A pro-democracy protest at Disney’s Magic Kingdom escalated into an apparent coup d’état Saturday afternoon. The protest against King Iger, which had been organized on social media by the Disney Freedom Front, began around 10:00 a.m. at the north end of Main Street and soon moved into the King’s Park area outside Cinderella Castle, known informally as “The Hub.”
As the crowd grew, the King’s Security Force erected a barricade between the park and the castle and called-up reinforcements from regiments in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. When soldiers began arriving around mid-day, protestors taunted them and bombarded them with character pins and Dole Whip. Skirmishes broke out around the periphery, and sporadic gunfire could be heard in the Main Street and Liberty Square sections of the capital.
Around 2:30 p.m., as gunfire intensified, witnesses reported seeing protestors overrunning security barriers, crossing the moat bridge, and entering the castle. Cinderella Castle has a decorative moat but is not protected by a drawbridge. The king’s former residence at Sleeping Beauty Castle, now his summer retreat, has a functional moat and drawbridge. These protections were thought unnecessary when the new castle was built in 1971.
At an impromptu press conference in the castle’s press room around 3:45 p.m., a masked woman who called herself “Aurora Prime” read the following statement: “The king is deposed and no longer controls this government. We, the Provisional Council, declare the formation of the Magic Republic. We will maintain control of the government on an interim basis. Free elections will be held within six months. We ask all citizens to remain calm during this transition. We also order all armed forces, including the King’s Security Force, to lay down their arms and pledge loyalty to the republic and the people.”
A shaky peace appears to be holding in much of the realm, but skirmishes reportedly continue in remote parts of Frontierland.
King Iger’s status is unknown. He is believed to have been on the castle property before the protests began, but there have been no credible reports of his escape, capture, or death. There is evidence that the castle construction project in the 1970s included creating a system of secret tunnels beneath the capital, but this has never been confirmed by kingdom officials. The monarchy’s official website became unresponsive early this afternoon, and the only new post on the king’s social media accounts—presumably written and scheduled before today’s events—commemorated the country’s free trade relationship with neighboring Animal Kingdom.
There are credible but unconfirmed reports that both the Animal Kingdom and the Epcot Federation received requests for military assistance from Magic Kingdom officials as the situation deteriorated and the barricades were breached. Separately, a Disney Resorts Treaty Organization (DRTO) official speaking on condition on anonymity claimed the organization also received an urgent request for assistance. Officials at the DRTO Military Coordination Office would not comment except to say they were “monitoring the situation and hoping for a peaceful resolution.”