Santa Fell Out of a Sleigh During an Important Disney Parade

2 minute read

Watch out for Santa Claus. During a weekend parade at California’s Disneyland, a Santa perched atop a sleigh-style parade float toppled out of place when the top-heavy apparatus tilted forward. Thankfully, Santa was all set up with a safety harness — so he dangled, uninjured, before help arrived.

According to the Orange County Register, Santa was back in the parade on a different float the following day while his original sleigh is getting repaired. But of course viewers of the original Santa accident are still shaking their heads at the unusual spectacle.

“For a moment there it looked like Christmas might not come this year as Santa was ejected from his sleigh during the Christmas Fantasy Parade at Disneyland on Saturday,” explained a Disneyland discussion page on Facebook that shared audience video of the incident. “Scary stuff, but Santa makes it out safely in the end.” In the clip, it looks like his big bag of gifts behind him becomes destabilized and falls forward, causing Santa to get displaced from his perch. A few giant stuffed animals fall all the way to the road in the incident.

So, a word to all those Santas out there this year: remember to fasten your seat belts (and safety harnesses), as bringing holiday cheer to the masses is clearly not a risk-free job.

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Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com