Disney Testing Fantastic New Drone Show at ‘Secret’ Site
Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and multiple international parks are all in need of new nighttime spectaculars or enhancements to existing fireworks shows. Between that reality, plus persistent rumors about a new or returning drone show, it’s unsurprising that a pretty fantastic display is being tested at a “secret” facility that Disney owns.
Over the last week, Disney has been testing a lengthy new drone show featuring villains and fan-favorite characters, like Genie from Aladdin. It’s possible there’s more to these sequences at ground-level, but the videos making the rounds on social media are from a distance outside of Disney’s massive compound.
This footage has been captured in Santa Clarita, California from outside of Walt Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch. For those who are unfamiliar with Santa Clarita, it’s a valley city north of Los Angeles that’s home to vampires and Six Flags Magic Mountain. I’ve never visited the latter due to the former. Santa Clarita is about 90 minutes north of Disneyland and 45 of Glendale and Burbank.
As for Golden Oak Ranch, it’s a place Walt Disney first leased in the late 1950s for segments of The Mickey Mouse Club. Because of the variety of natural settings available there, Disney purchased the property in 1959 and, over the years, acquired additional land which has brought the total to just under 900 acres. Disney productions that have shot at the Ranch include: Old Yeller, Toby Tyler, The Parent Trap, The Shaggy Dog, Follow Me Boys and more recently, The Santa Clause, Pearl Harbor, Princess Diaries II and Pirates of the Caribbean II & III.
Over the years, more has been built at Golden Oak Ranch. This includes the Golden Oak Hall from the Country Bears, and more that probably isn’t relevant to this post (couldn’t resist the Country Bears crossover). For our purposes, the fact that it’s nearly 900 acres, pretty far removed from Disneyland, and home to wide open fields is most relevant. Given all of that, it would seem like the perfect spot for secret testing of a dazzling drone display at a site that Disney owns, away from the legions of fans around Anaheim and Orlando.
Or not. Footage was quickly captured and went viral on social media. So much for keeping this drone show a secret! Here’s a look at a couple of the better videos caught over the last week:
Drones were seen over Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch again last night. Video from @DevonCormier shows a test featuring several Disney villains, including a huge Maleficent dragon.pic.twitter.com/6dOpLD3TQ0
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) October 23, 2025
NEW: Disney drones were once again seen over Golden Oak Ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif., on Tuesday. Tonight’s test included Peter Pan, Moana, Sorcerer Mickey, Ursula, and more. Thanks to SoCal Outdoor Explorer / What’s Up Santa Clarita (IG) for sharing the video. pic.twitter.com/Dpp1Z37QU2
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) October 22, 2025
For starters, I just want to say that this really does look fantastic. Even from a distance with a ‘found footage’ quality to some of the videos I’ve seen, the drone display dazzles. I was really impressed with Disney Dreams That Soar last year, and this appears to be a marked improvement on that. Drone technology and choreography just keeps getting better, and whenever there finally is an in-park integration at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, it’s going to be something special!
Now let’s discuss the most realistic possibilities as to what Walt Disney Imagineering and/or Disney Live Entertainment are testing here…
Fantasmic Enhancements
Sorry, did we write ‘Fantastic’ New Drone Show in the title? We meant Fantasmic New Drone Show.
Any Disneyland fan who watches the above footage is probably going to reach the inevitable conclusion that this is for Fantasmic. It is very reminiscent Fantasmic, containing some visuals and story beats from the mist screens and show as a whole.
It would also make a tremendous amount of sense for Disneyland to upgrade Fantasmic, as the current show is a shadow of its former self and has been since Murphy went down in flames. It’s pretty sad that Disney’s Hollywood Studios now has the best version of Fantasmic, and there’s zero sense of urgency to get the Disneyland show out of B-mode.
However, I’m skeptical that this is for Fantasmic at Disneyland. For one thing, they tested this on at least three consecutive nights, suggesting something imminent is happening with it. And there’s no sign whatsoever of drones being integrated into Fantasmic. (It would presumably necessitate clearing on Tom Sawyer Island, which would happen before this type of testing.)
For another, the full test is reportedly ~10 minutes long, and we cannot imagine that much of Disneyland’s Fantasmic involving drones. This would not be an enhancement for Fantasmic–it would preempt much of the current show.
