Arthur and the sword. Image : Disney

Disneyland’s Excalibur attraction, featuring the famed kingly sword in an anvil, is normally a chance for the park’s visitors to be reminded of The Sword in the Stone. You know, the way-underrated Disney version of the Arthur story, where the chosen one gets to pull the sword out and proceed on his way to the kingdom? Except, you’re not supposed to pull the sword out of the Disneyland version, not since 2006 when an attraction designed around that conceit was discontinued.


But somebody did. Because sometimes the call of destiny is too powerful to ignore.



As reported by the Orange County Register in a story that’s been updated throughout the month, Excalibur was first reported as missing from its anvil home near the King Arthur Carousel on January 12th. As it turns out, a few days before, an intrepid aspiring ruler of the kingdoms of Great Britain took it. According to eyewitnesses, a man identified only as Sam decided, upon his visit to Disneyland, to take what was his.




“He literally ripped it out,” one eyewitness said. “It was his first time at Disney and he’s a pretty buff dude. I told him if he pulled it out he’d win a prize and he just used brute force I guess.”



That sword, however, hadn’t been removed in many years and was not in particularly good shape. It broke immediately, and Disneyland employees reportedly took the broken sword fragment off the man’s hands, covering the opening on the anvil (which still contained sword shards) with duct tape.



Another eyewitness summed it up thusly: “At first it seemed as if he had pulled it out, but a [cast member] quickly came over [because] he had in fact broken it.”




So it seems Excalibur has gone the way of Anduril, the sword that was broken. One day, perhaps, Excalibur shall be reforged, and Sam of Disneyland might take up his place as a great king. Perfect timing, too, as I hear the United Kingdom is actually short of some royalty right now. Maybe the broken sword is a metaphor for Brexit.



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