A portable phone charger sparked a brief fire in a boat at Walt Disney World’s “it’s a small world” attraction Wednesday, forcing a temporary evacuation of the ride.
The incident occurred at the Orlando, Florida, theme park as a boat was near the loading platform. Kate Braggs, a tourist visiting the Magic Kingdom from Kilgore, Texas, with family and friends, recounted the disruption to FOX 35 Orlando.
“We rope-dropped Magic Kingdom yesterday, and we're doing all the things, and we said, ‘hey, let's go ride ‘small world,’ and the queue was a little bit more eventful than usual,’” Braggs told the outlet.
According to Braggs, her group had just boarded their vessel and were preparing to depart when passengers in the boat directly ahead of them abruptly stood up. She then noticed flames and smoke originating from a guest’s personal battery pack.
“Right when we sat down, that's when everybody in front of us popped up real quick,” Braggs said. “Then we saw the quick fire – quick fire – and the smoke. And then everyone kinda of parted, kinda like the ‘Red Sea.’ Some went back to the queue and some went to the exit way.”
Theme park employees, referred to by Disney as cast members, quickly intervened. Braggs said that the fire was small and praised the park staff, who she said stayed “super calm and collected and did a really good job with all of that.”
Employees used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames before local emergency crews arrived at the scene. Video shared on social media later showed a thick white haze lingering near the entrance of the attraction, likely left behind by the extinguisher.
Park officials evacuated guests from both the watercraft and the surrounding line. No injuries were reported, and a Disney spokesperson told FOX 35 that the attraction safely reopened to the public later that same day.
The Independent has asked Disney for comment.
The boat ride is one of the most recognizable fixtures in theme park history. It originally debuted at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair in New York before being moved to Disneyland in California. A replica of the attraction was built for the Florida resort, opening as an inaugural feature when Walt Disney World first welcomed guests in 1971.
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