NEWS: Smoke Surrounds Disneyland Parade Float

UPDATE: Disneyland confirmed a power issue impacted the Mermaid float in Disney’s Paint the Night Parade, according to Scott Gustin. Smoke was seen while the float was being towed due to a complication with the brakes. Disneyland did NOT confirm a fire.

Disney is well prepared to deal with accidents and emergencies within its theme parks. There have been cases of fires in both Disney World and Disneyland, but both were dealt with pretty quickly.

In Disneyland, the Fantasmic! dragon accidentally set itself on fire during a performance in 2023. Now, another incident has been reported by witnesses watching last night’s performance of the Paint The Night parade.

Disneyland guests who were watching the Paint The Night parade last night are reporting online that The Little Mermaid float caught fire during the parade’s performance. In a video by @jefernervest, you can see smoke erupting from one of the parade’s floats as the parade stops.

@jefernervest

Paint the Night Little Mermaid Float starts on fire at Disneyland.

♬ original sound – Jennifer Vest

Other videos also show something similar: smoke erupting from the parade float. We haven’t yet confirmed that it’s a fire, but something did, apparently, go wrong with the parade last night. Disneyland later confirmed it was an issue with the brakes, rather than a fire.

However, when we looked at the hours for the parade for tonight’s performance, it seems like the parade is still happening at 8:30 PM and 10:30 PM. There is a chance that this particular float may not be in the parade, though, so if you’re planning on catching the parade, you might want to prepare for that.

The Paint The Night parade returned as part of Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary Celebration — the anniversary is expected to run into sometime in 2026. Before that, Paint The Night was last seen as part of Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary Celebration a decade ago.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the situation, so check back with AllEars again soon for more.