Murphy the temperamental dragon mini-update

[HydroGuy]

From MiceAge today http://miceage.micechat.com/

Editor's Note 8/30: Murphy the Dragon suffered a rather public humiliation during the first Fantasmic! show Sat. night. The infrastructure of the sophisticated animatronic failed after a busy summer of twice-nightly performances, snapping some internal components and nearly dislodging the entire dragon from its hydraulically lifted mounts. It's too early to tell how long it will be before a fix is completed. Although the initial rumors from the Entertainment Dept of 4 to 6 months of downtime are probably over-dramatized, it's fairly safe to say that the dragon won't be in the remaining shows through Labor Day weekend. They didn't christen that dragon Murphy for nothing. - Al Lutz

ETA:

Also see MiceAge http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/da...s-california-adventure-construction-more.html

DRAGON FAILTASMIC!
Saturday night the Disney Twittersphere erupted in news that the Fantasmic! dragon (also known as 'Murphy') had "collapsed" mid-show and broke in front of a packed audience. Reports came in that the Fantasmic mist screens were turned on at full power to obscure guest views of the broken dragon, and news that the second show of the night was cancelled soon came in. A Twitter account named "Murphytracker" quickly appeared, offering photos of the broken dragon.

Sunday's performances of Fantasmic played, as scheduled, but the dragon was not present in the show. The dragon's collapse is another mark of bad luck for the fire-breathing animatronic that debuted late last summer after months of technical issues that it forced the new dragon to be delayed numerous times. Performances of Fantasmic, which is now on a weekends-only schedule following the busy summer season, will continue as scheduled; but there is no word on when the dragon is expected to be fixed.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Well, they have a little over a month to get it up and running before I get there! I hope they can do it for the busy Halloween season!

 

[marcemc]

i didn't know about this. We had just watched it the night before (friday) during the 10:30 p.m. show.

The heartbreak. Can you imagine? Most people wait there for hours to see the show.....

 

[wdwfan22]

I hope he is fixed soon for everyone's sake. I really want to see him November so I can compare the full show to the show in DW.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

I am so glad Murphy was working when we saw the show in July. I am pretty sure that will be our one and only family trip to DLR ... I would have been so disappointed if she wasn't working! I feel bad for the other "first timers" that will miss out on what was truly a spectacular show.

 

[Disney Dreams]

A couple of friends were there that night watching the show as Murphy collapsed. One of them described is as, "She just fell over. It was heart-breaking to see." (And by heart-breaking, she was not referring to waiting for the show and then it being cancelled mid-show. She was referring to her love for the show and that it was like watching a friend collapse right in front of her eyes.) My understanding from our friends who saw it is that she did not snap or break in half, but just simply fell (which would make sense if the issue is the hydraulics system). There are photos online that show what happened.


Thank goodness it did not happen during the fire-breathing sequence AND that she didn't fall on Mickey. It could have been REALLY bad.

- Dreams

 

[skiingfast]

Between this and the Yeti in Expedition Everest I wonder if WDI has anyone that can preform finite element analysis? Stuff like this shouldn't be failing.

 

[HydroGuy]

Between this and the Yeti in Expedition Everest I wonder if WDI has anyone that can preform finite element analysis? Stuff like this shouldn't be failing.

Well there is FEA, but these both of these are dynamic systems which is not really FEA's thing.
Yes, you would think someone could engineer them properly. But Disney does a lot of groundbreaking things and this could be one of them.

 

[rainmancp]

haha murphy haha it looked like it was falling over. something went really wrong.
they started taking upt he ropes and moving people
then you can see the boat coming around with all the characters it was funny

 

[Belle Ella]

Poor Murphy! In case I don't get to see her during my trip next month (and I'm not going to get my hopes up, but shucks, it's the one year I finally splurge on the Dessert seating ...) I'm glad I at least got to see ehr and get good photos last September!

 

[tinkcollector]

Awww, sad. But equally glad to hear no one was injured. Where are the pictures?

 

[rainmancp]

murphy basically died i mean malfunctioned after the fire breathing
pictures didn't come out well at all
you could barely see anything
all we could hear was mickey saying his lines and see nothing happening

it was my first time to see fantasmic so i didn't know what to expect.
i liked it (what i saw that is), however it was our last night there so that was a bit of a disappointment.

 

[HydroGuy]

Awww, sad. But equally glad to hear no one was injured. Where are the pictures?

Check the links in the OP

 

[cmwade77]

Between this and the Yeti in Expedition Everest I wonder if WDI has anyone that can preform finite element analysis? Stuff like this shouldn't be failing.

Unfortunately Murphy was not built or designed directly by Disney, yes they had final say in it all, but they didn't build him or design him. Also, we have earthquakes in California, from what I have been told, this is something that they seem to be forgetting (the mickey lift, dragon and World of Color Projection domes were all damaged in our most recent earthquake, which was a relatively minor one unfortunately).

 

[skiingfast]

Unfortunately Murphy was not built or designed directly by Disney, yes they had final say in it all, but they didn't build him or design him. Also, we have earthquakes in California, from what I have been told, this is something that they seem to be forgetting (the mickey lift, dragon and World of Color Projection domes were all damaged in our most recent earthquake, which was a relatively minor one unfortunately).

What's more unfotunate is they can't find contractors who are able to build for normal standards. DL didn't experience it's first earthquake this summer either.

Disney just needs to do a better job at making things that are noticeable, work.