Will Disney World Get a Dazzling Drone Display?
Disney has launched a dazzling drone spectacular that pays tribute to Main Street Electrical Parade. This shares a first look at the awe-inspiring nighttime light parade in the sky, along with our list of 6 reasons why something similar is likely on the horizon at Walt Disney World. (Updated February 22, 2024.)
Disney Symphony of Colours kicked off with Disney Electrical Sky Parade, giving guests at Disneyland Paris the chance to experience a nighttime drone parade in the sky! This feat has been made possible through an exceptional new nighttime sequence combining synchronized drones, lasers, video projections, lights and fountains across Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant or Sleeping Beauty Castle.
This drone display pays tribute to the Main Street Electrical Parade, the beloved light parade that has run at pretty much every Disney theme park around the world over the course of its five decade year history. The parade was last seen at Disneyland in California two years ago for its 50th Anniversary. Before that, it made previous stops (several) in California, along with Florida and Tokyo. Of course, Main Street Electrical Parade (MSEP) also had a decade-long run at Disneyland Paris from 1992 until 2003.
Disney Electrical Sky Parade gives nostalgic guests a chance to relive their childhood, and younger ones the opportunity to discover this iconic Disney Parks experience in a brand-new, never-seen-before format. More than 500 drones parade across the night sky in the form of illuminated floats, symbolizing the various icons of the Main Street Electrical Parade.
Drone imagery during Disney Electrical Sky Parade includes Mickey Mouse and the iconic MSEP train, Elliott the Dragon, Blue Fairy, and Cinderella’s Carriage. The unforgettable electro-syntho-magnetic music, which has been remixed for the occasion, is once again setting the tempo for this dazzling drone demonstration.
Here’s a video of Disney Electrical Sky Parade in action:
To develop Disney Electrical Sky Parade, the Disneyland Paris Entertainment teams have once again collaborated with Dronisos, official technology supplier of Disneyland Paris and European leader in drone shows. This new sequence is following in the footsteps of recent nighttime productions at Disneyland Paris, such as the award-winning and nominated shows Disney D-Light, Avengers: Power the Night and the incredible Bastille Day drone show.
If you’re thinking about planning a trip to Disneyland Paris, the Disney Electrical Sky Parade is currently scheduled to run until September 30, 2024. This isn’t the only offering for Disney Symphony of Colors in 2024, either. Starting February 10, guests will be able to enjoy A Million Splashes of Colour, a musical daytime show celebrating the animated films from Disney and Pixar, with a host of characters and 30 dancers. There will also be other stuff for Disney Symphony of Colors, but that isn’t really the point of this post.
We’re really looking forward to getting back to France (and would recommend our 2024 Disneyland Paris Planning Guide to anyone considering a trip, but we know most of you are probably reading this for the potential Walt Disney World implications. So without further ado, here are the 6 reasons why we think a drone-driven nighttime spectacular will come to Walt Disney World soon.
One is Being Tested – It’s been a little over a month since the Symphony of Colors drone show debuted and we first published this post, and we’re back with an update (and new 6th reason) as of February 22, 2024. It now seems like this prediction is going to come to fruition.
That’s because Walt Disney World has been doing drone testing during recent evenings at Disney Springs, with WDWMagic sharing photos and videos of the testing as visible from Saratoga Springs Resort. According to that reporting, the drone made several loops around the Disney Springs lake before returning to its launch pad in the parking lot behind Cirque du Soleil. The drone was illuminated with a bright purple show light and carried out several take-offs and landings as part of the test.
If you’re wondering why Walt Disney World would do the testing at Disney Springs, it’s probably a matter of convenience–avoiding areas in the parks with people or having to test during the overnight hours to avoid guests. That’ll undoubtedly come later, once development of drone-driven entertainment is further along. Regardless, we would expect this to be for one of the parks and not Disney Springs. Although there’s been a drone show there before (see below), that was almost a different era. It’s highly unlikely the current-day Walt Disney World would put on an “ungated” drone show.
WDW Poached Paris’s People – This news flew under the radar, but late last summer, David Duffy was named to the role of Vice President, Live Entertainment at Walt Disney World. Duffy previously served in what’s essentially that same role at Disneyland Paris prior to this, so moving to the flagship vacation destination with 4 parks instead of 2 should be a promotion.
That is debatable. It really depends upon how serious Walt Disney World is about entertainment. The act of bringing Duffy aboard (“poaching” is really a strong word since it’s all the same company) suggests that they’re fairly serious, but the proof will be in the pudding. (Taking ~10 months to reimagine a Little Mermaid puppet show that’s been missing for 4 years isn’t gonna cut it.)