Disney Adventure World Bay Show
In Spring 2026, the Walt Disney Studios Park will relaunch as Disney Adventure World. The transformation features new lands, attractions, and entertainment offerings that will significantly reshape the park.
There will also be a new nighttime spectacular over a central lagoon known as Adventure Bay. This show will combine water screens, fountains, special effects, and innovative drone choreography. The entertainment teams at Disneyland Paris have already started conducting tests in preparation for this groundbreaking experience.
It would also make sense for this drone show to be for Disney Adventure World. Their new nighttime spectacular could be a hybrid of Fantasmic and World of Color, which sounds like a slam-dunk winning combination. It’s low-risk, new to the French audience, and would probably be awesome. All without the expense of live performers or pyro!
However, I’m even more skeptical of this explanation. While it might seem reasonable for Imagineers to be testing this ~45 minutes north of their global headquarters, we have not seen this type of testing for Disneyland Paris in the United States for their current generation of nighttime spectaculars.
More to the point, Dronisos is the company that collaborates with Disneyland Paris on their dazzling drone displays, and they’re based out of France with another office in Orlando. It doesn’t make much sense to be testing for Disney Adventure World now, and in Southern California.
Animal Kingdom Drone Display
If I could will any rumor into existence with aggressive speculation and wishful thinking, a drone show at Animal Kingdom would be very high on the list. Disney Dreams That Soar was the best thing to debut at Walt Disney World last summer. And then it just ended, never to be spoken of again. I refuse to believe that’s it. There’s just no way that the company spent all of that money developing nighttime entertainment for a show at Disney Springs.
There are several reasons for Walt Disney World finally getting a drone show at one of its parks, but in a nutshell, attendance is significantly lower at Animal Kingdom than any other park at Walt Disney World. The park is in urgent need for additions, and there’s a good chance that the other parks start cannibalizing Animal Kingdom attendance until that happens. The first Walt Disney World park people will cut in order to visit Epic Universe is Animal Kingdom.
This is precisely why Tropical Americas is coming to Animal Kingdom, and is the first big project of the next development cycle. That’ll give DAK a shot in the arm, and help revitalize the flailing park. A drone show at Animal Kingdom would solve a lot of problems, but the big question at this point is whether Walt Disney World debuts it in 2026 or waits until Tropical Americas.
Sooner makes theoretical sense, and with an earlier sunset time in winter, maybe this is a surprise announcement coming for late 2025 or early 2026 to offset the loss of DINOSAUR?!
As much as I want this to be true, I’m highly skeptical of this explanation for several reasons. First, there’s too much overlap with Fantasmic. It would be odd to have two parks present variations of the same nighttime spectacular. Then again, Harmonious at EPCOT and Enchantment at Magic Kingdom kind of already did that. Second, why test this in California when Dronisos has an Orlando office and has tested in Florida before?
Finally, my sneaking suspicion is that Walt Disney World might’ve learned with Rivers of Light that there’s not enough to keep guests in the park between 4 pm and dusk, when a nighttime spectacular can be presented. Given that, Tropical Americas might be needed first as the “bridge” to prevent the afternoon exodus, dooming another nighttime spectacular to fail.
Most Likely & Most Disappointing Drone Test Explanations
Above are the most exciting and most logical explanations from a Disney fan perspective. There are other possible explanations, but all of those ‘fail’ the smell test for approximately the same reasons–it would be easier and more efficient to do the testing elsewhere, too much overlap with existing nighttime spectaculars, timing isn’t right, etc.
Any of the three explanations above would be hits with fans…so the cynic in me says they’re all wrong.
Based on how we’ve seen drones deployed in recent years by Disney, it would be foolish to ignore the possibility that these are for one-off special events. Through that lens, the most logical explanations would be the following:
- Disney Destiny Christening (November)
- Disney Celebrates America Launch (November)
- Cotino Community Grand Opening (Soon?)
Of these, the grand opening of the Cotino, Disney’s private community near Palm Springs, probably makes the most sense. It would be California testing of a California show. There’s a big bay over which a drone display could happen, and there are big spenders who have presumably purchased homes there.
It could also be the Disney Destiny Christening, as they’ve done drones for that before and the ship revolves around heroes vs. villains. An adaptation of Fantasmic would work well and fit the theme of the ship. So that also makes sense. Maybe we’ll get lucky and this is surprise nightly entertainment for the ship itself?! That seems doubtful.
