No, Cinderella Castle at Disney World in Florida did not burn down

What is the claim?

A video compilation claiming that Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World in Florida burned down on February 24, 2024, has been circulating on Facebook. The video shows smoke around a castle-like structure, followed by images of a castle engulfed in flames, and a clip where the castle is obscured. A voiceover in the video says, ”Breaking news, Cinderella's castle burned to the ground yesterday. The castle caught fire early in the morning and sent smoke pouring throughout the Magic Kingdom.” The voiceover then details firefighting efforts and how the castle burnt down.

A social media user shared the viral video on Facebook on February 25, 2024, with the caption, “Disney’s Cinderella Castle Burns Down.” An archived version of the post can be accessed here. Archives of similar posts can be found here and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts.(Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found that the viral claim originates from a satirical website.

How did we verify this? 

Upon investigation, we discovered that the claim originated from a satirical website. A thorough search for credible reports on a fire at Cinderella Castle yielded no evidence of such an incident, which would have attracted widespread media coverage.

Further scrutiny revealed the source of the claim: mousetrapnews.com published an article titled “BREAKING: Cinderella Castle Burns To The Ground” on February 24, 2024. The article humorously suggested Disney orchestrated the fire to replace the castle but concluded by admitting the story was entirely fictional. Mouse Trap News's 'About' page openly describes the site as a hub for satire and parody, emphasizing that its content is fictional.

Old videos shared as castle 'burning down' 

We discovered that the compilation video depicting a fire at the castle includes both old footage and images that appear to be artificially generated.

The video segment from 0:00 to 0:03, seemingly showing smoke and fumes around the castle, was uploaded to TikTok by a verified account named 'sachaofficialmusic' on February 8, 2023. Sacha, a Canadian singer, captured this footage, which likely depicts a fireworks display at the castle. This event is a regular occurrence known for its impressive pyrotechnics, as confirmed by Walt Disney World.

The video was uploaded by the singer on TikTok (Source: TikTok/Screenshot )

We have contacted Sacha for further details about the video. However, it's important to note that the footage could showcase a fireworks display at Cinderella Castle, aligning with Walt Disney World's official website description. The site mentions that Cinderella Castle frequently hosts "astounding fireworks extravaganzas," featuring lights, lasers, and special effects.

The segment from 0:18 to 0:21, where the castle appears 'invisible,' was uploaded to TikTok by an account named 'thewessicaway' on November 20, 2024. According to the video's description on TikTok, the Cinderella Castle was obscured by heavy fog that morning. To verify this, we investigated incidents of fog at Disney World and found a report from the Australian news website news.com.au, dated November 21, 2023. The report included a video on fog in Florida, showing the same visuals at the 0:30 timestamp as those in the viral video, thus indicating that an unrelated, old video was used to portray 'smoke' at the theme park.

Further, we located videos from Disney World post the alleged fire incident, showing the Cinderella Castle unaffected. US-based vloggers Jenna and Josh broadcasted their visit to Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World live on their YouTube channel, 'ResortTV1,' on February 25, 2024. The castle is visible at the 3:23:07 timestamp in their video.

We have also contacted Walt Disney World, and this article will be updated if and when we get a response.

The verdict

The viral video purporting that Walt Disney World's Cinderella Castle was destroyed by fire originated from a parody and satirical website known as Mouse Trap News. This website explicitly states that its published articles are "neither true, real, nor accurate." Consequently, we have marked the claim as false.