In any case, Duffy is responsible for the spectacular 30th Anniversary program at Disneyland Paris, along with a number of other shows, celebrations, and entertainment enhancements at Disneyland Paris. The two parks in France have managed to run circles around the flagship Florida resort when it comes to entertainment in recent years.
Optimistically, Duffy is being promoted to Walt Disney World precisely because of his success at Disneyland Paris, and there’s an internal desire to replicate those results in Florida. That management in Burbank sees the difference in quality, and is bringing Duffy aboard to ‘rebuild’ the live entertainment roster at Walt Disney World. That’s our hope and expectation–that Team Disney Orlando’s attitude towards entertainment will change with Duffy at the helm, and he’ll bring one of the massively successful drone shows from Paris to the skies above Walt Disney World.
WDW Got Paris’s Tech – Mentioned in the aforementioned release about Disney Electrical Sky Parade is Dronisos, the official technology supplier of Disneyland Paris and European leader in drone shows. Dronisos is also on the precipice of becoming the American leader of drone shows, too.
Here are relevant excerpts from a December 1, 2023 press release by Dronisos:
Ever since its creation in 2016, Dronisos has proudly called Bordeaux, France, home. Cherishing its roots, the company has fostered a vibrant local ecosystem through numerous partnerships in the region. However, recognizing the complexities of operating globally from France, Dronisos took a strategic leap in 2023, opening two extra offices: one in Orlando (Florida) and the other in Dubai.
Leveraging its expertise in permanent drone shows for amusement parks, Dronisos strategically chose Orlando for its first U.S. office. Already a provider for various amusement parks in the Southeastern United States and the proximity to existing clients, including Dollywood, made Florida an ideal choice.
Orlando, as the heartbeat of the amusement park industry, emerged as a strategic location for Dronisos’ American expansion. With an airbase near Orlando, the company can conduct tests and demonstrations, inviting both existing and potential clients. A longstanding member of IAAPA, Dronisos actively participates in industry events, including the IAAPA Expo in Orlando, and engages in numerous local events.
It should go without saying, but Dronisos wouldn’t have opened an Orlando office just for the sake of Dollywood, a theme park in Tennessee. The move to Central Florida is to serve one or two clients: Disney and/or Universal. It’s only a matter of time before one or both get drone shows–the better question is which will debut theirs first.
Given the established relationship with Disney (in Paris) and David Duffy, it stands to reason that Dronisos has the edge on working with Walt Disney World now. We’d bet they’re already in talks with Universal Creative, too.
WDW Already Did Drones – It’s easy to forget, but Walt Disney World already did a drone show! No, it wasn’t some random one-off media event (although the New Fantasyland dragon was way ahead of its time, and the X-Wings for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance were really cool).
It’s now been almost a decade ago that Walt Disney World went to great lengths to get waivers on their no-fly zones. In November 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration granted Walt Disney Parks & Resorts a waiver to use “small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) operations” within its restricted airspaces. These sUAS are drones, and Disney has dubbed the technology Flixels (per a 2014 patent filing), which it has planned to use in nighttime shows.
The no-fly zones above Walt Disney World and Disneyland were both obtained in 2003 at the request of Disney as the U.S. prepared to go to war with Iraq. Somewhat ironically, in order to fly the Flixels drones for nighttime shows as Disney wanted, it had to go back to the FAA to get a waiver on its own 2003 request.
Given that the no-fly zone was at Disney’s behest and since the use of small drones would “not interrupt national airspace activity” it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Disney would receive the waiver. They did. Based on the approval, the flight paths of drones must be 100 feet away from guest areas at all times, and that they would primarily fly over water and restricted areas, maxing out at 150 feet above the ground. The only question was how and where Disney would use this Flixels technology.
To the surprise of many of us, the first answer to that was: Disney Springs. Only a couple weeks after the waiver, Walt Disney World launched a free-to-view Christmas drone show over the water. It was short-lived, leading to the “obvious” conclusion that it was early testing for Rivers of Light at Animal Kingdom or Windows on the World, the working title for EPCOT’s Illuminations replacement.
Both of those assumptions were incorrect. They probably shouldn’t have been wrong, though, as both Rivers of Light and Harmonious would’ve benefitted immensely from drones, and might still be around today had they used drones instead of barges. We’ll never know the why behind that not happening, but it’s safe to assume a free 2-month drone show at Disney Springs was the starting point of testing and not the end game. Regardless, there hasn’t been a drone display at Walt Disney World since 2016.
