A black-and-white Mickey Mouse pilots the Mark Twain Riverboat down The Rivers of America during Fantasmic! at Disneyland in Anaheim, on Monday, July 17, 2017. Fantasmic! is DisneyÕs longest-running nighttime show. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Disneyland maintenance crew raced to the rescue to save “Fantasmic” with the help of a speedboat that kicked up a powerful wake – all in hopes of dislodging debris from an underwater track that threatened to cancel the nighttime spectacular.
Disneyland visitors waiting to watch “Fantasmic” were treated to an unanticipated stunt show when the Anaheim theme park’s maintenance crew raced a flat-bottomed skiff boat along the Rivers of America – the man-made waterway usually used for leisurely cruises on riverboats and pirate ships.
The wake from the 20-foot-long skiff boat with a powerful outboard motor was unable to loosen the debris from the underwater track that guides the Sailing Ship Columbia and Mark Twain Riverboat – key components in “Fantasmic.”
The surprising spectacle was captured on video and posted to social media before the scheduled “Fantasmic” shows on Monday, June 3.
A Disneyland diver was eventually able to unclog the underwater track and save one of the two shows for the thousands of anxious viewers lining the Rivers of America.
The 9 p.m. show on Monday night was canceled due to technical difficulties, but the second show at 10:30 p.m. was performed as planned – thanks to the work of the Disneyland maintenance and dive teams.
The skiff boats are frequently used by Disneyland maintenance and dive crews to repair “World of Color” fountains on Paradise Bay, rescue inoperable tramp steamers on the Jungle Cruise and work on “Fantasmic” mist screens in the Rivers of America.
Originally published at Brady MacDonald