Two large-payload unmanned aircraft have joined the fleet of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ drone industry development program. They will be used to test cargo deliveries and emergency responses. The Windracers ULTRA aircraft for the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration arrived in Fairbanks Sept. 22. The first test flight under full ACUASI control […]
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For two consecutive nights in October 2025, residents of Santa Clarita, California were treated to a quasi- secret Disney drone show.
Twice in a row, the skies lit up above Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch with an elaborate drone show featuring iconic Disney characters and imagery. The spectacle included formations of Genie and Agrabah’s palace from Aladdin, Mickey’s sorcerer hat, Gramma Tala in manta ray form from Moana and Captain Hook’s Jolly Roger from Peter Pan.
The sightings, well documented all over Instagram, have sparked widespread speculation that Disneyland Resort may finally be joining the growing roster of Disney parks incorporating drones into their nighttime entertainment offerings. Alternatively, Disney could be gearing up for a big public event, not necessarily even at any of its parks.
Watch the Aladdin animations here, in a real shared by an account called @plants_of_disneyland:
Currently, no drone shows operate at the Disneyland Resort in California. The park’s nighttime spectaculars — including fireworks at Disneyland Park and World of Color Happiness! at Disney California Adventure — rely on projections, water effects and, yes, fireworks. But for wildfire-prone Southern California (coupled with the strong winds that regularly blow through the region), having a nightly fireworks show can be dangerous. In fact, Disney frequently cancels the fireworks components of its shows when winds are even remotely blowing.
That said, drone technology has become increasingly prominent at Disney’s international properties.
I witnessed firsthand the stunning capabilities of Disney’s drone technology at Disneyland Paris, where my mind was blown by its Electrical Sky Parade Drone Show. Though you cannot currently watch that exact show, Disneyland Paris regularly incorporates drones into their nighttime entertainment. Hong Kong Disneyland also regularly incorporates drones in its nighttime entertainment.
And at one point, you could see a Disney drone show in the U.S., by way of Disney Dreams That Soar — a free-to-watch drone show that performed at its Disney Springs shopping and entertainment district in Orlando.
This secret Disney drone show is huge — and ambitious
The scale of the testing at Golden Oak Ranch — with hundreds of drones visible in the footage — reflects broader industry trends driving the expansion of drone entertainment worldwide. Several factors are converging to make larger, more complex drone shows increasingly feasible:
Advanced Swarm Technology: Modern drone swarm systems feature dramatically improved software that enables more sophisticated animations and smoother transitions between formations. These systems can now coordinate thousands of drones simultaneously with centimeter-level precision.
World Record Pursuits: Competition among drone show providers to break world records has pushed technological boundaries while making large-scale operations more routine. Companies regularly deploy 3,000+ drones for major events, normalizing what would have seemed impossible just years ago. Yes, even Disney has set drone-related world records, including a spectacular, tricolor Mickey Mouse head made out of 1,571 drones as part of a Bastille Day drone show over at its Paris resort.
Hardware Accessibility: Services like UVify’s FAB (Fleet Augmentation by UVify) rental system have democratized access to professional-grade drone show hardware. Rather than purchasing fleets outright, organizations can now access drones on a service basis, lowering barriers to entry for ambitious projects.
These advances mean that what Disney is testing in California likely represents far more sophisticated capabilities than their previous drone experiments.
Testing the secret Disney drone show at Golden Oak Ranch
The secret drone show appeared to be a test held at Golden Oak Ranch—a 890-acre movie backlot located approximately one hour from Disneyland and 25 minutes from Walt Disney Imagineering’s Glendale headquarters.
For lower-budget drone shows, real-world testing often isn’t performed at all. Operators typically visualize the entire show on computer software, verify the flight paths digitally and then execute the show for the first time with a live audience. This streamlined approach works for straightforward displays but leaves little margin for error.
Disney’s decision to test repeatedly over multiple nights suggests they’re developing something significantly more complex, likely integrating drones with existing infrastructure like projections, music and possibly fireworks or water effects. This level of preparation is characteristic of Disney’s standards, but it’s also a response to hard-learned industry lessons.
The shadow of Orlando — and why U.S. theme parks are cautious
The extensive testing also reflects the heightened caution with which American theme parks have approached drone entertainment following an incident in Orlando in December 2024. As part of a public drone light show held in Lake Eola (not part of a theme park), a drone show by Sky Elements lost control. Drones fell out of the sky, and one struck a young child, necessitating a heart surgery after he sustained severe injuries.
While Disney and Universal have not officially commented on that incident, there’s been a marked pullback in domestic drone show ambitions following early experiments.
Disney Dreams That Soar, which debuted at Disney Springs in 2024 to considerable acclaim, notably did not return the following summer. Similarly, Universal Orlando stopped incorporating drones into its nighttime spectacular.
What the secret drone show indicates for Disneyland
If these tests are indeed for Disneyland Resort, several possibilities exist for implementation.
Drones could complement or partially replace fireworks at Disneyland Park’s nightly spectacular, offering storytelling capabilities that traditional pyrotechnics cannot achieve (or remove the fire danger tat comes when using fireworks). Alternatively, Disney California Adventure could integrate drones with World of Color’s water screens and projections, creating a truly unique hybrid show.
The Santa Clarita location’s proximity to both Disneyland and Imagineering headquarters strongly suggests a Southern California application, though Disney has also used drones for one-off events like movie premieres (including 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps). And hey, this could be a drone show perhaps even used at its Orlando resort, too.
Disney has not announced any new drone shows or changes to existing Disneyland nighttime spectaculars. However, if the ambition and scale evident in the Santa Clarita tests are any indication, something spectacular may be coming to the California sky.
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Two large-payload unmanned aircraft have joined the fleet of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ drone industry development program. They will be used to test cargo deliveries and emergency responses. The Windracers ULTRA aircraft for the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration arrived in Fairbanks Sept. 22. The first test flight under full ACUASI control […]
