it's not real it's an amazing prop that actually lowers itself to go in/out one of the auditorium doors.

Better go tell hubby no elephant after all....;)

geoffa
02-08-2006, 01:28 AM
Is this a joke?! A real elephant?!!! etc

All I'll say is he rides an elephant. The rest you'll have to wait and see!

Monopod: It's just an extending pole that screws into the bottom of your videocam. It saves you having to hold up the cam for long periods and gives steadier shots.

See:
http://www.amvona.com/v7/shop/?page=shop/category&category_id=cc8ce1d40d067e74f11b951e72ae9d81&gclid=CPnz_YXeiIMCFShhEgod5BjJew

I appreciate these are a bit pricey but if you shop around on the internet or try local camera stores.:)

geoffa
02-08-2006, 01:30 AM
Geoffa is correct, aladdin rides on an elephant, however it's not real it's an amazing prop that actually lowers itself to go in/out one of the auditorium doors.
Dexter - you gave the game away.

See:
http://images.mouseplanet.com/mp/dca/hollywood/attr_hyperion/aladdin/Aladdin44SK-elephant-sq.jpg

The best elephant though is in the Broadway and London versions of Lion King. Disney is so clever at this stuff! Can't find a picture of that one but here are the giraffes:
http://www.keithprowse.co.nz/images/lionking.jpg
:)

5of5
03-13-2006, 07:51 AM
Well, maybe about 20 seconds in the magic carpet ride, to what I can tell from what my ears heard, one of the cables holding up the flying carpet snapped. The carpet immediately starting spinning around in circles.

The cables holding up the carpet have never snapped, and when they change them out, they are taken back to the manufacturer and tested for loss of strength. As of yet, the strength has not deteriorated and they snapped at the appropriate weight rating.

Everytime the carpet "breaks", or as we put it, faults, it is because of the computer systems running it. The carpet has three different computer software/hardware systems doing redundant safety checks, and it is the computers that detect an anomaly and automatically stop the carpet mid-flight. In this instance, two of the systems were giving different readings (one systems gives a reading every 100th of a second, and two of them give readings every 1,000th of a second) and it stopped itself, just to make sure.


Then the next scene starts, the Genie (Who is always my favorite) comes out and as the play goes, asks Alladin how'd it go. Alladin replied in character "It went perfect!" And that's when the Genie went improv.... "Really? You sure took a long time! It went well?" the Genie stated. "It was perfect!" again says Alladin. Then the genie stated "Really.. I heard you had to call a tow carpet."

Yes, we all thought it was funny, but did you see the part of the scene that we on stage thought was the best moment of the show? We talked the actress who plays the carpet character to limp out onto the stage when she made her appearance at the parapet (because she was broken, see?).

5of5
03-13-2006, 07:55 AM
On a geek note, I've always though there were 4 cables holding the carpet up. Someone behind us in chatter mentioned a "5th" wire in the middle which seemed odd to me considering there are two singers there.

At any rate, just like Broadway, the show must go on!

Actually, there are only 3 cables. One in the front, and two in the rear.

5of5
03-13-2006, 08:00 AM
Aside from being whitty, I'll clap for anyone that spends several hours of his life waiting for someone to turn him blue. Glad they got the carpet fixed. This a fantastic show and I enjoy it more and more everytime I see it.

What is everyone's best Genie joke? I heard a new one on this visit (prior to the incident) after Jasmine denies "Prince Ali" her hand in marriage. I was waiting for the old "Wait, there's gonna be sandwhiches" line from the Genie but instead heard a new one. "We were gonna play twister! Right hand Blue! Left hand.......blue." hahahaahah I lost it.

I love the fact that you liked the "right hand blue, left hand . . . blue" bit. No, I am not a genie (well, one of the dancing ones sometimes) but I do give them some material every once in a while. This little addition was one of mine. His original line stopped after "We were gonna play twister!", and so I told him that I was expecting him to say something about "right hand blue, left hand . .. blue". He said he would try it, and he did! I love it when they use my jokes. Even so, it took him a while before he got the pause (realizing that his left hand was also blue) just right.

Thanks!