Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World is an iconic landmark. It’s the thing that everybody sees at the end of Main Street U.S.A. It’s the hub of the park, the place to look for fireworks, and it’s also home to one of the better restaurants in the park. But today it was the source of a great deal of commotion as Cinderella’s Royal Table had to be evacuated following a fire alarm.
At about 1:15 PM, a performance of Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire, one of several new live entertainment offerings in the park, which takes place on a stage in front of the castle, suddenly ended with the actors being ushered off stage and an announcement playing that the show had been cancelled. Shortly thereafter, WDWNT reports that Cinderella’s Royal Table, the restaurant inside the castle, was evacuated due to a fire alarm going off.
Guests were not allowed to approach the park icon following this. The building remained empty for about an hour while it was investigated by the Reedy Creek Fire Department. At that point it was given the all-clear and people were allowed to reenter for their meals or were otherwise compensated.
It’s being reported that fireworks crews were seen on the outside of the castle while it was otherwise closed down. One possible scenario for what might have happened is that the fireworks that were set to go off at the end of the stage show had something go wrong or failed a safety check, and thus the area had to be cleared as precaution.
That certainly would check out based on what happened. There was some smoke seen from outside the castle, but no fire. It could have been a fireworks problem, or it could have even been a small fire in the restaurant kitchen.
This is the second fire in the vicinity of the castle in less than three months. A fire broke out back in December that was small enough it was put out with a single fire extinguisher. The result of the fire, however, was much bigger, as it led to firetrucks driving right down Main Street U.S.A. One person was taken away by an ambulance in that case, but it was only a precaution after the person who put the fire out had inhaled fumes from the extinguisher, nothing to do with the fire itself.
Whatever happened everything seems to be ok now. Guests are allowed to approach the castle again, which has been done up in style for Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary, and it appears service at the restaurant is back to normal. Hopefully nobody who had their heart set on lunch inside the castle lost out. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten there but it’s a meal I still remember.
