One of the coolest effects has finally returned to the Festival of Fantasy parade in Magic Kingdom.
Disney World’s Festival of Fantasy parade
Back in April, the Maleficent dragon caught fire during a showing of Fantasmic! in Disneyland. Following the accident, Disney made the call to temporarily suspend similar fire effects at all Disney parks for a while. Disney’s statement said, “We are temporarily suspending fire effects similar to those used at Disneyland Park’s Fantasmic! at select shows and entertainment experiences globally out of an abundance of caution following the Fantasmic! prop fire at Disneyland Park.” That meant that the Maleficent dragon’s fire-breathing effect at the Magic Kingdom parade in Disneyland was temporarily paused. But now it’s back!
We watched the Festival of Fantasy parade today, May 16th, 2023, and noticed that — for the first time in forever (cue Anna’s song from Frozen) — the Maleficent dragon is once again breathing fire.
Maleficent is breathing fire again during the Festival of Fantasy Parade! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/tAjlJNOuzo
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 16, 2023
We spoke to a Cast Member who told us that the dragon is only breathing fire in some parts of the park. For part of the parade, the fire effect is still suspended due to the proximity of flammable materials.
Maleficent Dragon
The Cast Member told us that we should be able to see the effect on Main Street, U.S.A., so try to get a spot along Main Street if you want to see it soon.
Breathing fire
Although the effect is pretty cool to see, there are lots of fun floats and performers in this parade, so even without the fire it’s definitely a must-see in Magic Kingdom.
Ariel in the Festival of Fantasy Parade
The fire in Disneyland wasn’t the first time we’ve seen trouble with this effect — Back in 2018, the Maleficent dragon float caught fire in Disney World during the parade.
We’ll continue to watch for more updates from Disney, so stay tuned to DFB!
Click here to see TONS of photos and videos of the Festival of Fantasy parade.
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Could we put DeSantis in front of Maleficent for a flammability test?
Can someone please start a “bring back the night parade again”
Social media movement?
I’d love that!
Did they bring back the one in Fantasmic? Wasn’t working when we went last week.