A guest's phone charger sent guests evacuating from one of Magic Kingdom Park‘s most beloved attractions on July 1. One day later, Walt Disney World Resort took the unusual step of publicly confirming exactly what happened on “it's a small world.”
Smoke Fills “it's a small world”, Guests Evacuate
The first indication that something had gone wrong inside “it's a small world” came from a TikTok video posted by @coachbragg, which racked up thousands of views overnight. The footage showed guests evacuating the queue, loading area, and unloading area as smoke spread through the Fantasyland attraction.
@coachbragg Turning up the heat on It’s a small world 🔥 #fire #itsasmallworld
Social media quickly filled with speculation. Unverified accounts from guests and cast members who were present described a MagSafe portable phone charger igniting inside a bag on the floor of a boat near the end of the ride, just before it reached the unloading area. That explanation circulated widely before Disney officially said anything.
Walt Disney World Resort Confirms the Cause
Walt Disney World Resort almost never issues public statements about emergency responses at its theme parks, which made the statement shared Thursday by theme park journalist Ashley Carter (@AshleyLCarter1) on X (formerly known as Twitter) genuinely surprising to fans:
Got some info from Disney: A guest's charger sparked a small fire. Cast members acted quickly, using a fire extinguisher to put it out before firefighters arrived. No injuries. Ride was shut down briefly and reopened that day.
Got some info from Disney: A guest's charger sparked a small fire. Cast members acted quickly, using a fire extinguisher to put it out before firefighters arrived. No injuries. Ride was shut down breifly and reopened that day. https://t.co/HhtcwehTYD
— Ashley Carter (@AshleyLCarter1) July 2, 2026
In a single statement, Walt Disney World Resort confirmed that the guest's phone charger was the source, credited a Disney cast member with extinguishing the fire before firefighters arrived, reported no injuries, and confirmed that the attraction reopened the same day after necessary safety checks.
“It's a small world” was running normally on Thursday, July 2, with no ongoing disruptions to its operations.
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