Animal Kingdom Needs Something – Each year when ticket prices increase, Walt Disney World highlights how 1-day admission still starts at only $109 and has since the introduction of the date-based system back in October 2018. You might also notice that Animal Kingdom always has the lowest Genie+ price of any of the parks. For good reason, as there’s the least guest demand for DAK.
Regular readers of this site know this, as we’ve hammered home time and time again that crowds and long lines are the easiest to “beat” at Animal Kingdom (outside of one week per year–between Christmas and New Year’s Eve when it’s a literal and figurative zoo), so you don’t need to pay extra to skip the lines. This is discussed in countless posts, including in our Best Time-Saving Strategies for Walt Disney World, which says all you need to know for DAK is “don’t go during the middle of the day.”
The reason for this is also pretty straightforward, which is that attendance is significantly lower at Animal Kingdom than any other park at Walt Disney World. Lower attendance reinforces the reality that Animal Kingdom is the park with the most urgent need for additions. The post-Pandora bump ended a while ago, Animal Kingdom is the park furthest removed from the last development cycle, and badly needs more ASAP. In the meantime, there’s a good chance that the other parks start cannibalizing Animal Kingdom attendance.
This is precisely why Tropical Americas was officially announced for Animal Kingdom. That’s a quick fix that’ll give DAK a shot in the arm, and help revitalize the flailing park. The problem is that “quick fix” is a relative term–it’s by Walt Disney World standards. From what we understand, DINOSAUR might be “safe” for around another full year. That puts the opening of the new area into 2026.
Animal Kingdom needs something in the meantime–and that’s doubly true now that Park Hopping rules have been relaxed and many guests will be in and out of DAK before noon, opting to do that park and EPCOT in the same-day.
A drone show at Animal Kingdom would solve a lot of problems. It wouldn’t require infrastructure in the notoriously difficult Discovery River lagoon. It would make use of the excellent amphitheater built for Rivers of Light that now sits unused. A drone show would be mesmerizing without loud pyro that’s a nonstarter due to it disturbing the wildlife.
Equally as important, it would be an eye-catching entertainment offering, more likely to keep people in the park past sundown. Finally, it would make the decision not to use drones in Luminous at EPCOT make more sense–the ace up Disney’s sleeve that’s more valuable when played at DAK.
2025 Needs Something – We’ve been over this before, but there’s currently nothing on the official timeline for Walt Disney World in 2025. Tropical Americas almost certainly won’t be ready by then and there are no yet-unannounced brand-new additions that could conceivably be ready by then. C’mon. You’ve seen the pace at which Walt Disney World builds. You really think it’s plausible that something that hasn’t even broken ground will be done by 2025?!
WDW diehards hate when we say this, but it appears increasingly likely that Walt Disney World is going to “sit out” 2025 and not try to compete with Universal’s Epic Universe. At least, not in the traditional sense of the term. Walt Disney World will undoubtedly do something, it just won’t be on the same level as brand-new theme park. And honestly, that makes sense–no major brand-new addition is going to measure up to a new park, so why try and inevitably fall short?
However, that doesn’t mean that Walt Disney World will do nothing at all. They’ll want something to market, to capture some of the guests drawn down by Epic Universe. I remain of the belief that a reimagined Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster will be the tentpole addition of 2025. Test Track 3.0 has already been announced, so it stands to reason that could be ready by 2025. Add to that maybe a couple more redone things in EPCOT, and you have the marketable ride roster.
Equally as likely is that Walt Disney World leans on entertainment or other additions that don’t require infrastructure and lengthy construction timeframes. Once again, this is where a drone show is the ace up Walt Disney World’s sleeve. Although they’re becoming increasingly common, drone shows still have a certain wow-factor not found in fireworks or fountain shows on a lagoon. A Walt Disney World drone show could be the secret sauce to somehow competing with Universal for eyeballs in 2025–the kind of thing that manages to resonate on social media as much as Mario.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you think a drone display is on the horizon at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our reasons as to why one is unlikely–or desirable–in the foreseeable future? Think this will be the ace up Disney’s sleeve to “compete” (air quotes) with Epic Universe? If a drone show comes to Walt Disney World, at which park would you like to see it? 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!
I think a drone show would be awesome (esp at AK). We went to Dollywood to try to see their show, but at the last minute it got scrapped for weather. It seems like if there’s any wind they have to cancel? How has that worked out in Paris? Do they have issues with that? Obviously Florida has pop up rain showers most of the year so that seems like the biggest hurdle. Hopefully they figure it out though!
