Dragon (Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour)

The Dragon is a character in the former Tokyo Disneyland attraction, Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour.
==Background==
The dragon lives in a hidden lair located below Cinderella Castle at Fantasyland. In the attraction, the dragon would occasionally wake up and roar, implying that it was not fond of having guests visit its lair.
===Development===
The dragon seen in Tokyo Disneyland was created for the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour attraction. This model would later be repurposed for a completely different dragon for the La Tanière du Dragon attraction at Disneyland Paris, albeit the attraction itself having a completely different storyline. A third partial copy of the dragon figure was planned for the Discovery River Boats attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom, but was cancelled due to budget cuts. The dragon was initially going to be a static figure, but Terri Hardin persuaded her supervisor Tony Baxter that it could be an Audio-Animatronic that would be in continuous motion. Additionally, it was going to be fenced in by the skeleton of another dragon with a sword in its chest and, later, a chain with the links looking like helmets and shields, but neither idea was used.
Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour permanently closed on April 5, 2006 and was replaced by Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall, resulting many dark elements from the predecessor to be removed.
==Appearances==
===Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour===
Located in a cave of hidden jewels, guests made their way through the treasure-filled cavern, only to encounter a massive sleeping dragon. Lightning flashed as the dragon woke up and roared at guests, but an escape opportunity presented itself with a special lift controlled by a Goon, which took the guests and guide out of the cavern and up the castle. The dragon made no further appearances afterwards.
===Mickey's Great Adventure in Tokyo Disneyland===
The dragon also had a major role as the penultimate boss in the Japan-exclusive Super Famicom video game Mickey's Great Adventure in Tokyo Disneyland. When the battle begins, the dragon is seen ridden on by one of Pete's minions, breathing green flames throughout the battle, which Mickey must jump over them to avoid taking damage. During the battle, the player must launch balloons to hit Pete's minion riding on the dragon's head, not the dragon itself. The battle against the dragon can be difficult, due to the way it moves its head connected by its neck. Once the player throws enough balloons to defeat Pete's minion, he becomes dislodged, followed by the dragon sleeping back in its lair with no possessor to corrupt it. This results in a locked gate to automatically open upon doing so, opening another passageway for Mickey.
==Trivia==
*Despite appearing briefly in the attraction, the dragon was sporadically featured in media related to the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour such as a poster for the attraction showcasing a map of the tour, as a boss in the Japan-exclusive game Mickey's Great Adventure in Tokyo Disneyland, as well as a postcard and a tin badge respectively depicting artwork of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy sneaking past the dragon in its lair paying tribute to the attraction.
*This dragon shares similarities with the one encountered in Disneyland Paris, aside from both of them sharing the same model designs. Both are large animatronic dragons encountered within caves within the respective walkthrough attractions they are encountered within both parks' respective Fantasyland areas, only the caves where they are encountered within having different layouts.
Category:Dragons
Category:Theme park characters
Category:Neutral characters
Category:Adults
Category:Disney characters
Category:Characters in video games