Launching over Veterans Day weekend, the Disney Celebrates America initiative is another logical event given the timing and scale. But the Fantasmic-y focus makes even less sense here–we’d expect a Distinctly Patriotic™️ Drone Display given the circumstances. A glorious 3-hour drone finale featuring a salute to all characters, but mostly Sam Eagle.
Ultimately, even if this ends up being the most underwhelming explanation (private country club event at Cotino), we’re nevertheless excited. The drone footage looks really good, and it’s clear that Imagineering, Live Entertainment, and their partners at Dronisos continue to learn and iterate, getting better at the craft as technology also continues to evolve.
At this rate, when Animal Kingdom does finally get a drone display in 2044, it’s going to be the coolest and most wow-inducing nighttime spectacular in Walt Disney World history. Joking aside, the upside to drones in a theme park at Walt Disney World and Disneyland is too high–they’ll find a way to make it work eventually. Stay tuned.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about this ‘secret’ drone show testing? Think this is for a one-off special event? Or do you think this is testing for a fully-fledged, drone-driven nighttime spectacular at Disneyland, Disney Adventure World, Animal Kingdom in 2026? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of each possibility? Any other thoughts or commentary to add? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Did anyone else get an invitation to the “spectacular christening livestream event” for the Disney Destiny today? I don’t think I have been on the promo list for the cruise lines for very long (haven’t had the opportunity to go on one yet) so I am uncertain if this is “normal” marketing or a hint that the drones might be showing up for that? Will be interesting to see!
Ok obviously I was wrong here… late breaking entry into the mix – the F1 race in Las Vegas this weekend. It is the launch of the Disney x F1 collab… Grasping a bit but trying to redeem myself.
If I was running a drone show at AK, the question is where do they launch from. A logical place would be to build a platform on top of the finding nemo building, fling the drones down to the canal and under the bridge between the stands, or put netting up over the bridge to provide a safe passage in case drones die and fall. You can’t really launch from elsewhere.
Having a nightly show at AK would be a game changer. Pandora is already a better night experience, and Everest is fantastic in the dark. They could boost the shows and other entertainment to make it easier to go from 5-6pm to sunset. Tropical America’s would help be a longer draw.
What would be a game changer is to add another “land” to Animal Kingdom. I would love to see a Wakanda zone, located to the N of Africa, East of Rafiki’s planet watch. Put in a couple of rides, dining and shopping. It could have a real cultural impact for the Black community – The Black Panther was a very significant film having a black super hero. The IP issues could probably be negotiated with Universal in exchange for park usage of the Simpsons, which expires soon.
Drones can be fantastic and HUGE. I was shocked how big those images were over the Vatican show in Sept. AMAZING
Disneyland pyrotechnician confirmed these are NOT for use in CA, as there is not enough footprint for the ground work- they are for either Paris or WDW according to him
Yes my understanding is that due to current local laws, Disneyland can’t use drones because the uninhabited area that is required must be equal to the height at which the drones fly. Disneyland just doesn’t have enough space and likely won’t be able to implement a full drone show without a change in legislation.
Your explanations and refutations of the choices are al quite plausible. Disney Adventure World makes a lot of sense to me, as DLP has done the best drone shows of all Disney, but as you say the Cali location doesn’t make sense. Ultimately, I want to see drones as an enhancement to a show (in DAW, or like you said with Fantasmic) and not just a standalone. As good as DLP’s standalone shows are, they don’t compare to the fireworks shows, IMO.
I don’t see anything thematically in the test footage that makes sense with Animal Kingdom. Wouldn’t the IP be…Lion King, Zootopia, animals, nature etc
There is a lot of villains imagery … Villains Land?
Maybe to promote it? It’s way too early (like 3-4 years too early) to be developing a drone show for Villains Land. Drone technology moves so fast that it would be obsolete years before the land debuts.
The beauty with a drone show is that it can be changed overnight. It all depends on the programming of the drones, and that needs to be done before each flight (to supplement with spares etc). The time is doing the scene creation and mapping it to drone flight paths, and then setting it to music. If its *just* a drone show, then it makes it much easier to add/change elements. You could have spots in which to insert thematic changes, such as seasonal – Easter bunny, IP tie-ins for new movies, whatever excuse the parks have for a celebration (Disney always seems to be in one, its like JC Penny sales.)