Perhaps a drone show is finally the right night time entertainment for Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
I was thinking the same. A drone show would be perfect for Animal Kingdom since it wouldn’t be noisy and scare the animals.
I am laughing out loud because I somehow scrolled over the first paragraph under “WDW Poached Paris’s People.” So for a few moments, all of the references to Duffy being brought on board as the centerpiece of transformation at WDW made me question the strategy of pinning all of the company’s hopes on a stuffed bear who hasn’t really captivated audiences outside Japan/Asia.
Hopefully David Duffy has more success stateside than his namesake teddy!
A drone or a water show are needed for other reasons, too – not just as a draw to crowds, but so the surprisingly large percentage of noise sensitive patrons out there have something they can see. As considerate as Disney has been to those with disabilities, it has surprised me for years that there is frequently nowhere to go in a park to get away from the fireworks. Even several music concerts now have sensory rooms to allow people a break! But on top of having to carefully plan visits so that my partner is not outside when fireworks go off, there is also not anything they can really enjoy at the end of the day since Disney puts explosions even in many of the projection shows. I think a drone or water show would be enticing to this thus-ignored segment.
I agree in relation to the noise-sensitive folks! Also exciting for the prospect of less pollution.
I like this news on both the DLP and WDW fronts! We’re making our first family trip (more like a 1.5 day pit stop) to DLP in July and I love a good nod to the MSEP. (LOVED that Hallmark ornament this year!)
We went to Dollywood over the summer, and we were blown away by the drone show! Fireworks are fantastic, I love them. But the creativity that the drone show put on was just amazing! Of course, you need to see them at the right angle, and how they would translate this to those who have fireworks views at present is an unknown, unless the drones are lighted on both sides to mirror the effect, though that could result in some unintended comical imagery.
But, yes, WDW should get this for its parks, and I do mean the plural. Ditto Universal: A Harry Potter drone show set to John WIlliams (and others) scores from the movies would be a massive hit there as well.
Disney? So many IP possibilities: Star Wars and the MCU at Hollywood, Classic Disney highlights at MK, Animal Kingdom and Epcot both, again, have massive possibilities in their choices.
INHO, the big Florida theme parks are late to the game on drone shows.2025? I’d bet good money Universal Epic will have a drone show. If WDW waits that long they’re going to look reactive. They should put out something for Summer, 2024, at the latest.
I mostly agree, but I hope Disney uses drones sparingly. We were in this same position almost 15 years ago with projection mapping. Walt Disney World was late to the game, but then went all in on it and there were projection mapping shows everywhere. In my opinion at least, it was overdone, and started to lose its luster.
I fear that something similar could happen with drones. It’s easy to say we want them everywhere when we’re starved for drones…until the floodgates open and they actually are added everywhere, and at the expense of other effects.
Absolutely agree that Universal will have a drone show by Summer 2025. Epic Universe seems like the obvious choice as added wow-factor for nighttime entertainment, but I could just as easily see something being added to one of the existing gates as counterprogramming. I guess we shall see!
Those early projection shows were absolutely horrible, not even remotely the quality one expects of a Disney show. Very difficult to watch and cringe-worthy. Now that the technology has evolved, they can be cool.
The drone show was awesome, but I would still rather see a real nighttime parade (live performers are awesome if more expensive and entertainment that doesn’t require you to be gathered in one place is also much easier to watch). From the second point, I’d really hope to see drones in AK or Epcot instead of MK – somewhere that has more space for viewing.
Totally agree. If it’s night parade on the ground or in the sky, I’m choosing the former with live performers and physical floats every single time.
The problem, it would seem, is that Walt Disney World is allergic to night parades. Every time they’ve had the opportunity to import one–and there have been several chances–in the last 5+ years, they have ended up declining. So at this point, I’ll take drone light parade over no light parade!
We were season pass holders to Dollywood in 2023. Our family watched the summer drone show at Dollywood twice. It was great and impressive for a theme park of that size. The drones where set to current pop music and a few Dolly classic songs. I think Animal Kingdom would be great for it. We stayed at Animal Kingdom from 12-8 last month on an overcast day and actually enjoyed the park for the first time. We usually spend 3 hours there in the morning and leave because of the heat or running out of stuff to do.
this would be awesome, these shows looks so amazing
Animal Kingdom absolutely makes the most sense: as you said, there’s an amphitheater that’s gone unused and I know for the longest time the reasoning for not having a nighttime spectacular there was the fireworks scaring the animals. Drones solve both of those problems.
