Walt Disney World Resort guests visiting Magic Kingdom Park on Monday night were met with unexpected chaos after a critical system failure shut down multiple attractions and left thousands without access to fountain drinks in the notorious Central Florida heat.
Magic Kingdom Plunged Into Widespread Outage
The problems began around 6:00 p.m. on February 10, when a sudden breakdown in the park’s central pressurized air system forced nearly all major attractions to close with no estimated reopening time. Guests at Magic Kingdom Park found themselves wandering through crowded walkways, with only a handful of attractions still operating.
The following rides shut down without warning:
- The Barnstormer
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Country Bear Musical Jamboree
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- “it’s a small world”
- Mad Tea Party
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Space Mountain
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid
- Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress
- Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
Only a few attractions remained operational, including the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and TRON Lightcycle / Run. Unsurprisingly, wait times for these rides skyrocketed as thousands of guests sought entertainment wherever they could find it.
After hours of uncertainty, most rides were back online by 10:00 p.m.—just in time for a ticketed After Hours event.
Fountain Drinks Unavailable Throughout the Park
While the ride closures caused frustration, another system failure was quietly affecting every guest in Magic Kingdom: fountain drink machines across the park went completely offline.
According to Reddit user u/Grottenman, the outage prevented guests from ordering fountain beverages in the park, either through counter service or mobile ordering.
“Well, thats a first for me,” they wrote. “They are saying their system for the fountain drinks is down. It is also not showing up available to order in any of the mobile order locations.”
Another Redditor, u/SeriousStrokes69, who identified themselves as a Walt Disney World Resort cast member, explained that the cause of the massive failure was tied to the park’s central pressurized air system, which impacts multiple functions across the first Central Florida Disney park.
“The cause was an issue with the central pressurized air system,” the Disney cast member wrote. “All of the attractions that were down use that system for braking, lifting, or some other critical function…As of 8:45, issue seems resolved. Attractions are coming back up one by one as they complete their checklists.”
Because the same system also provides carbonation for fountain drinks, Magic Kingdom Park guests couldn’t access fountain beverages. Only bottled drinks remained available for purchase.
By Tuesday, Magic Kingdom Park’s fountain beverage machines were back up and running, and the ride closures were fully resolved.
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