The cost is building the launch/landing zone and safe paths for drones to get from there and to/from the water for safe display.
There have been some drone incidents that look like foul play with jamming devices, I would hope that Disney has solved that problem, although they can tightly regulate what devices crowds bring in through bag checks, especially for AK which is somewhat isolated.
Personally I think drone shows look very cool, but they still feel sort of “gimmicky” to me — and there’s been a huge proliferation of them in recent years, whether at various special events or the highly-publicized shows put on nightly at “lesser” US theme parks (Silver Dollar City, Dollywood, Busch Gardens…it’s a long list). Even as cool as the footage looks, I’m not sure the viewing experience compares to being front and center at one of the fireworks shows, Fantasmic, World of Color, etc.
So, I think “traveling drone spectacular” is one very plausible answer. One-time shows that amaze a crowd gathered for a grand opening, christening, etc.
But one other thing that came to mind was the possibility of using them at Disneyland instead of fireworks — either permanently or as a nightly “B mode” replacement for fireworks when wind becomes a factor. From what I understand, fireworks are often canceled at DL when the wind is as low as 5mph in certain directions. But I also believe many drone shows are able to operate in wind speeds of 20mph or more. So that would bring some predictablity and “environmental consciousness” to DLR operations if they went that way.
The only drawback with this might be the visibility from Galaxy’s Edge, which could present some thematic continuity issues. But I think it’s at least plausible enough to consider.
It’s been a while since I’ve brushed up on the FAA no-fly zones in Anaheim, but I think that might be another reason why a drone show is unlikely at Disneyland.
It’d be pretty easy for Walt Disney World to get a waiver on no-fly zone in Magic Kingdom, since it was Disney that applied for the airspace restriction in the first place. It might be a different story at DLR. (Maybe not–again, it’s been a while.)
A definite impediment is having a take-off and landing site that doesn’t fly over guests. Tom Sawyer Island ‘solves’ for that with Fantasmic, but for the fireworks, it’d probably mean closing off even more of Fantasyland.
I saw a theory on Reddit that due to firework shortages, cost, and environmental impact, it’s possible drones are being explored to replace some (presumably not all, at least not right away) fireworks at MK. That explanation actually seems plausible to me – the look of that drone footage just “feels” like a Magic Kingdom show. I could also see this being a separate event at HS, sort of in lieu of a parade.
Fireworks are such a quintessential–and marketable–part of the Magic Kingdom experience that I’d be shocked if they replaced them with drones–even over time.
There’s also the matter of take-off and landing, and not flying over guests. Those factors all make Magic Kingdom the least likely WDW park to get a drone display, IMO.
I suspect this to be just speculation from random commenters with no inside information whatsoever who like getting attention on the internet by riling other people up.
I haven’t been to Disneyland in years, but will be going this January. I was thinking of doing a Fantasmic dining package. Is it worth it?
It’s more “worth it” than the other dining packages and dessert parties, but not as necessary as it once was. My only recent experiences are all in passing, so I don’t want to speak any more definitively than that. I’d welcome others to chime in if they’ve done a dining package (or not) recently, especially during timeframes when Fantasmic is not nightly.
You missed one possibility; the show could be applied to several of the uses that you mentioned or set up as a travelling show. Developing a drone show to run at a ship christening, or a milestone celebration or a static site opening is a big investment for a one shot vanity display. But developing it to run at all three… That might be worth it. It might also be an initial foray into home grown drone show infrastructure and training. You make the point that the testing in California likely cuts out Florida as a location because a third party drone collaborator has an Orlando site. What about the possibility of Disney deciding that developing its own drone shows will be cheaper/faster/more controlled than having to constantly hire out third party vendors, whose time and attention will also be in demand by other competitors? This might be a sign that hiring out the drone shows is becoming a process that is not worth farming out. Without internal cost projections and the like, this is all speculation, but worth considering.
Animal Kingdom makes super sense as a park that could use a drone show, but the only real viewing area that can handle crowds (and more importantly crowd dispersion) is the Rivers of Light stadium. I don’t know all that much about how drone shows actually work, but I imagine that they aren’t well suited to theater in the round, so that stadium may be the wrong place for the right show.
