Disneyland Dragon on Tom Sawyer Island Goes Up in Flames

Folks at Disneyland got extra Saturday night, as they watched parts of Tom Sawyer Island go up in flames.

It went down as park-goers were enjoying the Fantasmic light show on Tom Sawyer Island  ... suddenly, the head of the 45-foot-tall animatronic dragon erupted into a fireball and the flames began to spread.

Cast members were at the ready and quickly evacuated around 1,000 people from the area around Frontierland. No one was hurt, but there was clearly extensive property damage.

The fire started toward the end of the show, when Mickey Mouse was fighting the fire-breathing dragon, Maleficent. The fire breath engulfed the dragon's head and then spread to the rest of its body.

And this is interesting -- the way it was extinguished. The staff turned on a water feature that was part of the show and it doused the flames, and the crowd cheered.