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A routine performance of the Festival of Fantasy Parade at Walt Disney World Resort was briefly interrupted this week after a character costume malfunction forced an early exit mid-route.
The incident took place during the daily procession at Magic Kingdom, the park’s flagship daytime entertainment offering.
Credit: Disney
Introduced in 2014, Festival of Fantasy Parade features floats and performers inspired by Disney animated films including Tangled, Peter Pan, and The Little Mermaid.
The parade remains one of the resort’s most reliable crowd draws, operating multiple times daily and anchoring afternoon traffic along Main Street, U.S.A.
Despite its popularity, the production has experienced occasional technical issues over the years, largely tied to weather, moving floats, and complex character costumes.
Credit: Disney
Past disruptions have included performers being escorted off route, floats pausing for mechanical resets, and weather-related evacuations during heavy rain.
Those interruptions rarely last long. Cast members typically step in quickly to shield characters and keep the parade moving with minimal attention from guests.
This week’s incident marked the latest example.
Character Removed Midway Through Performance
On January 27, a problem occurred during the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) segment of the parade.
The section features Snow White dancing alongside the Seven Dwarfs as they walk the route through the park.
During the performance, Sneezy appeared to suffer a costume malfunction when one of the character’s eyes visibly shifted out of place, leaving an empty socket.
1/27 Festival of Fantasy Parade Goof
byu/unlunchyluck inWaltDisneyWorld
Guests nearby recorded the moment and later shared accounts online describing cast members intervening shortly after.
“Y’all never in all my years as a WDW fan have I experienced something like this,” wrote one guest on Reddit. “This was at the end of the afternoon parade route on [Main Street]. He was taken out shortly after with a cast member covering the eyes and taking him out one of the back entrances.”
The guest noted that the character, who walks with Dopey positioned on his back, did not drop the detached piece onto the parade route.
“I kinda think it fell inside the costume, if that makes sense?” they wrote. “The other eye looked like it was kinda half poked out too.”
Cast members escorted the performer backstage, and the parade continued without a full stop.
Credit: Disney
Similar Issues Have Happened Before
Costume malfunctions during live entertainment are not uncommon at large-scale theme park productions.
Festival of Fantasy has faced several high-profile mishaps in recent years.
In 2023, Flora experienced a technical issue with her “floating device” during the Sleeping Beauty portion of the parade, requiring assistance from cast members.
In 2024, the Beast’s tail appeared to fall off while evacuating the Beauty and the Beast float during a rainstorm.
Oh no!! Mickey’s eye fell out!!! 🫣 pic.twitter.com/49sDHs5Mcr
— WDW Kevin (@WDW_Kevin) April 14, 2022
Heavy weather also disrupted a June 2025 performance, when Snow White was filmed escorting Bashful off route during a downpour.
Other Disney productions have seen similar moments.
In 2022, a clip from the former Move It! Shake It! MousekeDance It! Street Party appeared to show Mickey Mouse losing an eye mid-performance before being assisted by cast members.
That same year, a comparable incident occurred during a deck party aboard Disney Cruise Line.
In most cases, trained operations teams handle these situations quickly to minimize disruption and maintain guest experience.
Have you ever witnessed a similar incident at Disney?