That’s a great point about a traveling drone show. I could totally see this being used for the Disney Destiny Christening, and then again as a road show to promote the ship. And then again in another year or two to generate excitement for Villains Land!
FWIW – Everything I’ve heard strongly suggests to me that it’s cheaper for Disney to work with third parties. It’s not just cheaper for Disney, either. Many of the contractors that Disney works with are run by former employees (Imagineers, etc) and many of them make more money as outside vendors, all while costing Disney less. Suffice to say, you wouldn’t believe the waste and layers of pointless bureaucracy within the company. Way too many people all needing to justify their own existence.
You would hire out one-off or short term drone shows, and run it yourself if its a long-term nightly event.
IIRC Disney manufacturers their own fireworks for cost reasons – they do the same show nightly, and so can make in bulk, unlike fireworks event companies that do one-offs.
The counter argument against Disney doing it themselves is what is the long-term cost of a drone fleet and keeping it running. The batteries are not going to last forever. Drone tech is getting better every year. Drones die on every flight and need to be replaced. That’s not something they are well setup for – they like a large capital investment that they can wring profits out of for years, this has a high ongoing cost.
Disney did work with Sky Elements for last year’s San Diego Comic-Con show. I have no idea how one would go about competing for a Disney Parks drones contract, but could this be how? (Based on what I saw online, that looks like proof of concept to me.)
BTW, while Disney certainly designs and operates their own nightly entertainment, the company does not own any fireworks factories so I wouldn’t say it manufactures them itself. They do work with multiple contractors for those so I wouldn’t see why they wouldn’t open a drones contract for bidding, if technical reasons require a single contractor to create a whole show as I suspect.
I’m thinking it’s something for one of the cruises. this could be fantastic for a cruise because you can send the drones far out enough that nearly everyone can see them. it would be awesome to see this in Disney world but I’m not going to get my hopes up. drone technology has really really improved
I don’t think a drone show would be able to serve an audience that’s moving across the sea at over 20 knots during often-windy maritime conditions. Plus, there’s limited space on the top deck to have thousands of drones take off and land (not to mention where to store them).
Agree with Pete.
I do think this is an inevitability as drone technology continues to improve, but it doesn’t seem realistic at this point in time. (At least, based on my admittedly limited knowledge of drone logistics.)
Dear Tom, you missed the most obvious answer….Aliens are messing with us.
Seriously, we too loved the Disney Dreams That Soar and there’s no way that wasn’t a precursor to a future nighttime show.
Three points to keep in mind.
There’s no reason this show can only be done in one park or place.
The most desperate place in need is AK where it fits perfectly.
I will be dead in 2044.
Ah, so you’re suggesting it’s an elaborate piece of meta performance art to promote Alien: Earth on Hulu? Now that is synergy at its finest!
Utilizing drones is such a head scratcher to me. The videos look fantastic and what we saw from SSR of the DS drone show was great. Seems like an obvious lever to pull for attendance- look at the shot in the arm the new MK parade has offered for evening attendance- and that was not even needed for a park like MK over AK. The DR drone show was so out of the blue and left in a similar manner. I am hoping that it is used to spice Fantasmic back up or to help make AK worthy of attendance or longer attendance patterns.
I really think they’re fine letting DAK coast until late 2027, and having 2028 be the next big ‘coming out’ party for the park. Not just with Tropical Americas, but a whole package of entertainment and enhancements–kind of like they did with Pandora back when that opened and “Animal Kingdom After Dark” was the big pitch.
Yeah animal kingdom with drones makes perfect sense either way animal sensitivity to fireworks being such a major constraint.
It seems like rivers of light fiasco scared of Disney from trying again. But did rivers of light fail because it wasn’t good, or because there is little else to do there?
Can you fix night time at animal kingdom with just a show, or do you need like more attractions, not just a few big attractions, but smaller ones too?
Those are good questions, and I doubt even Disney is 100% certain in the answers.
They obviously have guest satisfaction scores on Rivers of Light, but to the extent those are negative, how much of that is higher expectations due to people killing time until the show?
Personally, I don’t think even Tropical Americas is quite enough to bridge the gap. I’d greenlight a Lion King dark ride ASAP, and in the meantime, reintroduce a daytime parade at DAK along with a drone show for 2027. That plus Tropical Americas would nicely round out the day.