Violence Breaks Out During Fantasmic! Show, Disney Security Storms Into Crowd

Things got violent at Disneyland on Thursday night.

When Walt Disney opened Disneyland Park in 1955, he envisioned it as a place “dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America – with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” One detail that didn’t make it into the speech was “a place for guests to throw hands and cause chaos.”

And yet, over the years, we’ve seen multiple cases of guests lashing out at Disney. In the age of smartphones and TikTok, it feels like we’re seeing more of these incidents than ever.

In 2024 alone, we’ve seen three adult women striking another woman on the ground of Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure Park. In August, another altercation broke out at the Southern California park when two guests grew frustrated with one another about the lack of available tables at Pym Test Kitchen.

Earlier in the year, one Reddit user detailed an incident they witnessed in line for The Incredicoaster, where one party refused to let a group of three guests who temporarily left the line return to their former spot.

A separate incident also occurred at neighboring Disneyland Park, where a guest carrying a toddler shoved another guest out of the way so they could watch the Main Street Marching Band play in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

This week, another incident occurred during the park’s Fantasmic! show. Performed nightly (sometimes twice a night) on the waters of the Rivers of America at the intersection of Frontierland and New Orleans Square, this treats audiences to a glimpse inside Mickey Mouse’s imagination, culminating in a battle against Disney Villains such as the Evil Queen, Ursula, and Maleficent.

A now-deleted video posted by user Chelly Shell on TikTok shows people fighting during the show’s second presentation of the evening, which Shell confirmed to Entertainment Weekly occurred at around 10:34 p.m.

Guests are shown standing up during the performance, with one pulling another’s hair from behind while other guests shout and try to put an end to the fight. As Shell told Entertainment Weekly, the three security officers who appeared near the end of the footage escorted the guests out of the Fantasmic! seating area, and the show continued as usual.

It’s currently not known what started the fight or whether the guests involved knew each other. Regardless, both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort include “courtesy” policies in their codes of conduct.

Please show common courtesy to fellow Guests and our Cast Members by not using profanity or engaging in unsafe, illegal, disruptive or offensive behavior, jumping lines or saving places in lines for others. For your safety and the safety of others, please refrain from running except in designated areas.

Fantasmic! is extremely popular with Disney guests, both at Disneyland and at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

In April 2023, however, Disneyland Resort was forced to put the show on an extended hiatus after its Maleficent dragon – who faces off against Mickey Mouse in the show’s grand finale – burst into flame shortly after being spotted leaking oil. Guests were quickly ushered out of the theater, and the dragon was totally destroyed.

While the show subsequently returned in May 2024, it did so with a brand new take on the dragon – by which we mean no dragon at all. Now, Maleficent remains in her human (or witch) form and instead conjures a cloud of green smoke and levitates off the stage. Impressive though it may be, it’s certainly no dragon. The Pirates of the Caribbean section of the show was also removed.

Have you ever witnessed guests getting violent at Disneyland?