On the flip side, it does require Animal Kingdom to routinely stay open after dark which they have been very reluctant to do this last year. Disney might continue to punt on that park until the Tropical Americas are ready to go. It wouldn’t surprise me to see these actually show up in Magic Kingdom as an intro show to Happily Ever After, just like they functioned in Paris. They *just* redid EPCOT so that seems the least likely candidate to me, and Fantasmic 2.0 is still basically brand new by Disney development timelines.
I think you have it backwards–Walt Disney World hasn’t been reluctant to keep DAK open after dark, guests have been reluctant to visit after dark. If anything, Animal Kingdom is staying open “too late” based on typical attendance and demand dynamics. I suspect the only thing keeping it open this late is preventing a vicious cycle–guests seeing shorter hours, assuming it’s not worth the money, and not visiting (at all) as a result.
Keeping guests in DAK all day and not have them combine DAK and EPCOT into the same day–as I suspect will increasingly occur this year with Park Hopper limits gone–is almost certainly worth the added operating costs.
I think the biggest impediment will be the question of whether it’ll work. DAK has tried a lot in the past to get guests to stay later, and aside from the opening year of Pandora, it mostly failed. But they’ve yet to try drones!
If more people knew how awesome KJ Safaris can be right before dark, with a lot more animals out and active…
We saw male lion up walking around and chuffing loudly. It was really cool.
At this point I worry that nothing can cause sustained guest interest in Animal Kingdom. I personally love the park and have no problem spending a day there but I am obviously in the minority; most guests just do not seem to care. Drones would certainly help! When I went to DLP, I found the fireworks to be meh but the drones were so cool we watched those each night we were there and then bounced before the “real” show started.
UAV technology has come a long way and you can do some pretty impressive stuff with swarms of them. Yes, this is an offshoot of military research… A show with hundreds or even thousands of small UAVs would be very cool, but do not think for even a nanosecond that you could replace pyro with it! You cannot…
“…but do not think for even a nanosecond that you could replace pyro with it! You cannot…”
I think both have a place. It’s absolutely necessary in a castle park or EPCOT, but not every nighttime spectacular needs to be nonstop pyro. In the case of Animal Kingdom, pyro isn’t even on the table, anyway.
Give me a nighttime spectacular with kites that are on fire, Lion King balloons that crash into trees, and drones–sounds pretty perfect to me!
Agreed, for the animals’ sake obviously. I like your line of thinking on the burning and crashing…
I will give Paris praise where its due. The 30th drone show was spectucular and something that i felt was genuinely moving in person. Some people thought it was the main noght tìme show! The drones also really help avoid the mass exodus of disney studios intheir show helping to balance the parks.
For Disney World that’s been my thought for a while now on where drones would best he used. Animal Kingdom already has a set up display area for it and you can have a nighttime show with them for 10-15 minutes. Maybe expanding some other non loud nighttime entertainment have a navi celebration so people go to the bioluminecence etc. Although I half wonder if disneyland gets them first and somehow anaheim get mickeys mix magic now with drones as a way to keep that thing going instead of remember dreams come true or ponderous journeys given they love mickeys mixmagic lol
The summer before Pandora opened, Animal Kingdom added a bunch of nighttime entertainment intended to get people to stay late. A lot of the atmospheric stuff was really good, but there was nothing big enough to be a tentpole draw.
They could pretty easily recycle that playbook–but with a drone show–and I think it’d work.
Why would they do anything right now with the crowd levels they continue to see?
Not sure where you’re getting that, but the company has been openly discussing the exhaustion of pent-up demand and Walt Disney World’s comparative underperformance on the last few earnings calls.
I have benn a local AP for years, the last few years as a retired local AP. So I go to the WDW parks a lot. The lack of any real slow times this year at WDW is evident to me after 2 previous years of crowds too. Is it pent up demand or tourist just like going to the Disney parks, despite reservations, despite high prices, despite Genie+. They still keep coming in droves. So until that slows down at WDW why would Disney spend more money there right now. The product is selling as is, at least for now
This type of display is needed at Epcot imho and could be done in a style that would hopefully appease both traditionalists and more recent Disney fans, sadly Luminous still doesn’t adequately replace Illuminations and do the park justice.
This is amazing! We’ve been waiting for such a show ever since we were on opening day at DLP for their 30th in 2022! Spectacular ! And thanks to your great advice on planning DLP! Very helpful. And you’re right, a beautiful park! Your tips on Paris also awesome! Love your blog. Happy New Year to you and your adorable family
Thanks for the kind words! Happy New Year to you, too!